A Tropical Medley
For newly retired co-worker and friend Judy O., who loves the tropics and frequently dresses in island wear.
Medley relates to the assortment of theme prints, as well as to Judy's musical talent as a singer.
Island, ocean and music themed fabrics from stash
Original design
58" square
Completed 8/29/2013
Mutual co-worker and friend Lynne K. helped me to choose the prints shown above, all from stash.
A few days later I found this print, which I knew needed to be the "star" of the quilt.
Electric Quilt sketch
Center panel represents the island print seen just above
Organized Chaos sketch
Each pastel color stands for a pile of fabric (see the piles a few photos back).
First couple of blocks
Blocks finished, laid out on design wall
Sewed a few blocks together to determine the dimensions of the island print.
Large center block completed with border
Quilt top in three vertical sections
Main part of quilt top sewn together
Music themed print, which I have used in several quilts for fellow musicians.
Partial view of the pieced back
I like the light aqua. It is the color of water and is calm and cool compared to the bright front of the quilt.
Wide borders attached to complete the quilt top
Again, the finished quilt.
Close-up
Back
Close-up of the back
Enjoy your quilt and retirement, Judy!
Speaking of retirement, there are lots of people in my office who will retire within the next year or so. I make quilts for most of the retirees, although I miss a person now and then. One of the people coming up is my friend Edna, who will retire this coming January. I got the idea to do a signature quilt for Edna and got her to help me unawares. One day I handed her a list of employees and asked her to highlight the ones that she has worked with in the two positions she's held in the office. She highlighted 67 people!
My plan is to create a dozen or so blocks at a time, then pass them around to employees to sign. I'd like to do all of the signature blocks with scraps and stash, in a color scheme of jewel tones and white. I've already collected two signatures from recent retirees Judy O. (who received the quilt in this post) and Cherish V., who received Follow Your Dreams in a couple of months ago. Only 65 blocks/signatures to go! It will take a while to distribute and collect that many blocks, so I plan to get started pretty soon.
Blocks signed by recent retirees Cherish and Judy
The next quilt I'll be working on actively is a cake-themed quilt for church choir member Beth M., who loves cake. Actually, love isn't a strong enough word. Mutual friend and church choir member Cheryl Y. reviewed a collection of cake fabric images and together we chose a couple.
Cheryl's favorite
My favorite
I ordered a half yard of each of the two fabrics above, and both arrived last week. I've come up with a design for a horizontal style quilt that looks like a five-layer cake with filling (probably red) between each layer and frosting (probably pink) all around. I know there isn't frosting on the bottom of a real cake but the quilt would look weird without a bottom border. Humor me.
Beth's birthday is coming up this month. I have one more fabric to pick up locally, which has cake-related words on it. I'll get the fabric on Friday, then start working on the quilt. Beth is going to love it!
Debbie
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