Oral Interp & Debate Mini Wall Hangins.

During the '04-'05 school year I started an Oral Interp. and Debate team at HCHS I made these little wall hangings at the end of the season for each of the girls. They have all since graduated from high school and some are ready to or have already graduated from college. I still have great memories of teaching these six students.

Neil's Quilted Wall Hanging

Since I made a wall hanging for Joan, I didn't want to leave out Neil. I made this wall hanging using Mt. Rushmore fabric. I made both of the wall hangings in April 2005.

Joan's Quilted Wall Hanging

Back in 2000 I started working summers at the Mt. Rushmore gift shop where I met a great older couple. Neil and Joan became good friends, adopting me as their granddaughter. During the time my mom was going through treatments for breast cancer, Joan was too, so I made this wall hanging for her.

Anniversary Quilt

In October 2004 my parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. It just happened to coincide with the auction sale of my Great-Great Uncle Hans. So we had a ton of family gathered for the sale. We all went out to the steakhouse the night before so we could catch up. We surprised my parents with a cake and cards. I had everyone sign a 4 1/2" block and I planned to put them into a quilt. In Jan. 2005 I finally got around to making them into a quilt. I used a thread spool pattern and blue and yellow since those were my parents wedding colors. It's about 36x45 wall hanging. I don't recommend doing the mitered corners on every block for one of your first quilts. It was a pain in the rear and I did a terrible job of piecing. I quilted it with hearts that I was going to free motion, but they looked horrible, so I drew them on and used the walking foot to quilt around each heart.

Carrying Case

Back in the day I used a lot of my mom's patterns because they were cool and I was teaching so funds were limited. I used scraps from my purple quilt to make this carrying case for my sewing supplies. Since I had my new 3050, I was really into using decorative stitches. My favorite being the heart. This one has a zipper all the way along with a binding too, so it was a bit challenging, but I used it a lot and loved it. I've since retired it and started using the great bag I got from Jill, but it's still in use for my hardanger projects. It's great for taking with me in the car and keeps my entire project together. It's about 8x10 when folded up.

Busy weekend

I've been busy this weekend, but I only have one finish to show for it. Thursday night I sewed with the girls at the store. Jen had sent me some beautiful fat quarters a couple months ago and I was scared to cut into them. They were so beautiful. I finally found a pattern for a bag called My Mom and Me. I cut the entire bag out and started sewing. I got the sides done before I had to quit for the night.



Friday I went out with my co-workers for an afternoon meeting. It was really nice to get to know them and discuss some of the issues we are dealing with. Paul and I went to supper and then to Cabela's to pick up his new hunting jacket. He was so excited since he had gotten several gift certificates to use toward it. This will be his first year deer hunting and my brother and him are taking a weeks vacation. Mom and I are going to enjoy a Hunters Widow weekend of quilting!

I came home and made a quick purse. It's from the magazine Quilts & Gifts by BHG. It went together in under two hours and it's the perfect small size purse. I used some leftover fabric from my Miranda bags that was already quilted, but it doesn't call for it to be quilted, so it sews up quick.


Sat. I worked all day and was completely exhausted when I got home, but I really wanted a new checkbook cover and wonder wallet. I used some more of my leftover fabric and made a wallet, a card holder, and a checkbook cover. These went together in under an hour.

Sunday morning I was up early and went with Joan and my mom to a new quilt shop in the area. It was a small town show with wonderful customer service and a nice selection. I picked out the purple on the left for my Crown Royal quilts as well as a piece of black. Then I picked up the lavendar. It's one of my favorite prints, so I'll find some use for it.

When I got home I helped my MIL put the binding on her quilt. I'm so proud of her for finishing it in only a month! Now on to our next project together.
While she was sewing, I quilted my two wall hangings. I did my smallest stipple so far on the wall hanging for the living room. It turned out pretty nice and I'm working on the binding at work.


Then I quilted the wall hanging for my office. I tried to do a heart pattern on the borders. It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. It turned out okay, so I left it. I did loops in the center. I tried doing about 3" across and then back the bottom 3" and it worked really well. I was able to sew the bindings on last night and thought I was doing pretty well with the time, but it was close to 11, so I went to bed.



Tonight I relaxed and did a bit of hand sewing. I've been doing a lot of filing at work, so my wrists are pretty sore every night.
I talked to my brother last night and the hunters they pheasant hunt with brought me over 100 more Crown Royal bags, so I'm ready to get started on the boys quilts. They are going to be so cool!
My goals for this week include finishing the Charm Tote, starting the Crown Royal quilts, and finishing the back for my Happy Hour Quilt.

My favorite quilt I've made!

This is probably my favorite quilt. I made this my first year teaching and completed it in January 2005. It has a variety of purple hearts and I bought all the fabrics at the LQS, including the white background. I paid to have it machine quilted by Lesa of Wall. It's the only one I have ever paid to have quilted for me. It's absolutely beautiful and the quilting in it is little hearts and stars. My biggest mistake/regret was putting lavendar broadcloth on the back of it. I was trying to save money and in the end that's the worst part of the quilt and I wish I hadn't scrimped. This quilt hung in the TSC booth at the Stock Show in 2005, so a lot of people were able to see this quilt. I hung this on the quilt rack at our wedding reception as I thought it was appropriate. We had several pictures taken with this as the back drop. Once Paul gets my quilt rack done I'll hang this until my wedding quilt is done. I won't leave this one on the top of the bed because I don't want Missy laying on it.

4-H Quilt

This quilt was made for a very close friend of mine. She commissioned me to make it shortly after she got married. She ordered the 4-H clover fabric online and it was completely perfect for this quilt as it was all her old 4-H t-shirts. She was in to 4-H as big as I was, only she was in MN. We met in college and both were in Collegiate 4-H. I ended up making the quilt, two pillowcases, and the two throw pillows that I had picked up from Joann's that were 4-H related. I was going to mail them to her, but my grandma's aunt died and I ended up traveling with my grandparents to MN and we met up with my friend so I could hand them off and not have to pay shipping. It's about a twin size. Grandma and mom helped me tie this one as well with a green yarn. This was in my pre-quilting days.

Wedding Present

For my college graduation I received a Brother sewing machine from my grandpa and grandma, aunt & uncle, and uncle. It was seriously the best gift I could have received at the time. I spent a lot of time sewing fleece blankets in early 2003 when I was working as a substitute teacher. During the summer of 2003 I made this wall hanging for my friends who were getting married. Their wedding color was periwinkle and it was really difficult to find fabric that color. I added buttons to represent their interests.

My first commission quilt - my 4th quilt

This was my first commission quilt. I had shown my t-shirt quilt at the fair and a lady had seen it. She wanted to have her running shirts made into a quilt. I spent my breaks during my sophomore year making this quilt for her. I actually purchased my first three tools while making this quilt. A fiskers mat, rotary cutter, and June Taylor square up. I still have those three tools as a reminder of my start, but I've definately replaced them mulitple times since then. I cut out all the t-shirts in my dorm room on my little desk!

She still tells me every time she sees me that she loves her quilt. Again I used the burp method and tied the quilt. I actually planned and figured out sashing for this quilt.

Second Class

My second class was far more of a challenge than any beginner quilter should ever endure! It was the same weekend as the first, an all day Sunday class at the Badlands Quilters Escape Retreat. Mom and I were taking this one together too. It was a flag floating in the air. You could make it with a cross in the center or not. I chose not to put the cross in the center as I thought that was too hard. (Mom didn't finish hers). We cut out all these little pieces and then turned them under and appliqued them to the background. Then using a free motion foot, I went around each of the red pieces free motion stitching. It was a pain in the neck! I know the biggest lesson I learned from the teacher (I think her name was Ann from Pierre), was how to make binding. She showed us how to make the diagonal, sew to the back and wrap to the front. I've gotten tons better, but she truly helped me learn how to do binding and make it look nice without having to hand sew. Had I not learned this. I may never have started quilting or at least finishing as much as I have. This one is huge... about 45x55, but I do hang it in my office in Nov., May, July, & Sept.

First Quilt Class

My first quilt class was at the Badlands Quilters Retreat in March 2000. I borrowed Grandma Elaine's sewing machine and mom and I were taking this class together. I went to Sioux Falls to Joann Fabrics and bought fabrics that all had the 4-H theme since I was in Collegiate 4-H. Mom had just given me the requirements for yardage, but I didn't know what we were making. It was the first weekend of Spring Break and I headed home from Brookings in a terrible snow storm. I got to Pierre (about 90 miles from home) and my car broke down. Luckily my aunt and uncle live there and they came to my rescue. I stayed with them until my dad and his other brother could come get my car working the next morning. I didn't get back to Philip until noon on Sat. and the class was half over. My dad took me to Wall and I spent the rest of the day cutting. I didn't even get to sew! Luckily for me mom had also taken the class so she was able to show me what I needed to do while I was home for Spring Break. I still have the pattern, but have never made it again. I don't remember what it was called, but I remember it was a challenge to get the blocks in the right spots. I had everything marked with A,B,C,D. I don't even remember the teachers name who taught this as I was so mad at missing the first half of the day.

MIL First Quilt

Last night I quilted my MIL's first quilt. It's a pattern called Jungle Fever and she had a kit to make it. It was basically a layer cake of 30 10" squares. All the fabrics are Asian prints which she really loves. The pattern is really simple and she was able to get it done with out many problems. It turned out to be about a throw size 50"x58", so it'll be great to wrap up in this winter and watch TV.

Here's a couple close ups of the quilting. I did a meander all over it.


The block above and the block below are her favorites, because of the way she was able to place the cuts for the blocks. I helped her make one set of blocks and then she made all the others without my help. This was practice for the quilt we plan to make together for her this winter. It's a queen size, so it may take us a while.

This is the backing fabric. It matches a couple of the blocks in the quilt and was on the $5 a yard sale, so we got six yards of it. She has enough to make another quilt backing and pillowcases. She loves this fabric. Hopefully tomorrow night she'll get the binding on and the quilt will be done.

Two wall hangings from one

Tonight I got a lot accomplished I quilted my MIL's quilt and then set to work making two wall hangings out of the blocks I made for the living room quilt. I really liked the way it turned out, but it was way too big. This is what it looked like when I had it together on Sun. night. It was 45" square and too big for our wall space. So I took it all apart.

Tonight I turned it in to this: A wall hanging for my office at work. I love the purple and multi color and didn't want much of the really dark blue in it.

And this: The one for the living room. It's about 28" square now and will work great in that space. I used the dark multi and it turned out grea since it blends better with our furniture. I don't care for the really dark block, but that was Paul's favorite, so I left it in.

My first quilt

Last night I was bored aka waiting for the news to come on, so I uploaded my old quilt pictures to webshots. I thought I might give you a virtual quilt show of the quilts I've made since I began quilting. Many of you have know me since July 07 when I started blogging about my quilting experiences, but I started quilting long before that!
I started sewing 20 years ago... I know it was a long time ago in my books at the ripe old age of 8! I was in 4-H and my mom was one of the leaders. She taught me how to sew on an old Singer Genie - probably the machine she'd had since college. It was that putred yellow color and she no longer has it - thank goodness! I sewed mostly clothes for myself, lots of dresses, and my favorite - a prom dress for my junior prom. Quilting wasn't big back then. Mom taught me so much even though I was the procrastinator and was sewing the night before county fair or fashion revue.
I didn't sew a whole lot in high school, just my required 3 projects for fair each year. I was too busy in Volleyball, FHA, 4-H, annual staff, oral interp, one act play, band, chorus, cheerleading, and a gazillion other activities. I was from a small town where there was one high school and 60 students in my class and we were the largest class! Everyone was involved in everything they were interested in.
After high school I went to SDSU. I was home on Native American Day holiday weekend (that's the SD holiday instead of Columbus Day) my first time home from college and I decided I had way too many t-shirts and I wanted to preserve them. I decided to make a quilt. I thought it would be easy, just cut them up and sew them together. Boy was I ever wrong! Mom and I found a purple flannel and got a lot of it. Yes I loved purple clear back then! I made the shirts into rows and sewed one sashing strip between them. I cut the shirts down to different size rows and it really has no direction or organization whatsoever. There are little pieces of the sleeve that were written on, so I put fabric around them, so they could be added in. There are little front squares from t-shirts. I can tell what each of them mean to this day, but it's so not very well done. First off I shouldn't have used flannel. It weighs a ton! The purple is great, but the plaid not so much. I had so many shirts that it's a king size. I didn't even know what quilting meant then, so I sewed around the edge, burped it, and then put a decorative stitching around the edge. I took it to Grandma's house and mom and her helped me tie the poor thing. It's tied with yarn. I didn't finish it until the summer after my freshman year of college. I worked on it on all the holiday breaks - Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Spring break. I ened up using it a ton in college as I folded it in half and it fit perfectly on my twin bed throughout college and kept me warm in Brookings. In the dead of winter I still pull it out as it's very heavy and warm.





I will always remember this as my start into quilting, but my next two projects are what I consider as the times I really truly started quilting. Ten years later I'm still quilting, but have taken it to the next level. I'm still glad I have this to remember my quilting experience.