More Volunteers for the Harvest of Love Quilt Project

Linda Kowalski and Judy Booth also donated their sewing skills to the wonderful quilt project along with 35 other wonderful people... Remember you can help too with a lap or baby sized quilt or even a contribution of fabric, batting , thread, or money. And remember I invited you to come along next year!!!

Harvest of Love Quilt Project

Saturday I went to PrairieduChein, Wisconsin to sew lap quilts for "Harvest of Love" for the Linus Project to provide quilts for those in need. We sewed more than 85 lap quilts for the Project with the help of about 35 people! Every year we get more... volunteers and make more quilts!!! It a fantastic way to spend a Saturday sewing for others.... Some of the quilts stay in the county for the Battered Women's shelter and the Fire departments and their Chrsitmas for Families Program. The rest of them are sent to the LaCrosse Linus Quilts to be distibuted in Southwestern Wisconsin. They started Harvest of Love about seven years ago. So far I have only missed one year. If you are interested in joining me next year or would like to make a simple lap quilt or two at home and send it onto the Linus Project let me know and I help you get it there. Helping others is good for your heart.... that's why they call it Harvest of Love....

Baby Quilts!

In addition to my quilting business, I often get requests to make quilts, quite often baby quilts. So I designed a simple colorful quilt pattern that works great for baby quilts. It is kinda of a specialty, unique quilt pattern in that the blocks in the quilt are different each time you make it. The colorful pattern will be unique for each quilt. That is what makes the quilt pattern so cool. It is a one-of-a-kind, no one else will have a baby quilt like it!
More information and pictures of one of the baby quilts I have listed on ebay.
Also a whole page of pictures of the baby quilt that is listed on ebay on my website.

Friendship Quilter's Walk with Grace Donation Quilt

This is our Walk with Grace Donation Quilt for 2009 from the Friendship Quilter's in Richland Center. Each member was given a packet of black and white and red fabric from Linda Kowalski our president from June 2008 to June 2009. We then were given the pattern to make the block and then returned it to Linda. She then assembled the quilt and asked me to quilt it with an overall freestyle quilting. I used a Grey thread. It is on display at the Richland County Bank. It will go on the Walk with Grace Radio Auction in Richland Center on Monday, August 10, 2009. The radio station is WRCO 100.9 FM. A few close up pictures on my website... www.craftysewing.com --- the Quilts for a Cause -- Other Good Causes page.

Who won the 2009 Relay for Life Quilt?

Thank you to all who purchased chances to win the 2009 Relay for Life Quilt. The Quilt Raffle for the Fireside Team raised over $850. for the American Cancer Society. Pictures of the quilt and the drawing and the winner, Donna Abel are on the media gallery under Quilts for a Cause. Donna is on the left with Julie Nordeen on the right.

Relay for Life Fort Atkinson

Going to Fort Atkinson today to walk with my MOM in the Survivor's Walk. My Mom and I made a Quilt for the Relay for Life again this year and it has been on display in Fort Atkinson at the Fireside since November. They will sell more tickets at the Relay today and tomorrow to raise money the American Cancer Society. More photos on my website's media gallery.

Another Photo Quilt

A short time ago I posted about photo/memory quilts. I would like to share a personal project I completed for my Mom. She gave them as gifts to the Aunts and Uncles (my Late Father's brothers and sisters). The quilted wall hangings were made from a photo T-shirt from a family reunion from about 15 years ago in Bemidji, MN. We made them in several color themes. At my Mom's 75th Birthday she shared them with all of my Dad's brothers and sisters (my aunts and uncles). To see more photos check out the media gallery, under Memory Quilts.

This is a wonderful way to preserve a T-shirt from a special event. It doesn't have to be a photo t-shirt. It can just be a favorite T-shirt.

A photo quilt

I am catching up on some posting and want to take the next couple of weeks to highlight some of quilted projects and quilts that I have worked on over this year. I don't have the capacity to post about every quilt I work on, therefore I aim to post things that I think might inspire your own creativity, like today's post!

This quilted wall hanging was a creative way to cherish and preserve memories using fabric photos! This was made by Thankful Sanftlefben. Thankful's daughter asked her to make this special memory wall hanging her in-law's anniversary celebration. She used dark and medium fabrics to create a shadow effect on the fabric which essentially framed each photo. The rose fabric was framed as one of the pictures to represent the roses from their wedding. I quilted on each frame with wiggle/squiggle lines and then the background with meandering leaves and swirls. I used three different thread colors to match each fabric. Using a double poly-batting makes the photos puff and not sag as there is no quilting on the photo (just on the frames). This way they stay smooth. For more pictures check out the Memory and T-shirt Quilts on the media gallery.

Newphew's Graduation Quilt

My nephew Spencer is graduating for High School on Sunday. I made him a water waves quilt as he is a swimmer -- oh and a musician and a runner; and an all round nice young man. He won a local 5 mile race on Friday!, which has competed in since he was in grade school.

I used the free "Warm Wishes" pattern, from the Better Homes and Garden site. I changed the center strip of the pattern to a wider piece as I had more of the black fabric and less of the other colors. I used a blue-green batik that has fish swimming in all directions. I chose a tie-dyed looking blue fabric for the back of the quilt. Using a variegated blue thread I proceeded to quilt waves through the entire quilt! I love the effect it created -- kind of a soothing feeling of comfort; hope that that is exactly how he will feel! I used Hobbs 80/20 Batting, a cotton and poly blend to keep you warm and cool at the same time.

More pictures of this quilt can be found on my website in the Media Gallery, under Examples - Waves.

"Don't Fence Me In" quilt on the front page of local paper

Our local newspaper, the Boscobel Dial, recently published a front page article about Linda Halpin's quilt patterns being published in the Quiltmaker Magazine (see previous post). Click on the image in order to read the article. I was so pleased with the article, and it makes me smile to be mentioned for my quilting work, which I just love to do! This rail fence quilt, which is a variation of the traditional rail fence design, was quilted with leaves and swirls that vine across the fence line.

Twitter

My daughter is helping me get connected to the online quilting communities, and therefore for those of you who are technologically advanced (I am working on it!:) you can now follow me on Twitter!!

A customer's quilt I quilted for a magazine

I am so proud to share with all of you, my very first mention in a professional quilting magazine, via Linda Halpin's beautiful quilt! The name of the quilt is “Don’t Fence Me In”. It is a split rail variation. It is called a 'bonus quilt' because it is a quilt made from the scraps from another quilt design by Linda called the "Northeast Quilt", aka Flying Geese Quilt.

I have been anxiously awaiting the print of this article for months. Now I finally have the pleasure of posting about Linda's quilt pattern and outstanding quilt which can be found in Quiltmaker Magazine's May/June 2009 Issue. 

I am so proud of Linda's work and although I have already told her I would like to congratulate her again on another creative quilt design. Furthermore, I am very honored that Linda chose me to work on this project with her. Working with Linda to determine the exact personalized quilting design for her quilt was only half the fun, because then I got to quilt it! I love to quilt leaves and swirls that vine through the quilt. They fill the open spaces of the quilt just perfectly, letting the tiny triangles stand on their own.

On Linda's quilt I stitched with a freestyle quilting method. This quilting technique incorporates various shapes and designs to accentuate the already fabulous fence design and fabrics of the "Don't Fence Me In" quilt. As you can see in these pictures, as well as the pictures I took here in my studio (which can also be found, soon, in the Photo Gallery under the folder "Don't Fence Me In" ), the delicate meandering of the leaves and swirls, as well as the squiggle lines in the rail fence highlight the tiny triangles of this quilt which are complemented by Linda's lovely design and color choices. 

See more of Linda's quilting designs and patterns at http://www.lindahalpin.com.

Two Color Ribbon Quilting

I used two thread colors for the ribbon quilting today and it looks incredible! I have used two thread colors before but did not get the same results (always seemed the ribbon quilting looked much better with the same thread color). But today was different because the color contrasts of the light color -- Zinnia on the dark fabric, and the dark Summer Berry shows up wonderfully on the light fabrics!!! Wow what a dramatic difference! I have posted a picture so you can see it too!! I will post more pictures next week so you can see the one color Ribbon Quilting too! Good night!!!

P.S. Check out the EXAMPLES page on my website for more ribbon quilting with a single color of thread on two baby quilts made with chenille fabrics and brushed cotton fabrics!

New Web Design

A New Web Design for my Website!!!

My brother, Mark is a web designer. He has created a NEW LOOK for my website. He is currently working on giving it a new look, including easier navigating around, quick search with a Google Site Search and all the menu bar items on the left side on each page for ease of moving from page to page.

In addition, I want my website to be visually pleasing ... like a Quilt Show or art gallery. This year I am taking MORE digital pictures of ALL the quilts I am quilting. Over the past 5 years and over 1000 quilts, I have taken digital pictures of many of the quilts I quilted --- but not all the quilts. I will be displaying the photos on my website and on my blog.

With my brother's creative visions, I foresee outstanding changes, thus' resulting in a delightful experience when visiting my website! http://www.craftysewing.com