Community Quilts from Karin

Grab a drink.  It’s time for a quilt courtesy of Karin and numerous helpers.

Karin writes:
“Hi Jo, hope you and your family are all doing well and staying warm. I have quite the quilt parade for you today, courtesy of several of your blog readers.

This first one comes from the prolific Patty K, of West Palm Beach, Florida. She titled it Robot Power, because that’s what it says on the fabric. Lol.

Each square contains a fussy-cut little robot alien kind of guy and there are gears scattered throughout the background. It’s a very pretty aqua, which is a very common decorating color here in Florida.

She sent almost enough extra fabric to fully cover the back, but it was lacking just a few inches so I dug into my stash and I found a plaid that wasn’t exactly kid friendly, but the colors coordinated. It also inspired the straight-line quilting I did in the sashings and the X’s in the blocks. I softened it up just a bit by using alternating curls in the outermost border.

This quilt finished up at 29×29, and took white thread on top with a very very pale blue in the bobbin.

Next up, I’m pretty sure… we have a top that was done by the amazing Cresco ladies. There are pigs, tigers, Minnie Mouse, a white creature (?), and a blue creature (??) in the colorful squares, and they have been offset by alternating Minnie Mouse red polka dot print and a creamy white tone on tone blocks.

I kept the quilting on this very simple and used an edge-to-edge all over swirl and loop de loops.

My local quilt shop donated the striped backing for me. This quilt finished at 34×44 and drapes beautifully. The fabrics are very gentle and soft, even though they are not flannel. Kid-friendly for sure.

I am pretty sure this top came in a batch that you sent me from the Cresco ladies some time ago. I think it started out as a Monet panel, that they added to, and then framed the whole thing with a sandy-colored batik. It really stumped me on how to quilt it for a while, but after a few days of staring at me from the quilt frame, I knew just what to do. I quilted a large meander in the very center, framed it with hand-drawn circles, yes they may be a bit lopsided, but they are still mostly circles, and then added a water motif in the wide blue border. All those sections were quilted with a variegated blue and green, keeping with the water theme. I switched to a light cream thread and quilted a thick serpentine rope in the very outside border with some echoed flames in the corners just for interest and contrast.

The very pretty backing fabric was generously donated by Ellie L, of Indianapolis, Illinois. The very thin strip of beige check fabric started its life journey as a sheet, left over from my neighbor’s yard sale. I used the same variegated blue and green thread over the entire back, and this one finished up at a large 40×56, almost big enough for a twin-size bed.

Here we have another flimsy that goes perfectly well with most Florida interiors and was a lot of fun to quilt. This one also came from the Cresco ladies, via you, some time ago.

Using that variegated blue and green thread on top again I quilted my water motif in the penguin and whales sections, and thread-painted seagrass on the turtle block and jellyfish & tendrils on the jellyfish block. I did a double bubble in the next border all around, then I moved down and echoed the sea life prints in the three blocks across the bottom. Still using the variegated green and blue for contrast, I quilted alternating swirls in the outside border and then echoed them, to travel back to where I wanted to be.

When it was all said and done I didn’t think there was enough quilting in the center, so I went back and added wishbones in the top and bottom black sections. The entire back was donated by my local quilt shop, Beyond the Stitches. You would never know it, but I used yellow thread in the bobbin.