Quilts

Check out Martha’s Quilters Parish Festival Booth!

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This Saturday, October 11, is St. Martha’s Catholic Church’s Parish Festival held from noon to 8 pm at the new church campus. Our very own Martha’s Quilters will have an awesome booth at the festival so come on out and support the crafty ladies with a purchase. The past few months we have been using our vast array of talents and treasures to create unique items that can be purchased for decorating, warming yourself around the fire this winter, and Christmas gift giving! How about a cute rug for your mug? While you are browsing check out our seasonal table runners, wine gift bags, adorable rolling pin covers, as well as fabric shoe bags for travelers. We also have lovely crocheted afghans and lots of one-of-a kind quilts. And don’t forget to check out our designer fabric checkbook covers and candle pads and all kinds of knitted items. Hope to see you there!

Sister Mary Rita’s Healing Quilt

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Every quilt has a story … especially this one. It belongs to my friend Mary. When she asked me if I could make a hanging sleeve for a quilt she wanted to hang, of course I said yes. When I first saw it, I knew I’d never seen anything like it. It was heavy … very heavy … and contained 120 very personal squares … each one unique … and most every single square was not made by a quilter.

It was lovingly made 20 years ago for Sister Mary Rita, my friend’s sister. Mary Rita was her oldest sibling and the oldest of six girls and seven boys. She was a Catholic nun in the order of the Humility of Mary. As a young child, my friend learned so much from her sister about unconditional love and the value of each person. Sister Mary Rita also had the inside scoop that nuns actually do have hair. She was an educator in the Catholic schools in Cleveland, Ohio. Mary told me her sister was well-educated, smart, compassionate, funny and so much more. Take a look at the picture taken while the family gathered for a picnic…..yes, she was also a swinging nun!

When Sister Mary Rita was in her 40’s she was diagnosed with a blood disorder and then with Multiple Myeloma. For many years she lived with her cancer, receiving treatments as needed. Mary told me her sister continued to live her life to the fullest, with little to no complaining, being more concerned about how others were doing. In her 50’s and 60’s, she took more time off and traveled with friends. The Nags Head North Carolina beach was a favorite destination.

The patchwork quilt was a thought … a discussion … between Mary Rita and her best friend, Sister Cathy Walsh, in 1994. They had seen an article in the Reader’s Digest about a healing quilt. Cathy said that talking to and seeing Mary Rita nearly every day, she sensed that Mary Rita needed to reach out to friends and family and let them know how to support her. As friends do, Cathy encouraged her. Mary Rita wrote a letter asking for prayer and/or a patch for a quilt. They created a template and sent it with the letter to family and friends, many of whom were priests and nuns. In her letter, she wrote something like “I will wrap the quilt around myself and be reminded of and feel your love.”

Patches started flowing in …. 120 are on the original quilt with scriptures, poems, embroidery, needlepoint, creative arts, photographs, a clover secured in a plastic casing and even a Cleveland police patch. Later, ten more patches came in and small lap quilt was also made.

Cathy commented that every quilt square has its own story and they all came together to share and provide Mary Rita comfort. Sister Mary Rita wrapped herself in it daily!

In November of 2001, Mary’s sister had a seizure while driving. Mary told me her family thanked God He protected her, and others on the road, after she crashed into someone’s yard. By mid-January of 2002 Sister Mary Rita was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma brain tumor. Nine months later she passed away, but throughout her interventions and treatments she did as she always did…. lived her life to the fullest, listened and learned from the doctor and others, treasured her time with family and friends and never lost her faith.

In 2007, my friend received the quilt and it is now hanging in her guest bedroom. As guests visit, the quilt gives her the opportunity to tell others about her amazing sister and all those who touched her life.

I am loving the swirly machine quilting on this one!

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I love going over to Kim’s house with a completed quilt top! She is the longarm quilting lady and owner of A Busy Bobbin. I gotta tell you that lady performs magic with just a handful of pixie dust and colored thread on every quilt top she touches.

First, we lay the quilt top over Molly Monster, the name she has given to the smaller of her two longarm quilting machines. Then we play with strands of thread to see which will complement the quilt top when the machine quilting is added. Next we flip through a binder full of quilting patterns for just the right one. The swirly pantograph pattern is called Denise’s Swirls.

It has been a few days since I picked up the finished quilt and I’ve almost got the binding sewed on. Once I sew the patch on the back, I’m ready to hand it over. This one is going to charity. Hope it makes a lot of money. I’m calling this quilt “Midnight in Mimi’s Garden.” It is being donated to The Village Learning Center’s gala in November. The theme this year is “Midnight Masquerade.” I think the quilt name fits the occasion!

Latest quilt top finished!

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Every year I make a quilt for The Village Learning Center’s gala which occurs in early November. Among other endeavors, they run an awesome day center for adults with special needs that my daughter, Mimi, attends. I try and make them something each year I’ve never done before … either with color, design or pattern.

When I saw this quilt top made up at last year’s International Quilt Festival, I thought it would be perfect … eye-catching and a little wacky! Certainly not for everyone but I really liked it. Surely someone would love it … and 10 hours of quilt lessons to the person that purchases the quilt!

The quilt show booth offered a kit and I was hooked. The pattern is called “Urban Cabin” and is by Atkinson Designs. The directions were great and it sewed up nicely and fast!

Visually, it is stunning the way Kaffe Fassett’s fabric (purchased in a collection of 2-1/2″ strips, we call them “jelly rolls,” with the kit) pops like a bag of microwave popcorn in the microwave. And it was the first time I’d worked with so much black, so there you go.

I’m also using a Kaffe Fassett fabric for the binding.

And now that a few yards of quilt backing fabric is purchased, I’ll have it professionalled quilted in a couple of weeks by my favorite longarm quilting lady, Kim Norton, of A Busy Bobbin!

Jan’s house quilt

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I belong to an awesome quilt bee group called “Bloom Where You’re Planted.” We get together twice a month at someone’s house and generally do what ladies do … quilt, inspire each other, laugh a lot, chat and sometimes even go on field trips like to museums, movies, quilt shops … fun stuff like that. I can’t recall when I joined … well over five years ago I guess. I just know these talented ladies have also made me a better quilter.

So when someone moves away … I hate when that happens … we make the member leaving a house-themed quilt … in secret. The bee member that leaves may know we are up to something, but they don’t get to see our parting gift quilt until it is completely finished. Since I’ve been in the bee, we have made one for Karen and Toni … casualties of retiring husbands. I miss them both. Then Jan moved to Oregon. Another one of those retiring things. Miss her also! Only this time Jan’s house sold very fast and then … poof … she was gone. The moving van pulled out of her driveway way before we had time to get the quilt finished.

So fast forward a few months … Jan finally received her quilt in the mail this week. Now I can blog about it. I thought it would be fun to write about the evolution of our quilt to Jan! We’ve been taking pictures for a few months now. The first time Tina, Moni, Loretta, Carol, Gwenn and I all met to discuss the project, we tossed around quilt books with house patterns. We finally chose one from one of Loretta’s books. She has quite the awesome quilt library! The pattern we picked is a “Piece O’Cake” design called “Houses @ Maple Ridge.” We all agreed after we stitched the block it would probably be our new favorite.

After settling on the design, we kicked around the colors for the individual blocks. Everyone brought scraps from their stash and played with fabric choices. I chose a medium and navy blue house with a yellow and navy roof. Each block would have a white background. Once everyone had their blocks stitched up they were auditioned for a position in the quilt. Toni, who moved away before Jan, even made one of the blocks. Toni is not pictured in our final photograph, but certainly resides in our hearts as well as in one of the quilt blocks.

After the nine blocks were joined, sashing and borders were added to complete the top. Next, we pin-basted the top to the batting and backing. Tina worked her magic machine-quilting the quilt and making the awesome label for the back of the quilt. I sewed the binding to the quilt and Carol hand-stitched the binding to the back. It was definitely a team effort!

Tell me what you think!

Her bobbin is busy!

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A couple of years ago I decided to kick my quilts up a bunch of notches. I started bringing all my quilt tops to the fabulous Kim Norton, of A Busy Bobbin (www.abusybobbin.com). To say she is JUST awesome is an understatement.

In the past, I tried hand quilting. It takes a long time and I wasn’t very good at it. Blame it on being a lefty! I tried doing my own machine quilting. My results were nice enough, but with limited time, I wasn’t cranking out many quilts each year with the added work.

In the past, I’d inspected the details on many lovely quilts at various quilt shows, but didn’t think any of my quilts could look that good. When my friend Angela raved about Kim, I decided to give her a try. The rest is history!

The most recent quilt Kim quilted for me is for our grandbaby-boy-to-be. He is now the size of a cabbage, as that is the thing to do these days … compare unborn babes to fruits and veggies. We’ll meet him in person in early May!

I love bringing my quilt tops to Kim. It’s a blast watching her creative juices flow as the unfinished quilt top is laid over her longarm machine. We talk about the quilt’s vision and then Kim does this little dance with spools of thread that she takes down from her spool rack. She lays strands across the quilt top to see what will work best. We chose a variegated thread. Although I have several awesome custom quilted designs from Kim, lots of the quilts use an all-over, or pantograph pattern. For the little cabbage’s quilt, we flipped through a book and picked out one called “Animal Crackers” from Urban Elementz with zoo animals all over it. I love the results. What do you think?

Help astronaunt make a quilt!

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Did you know that one of our astronauts is a quilter? Her name is Karen Nyberg. I recall seeing a photo of her in our Houston newspaper hand-piecing a square in space while on board of the International Space Station. I was impressed.

So when I saw the flyer at the Quilt Festival last fall, I certainly grabbed one. Calling all quilters! Create just one star-themed block. Make it measure 9-1/2″ square unfinished. Your choice of colors … traditional or modern. No embellishments. And don’t forget to sign your block with permanent ink on the front with your name and location. In other words, c’mon quilters, here is your big chance. Mail your block by August 1, 2014, and you too can be a small part of a ginormous quilt in Houston’s 40th-Anniversary International Quilt Festival this fall.

Address is as follows: Star Block Challenge, Attn: Rhianna Griffin, 7660 Woodway, Suite 550, Houston, TX 77063. Be there or be square … or should I say … exactly 9-1/2 inches square!

It’s for the little rutabaga

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I knew when I first laid eyeballs on the quilt kit at the International Quilt Festival last fall, it would be my first purchase. I mean … our daughter and son-in-law will have our first grandbaby in early May. Hooray! Oh, and our daughter also works at the Houston Zoo (www.houstonzoo.org). Naturally, a quilter, and grandmother-to-be, I had to run out and make a quilt for the little rutabaga.

We used to call our grandbaby-to-be a “sprout” for the longest time. It seems now all the rage is to compare their current size to fruits and veggies. Today it is the size of a rutabaga!

Picking which animal quilt option was a no-brainer, as back last October we didn’t know if it was a boy or girl. I figured the giraffe was generally gender neutral, although the pink flamingo and the monkey were also pretty darn cute. I have to say applique is not my favorite way to manipulate fabric, but I decided to jump in anyway with both feet. With the help of my trusty “Applique Pressing Sheet,” I could do this project in no time. Made it easier to build the whole giraffe and then fuse one large piece onto the quilt top.

Next step is to sew around the edges of the applique pieces before sending it on to my long-arm quilting lady!

The adorable animal quilt is published by “The Teacher’s Pet,” http://www.the-teachers-pet.com, out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The quilt pattern is called “Peek-a-Boo Pals” and includes all four animals in the pattern. An alphabet chart is also included. I opted not to put a name on it since the first name is not entirely settled.

2013 … a look back

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I only managed to complete two quilts in 2013. I have loftier quilting goals for 2014! The first completed 2013 quilt was a Christmas present for one of my husband’s many, many lovely sisters. Dipping into my collection of Christmas fat quarters, I used a disappearing nine-patch pattern (future blog alert) that I learned to make at our church’s prayer quilt ministry. A real stash buster and lots of fun to make! Did I mention that Becky is one of nine sisters in the family? She lives in San Antonio and runs a soup kitchen. I finished the quilt in the nick of time … only one year late!

The other quilt went to a charity gala for The Village Learning Center (www.villagelac.org). I make one every year for them. It’s the least I can do. Among other wonderful things, the Center runs an adult day program that my special needs daughter attends. Mimi’s favorite day of the week is Tuesday when her class goes bowling! Life should be so simple.

Just so you don’t think I was a total slug in 2014, I did manage to make coordinating pillow cases, dust ruffle and a little skirt for under Mimi’s television. It goes nicely with the quilt I made for her wall in 2012 with a collection of Kaffe Fassett fat quarters. The fabric on one side of the pillow cases is blue and the other green. The pillow cases were a booger to make until I learned the “hot dog bun” method of making pillow cases from my friend Angela. Now I just gotta figure out what to do with Mimi’s curtain-less window!

Talented ladies sew for St. Martha Fall Festival

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I can’t recall how many years I’ve been spending time with some amazing ladies at our church, but Wednesday is my favorite day of the week. Generally, we are all about creating lap-sized quilts that are blessed by one of our awesome priests for the ill in our parish. The ladies of St. Martha’s Prayer Quilt Ministry have also been sewing and stitching and creating for the past several months for this year’s St. Martha Fall Festival. It is being held this Saturday, October 26, from 3 to 8 p.m. at our new church campus. Come visit our booth where we will have such handcrafted items for sale as machine-pieced and tied lap quilts, wine gift bags and pillow cases made by Angela, tooth fairy pillows, receiving blankets and bibs, Christmas ornaments, seasonal table runners, religious bookmarks, lovely crocheted throws by Gina and Sid, Debbie’s delightful bun warmers, headbands, awesome knitted and crocheted items by Jacqueline, doll clothes made lovingly by our crafty Helaine out of St. Martha School uniform fabric, Sally’s adorable child’s tote bags, a couple of Cabbage Patch dolls decked out in St. Martha School uniforms, cute little St. Martha School purses and so much more. All monies benefit our prayer quilt ministry!