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Jane’s Quilting Scrapbook My mother made lots of quilts when we were kids—mostly out of scraps from the clothing she sewed for us. We snuggled under them when winter’s chill was on our upstairs bedrooms. Later on, she started making quilts as more of a hobby. She liked to buy a stenciled quilt top and embroider it, sometimes in cross-stitch. I don’t know how many of these quilts she made altogether, but I’d guess at least a dozen queen-sized ones. I have three of them, and I know my sisters and brother each had at least one.
Mom with one of her quilts Yet, I never had much interest in making quilts. I appreciated her quilts but found the task too formidable to take on. Fast forward 30-some years. Retired and enjoying my retirement, I was looking for some hobby I might like to pursue. Needlework has always appealed to me. At one time I did a few crewel embroidery pieces and at least one needlepoint piece. They require mostly patience, not much talent, but I wasn’t interested in taking that up again. I get bored easily at repetitious tasks, so I didn’t want to learn to knit or crochet. I kept returning to the possibility that quilting might be something I would enjoy.
I went to a show of
Amish
Country Quilts & Crafts held at the Arizona State Fairgrounds and looked at the
masterpieces of the quilter’s art handcrafted by girls and women.
They are exquisite in their detail and workmanship. I bought a
small one, about 36 inches square, to hang as a piece of art in my
living room.
It was hand
quilted by Mary Beiler, an Old Order Amish woman from
Lancaster County, PA. It has inspired me ever since. My son
Dan made the shelf and quilt hanger for me.
I bought a book called Quilting for Beginners and chose the first, simplest quilt. I read carefully all the directions but soon my eyes were glazing over. I decided if I really wanted to learn to quilt, I couldn’t teach myself from a book, but would have to find someone to teach me. In October 2003, I went to a wonderful little fabric shop and signed up for a beginners quilting class. I turned out to be the only student, but that was for the best. My teacher, in her 70s, was so patient and knowledgeable about quilting. She said to start with a simple potholder, and she made one right along with me. They were done entirely by hand, no sewing machine was used. We sat side by side, my fumbling fingers trying to duplicate what her nimble ones were doing, and as we worked, she explained. It was the most satisfying, pleasurable learning experience I have ever had. I was so proud of my very first potholder.
“Churn-Dash” potholder 10” x 10” Oct 2003 The potholder’s
batting was very heavy, heat-proof batting made especially for potholders,
and since I had quite a bit left over, I made three more potholders,
safely sticking to the same pattern.
After my quilting class, Quilting for Beginners made so much more sense. I was ready to jump in and make my first quilt. I chose a simple pattern with mostly squares, using red, green, and beige fabric. I wasted fabric by misunderstanding exactly what I was doing, but I learned from my mistakes. I managed to get all the pieces cut and stitched together (using the sewing machine for piecing) and then I started trying to hand quilt it. The hand quilting stitch is an art in itself and quite a challenge. The Amish and other master quilters can do 15 tiny, perfect stitches an inch; 12 stitches an inch is considered excellent. The best I could do was 5 or 6. My teacher advised me not to worry about how many stitches I could do, to concentrate on making them neat and even; I would get better with practice.
My first
quilt: Nine-Patch (43” x 52”) Quilting for Beginners, I must point out that my quilts aren’t as crooked as some of these pictures would indicate. My photography skills also leave something to be desired.
Nine-Patch
from Quilting for Beginners, p. 25, (43” x 52”) Next I decided to make a quilt that looked wintery. I used the same pattern I had used in the first quilt, having learned how to do it through trial and error, and like the second potholder, the second quilt was easier. I used three shades of blue snowflake print fabric.
My
son Mike asked if I was trying to be a little old lady. I said I was
already a little old lady, but now I could quilt.  Feeling a little more confidence, I bought another book called Through the Year Quilts (for Leisure Arts by House of White Birches). There were some intricate designs in there and I thought I’d give at least some of them a try—what the heck.
“Tulips and
Nine-Patch” 40” x 52” from Through the Year Quilts, I liked this spring quilt so much I made two of them, one a little smaller, which I sent to my sister Pat. There were my familiar nine-patches interspersed with much more complicated tulips.
“Cheep Housing” from
Patchwork Moon Designs, My friend Terri has lots of birdhouses decorating her kitchen, and when I saw a kit for a quilted wall hanging cleverly called “Cheep Housing,” I knew I had to make it for her birthday. When I opened the package and read the instructions I realized it was an appliquéd quilt, which I had to teach myself as I went along. It turned out not too bad, considering I had no idea what I was doing. I had to figure out fusible webbing and appliqué stitches. I really liked the scrap border.
Pinwheels 38”
x 49” from 101 Made-to-Fit Quilts for Your Home, Next I tried the traditional Pinwheels pattern, using various burgundy fabrics. The more I learned about quilts, the more I liked the look and the idea of the old-fashioned scrap quilts—quilts literally made from all sorts of fabric scraps. It was fun to put together all the different fabrics. The pinwheels nearly drove me crazy, as I kept sewing them together wrong and having to take them apart and re-stitch. It was a good experience for me but I wasn’t thrilled with the overall look of the finished quilt, and I didn’t add the pinwheel border. I wound up putting it on a small table with lots of framed photos on top of it.
Nine-patch
Rectangle 48” x 63” from My granddaughter Brianna’s second grade teacher was expecting a baby girl, so I made a baby quilt and doll quilt for Brianna to give her, using many pastel fabrics. The baby quilt was made with elongated nine-patches and the doll quilt regular nine-patches. Those are such easy patterns to make but provide an infinite amount of different looks, all based on the chosen fabrics.
Crazy Quilt
Bouquet from 1000 Great Quilt Blocks, p. 276, I bought a book called 1000 Great Quilt Blocks—that was a bit overwhelming! I picked a block I liked, “Crazy Quilt Bouquet,” and decided to make another scrap quilt using lots of different purple fabrics for the flowers, solid green for the leaves, and light purple for the sashing. I purchased a set of 100 purple squares on eBay, two of each of 50 different fabrics. I had to make a template for the stem, which was the trickiest part.
“Stars &
Stripes” 36” x 36” from Fast Fun & Fabulous Quilts, I found a patriotic quilt wall hanging in a book I checked out of the library. This quilt called for scraps of nine different navy and red prints. I learned how to make the 8-pointed star and diamond in a square for this one. I followed the quilting diagram in the book, using triple rows of quilting ½ inch apart, forming an X through the white diamonds and appearing in the backgrounds of the star blocks. The picture doesn’t show the red binding.
“Maple Leaf
Harvest” 72” x 84” from Through the Year Quilts, This autumn quilt from my Through the Year book was the largest one I had tackled so far. Unfinished, it was larger than my big dining room table so to put the backing, batting, and top together I had to go to my son’s house and lay it out on the bedroom floor. (I couldn’t do it at my house because I have 4 dogs, and way too much dog hair.) Again I used many different fall colored fabrics for all the leaves and sashing and found autumn trees fabric for the border.
Christmas
Tree twin-size, machine pieced & I found this Christmas tree quilt on display in the Singer sewing machine shop and I (more or less) copied it for Brianna’s bed. I made it with lots of different scrap Christmas fabrics, some left over from the first Christmas quilts I made last year. It is the largest one I have made, and will probably remain the largest.
I used the same pattern and idea of a scrap Christmas tree quilt to make three much smaller wall hangings, one of which went to my sister Pat, one to my friend Marilyn, and I kept one which I use on my coffee table at Christmas. Pat sent me this picture showing hers over her fireplace at Christmas
“Winter Bear
Quilt” from Through the Year Quilts, p. 96, Turning once again to my Through the Year book I found the perfect quilt for my granddaughter Rylie who collects teddy bears. This was without a doubt the most complicated quilt I have ever undertaken. Lots of different fabrics, much of it cut into tiny pieces, all of them having to be labeled and kept in plastic bags just to keep track of them during the piecing process. But for Rylie, I was happy to do it. I hope she’ll always care for it.
My oldest granddaughter was a big fan of pink at the time so her quilt had to be pink. In my Beginners quilt book I found a lovely pattern called “Grandma’s Star” that turned into a beautiful quilt for Kelsey. A friend gave me a large box full of fabric left over from her hobby of sewing doll clothes. Some of the fabrics were two and three-yard pieces, others smaller, but there was a large variety of fabrics. My “stash” was really growing.
I made several little quilts that I didn’t take pictures of--a “Strawberry Shortcake” quilt and doll quilt for my great-niece Kiarra, a pink baby quilt for my great-niece Lauren, a pink scrap quilt for my daughter-in-law’s niece Ciera. (If anyone wants to send me pictures of these quilts, I would love to include them in here.)
“Tea Roses & Thee” 48” x
48” I found this pattern I liked in a magazine called Patchwork & Quilting (Vol. 11, No. 10, p. 26), using lots of different pink, red and neutral fabrics.
"Sports," Design from American Patchwork &
Quilting, When I heard my niece Jill was expecting another boy, I started
making this quilt using three colors of fabric with all sorts of sports.
The backing is all yellow sports fabric. Harrison Chad Young was born
March 6, 2007, and this is his quilt.
My granddaughter Kelsey wanted a quilt
with peace signs. We found a pattern called "Peace of Your Heart"
designed by Mary Nelson Zadrozny, from Just Imagine design &
publications
www.justimaginedesigns.com.
Kelsey wanted her quilt to be larger, so she modified the pattern and
helped select the fabrics. The peace signs, butterflies, and hearts were
cut from one fabric and appliquéd on this quilt. We especially liked the
Peace & Love fabric used in the border, but could only find 3/4 yard of
it on
www.equilter.com/ so I made
different corner squares to complete the border.
This 24" square Christmas wall hanging is from a
pattern in Country Woman magazine, Nov 2005, p. 18. Completed June
2007.
I
read a book called Scrap Quilts: The Art of Making Do in which
Roberta Horton wrote, “I consider [scrap quilts] to be the truest reflection of
America’s past because they are what the average quiltmaker made….I’m
referring to the quiltmaker who lived in a log cabin, a sod house, a
farmhouse, or a bungalow, and not to the woman who lived in a mansion.
Scrap quilts were made to be used. They were unpretentious and honest—and
at the same time, beautiful.” This clarified for me what I found so
appealing about scrap quilts and I knew those were the ones I wanted to
make. “Charm quilts” are a popular version of scrap quilts. The story goes that
if you make a quilt out of 1000 pieces, no two cut from the same bolt,
then the quilt is "charmed" and whatever you dream under the quilt will
come true. Then there were the Millennium Quilts that had been made during
the year 2000--king-sized quilts with 2000 different fabrics. There were
lots of fabric exchanges on the Internet. This idea was very intriguing
to me—but not making such huge quilts. Throw-sized quilts are just about
right for me.
“Star
Puzzle” charm quilt, 48” x 48”, 425 different fabrics, I
chose to make a charm quilt called “Star Puzzle.” There were 25
blocks with 17 fabrics per block, for a total of 425 pieces of fabric. In
addition to fabric I already had accumulated, I turned again to eBay for
stacks of 4” fabric squares, then I cut them into triangles. I was able
to make two quilts, both with identical pieces of fabric but not placed in
exactly the same way. One
day I had all the triangles for one quilt spread out on towels on a table,
to see how I wanted them placed. I then stood on a chair to get a better
view. One of the dogs decided to jump up on the chair with me, then put
her paw on the table and pulled the towels and hundreds of triangles off
the table. Gosh darn it! Yeah, that’s what I said. I
gave those charm quilts as Christmas gifts to the two librarians in
Brianna’s school library where I volunteer once a week. I made another
one of the same pattern but using all Christmas fabrics for Brianna’s 3rd
grade teacher.
“Star
Puzzle” 48” x 48” from
Quilter’s Newsletter,
The following year I
used the same Star Puzzle pattern and about 15 Christmas fabrics to make
this quilt for my sister Margaret. Up
to this time I had been doing all my sewing in the dining room—not that we
really use it much as a dining room, but there is a big long table there.
I would have several quilts going at once, in various stages, and there
were piles on the kitchen counters and in the bedroom. My fabric was
overflowing a big box in the pantry. Even my husband Mac could see that
I needed to organize things much better and designate a room just for
quilting. I knew just what I needed, and he rearranged a lot of
furniture including the big screen TV, to make a perfect sewing room for
me. Now my sewing machine, ironing board, fabric chests, and cutting
table are all in one place, and I even have a “design wall.”
“Sunshine &
Shadow” in shades of blue and green,
I love blues and greens
together so I made this quilt to hang in my living room. It goes with
all
the green plants, blue furniture and other blue accessories. This pattern
is also called “Trip Around the World.” I found it on several Internet
sites. I used graph paper and colored markers to make a plan for the
arrangement of the colors, then referred to that graph to set the fabric
squares on the design wall. It made me a little cross-eyed!
I had lots of small pink, rose, and blue scraps from
children's quilts so I combined them into this 9-patch 60" square throw.
Most of it is hand-pieced, and all of it is hand quilted. August
2007. Given to Dan's bride-to-be Laura, March 2008.
I became fascinated by an “I Spy” quilt pattern in the July 2006 issue of The Quilter Magazine. It was also featured on "Simply Quilts" on HGTV. It called for 147 different novelty fabrics cut into hexagons, separated by triangles. I decided I wanted to make one for Brianna, and hoped maybe by her 10th birthday in June 2007 I’d have enough fabrics. I didn’t want just any old 147 fabrics. I wanted every fabric to be something she liked, or that was part of her life—dogs, soccer, dancing, pizza, etc., etc. I got lots of novelty squares from eBay, many of them suitable for Brianna, others only for boys, many that didn’t meet my specific requirements for Brianna’s quilt. Then I started hitting the quilt shops around here, and wherever we went on vacation. Many quilt shops have a ¼ yard minimum so when I bought those fabrics, I wound up with much more than I needed for Bri’s quilt. There are also “I Spy” fabric exchanges on the Internet but I didn’t have much luck with those. My collection grew and grew. I soon had enough to make quite a few more I Spy quilts, so I started sorting fabrics. There were enough girly fabrics to make quilts for my great-nieces Corinne and Kiarra, so soon those quilts were underway, using the hexagons and triangles pattern I would use for Bri’s quilt, but smaller, about 77 fabrics each. Wrestling those hexagons and triangles together was quite a challenge.
“I Spy” for Corinne 42”
x 42” machine
“I Spy” for Kiarra 42” x 42” machine All the boy fabrics went into piles for quilts for my great-nephews Bryce and Tanner. For those I used squares rather than hexagons and triangles. I found several websites where quilters had posted photos of their “I Spy” quilts, for example, Helen Gammon's Patchwork Quilts, and Shirley's Quilt Pages, and there are many variations. I tried quite a few of them. I used both 4” and 5” patches in Bryce’s quilt, a bit more challenging to put together.
“I Spy” for
Bryce 42” x 42” machine
“I
Spy Matching Game” quilt for Tanner 42” x 42”
By
the time I got to Tanner’s quilt I had found a cute idea—I made a
“matching game” quilt, using two each of 50 different fabrics. A little child would
have fun finding all the matching pairs in the quilt. I had plenty of
double fabrics to do that.
Here is Tanner’s I Spy Quilt on
the cover of a kids magazine published in the Netherlands in January 2008.
On December 13, 2007, I received the following email: -----Original Message----- Dear Jane, Best Regards, Needless to say, this was a great thrill for me. The magazine came out the second week of January 2008.
“I
Spy Matching Game” quilt for Lauren 42” x 42” I had enough double fabrics to make another Matching Game quilt for my great-niece Lauren. Also, I had a brand new great-niece in Texas; little Libby and her big sister Katherine would also get pink and yellow “I Spy” quilts. (I didn’t take photos of these but if Kristen will send them, I’ll include them here)
“I Spy Cats and Dogs”
for Carole & family, machine As all these “I Spy” quilts took shape, I realized I couldn’t forget three more great-nephews, but they were bigger boys who wouldn’t be interested in cutesy little quilts. They had dogs and cats in their home, so I made a dog and cat quilt wall hanging for them. I found a cute paw print fabric for the sashing and binding.
“I Spy” for Wanda’s great-granddaughter Tatum – 2006
“I Spy” for Wanda’s great-grandson Layne– 2006 My friend Wanda in Oklahoma became a great-grandmother twice in 2005. This was bittersweet because the children’s grandmother, Wanda’s daughter Joanna, had died in an automobile accident two years before. I made “I Spy” quilts to entertain the children but also as a comforting gift to my friend. These were made with sashing and contrasting squares to set off the novelty patches.
“I Spy” for Brandon, machine pieced and quilted, 2006 I also made an “I Spy” quilt for my cousin Doris’ grandson Brandon.
“I Spy”quilt
– 47” x 58” from The Quilter Magazine, July 2006, p. 92, Way ahead of schedule, by this time I had collected all the fabrics I needed for the 147 hexagons in Brianna’s quilt, including blue floral prints for the half hexagons at the edges. She chose blue for the triangles and border and bright pink for the inner border and binding. I finished it in time to give it to her for Christmas 2006. I should mention that my hand quilting is better than it was in the beginning, but not 12 stitches per inch—maybe 8 or 9 on a good day, if I really work at it.
Having made all these gift quilts, I wanted to sew personalized labels on the backs. I found a wonderful person on eBay who made beautiful embroidered labels, and I ordered several from her. I also found a site which provides free downloadable quilt labels. I learned how to use butcher paper, my iron and my printer to make my own labels.
In
December 2006 the PTO at Brianna’s school had a fundraiser for a “sister”
school. Every child in every class drew a picture with My quilts will never hang in a museum, but I hope my granddaughters and other relatives and friends, and their children will always remember that every stitch was sewn with love.
This jungle animal quilt with animal skin border was made for
my great-nephew Braden who wants to work in a zoo when he grows up.
In September 2005 a newspaper article caught my attention and started me in a new direction that was ideal for my quilt making. George Butler, 82 years old, makes baby quilts for the At-Risk Babies unit of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix. He and his wife, a professional quilter herself, had donated more than 500 quilts in the past seven years. George was quoted in the article, “Our quilts typically go to really sick babies. Sometimes the moms don’t go home with their babies. This quilt is all they have to remember their baby.” I was so touched by that, I thought well, I can do that—maybe not 500 quilts in 7 years, but at least some. I called George’s wife Judith Slentz who is the loveliest person, and found out what I needed to do. I proceeded to make four quilts, two for boys and two for girls, and took them to George and Judi. Their house is a quiltmaker’s dream with Judi’s beautiful art quilts displayed in every room, and a quilting studio with an enormous long-arm quilting machine. Judi was so complimentary of my quilts, she made me feel so good. Judith Slentz's website is Since that first donation of four quilts, I have made and donated 32 more, for a total of 36 by the end of 2006. Since these quilts will get lots of handling and washing, they are made envelope style, without a sewn-on binding. All quilts are either 36” squares for newborns or 40-42” squares. I like to use lots of bright, cheerful fabrics. On the back of each quilt I sew a label that says, “Hearts and Hugs to you, JHM 2006.” At Judi’s suggestion, I bought a “walking foot” for my sewing machine and machine quilted the baby quilts. It definitely speeded up the process. Judi received a donation of several bags full of samples from a fabric shop which she passed along to me. Also, the librarian at Brianna’s school gave me some fabric she had left over from some of her sewing projects. I usually deliver my quilts 5 or 6 at a time to George and Judi. Mary Tillman who supervises this quilting project picks them up, along with George’s quilts, and delivers them to the hospital. In a letter she sent out at Christmas 2006, she said 675 quilts had been delivered to St. Joseph this year for a total of 6608 quilts since the project began in 1998. This used to be part of an organization called ABC Quilts but this year that changed and our project doesn’t have a name right now. We just say we quilt for St. Joe’s kids. My personal favorite of the donated quilts: “Color Works” charm quilt 42” x 42” from Quilter's Newsletter, June 2005, p. 75, donated to St. Joseph Hospital 2006
Brianna &
her friend Phoebe create a Rainbow quilt on
Bri and the completed Rainbow quilt- donated to SJH
“Treasures Cot
Quilt” (Quick Colorful Quilts, p. 98)
6” squares
made mostly from donated fabric
Blue & white scraps, donated to SJH 2006
“I Spy” Cats &
Dogs & Paw Prints,
Dinosaurs
donated to SJH 2006
Double Irish
Chain with blue, green & brown scraps
Sports 9 patch donated to SJH 2006
“I Spy” with
pink sashing
“I Spy” with
yellow sashing
Four-patch with
airplanes. Design from
9 and 4-patches
with Christmas scraps
“Sunshine and
Shadow” in blue, green, red,
“I Spy” with
patches of different sizes,
“I Spy” A to Z, 40”
square, donated to SJH 2007.
 "Charm Quilt," 122 different fabrics, donated to SJH Feb. 2007
"Nursery Rhymes" 6" squares, donated to SJH Feb. 2007
I have now started making quilts for Arizona Blankets
for Kids, an all-volunteer non-profit organization serving children in
need in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Our goal is to provide comforting
blankets and quilts to needy, seriously ill and traumatized children in
our community. They have a wonderful website: The drop-off place for these donated quilts is 20 miles closer to home, which is the only reason I made the change. St. Joseph Hospital babies receive a large number of these quilts.
Teenager's Western quilt, 40" x 52", donated May 2007
There are numerous organizations working to provide handmade quilts to our
wounded veterans. Operation First Response is asking for cot sized quilts
to send to American military hospitals and combat hospitals in Iraq. They
also send quilts to Brooke Army Medical Hospital in Texas and Ft.
Wainwright base in Alaska. Their website
is:
A modified version of "Dancing Star
Quilt" from Country Friends Go Quilting,
Dozens of patriotic fabric squares
formed this quilt for a wounded veteran. The border fabric has the
words to the National Anthem on it. Donated to Operation First
Response, Sept. 2007.
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