Community Quilts from Karin

I have community quilts from Karin to share with you today.  All of them are from Karin. She’s back at it after her injury and is cranking quilts out like crazy.

Karin writes:
“Hi Jo!!  Usually, when one says “I’ve gotten to the bottom of the barrel,” they mean they are getting bits and pieces, dregs, and whatever is left over. Well, nothing could be farther from that when I say I have finally reached the bottom of a very big box from Terri McE, of Johnson City, TX.  These last 4 quilts were pieced with every bit of care and accuracy as all the others, and the perfectly sized (and already pieced!) backings and bindings were all included. The backings were generously sized, so I could use the fold-over method for some of them, and I have reserved the bindings for tops whose backings I have to scrimp and scrounge to make just barely large enough. I’m sure there will be a few in that big bag of tops you just sent me from the Cresco ladies!

You’ve already seen this one, but I do love the way it turned out, so I’m including it again.

Scrappy Irish Chain, with lots of white space for doodling.  I thought and thought about what to quilt, and I ended up using a small arc ruler to put tulips in the big colorful squares and free-handed swirly feathers representing stems and leaves. It really made an interesting secondary pattern, filling up all that white space.

So here as the coordinating backing that Terri so generously provided. She had a binding already made for this one, but it’s one that I elected to save for another top.

This quilt is so cheerful, I couldn’t help but send it, along with a couple of Bosom Buddies I made up, to my dear friend who, at 84 yrs old, just got back into her home in Sarasota, and is undergoing a double mastectomy today.  The Bosom Buddies have pockets for ice packs on one side and her phone or a TV remote on the other side.  One is soft and cuddly, and the other is cotton, in case cuddly is too hot. They arrived yesterday, just in time for her surgery today.  I tell ya, she was simply overwhelmed with gratitude and definitely felt the love of our little, but widespread, village.

Here we have the first of two… Frozen panels, made larger by the addition of coordinating borders.

In testimony to Terri’s piecing skills, I want you to notice that all the little princesses are right side up around the outside!!

I used a new ruler and played off the circles in that first, deep purple skinny border.  Then I used another ruler and put big hearts around the outside border.  Then, I had procrastinated long enough, and it was time to do something with the Princesses in the main panel. But, what to do? I always struggle with that part, what motif to use? I thought, well, maybe just accent and outline the ladies. But, that would take some serious accuracy (ha!) and would require lots of travel stitching, in possibly awkward places (like, the face!), and would also leave larger sections unquilted.  Soooo, that was not going to happen.  I thought I had remembered Frozen with breezy, swirly backgrounds, and I had never done that before, but I had watched videos, so I knew it was possible.  No time like the present, and off I went! 
Swirl/echo meandering all over.  It was weird going over the faces though, I must confess. This is the larger finish, at 48×56. I used a baby blue on top and a variegated blue and green at the bottom.  The sweet polka dots on the aqua showed the quilting quite nicely.  Again, the provided binding went into the cabinet for use another day.

Here we have the second Frozen panels, a wee bit smaller than the first because it is missing one skinny border.

I used the same swirls and echoes on the panel, and then some large hearts around the outside, but I free-handed continuous hearts on the inner borders.  I used the same baby blue on top and variegated blue-green in the bobbin, and I didn’t even have to adjust the tension. You can see how nicely this backing coordinates and shows the quilting off.

She finished up at 44×50 and I know they will both bring smiles to a couple little girls.

Finally, we come to the last quilt in the box. Absolutely utter perfection in this piecing. With more Kaffe Fasset fabrics!! I was simply stunned by how accurately these blocks were made. I wanted that to be the main focus, so, like the other one you saw last week, I just quilted simple orange peels, hoping against hope, they would match up close to the centers of each block.

Scallops and piano keys added some detail around the outside border and I used the enclosed, matching binding for this one.

I used burgundy thread (also purchased by Terri!) on top and a variegated brown in the bobbin.  You can hardly even see the stitches on that colorful back! I believe, also Kaffe prints.  This big boy finished up at 56×56.  

That concludes our trunk show for today and finally brings me to the bottom of Terri’s box.

And, as you can plainly see, all these quilts were meticulously crafted, and donated by a woman with a heart of gold.  

I hope she enjoyed making them as much as I enjoyed quilting them, and as much as they will be appreciated and treasured by the people that will receive them.  The quilts will get a quick run through the wash, then go on to our local Firehouse, which is collecting supplies to send down south, to those who have lost everything in the recent hurricane.

Thank you, a million times thank you,  for your generosity Terri, and for your coordination and support Jo.”

OH WOW!!

What impressive work by you all!!  Thanks for the work on machine quilting to Karin…and many thanks to the tops maker, Terri.  These are going to be so appreciated!!