Out and About: A Quilt Adventure

Friday afternoon, my friend, Jim....you all have heard me mention him many times...well, he drove over to Searcy from Morrilton to pick up a carload of my quilts.  Well, it seemed like a carload to me!
He is doing a program on my quilts for the Arkansas Quilters Guild on Monday night in Little Rock.
He and my friend, Sharon, evidently cooked up this idea that seeing my quilts might make a good program and they talked me into letting them 'borrow' however many I would let go on an 'adventure.'
So, off they have gone.  (And, in case you are wondering...I was asked to go and observe the festivities, but I had to decline that invitation for reasons I'm not going into here...but rest assured, I'm sure I will get an earful from somebody on Tuesday!!! Probably and Jim and his shenanigans!)  I ended up sending twenty-three quilts....and so, today, decided I would show you a handful of them.

Now, none of these quilts are anywhere near new.  As you know, I haven't made a quilt in at least three years....but evidently, my friends at least, have not forgotten the ones I have made and I just chose some at random to send along.  You've seen these all on this blog before....but I hope YOU and the quilters on Monday night enjoy seeing them 'one more time.'  All are handquilted....as I am a dinosaur when it comes to quilting...still preferring to do them all by hand...well, except this Log Cabin which was pieced on the machine...and I DO love Log Cabin quilts!  My son chose the setting for this one, and named it "Virtual Log Cabin."

This one is my silk ribbon embroidered crazy quilt.  It took me nine months to design and make it...my favorite thing - the basket of roses and something you can't see here....the border has beads quilted in it...they are barely visible even in person...but I know they are there!

I'm sure if you click to enlarge you can see more detail, but these photos aren't that good, really.

That favorite basket.                                                                                                 

 Here is a sampler quilt I made for a week long class I taught at the Ozark Folk School in Mountain View, Arkansas, one year.  I wanted to make a quilt modeled after a cross-stitch sampler, only in embroidery and applique.  It's about two feet square.  (By the way, these photos were taken before the quilt was finished, so you see them in various stages of completion.)

I love the chickens.  A story:  in 'real' life, I am terrified of chickens.  I was attacked by a large white rooster when I was three and still have scars.....I'm ok as long as they are in front of me where I can see them...but I don't trust the ones behind me or to the side.  Weird, yes, but true!  These little appliqued and embroidered ones I can live with!

This quilt I made for a personal challenge.  I had to use only fabrics, threads and embellishments I already owned...I was to only use what I had.  Scraps from other quilts, etc.  It's one of my favorites.

 I used a permanent pen to draw the flower centers....a big vintage button on the large flower center.

This is the first quilt I ever made using my own design......so long ago.  My friend, Mary, hand-dyed the sky and the blue/teal colors.  My favorite thing about this quilt (other than Mary's fabrics, is the pinafore.....it has a pocket you can actually put something in!

It's called "Memories of Laura" as I meant it to remind me of Laura on the "Little House on the Prairie" tv show.

 I wanted this quilt to look vintage.  I used nine vintage blocks, taken apart and re-pieced, with a new handle added.   And, I wanted lots of quilting on it....as I like to do.  Never using much white fabric, when it was done...it was TOO bright for me....so I dyed it in my washing machine....on advice of a friend.  While it did tone it down a bit....it was not an over-all toning down, but kind of splotchy....which I didn't like.   Oh, well, live and learn!!!  I did manage to get a lot of quilting on it, however!

See in this lower right corner....the background changes color a bit.  I really did like the quilting though.

I embroidered a little design on the bottom of each basket.  Now, I really DID like that!

And, so, here we are.....twenty-three quilts in these bags in the back of my little car.  I took them to the downtown studio, where Jim picked them up and off they went on their little adventure.  What do you think they will say when they get home? 

Sure hope you all enjoyed seeing these....hope to post something completely different in a few days...meantime....stay safe, warm and cozy and have some FUN!  pat