Choo Choo Train Quilt

I will be a great grandmother for the first time and the little sweet boy is due on my 83rd birthday, which is so nice to think about but I will be happy whenever he arrives.  This is a quilt I made for him - his great grandpa worked for the Santa Fe and over all our married life had an HO model railroad layout.  When we were living in the Kansas City area, the layout was very big and our first granddaughter (the pregnant one) used to be in the basement with her grandpa playing trains.  I knew the minute I saw this that I would make it.  I had drafted up the pattern as this was from a special Fons and Porter magazine of baby quilts which was several years old and I could not find it.  Before I started the piece, however, one of the girls in the quilt guild pulled this out of the magazines brought in for our quilt show bazaar so, presto, I had the complete pattern.  I did, however, add the smoke which I thought the engine needed.

Closeups of some of the rolling stock on this little railroad.

Norah and her grandpa playing train.

She stands by the little town at the end of the layout.  The little church had a cemetery behind it.  My husband built all the little buildings from kits.  He so loved doing that.  I'm sure you can see why the train quilt seemed perfect to me. (Click to enlarge)

Carol's Linda Star

A paper pieced star in a class taught by Linda, a member of our guild and an incredible paper piecer and designer.  One of my favorite wall hangings.

A Christmas Wallhanging

The pattern for this wallhanging came from Quiltmaker magazine two years ago.  I had most of the batiks in my stash.   This now hangs in my daughter's home at Christmas time.  A favorite of mine.  (Click to enlarge)

Small Wallhanging

Here is a small batik wallhanging I did several years ago from a pattern I found in Quilting Arts magazine.

I was just starting to do a little bit better in machine quilting.  This is raw edge applique and it turned out okay.  (Click to enlarge)  





Hitch Your Flowers to a Star

This is the quilt that is shown in my header - Hitch Your Flowers to a Star - that I finished in 1988.  It is machine satinstitched appliqued and hand quilted.  I found the idea in an old Quilt magazine that used a large star with an applique in each empty block.  The blocks are large - about 17 1/2 inches square - with a wide sashing and border that is quilted with a feather row 

The center of the quilt with a feather motif quilted on each point around the block.

 

More of the blocks in the quilt.  I quilted motifs in the centers of the designs that had a space.

In later years, I did the wallhanging over the bed from some of the leftover fabric that I still had and machine quilted it.  I have always loved this quilt and have had it on the bed for lots of years.  (Click to enlarge)

Really Old UFO

Some time in the early 80's, I found a pattern for a quilt in one of the few magazines devoted to quilting back then. It was in the style of "quilt as you go" which was championed by Georgia Bonesteel. You would make blocks or sections of quilts, quilt them, then assemble them afterwards. A good idea but a pain in the neck! I did one quilt that way and didn't get this one finished.

This is a good representation of what was available in the way of fabrics back then - small prints, calicoes, pin dots, etc. None of the gorgeous fabric we have now. And most of the backgrounds were plain. Still pretty, though.

This is one of the borders - I think I have one or two of them finished and the other two still need to be completed. Maybe someday someone will find this and think the old "antique" quilt would be fun to complete. I doubt if I ever will since I haven't by now. (Click to enlarge)

Challenge Quilts for the Guild

At the first meeting of each year, we are given a challenge to be ready for our yearly quilt show in the spring. This year it was Mother Goose, which is shown in a previous post.

The year before we each drew a playing card and had to do a wallhanging to depict that card.

This was another challenge in an earlier year and I think I called this one "Flying to the Fiesta" which referred to the subject of the challenge.

Can't remember the specific challenge but I did this wonky log cabin hanging. There were always so many fun, really cool wallhangings that the members came up with. Wonder what the one will be for this coming year? (Click to enlarge)