Winter Storm Becomes Joan's own Quilting Retreat

While it's still early in 2014 West Lafayette, IN has already been hit with a major snow storm and record cold temperatures. I fell very fortunate that everything in my house continued to work just fine during the storm and cold (heat and electricity worked fine and no freezing of water pipes - yeah). When Purdue closed for 2 days I got the opportunity to have my own personal quilting retreat. It was wonderful.

Here are the 5 quilts that I quilted on the long arm (4 of them were from tops that were previously pieced and 1 was "built from scratch") since the first of the year.

This one is for my cousin Jeff's new baby boy. I pieced the top while in Saskatoon over the holidays so it was ready to get loaded on the long arm as soon as I got back.

These next two quilts were also ones where the tops were previously pieced. Liz and I pieced two aqua quilts (inspired by a cover photo from Fons and Porters a couple of years ago). I had previously quilted her quilt so the storm provided the opportunity for my quilt to get done.

I pieced three quilts like this one a year and a half ago. They were for Liz and Crystal to recognize the fun times at the lake and for me. I got the quilts for Liz and Crystal quilted before my renovations, and so the storm was that opportunity for my quilt to get done.

After getting three tops quilted (and binding all completed) I decided it was time to make a baby quilt for Courtney and Chris who live in Vancouver. The saying that "you might need your stash for a stormy day" was really true this time. it was no problem that I could not get out of my cul de sac. I had all the fabrics I needed to complete this wonderful quilt. It was fun to discover fabrics in my stash. The fabric with colorful snakes on the black background was fabric I had used to make a shorts outfit for Courtney's brother, Devon, many years ago. The light fabric on the inner border was fabric I used to make an outfit (If I recall correctly it was a skirt and vest) for Courtney and her sister at that same time. 

Mixed in amongst the colorful snakes are 9-patch blocks with purple blocks coordinating with other fun  kids prints - so the baby and his parents can play "I spy" with the quilt.

The 5th quilt was another top that I had previously pieced. This one was made with our quilt guild as a charity quilt in a program called the 1600 race. it is made with 2 1/2 in strips that are pieced together lengthwise (a whole jelly roll can be used and that makes 1600 inches). In my case I used up end pieces from my fabric stash - which certainly created a "mixed" effect. I also used up flannel pieces for the back of it - so it is nice and cozy.

Baby Quilts

During the fall months I made several baby quilts for colleagues at work, as well as for a charity auction.

This Alphabet quilt was made for a colleague who had a baby boy in November 2013. The sashing fabric was a cute tumbling blocks print with the alphabet letters again.

These two quilts were made for the auction that AWBO (Association of Women Business Owners) had in December. The proceeds went to Carey Home for Girls in Lafayette, IN.  It was great to use fabrics from my stash. By packaging them with a couple of Beanie Babies (that friends have collected for me from garage sales:)) they were popular items at the auction.

This one started with a section of Mother Goose Fabric that I coordinated with the borders.

This one was made with flannel squares and rectangles. I had some left over pieces of the flannel with the lions and animals that became the "theme" pieces.

This cute Dinosaur panel was a great starting point for a wonderful quilt for a new Baby Boy, born to one of my colleagues.

This time the panel was out of flannel, and combining it with the yellow and purple borders made a soft quilt for a new Baby Girl, born to one of my colleagues.