Myrtle and Our Little Red Schoolhouse Quilts

Been quite some time since I've posted a quilting project. Longarm is still in action, but lately, since last August of 2015. Myrtle McGinty and I have been working on our Little Red Schoolhouse Quilts. We've each made one. They are alike...I like to think of them as Sisters Quilts.

Houses and Wreaths

We cut and machine pieced the houses. Sewed the blocks together with setting squares, then marked the quilt top for hand quilting. Yes, you heard rightly...HAND QUILTING!

The quilt measures approximately 70x82.  The quilting is overall diagonal lines with feathered wreaths in the setting squares.

Myrtle showing the fence rail border 

We designed a fence rail border that was inspired by an antique quilt we saw. We pieced the border with one inch strips and appliqued the fence posts over the border "railing."

At the rate we are quilting our individual quilts we think we'll be done February 2017...we're aiming for Valentines Day!

Starting this quilt for 2013. It's a Flying Crow Block that I discovered via an article by Betty Neff in Quilters Newsletter Dec/Jan 2013 issue. She mentiones that the block is from the 1850's and that she has only found seven or eight quilts using the block. She first discovered it in the book Lest I Shall Be Forgotten (Goschenhoppen Historians, 1993).

Here's my first block:

I plan to make 20-12" blocks for a full sized quilt using my 1800's reproduction fabrics. The original quilt design by Betty Neff was titled Cinnamon and Cider and was made using 6" blocks with a 9 block setting for a wallhanging. Lovely quilt, lovely inspiration.

 Beautiful log cabin style quilt by Susan Moore. Topstitching is my own custom Freehand Leaf done in an edge to edge. I let the fabric inspire the leaf and swirl design.

Pinwheel quilted with spirals

My latest: my Grandson's Blue Pinwheel quilt and a ribbon from the Sonoma Fair to boot :) The topstitching is my own freehand spiral design with a  crazy daisy in the border.

Been a while since I've uploaded any photos to my quilt blog. I am terrible about getting my pictures taken. However, this is a darling little quilt if I do say so myself that I made for my granddaughter, SG. I'm doing a lot more freehand quilting now and it is fun! The pattern I used was inspired by the flower on the fabric.

This is the front of Jeannie's Aboriginal design quilt. I designed the quilt myself, using a fussy cut center panel from one of the Australian fabric lines.

Here is the back:

....and a close up of some of the new to me freehand design ideas inspired by the fabric. The only unfortunate thing about the quilting on this quilt was the fact that the quilting was lost in the busy fabric.

Soleil's Quilt by Alexandrea

This is a quilt that Alex made for Nicole's daughter Soleil. I did some of my best freemotion quilting on this quilt if I do say so meself :)

I love the prints in this quilt.