Sunday, July 27, 2008

It's Raining Quilts!

I shouldn't be on the computer right now, since a huge crash of thunder just shook the craft room, but I've been MIA on this blog for so long that I must carry on! Since I've written last, I've finished four quilts and many other handmade items, like belts, fabric covered buttons and pillows. Check out these at my flickr page.

The first quilt that I am happy to have finished is a scrappy quilt for my niece, Emma. She turned 7, and has always been a crafty little girl. She really appreciated the time and effort that a scrappy quilt takes. I really enjoyed making this quilt. As you may know, when you make a scrappy quilt (a TRUE scrappy quilt) you spend a lot of time going through your scraps and if you are like me, you can remember what piece of fabric went into each quilt. I was able to use fabric that went into many different quilts, including my first quilt, a quilt I made for my first daughter, quilts that I've made for close friends and family and quilts that I actually managed to keep for myself (a rarity). So, Emma's quilt is an important connection to all of these others. I like that!



The second quilt that I made was my first "made for sale" quilt. My sister was my first quilt customer. She asked me to make a quilt for a couple who is getting married, and the only guidelines that she gave me was, "keep it neutral." This quilt is what I came up with.



The other two quilts are tests of a pattern that I've created that I hope to get published in the next month and sell to quilt shops and make available on my etsy page. I hope you will check back for that. It is a fat-quarter friendly quilt pattern that is great for beginners and advanced quilts. I achieved two completely different looks with the same pattern and I'm really excited to see what other people come up with.

Hope you are making lots of "handmade items for everyday use."