An {Overflowing} Trunk Show

Love the trunk show over at Whims and Fancies so much! Have you seen it yet? I'm still working my way through all the entries, but enjoying the show tremendously. I'm almost too late for the party myself, but decided to be very indulgent {it's a long post} and show off a couple several of my favorite quilts too.

The sawtooth quilt was made out of blocks given to me by friends I was moving away from. They made me the simple looking blue and brown stars and then several years later I added the red stars. It made all the difference with bringing the quilt to life when I added the red! It took a long time to come up with the best fabrics to set them off with, but once it happened I was absolutely delighted with the result. It drapes across one of my living room chairs year around and still feels very special to me.

Sawtooth Stars of Friendship

This baby quilt was a result of me experimenting with a fat quarter bundle of solids. Ach! but that was difficult for me. Finally had to incorporate a tiny bit of a print in order to move forward, but felt absolutely no remorse in breaking the 'all solids' rule. It had to be done! And it's probably one of my most 'modern' looking quilts yet and definitely my favorite baby quilt I've ever finished.

Lil' Retro Baby

Love, love, love how this scrappy log cabin quilt turned out! All the blocks were made directly out of my scrap bin, my first attempt at a truly scrap attack sort of quilt. I finished it up with simple borders and gave it to my son while he was living in Oklahoma attending college. I felt that he needed a piece of home in his teeny tiny dorm and this fit the bill perfectly. The last time I saw this quilt, it was very well worn. Such a compliment to momma!

Scrappy Log Cabin

Dutch Comfort was started during a very 'down' time in our life. I wanted to make something that was cozy, warm and comforting. I used a Blackbird Design block pattern for the middle and then sort of copied the Dutch look for the rest, using different colors of course! I've always had a very fond spot in my heart for this quilt. It feels so good to see it being used.

Dutch Comfort

Ahh... This basket quilt. Such a long project for me! Five years from start to finish, but well worth the time and effort involved. I thought it was a lunatic sort of project for me to start, but was immensely proud of myself for actually getting it finished. Wowsers, long term quilts take a different mentality altogether! But who cares how long something like this takes to make? Now it will be enjoyed by our family forever!

Worry Baskets

This Broken Dishes quilt was such a fun quilt to make. I was wanting to make this very old fashioned block, but experiment with a blend of modern to reproduction fabrics all in the same quilt. I'm kind of funny that way. Always pushing the boundaries of what goes with what even when I'm thinking it couldn't possibly come out all right in the end! I ended up finishing this for my oldest daughters senior graduation and I don't think it's left her bed yet.

Broken Dishes Part Deux

Quarter Circles has got to be one of my most favorite of all my favorite quilts. I wanted to play with a very low-volume sort of quilt, circles and also that lovely, sparky, red thing that the Netherland quilters seem to be so accomplished with. Honestly, this quilt has been on my bed longer than any other quilt I've made. It finally got shoved off after my very last quilt finish.

Quarter Circles

Yay for Happy Flowers! This one just sort of told me how it wanted to be started and put together. I love seeing this sweet little quilt draped over a rocker in the corner of my bedroom--it just makes me happy. I've almost given it away a couple times but always come to my senses and bite my tongue.

Happy Flowers

Most people don't understand my almost obsessive love for Vintage Reproduction, but this quilt was just a fantastic experience for me. I saw a picture of an antique quilt, hung it on my wall for a couple years and then one day out of the blue thought 'I can make this!'. Okay, it's not exactly the same colors--I changed that a bit here and there. But the pattern is very, very close {except for the center applique} and I had to draw, measure and plan that all by my lonesome. Loooove this quilt so much because it was exciting and fun and just felt so creative. Even though I was basically copying! huh. Quilters are such odd creatures....

Vintage Reproduction

Plain Jane was another one of those basket quilts that just call to me with a sirens song. It started out with the cake stand blocks that just wanted to be made. Then it eventually progressed to a finished quilt that melted my heart--Plain Jane proving that she wasn't so 'plain' after all! I will probably never, ever get enough of basket quilts. Enough said.

Plain Jane

All Grayed Down. A quilt that started out because I wanted to use up some of my gray fabrics that were collecting dust. Then it turned into a personal challenge to dig deep into the bottom of my stash totes and use other fabrics that I considered old and perhaps ugly enough to be unusable. Wowsers did this quilt blossom. I learned so very much during the making of this quilt!

All Grayed Down

This was a quilt I made for my brother a few months before he died. It still makes me sad to think of him, but I'm so very glad I got it done in time for him to actually use it. He always complained that quilts were never made properly for his tall frame and so I made sure this one could be tucked under his chin, wrapped around his feet and plenty wide enough for him to roll up in if he wanted to. I wanted it to be happy enough for him to smile occasionally, but not so cheesy he didn't want it in the same room. I cried a lot of tears while finishing this one up and definitely didn't have time to do much hand quilting except on the borders.

Rejoice Evermore

This quilt was a Pat Sloan pattern that reached out and demanded to be made. I changed the colors a bit from the original plan, but there wasn't any other changes to be made. Love the value changes in the yellow background fabrics especially. I gave this quilt to my sister after their house burnt down last year. My daughters thought I was nuts because 'what was there to be thankful about?' Oh you know... life, good health, a loving family and the fact that sometimes you are strong enough to survive whether you know it or not? Mostly I just hoped it would be the comforting sort of quilt to wrap up in and have a good cry, and then remember the good things too. It's really hard to give away certain quilts, but easy when you know they might need it more than you.

Be Thankful

And now I'm being sappy and weird. Thanks for sticking with my trunk show till the end {if you have!} and go check out those other great trunk shows here! It takes dedication and a great love of quilting to make a quilt start to finish. All of us have quilts to be proud of for one reason or another!

*On another note, if you're still with me on the Quilty 365, there is something you really should look at. Over at Crazy Mom Quilts, she is making a circle quilt that will give you a great idea of what our circle quilt could look like at the end of a year! Her quilt isn't a daily fabric journal like ours, but it's the same sort of pattern etc. How crazy is this? I'm sure I have seen the beginnings of her quilt before, but honestly never made the connection--circle quilt to circle quilt. I was thinking daily fabric choices, simple units, etc. etc. Gotta love quilting for the way inspiration flows, influences and changes with the advent of the Internet especially!