Hello…we have a parade of quilts today from Karin and Patty. Patty was sending tops to Ray but then Ray got flooded with tops so I suggested to Patty that she send tops to Karin as she is in Florida so the tops all stay in their state.
Hi Jo! Merry Christmas! I have quite the parade for you today, courtesy of Patty K Florida and Linda W from Williamstown New York. I’m thinking we should rightfully call this the Patty and Linda show, as they have been keeping me really busy.
First up, we have a top Patty K pieced and called Hearts, and the note said it was an experiment.
Perhaps she was playing with applique? This top arrived with only the center panel and black borders attached. It was a little too narrow, but I had an exact length of that coral fabric that had been supplied by my local quilt shop. I cut it in half longwise and attached it as side borders, making the quilted piece finish up at 32×42.
I used pink thread on top and in the bottom, and it showed up nicely against the black and dark gray, but blended in perfectly with that coral backing.
I kept the quilting pretty simple, using wishbones in the black borders, loopy hearts in the center panel, and wishbones and squiggly lines in the strip pieced center heart.
Next up we have what looks to be… a fabric book that was cut up and pieced back together. 
The pictures are very vintage and look like what I remember Dick and Jane learning to read books as illustrations.
Patty used a gingham check, some striped fabric, some green and red with little flowers, and a strawberry fabric to border each block.
I kept the quilting minimal, with a large meander over each page and simple wavy lines in the borders.
The backing, I believe came from Annie, in Washington State. The baseball fabric was not quite wide enough, so I added a small strip of multicolored dots, also generously donated by one of your blog readers, and used on previous quilts. 
I’m pretty sure that’s the end of that exciting fabric. This quilt finished up at 36×40. I used dark gold thread on top and ivory in the bottom. I’m pretty sure you can’t see my stitching in most places, lol. That is fine with me. As long as it holds together, I am perfectly happy.
Here we have another panel that has been cut apart, bordered and put back together.
Also by Patty K.
I wanted to keep the focus on the sweet little girls that made up each block, reminding me of vintage hankies. Using a light blue thread, I put wishbones in the sashing, swirls in the cornerstones I made with stitches, and feathers in the wide blue border.
I was able to back it with some more of that coral provided by my local quilt shop and to make it wide enough, I inserted a piece of fabric from Linda W.
I can’t believe how well the colors matched up, coming from two different sources, at two different times, from 900 and some miles apart. Somehow, it always seems to work out well. I believe the good Lord has a hand in it, what do you think? This quilt finished at 40 by 40.
This beauty really spoke to me, I guess because there’s so much turquoise in it, and that is my absolute favorite color.
Plus, it’s made out of batik fabrics which are always so varied and interesting. Patty says this pattern is Darling Donuts and the fabric is from Tonga Treats.
The note on it says that you supplied her with the fabric Jo. Patty included a nicely crafted scrappy binding for this top but the fabric that Linda supplied was big enough that I could just wrap it around to the front and I can save the binding for another project, when the backing is not suitably sized. I used a medium brown thread on top and ivory in the bottom and just went back and forth in rows, quilting alternating swirls. I admit, I did get lost and quilt two going the same way next to each other at one point. But, I think that was my only mistake. Don’t you just love those bright pops of yellow and orange?
They really make this quilt top sing. This quilt finished at 40×50, making it an adult-sized throw. In fact, it’s been keeping me warm and cozy as I’ve been writing the other descriptions. It works quite well, and takes the chill right out of the air. I know everybody else is getting snow, so I guess I should be glad we are only expecting freezing temps and maybe a little drizzle.
This one wraps up today’s parade, and it is the largest of the bunch. It was very intricately pieced, and Patty call this one Taking the Train.
She noted that the fabric came from Nancy F of West Palm Beach. I think the background fabric on this is what some people would call cheddar. From what I can remember of the color wheel, the opposing wedge would be navy blue, and I just so happened to have a bolt of that, courtesy of my local quilt shop, Beyond the Stitches. (www.BeyondTheStitches.com) Because of the intricacy of the piecing, I thought and thought and thought about how to show it off the best.
At first, I was just going to do an all-over flower and swirl, because it’s easy, fast, and would reflect on a lot of the fabrics which were floral. But, I didn’t think that would do justice to the piecing, so I kept thinking about it. I ended up with just one loopy L in each of the small triangles, a loopy L and swirls in the large triangles, and some free-hand matchstick quilting on the diagonal boxes of background. To soften it all up, I did more alternating swirls in the wide border around the edge. A dark gold thread was used on top to blend into the cheddar, and yellow was used in the bobbin. I think it turned out pretty well, and is huge at 52×52. And, yes, Bailey, my inspector, DOES sleep a lot; she is almost 14, so I let her do pretty much whatever she wants ;)
These five quilts have just barely put a dent in the box that came from Patty, down South. She mentioned that she has another box ready for me, so I had better get on the stick and finish up what I already have in the To Do pile.
A big thank you to Patty, Linda, Annie, my local quilt shop, and whoever sent me that polka-dotted fabric. I am sorry I misplaced the name of the donor for that.
All these quilts will be going to the firehouse tomorrow, and I’m sure they will be distributed and put to good use before the weekend is over.
With deepest gratitude, k
Patty and Karin are a perfect match as both of them are so dedicated to charity quilting! I just love to see new relationships being formed as they work together for a common cause. This growing of friendships and relationships is always the added bonus to community quilting. It’s so wonderful to find people with common interests. There are so many good things that come from community quilting.
Very nice quilts and finishes. So fun to see the uses for the book. Oh, love to see Dick and Jane. Thanks to Karin, Patty, and Linda!
What is the Rosa villa blog hop???
Lovely finishes, Karin! Thank you for your work and your “special helpers” who make it possible. Your local firehouse will be excited to receive these.
I love the way Karin custom quilts the quilts she is given to finish!! She does a great job of choosing quilting motifs that enhance the quilts!!
Oh my ! So lovely ! The one with pages of an old kid’s book , soo beautiful –