Community Quilts from Karin

Karin is busy-busy lately…I can’t believe all that she gets done. Sit back and enjoy another parade courtesy of Karin. She writes:

“Hello Jo, I hope you have a moment because it’s time for another quilt parade, courtesy of the prolific Patty K, of West Palm Beach Florida and the amazing Cresco ladies. Patty sent me a box of four quilt tops, some backing, and some extra Air Force fabric that she didn’t know what to do with and it arrived just in time for my trip over to our local women and children’s shelter.

First up we have the one she calls Girls Play Time.

It’s a sweet little pink and white number with perfectly cut and appliqued circles in squares that were built courthouse step style. She included quite a bit of the rose on white fabric to use as a backing, but it wasn’t quite big enough, so I pulled out the pink ribbon yardage that was gifted by Cheryl B of Berea Kentucky some time back. When I put those two pieces together there was plenty to fully cover the quilt.

This one got quilted with point to point arcs on each block and wishbones in the sashing and around the very outside border. I used pink thread on top and in the bobbin and the finished quilt measures 44 inches square.

Second in today’s lineup we have what Patty called Tossed Orange Peels.

For this, she used charms that you had sent her and what a mixture we have! There were batiks, chickens, flowers, fish, squirrels, hedgehogs, stripes and checks. I think there was a little of everything in there, lol. Somehow they all played nicely together and mixed well. On the back, the colorful Oriental items, including urns and kimonos, show up nicely against a navy blue background. That was yardage generously donated by Ellie L of Indianapolis Indiana, and it was also sent some time ago. Teal thread was loaded in my long arm, and I thought it would show up nicely with all that mixture of color on the top, so I left it and I used a charcoal gray in the bobbin which sort of disappeared into the backing, which is the effect I was looking for.

With a name like Tossed Orange Peels, derived from the expertly appliqued patches Patty placed randomly, what else could I quilt but orange peels? Well, I started with orange peels, but they looked empty and left a big space in the middle where the blocks joined, so I did an echo in the big space. That didn’t seem enough, so I put the needle back down into the fabric and started pushing the machine. A swirl that went from one end to the other in each peel is what came out, and it wasn’t till the very end when I took the quilt off the rack, that it struck me, these look like our recent hurricane satellite map! Maybe I was more traumatized than I thought. Personally, we dodged a bullet, with minimal structural damage, just a couple leaks in the roof and a lot of limbs and sticks down. Nothing like flooded-out Crystal River and wind-damaged Cedar Key. I know several downtown businesses were literally destroyed from the inside out, due to the storm surge, and there are a few more homeless families now than before, but we are a strong community and everyone comes together to clean up and restore.

This panel was enlarged by a series of four borders, each one lending its own personality to the panel. It’s a quick and easy way to take a panel from plain to amazing.

Leave it to the Cresco ladies to come up with just the right fabrics to accentuate the floral heart in the center. I often struggle with what to quilt in large negative spaces, but on this one it was a no-brainer. Swirls in the shape of a heart did the trick. I outlined the heart itself and the flowers inside and still had room to put a heart of my own in the middle. The two inner borders were treated as one, with large wishbones quilted, the blue border got continuous hearts with the aid of a template, and the very outside border got fancy scrolls.

All the stitching was done in pink thread on the top and the bottom. You will recognize more of the pink ribbon yardage that was provided by Cheryl B of Berea Kentucky. This quilt finished up at 41 in square.

I think the Cresco ladies must have had a kids’ day because this one is all sorts of castles, knights, and dragons, fire-breathing dragons no less. Alternating with those strips are stripes, dots, and solids, all lending a very casual and whimsical look to this little lap quilt.

The backing for this was donated by my local quilt shop, Beyond the Stitches, and I used yellow thread on top and white in the bobbin, to quilt edge-to-edge loops and double bubbles.

This quilt finished up at 41 by 48. A friend of ours gave us a box of food hand sanitizer and soap products to donate to our local women and children’s shelter, and that’s where these four quilts will be going tomorrow. Thank you all, ladies, for everything you do and all your generosity and for providing tops, batting, and backing to our community. We couldn’t do it without you. And Jo, a special thank you to you, for all your work in coordination and provisioning.“

Wasn’t that a great parade of quilts? The makers of the tops do a great job but it’s Karin who really makes them come to life and shine. Many thanks to everyone for joining together and making these worthy quilts.