Convergence quilt

My sisters and I attended a Ricky Timms seminar in Cedar Rapids.  He showed us how to make a convergence quilt.  Here the strips are all ready to be sewn together in the final step.

Deciding how to border it.

Think I will go with the black border as it makes the colors pop.

My sister

multicultural student quilt

 When I was still teaching I co-sponsored a multicultural group that met once a week in the mornings and the students made quilt blocks representing all of the cultures in the United States.  It turned out to be a pretty wild quilt.  It was quilted by another teacher on a long arm and is hung in the school library.  My square is on the bottom next to cookie monster and is supposed to represent a Dutch heritage.  (Actually my families were from England and Alsace-Lorraine. )

Hand dyed fabrics

 I went to the Cordova Library to learn how to dye my own fabric.  I mixed 30 different colors using a chart giving proportions for 3 different colors.

The light and dark aren't light and shadows but color variations within the fabric.

Boy's quilt

Huxley is getting sooo long legged, he needed a twin sized quilt.  I found this panel at a Fiber Arts meeting I think.  Someone was parting with it for a dollar or two and Huxley loves trains.

The panel was not big enough for a quilt, so I added a border I purchased with all types of vehicles on it.

Not quite enough red fabric, so I added blue to top and bottom.

I picked up this fabric as he loves construction equipment as much as he loves trains.

I also picked up a complementary fabric with cartoon type construction equipment.

I bordered those blocks with blue and yellow because his bedroom had blue walls.

I machine appliqued his name on top of the quilt with a blanket stitch in blue.

My gracious and talented sister, Terri, used her long arm to meander around the blocks.  In the center she designed a spiral with cogs on the outside.

Not sure which side he will choose as the top.

Quilt Rest Stop on I-80 East

Traveling on I-80 West to East across the state of Iowa, you will find some pretty unique rest stops.  My favorite is in Eastern Iowa between the exits for Tipton and Wilton.  It is dedicated to quilts.

Here is a photo of the outside wall.

A close up of the wall shows needle and thread design on the bricks below the quilt squares.

This is a shot of the floors inside the doors.

You should stop there if you get a chance ;)\

Yipes Stripes!

I try to avoid sewing with stripes.  I dread the thought of trying to carefully match them all up so they look good.  BUT, our quilt guild was holding a class called "Making stripes work for you."  I was intrigued by the sample the instructor had made, so I bit the bullet and signed up.

Unfortunately, my relatives decided to have a birthday party that Saturday and I would only be able to stay for a couple hours.  In that couple of hours the instructor passed out a detailed step by step instruction sheet and showed us how to make 2 different types of blocks.

I went home determined to try this.  The following weekend this is what I accomplished:

This was one of the techniques we were shown.  I always wondered how quilters made it look like things overlapped...  Cool!

The other technique makes Xes and O's.  You can see my original fabric up at the top of the photo.

I found a pond scene that had similar colors to my fabric and thought that might make a good background for my stripes.   No.

 I settled for a light green background fabric and this arrangement of my blocks.  I backed it and binded it with the same background fabric.

It is a table topper for an antique table in my living room.

Log Cabin Heart Quilt

Love log cabin quilts, but had never done an offset block.  I found a pattern online for an offset log cabin heart quilt.  Just the perfect size for my Granddaughter, Juniper.

The beginning of the blocks with thin greens.  I had plenty of greens and pinks in my stash, just needed to buy a couple more greens to finish it.

I completed the heart, but it needed to be a little larger.

I added 3 little hearts to one side and it worked great.

I backed it with a light pink minky fabric that is nice and soft.

When June saw the finished quilt she smiled and said, "Pretty!"