The Quilts of Gee's Bend

Windham Fabrics has come out with a line of fabric celebrating the quilts of Gee's Bend. They are gorgeous hand dyed cotton solids featuring amazing colors. Debby Kravotil has reproduced patterns from the Gee's Bend quilts featuring these fabrics. Currently there are four kits available from various sources:

This particular quilt is named "Lazy Gal Variation".... This beauty is named "Housetop Blue"....

this one, "Housetop 4 Block Variation"....

..and Strips & Strings.

I've heard that there may be more kits/patterns available this coming fall.

I was lucky enough to sit on the board of consultants when the Gee's Bends quilts came to The Cleveland Art Museum. It was an exciting time. We were able to meet and talk with the quilters, some of who were unforgettable characters.

It was a no brainer when it came to quilting these quilts. Having the museum catalog to fall back on for design ideas, I chose to use the most simple of quilt designs, not to take anything away from the quilts themselves.

I have purchased many of the fabrics from this line. As I had previously noted, they are hand dyed cottons with minor variations in their colors. In my area, they can be purchased at Anna's Sewing Center, located in North Olmsted.

I'm looking forward to see what the new patterns will look like. These quilts are great inspiration for those improvisational quilts many of us are working on. If you can get ahold of the museum catalog, it is another source of great inspiration.

Birds and Baskets

My sweet friend Nancy could be a one woman show. Her house is so warm and cozy. It is filled with quilts. The walls, the bed, the couch, everywhere. Most of the quilts she does are primitive, and she does a wondful job. She has a spot in her kitchen that she likes to change often. Below is the newest addition.

I love the challenge of quilting a quilt of this style, and I had a lot of fun with this one. Clouds, trees, sun flowers, and holly hocks in the background.

A Wall of Quilts

This is an original design by my friend Pam. Each "quilt" in this quilt was quilted differently. Some were done custom/heirloom, and others had edge to edge patterns.
You can almost imagine the reactions on the peoples faces at the bottom of the quilt. I think she did a great job!

Sis Boom Pow!!

Sweet Victoria, is very prolific quilter. She takes on lots projects, and gets them finished. She gets involved in making charity quilts for many causes, and finds very willing people to help her. These are the latest of her endeavors. They're all quilted, and are being shipped to her this afternoon. Go check out her site, you'll be amazed!

Thimbleberries 2010 Village Green

For all of you Thimbleberries fans out there, I have quilted two of the 2010 quilts. The name of the quilt is Village Green, and it comes in three colorways, Dawn, Dusk, and Midnight. I had to opportunity to quilt Dawn & Midnight.Mary chose to piece the Dawn..........

......and Sharon made Midnight.

Snowfall...and a quilt to go with it

This is what we've been dealing with since Friday. I live near Lake Erie and this area gets lake effect snow. We live 40 miles southwest of the lake, and got punched pretty good. Now the peeps closer to Cleveland, and parts east have received upwards of three feet of snow.

I started this quilt on a sewing weekend that some quilty friends and I go to every year. I just finished putting the binding on last night. My first 2101 finish! The quilt was inspired by Marit's quilt Check out her site, she does some pretty awesome quilts.

Have a great day......keep warm. We're supposed to have a break in the snow tomorrow, then more lake effect until Saturday. Another excuse to stay home and sew, (like we really need one! Ha!)

Happy New Year!! (and my first two deliveries of the year!

Pat made this beautiful stained glass wallhanging. I outlined all of the glass blocks, and fit feathers in the sashing. This was a fun quilt to do! As it was being quilted, I was looking at all of the different fabrics that Regi included, and found lots that I used when I was making quilts 20 years ago. It brought back memories of quilts from way back when, not to mention a couple of jumpers that I made for my daughter.

Speaking of making memories, it's a new year, and I plan on making lots of new memories with my kids. They are all getting older, (I'm not!!), and are starting to build lives of their own, and I don't think that I'm ready for this. My oldest will be graduating in May with a double masters. It only seems like yesterday.......