Make It Monday 9/23/2013

Cake!

For friend and church choir member Beth M., who LOVES cake.

Cake themed fabrics

Original design

53" x 65"

Completed 9/21/2013

Close-up

After the first service at church yesterday morning I delivered Cake!, a quilt for friend and church choir member Beth M., who LOVES cake. I came up with the idea a few months ago and told friend and choir member Cheryl Y. I found a bunch of cake-related fabrics online and pinned them to a Pinterest board. I asked Cheryl to take a look. She liked one with cupcakes. (Beth likes cupcakes, too. I asked.) I liked a different cake print, and we both liked a fabric with lots of cake-related words.

I got a little of all three fabrics and created a design to look like a layer cake, complete with raspberry filling and pink frosting. Friend Meg S., and yes, another choir member, also knew about the quilt. I would Facebook message Cheryl and Meg with pictures of the quilt in progress. Friend, fellow quilter and yet another choir member Judy P. knew about the quilt; I would show her pictures on my phone. We were so sneaky!

Beth was very surprised and happy to get the quilt, just a couple of days after her birthday. Enjoy your cake quilt, Beth!

My next quilt will be a charity fundraiser. I'll be using a special fabric for it. Watch for details at the end of the week.

Debbie

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Bright side prompt #artjournal

Bright side prompt #artjournal, a photo by quilter4010 on Flickr.

Leftover packaging, bits of fabric from last quilt, rickrack, part of an earring.

WIP Wednesday 9/11/2013

Electric Quilt sketch

Main theme fabrics for cake-themed quilt

All fabrics for quilt top

First couple of nine patch blocks

Changed the design slightly from double four patch because the squares would have been very small.

Nine patch blocks plus plain blocks (cake words) laid out on design wall

My current project is a cake-themed quilt. With the help of my friend Cheryl Y., I chose three theme fabrics. I bought two online and I was able to find the third (cake-related words) locally. I even designed the quilt to look like a layer cake with raspberry filling and pink frosting.

All of the blocks have been pieced. The rest of the quilt top is made of strips. Should be quick!

Debbie

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WIP Wednesday 9/4/2013

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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