Community Quilts from Karin and Patty

Karin, a longarm finisher, has teamed up with Patty, a prolific quilt top maker, to share some awesome quilts with us.

Karin writes
“Good morning Jo! Today, we are back on the quilt parade, courtesy of Patty K and friends, in West Palm Beach, Florida.

First up we have this bright and cheery batik patchwork number. Patty called it pastel fence rail and indicated that the fabric originally came from Nancy F, also of West Palm Beach. Well, it’s definitely a fence rail block, and while the colors seem to be pastel, somehow they are still very bright and very cheerful. It has a lot of Florida aquas, teals, yellows, and blues, so I’m sure it will go over well with the recipients.

Being as it was made from scrap bricks from Nancy’s stash, I thought it appropriate to back it with yardage from my own stash. I do not recall ever seeing it before, nor buying it, so I must assume that it was courtesy of my girlfriend who came to visit last summer. I only found it while searching for some kid’s fabric for another quilt.

Lol, who knows what else… lies in the bottom of the closet? I used a light pink in the bobbin and ivory on top and quilted simple loop de loops with double bubbles randomly spaced. It is an easy and quick all-over pattern. This quilt finished up at 40×40.

Next up we have the darker version of the previous scrap patchwork. This one was called Scrappy Tiles and was made with bricks from Patty’s own stash. It will make a terrific I- spy quilt for a little one, can you see the adorable cupcakes in that one brick on the right?

It is very colorful and cheerful and I was able to back it with the other half of that yardage I found in my own closet.

Did you know that Massachusetts, or maybe it was New Hampshire, has just enacted a law that says clothes cannot be thrown away? There is a huge initiative to keep textiles out of area landfills, and what better way to do it than quilting? It looks like Patty and her friends have taken bits and pieces of other projects and put them all together to create something else beautiful and useful. I can only imagine how many pounds are being kept out of the local landfills.

Keeping it quick, I used the same loop de loos and double bubbles, and I even used the same thread combination as the previous quilt. This one finished up at 38×52. Patty’s note indicated it was finished in December of last year; it must have given her great pleasure to be working on something so cheery in the middle of our cold and dreary week of Winter.

Patty called this beauty Color Blocked Stars, and indicated she finished it on Christmas Day! The sashing was from Nancy F and the stars were from her own stash. I could tell that she and Nancy both spent quite a bit of time and energy on putting this one together, so I wanted to give it some special frosting. I try to free-hand leaves and swirls in each star, but I think, in the end, they look more like candle flames, lol. I guess that is appropriate for a Christmas day finish, right?

I used the same motif (notice I have not called them leaves again) and swirls in the separating color blocks. I did have to break the thread for each single block, but I think the end result was well worth it. I did alternating swirls in all the horizontal sashings as well as the narrow border around the edge.

The backing was generously provided by my local quilt shop, Beyond the Stitches (www.BeyondTheStitches.com), in Crystal River.
I used a white thread on top and ivory in the bobbin. The stars were made up of flying geese and four patches, and I’m pretty sure no fabric was ever repeated. The pieces were tiny and I love how floating the stars made all the points perfect.