Handmade custom heirloom quilts
“Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” is a 1969 song recorded by Sly and the Family Stone, and it perfectly describes the reason I made this quilt. This project went to one of my all-time favorite high school teachers. Mr. Burrell, aka Mr. B, was a fantastic educator and an even more amazing motivator. He helped me through a very rough time, and I will always be thankful for him encouraging me to be the best version of myself (or mice elf).
I am happy that my client was happy with this custom longarm quilting job I did for the quilt top she created. A longarm quilting machine is a specialized piece of equipment used by quilters to create intricate and detailed quilting designs on large quilts. Traditional quilting involves stitching layers of fabric together to create a quilt, and a longarm machine is used to create the stitching patterns.
I called this quilt Caribbean Blue after the 1991 song by Celtic singer Enya. One of the song’s writers, Roma Ryan, said this song “is to encourage the listener to believe in him or herself,” and it is a “metaphor for positive thinking.” I hope the baby that gets this is warmed and even motivated by the colors and patterns.
I titled this quilt Summer Madness after the 1974 instrumental song by Kool & the Gang. I used some of my favorite fabrics to represent what I see as the colors of summer.
– tan and blue for the ocean and the beach
– pink and green Liberty Tawna flowers
– purple batik fabric for the summer sunsets
– light dark blue for the summer skies
– bright yellow for the midday sun
– vivid red for the mercury rising in the thermometer
Quilts of Valor is an amazing organization that donates handmade quilts to Service Members and Veterans. The foundation’s mission is: “to cover Service Members and Veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts”. I created this Quilt of Valor to donate to a honored Veteran.
Our neighbors recently brought home their new baby and I made this Winnie the Pooh Quilt to welcome our newest addition to the neighborhood. I used bright and vibrant colors to reflect their family’s energy, and I used my signature meander quilting to hold everything together .
A colleague challenged me to make him a “dirt-bike themed quilt”, so I raced to the internet to research dirt-bike and racing photos. Then it hit me: since he and I are Facebook friends, I had access to pictures of him on his bike. The result is this Dirt-bike Photo Quilt featuring pictures of my friend that I grabbed from his Facebook page.
This Nottingham Forest Baby Quilt was made to welcome a new Nottingham Forest football fan into the world. I used hexagons to create a football print, and quilted using a football themed stitching. As a finishing touch, the border of this quilt is made from a real Nottingham Forest jersey. As we say: Come On You Reds!
One of my class mates asked me to make a quilt that she could put across her lap when she attended church service. I created this Take Me to Church Quilt with colors and patterns that reflect the style and traditions of the Southern church.
This Winnie-the-Pooh Baby Quilt went to some friends in Canada to celebrate their new baby. It gets very cold where they live so I wanted to send some warm colors that were also soft and playful. This quilt uses a mosaic pattern of triangles and squares with a Winnie pattern fabric in the center of each block. The binding was made from a batik fabric I got from a local quilt show.
