A Trunk Full of Quilts

Did you know there is a trunk show going on over at Whims and Fancies? Well, count me in! I'm here today to show you some favorites among the quilts I've made. My quilting journey began in 2008 when I took a class at our local community college. From the get-go, I was hooked. While I didn't set out to focus on any particular style, I've found that my favorite quilts to make are hand-embroidered quilts. Here are just a few of them. 

This first quilt is A Kitten's Tale. It was designed by one of my favorite designers, Lynette Anderson, who uses her own pets as characters in her quilt patterns. It was a quilt of many firsts: one of my first hand-embroidered quilts, one of my first raw-edged applique quilts, and the first time I made yo-yo's. It was completed in 2011.

The beautiful long-arm quilting was done by Tami Ortega. You can read more about A Kitten's Tale right here.

Here's another of my favorites. This is A Day in the Life of Mr. Bear, and it was my first Redwork quilt.

This pattern, designed by Tricia Cribbs, was first seen at a quilt show, and I fell in love with it. It was beautifully quilted by Marcia Wachuta. This quilt tells the story of a little girl and her beloved bear. It was fun to stitch, and I found myself making up stories about it as I went. You can read one of them right here. If you'd like to see the individual blocks close-up, you can read this post right here.

I call this next quilt Two Grandmothers. The blocks were hand-embroidered by my mother when she was a teenager from the designs of Ruby McKim. 

My mother handed me the finished quilt blocks when my first child was born. I wasn't a quilter yet, and so originally, I made them into a comforter that was used by both of my children. Fast forward to adult children, and now a quilter, I took apart the comforter and turned it into a proper quilt. It's one of the first quilts I free motion quilted myself on my domestic machine. 

During that time, I repaired the embroidery that was looking pretty worn after two babies and hundreds of machine washings. You can read the history of the quilt right here. During the restoration process, I had the great privilege of learning more about Ruby McKim. Prior to that, I had no idea where my mother had obtained the original block patterns or their origin. You can read more about that right here. And you can see the quilt's finish at this post right here.

Another favorite is Walking in a Winter Wonderland designed by Meg Hawkey at Crabapple Hill Studios. 

When I first saw this quilt made up in a quilt shop, I wanted very badly to make it. At the time, I was plagued with chronic pain issues, especially in my hands, and I was sure I'd never finish it. The original quilt was red work, and on one particular visit to a quilt shop, I admired it out loud to the store owner. She told me of a quilt done in blue and quilted with snowflakes. I could not resist it any longer. It was the first of many hand embroidered quilts, and fortunately, the pain issues have subsided. 

Initially, I told myself I would complete two lengths of floss each morning, and little by little the blocks were finished. It was quilted with a metallic thread (for sparkly snow) by Tami Ortega and embellished with hot fix crystals. You can see some close-up pictures of the finished quilt right here.

Finally, Perfect Harmony. This is an applique wall-hanging I made for my musician son's 29th birthday. When I saw the pattern in a quilt shop, I knew I needed to make it for Matthew.

It was quilted on my domestic machine, and I was kind of a novice to quilting at the time. I had no idea how that widely spaced echo quilting would work. I used metallic threads to quilt in the guitar strings. The pattern is Acoustic Montage by Maureen Erhardt. You can see close-up images of the quilting and the finish right here.

If you're interested in seeing more of my work, you can see all of my finished quilts on this page of my blog.

Thanks for stopping by! You can return to Whims and Fancies to see more trunk shows right here. If you want to link up with your own trunk show, don't delay. The party is over on November 20th.