Community Quilts from Karin

Oh my word…Karin sent a whole lot of quilt finishes today. I’m excited to be able to share them with you.

Karin writes:
“Hi Jo, I have a few finishes for you today. I know you’ve been working on reducing your UFOs, well, so have I. This first one I thought had been gifted long ago, but, apparently not. It was tucked away in a storage tote, along with our personal camper quilt. It must have been in the camper when we sold it, back in October, and put all our camping equipment in our storage closet. Now that we have a new camper, it all came out of hiding, including this quilt! I think this block is called Courthouse Steps, and I believe it was pieced by the amazing Cresco ladies.

All different kinds of scraps were used! The sashing is either navy or black, I really can’t tell, with itsy bitsy gold stars and tiny crosshatching. Perfectly subdued, to let all the block colors shine.

I used navy thread and various arc rulers to quilt the blocks but added some big swirl hooks in each center, and some loops in each corner. White thread was used in the bobbin, and you will recognize that sheet you sent me as the backing.

In looking at these photos, I am seeing a bit of repair is necessary before it gets delivered to the firehouse.

This quilt was only 3 blocks across by 4 rows, yet with sashing, still finished up at a generous 42 x 56.

 

Next up… we have a sweet little mermaid quilt you sent me a couple of months back. You thought, rightly so, that the mermaid theme would be a big hit with a young FL lady. You are right, it’s a very popular theme here! I believe these adorable mermaids were machine applique by the Cresco ladies, and joined by sweet purple pink and green vines (which look very much like ours manatee-food eel grass), blue and teal swirly fabric sashing, Starfishes, sea horses and octopiis on delicate blue and a dainty pink and purple plaid.

Using my pale pink thread on top, I gently stippled the vines, and added big swirls in the blue sashing (a first for me!). I did some whooshes and big bubbles in the octopus block, because I really wanted that print featured. The plaid border got a Taj (designed by Angela Waters) ruler treatment, but it didn’t seem like enough, so I went back over it and added freehand echoes. Not very echoed, if you ask me, but they got the job done.

Here’s the rest of that sheet you sent me!!! It’s been used to widen some pretty purple camo and peace symbol yardage that was donated by Linda W, from Williamstown, NY. Hopefully, Spring is on the way to her by now. We are already swimming to cool off in the afternoons, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! The mermaids finish at 40×52, just perfect for a young girl to cuddle.

 

Here’s is another coastal quilt you sent me to frost, thank you! This also appears to be Cresco ladies style, with printed seashell motifs, sashed and bordered with coordinating blues and yellows. Filling out the 2 blank spaces is a totally unrelated print, that somehow, just works perfectly. I wanted to accent the block centers, so I used a gold top thread, and just did some simple loops around the edges, and echoed the interior motif. We are in Florida, so I used clamshells and orange peels in the spacer blocks. The first border was treated to wishbones and the outside was m’s and w’s (which still look like intestines to me, lol).

The flip side was mostly lighthouse yardage that was kindly donated by Ellie L, from Indianapolis, IN. I had just enough of that blue from you to finish it out at 44×44.

Next up, we have the first of 2 sister quilts, sent my way by Maggie W, from Coos Bay, OR. You may recall, I sent you photos of the tops as they came out of the envelope last month. I think this bargello was the original quilt, as the pieces in this top are larger than the other. We have jelly beans and sunflowers, rosebuds and sewing supplies, stripes and cartoon figures, solids and vines. Quite the variety! I used all the flowers as my inspiration and used my go-to gold thread top quilt loopy vines and leaves edge to edge.

I found the perfect batik blender backing, on the shelf from Susan McC, from Austin, TX. She also provided the bright green batik, which is a remnant from the next, sister quilt backing, and a dear friend from NC provided the bright floral that tied it all together.

This beauty finished up at 44×52 and is sure to brighten someone’s day!

This was also sent in by Maggie from Coos Bay, along with the previous quilt. I believe she sewed the scraps of the bargello into 16 patches and added some big solid red alternating blocks and side setting triangles, added some more leftover squares and borders, and, voila!

Another quilt as born! Even bigger than its sister! I wanted the red blocks to get a fancy treatment, so I looked through some books and came up with a hearts and peels combination. I’ve never used it before, so I kept the quilting subtle by using red thread, just in case my stitching wasn’t up to the challenge. I used the same motif on the patchwork, but the red thread blends in so well, you can’t really tell what’s been quilted. I followed up with trios of hearts on each triangle and semi circles with squiggles (?) inside all around the outside border.

This back used up most of the bright green batik yardage Susan McC had sent me, but it really shows the quilting nicely.

This finished up at a whopping 52×54!

And last, but certainly NOT least, I finally worked my way down the stack to this one, which has been languishing for many months now. I believe Annie, from Washington State (yes, the Goat Lady) sent this my way, long ago. Maybe even a year? I’m sorry, Annie, it’s not that I don’t appreciate your generosity, I do, I really do. I just needed to grow my skill set to do justice to your amazing piecework. And get a bigger long arm, hehe. That day finally arrived, today. I pondered and pondered, consulted my books again, pulled up my big girl panties, put the needle down, and away we went.

I did my version of woodgrain in the tee trunk, some swirly branches in the foliage area, seam echoing in the surrounding HSTs, stipple under the tee, straight bounce back feathers (another first!) in the green borders, and ended with some ruler work in the 8 point cornerstone stars.

Boy, did it exceed my expectations! You can barely see the quilting, because I used a very neutral light brown thread, but I know it’s there! I wasn’t confident enough to use a lighter brown, but I now regret that decision. Oh well, good practice, right? Maybe next time, lol.

Here you see my woodgrain and stipple.

There was no sense in showing the foliage swirls; they just don’t show up in photos! But, there’s the back. You recognize that green? That’s the very end of what you sent me, back when we were still in Texas, and same goes for that burgundy sheet that matches so well! All gone, every bit of both pieces used. I think that maybe makes 6 or 7 quilts they went into?

Thank you, Annie, this 50 x 50 quilt turned out to be really fun (once I got the right tools, courage and skills!), and quite the learning opportunity.

Thank you all, dear readers, Jo, and the ever-amazing and productive Cresco ladies! What a journey you’ve led me on!! All these quilts will be going to the firehouse first thing Monday morning. I know they will bring much comfort to their eventual recipients. Blessings to you all.”

WOW!! That was a great bunch of quilts. Many thanks to everyone who sent goodies Karin’s way. There is no way any of these community quilts projects could be done without the support of so many.

Karin just flies through backing fabric. Happily, she doesn’t mind using gently used sheets as well as fabric. If anyone has any they could pass her way, you can find Karin’s contact info on the donation page. She is #21. HERE is a link to that page. Karin is in Florida.

Again…many thanks to Karin, those who donated, and those who are thinking of donating!! We need and appreciate you all.