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Honoring the past with cutter quilt #3

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Projects honoring the third Calvert family cutter quilt is the subject of today’s blog post. This quilt is probably my favorite. It reminds me of the curvy stitching on multiple baseballs. Go Houston Astros!

The hand pieced quilt is 73″ by 59″ with a vintage white backing. The narrow borders are red, white, and blue. I have so much respect for the maker of this quilt. So many fabric pieces and precision piecing. Just look at all those curves. I know experienced quilters that stay away from patterns with curves. And yes, I am the one at the keyboard raising my hand! The quilt is in relatively good shape with a few holes. It was hand quilted with several different colors. Close your eyes and imagine several ladies sitting around a quilt frame many decades ago contributing their “signature” quilting thread color.

With so many quilting projects gathering dust in my head that have nothing to do with cutter quilts, I decided to tackle just two projects. The first, a handful of mini-quilts with the printed psalms. I started with six-inch square pieces of the antique quilt. The off-white psalms were stitched onto one of the sides. On the reverse side, I stitched a heart … just because. Then I stitched the two sides together.

Next, I tackled more double-sided nine-inch tall crosses like the ones made with the second cutter quilt. I have shared the crosses with quilting friends and they really seem to connect to them. I only have a few left from the second cutter quilt. This morning I filled ten crosses with rice, stitched them across the top, and affixed the front of each cross with a inspirational charm. The front of each cross also has a heart stitched on it. Shout out to my friend Michele for gifting me a jumbo bag of rice for the crosses.

Finally, I have also become buddies with my pinking shears. Either my right hand is developing muscles, or I am just powering through the pain.

Next up … Stay tuned … I’m working on a new collage quilt pattern!

Happy Birthday collage quilt hanging

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Hot off my sewing machine is another version of the “Eat Cake” collage quilt pattern. This time, instead of an inspirational quote on the cake layers, I opted for red icing drips of varying lengths down the layers. I also found several fabric prints with cakes, donuts, birthday candles, party hats, presents, and threw in random colorful novelties. Can you spot the signature Tula tuna can? I have been known to include one or two in a collage quilt just for fun!

In my earlier Instagram (@lifesloosethreads) post, I played around with a couple different backgrounds for the cake. I opted for the brightly-colored balloons from the Henry Glass & Co. fabric line entitled “This Calls for Cake.” The yellow cake layers are from Wilmington Essentials. The fabric’s texture kinda reminds me of a Moda Grunge.

At the last minute, before gluing the cake down to the background, I changed the cake stand bottom base to the blue fabric. The M&M fabric was not playing nicely with the balloon background. The completed quilt top was double-batted and custom quilted by Lisa Taylor at Kingwood Quilts. I love how it turned out. The wall hanging is 36″ wide by 50″ long! Add a quilt sleeve and it will be perfect as a backdrop at your next birthday celebration. The pdf pattern “Eat Cake” is available for purchase on my Etsy shop.

“Life is Short, Eat the Cake” pdf pattern release

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As the saying goes: “Life is Short, Eat the Cake” … figuratively speaking of course! Actually, the version I really love is “Life is short. Take the trip. Buy the shoes. Eat the cake.” Yep … that version would have been difficult to put on a quilt!

I decided to make it a celebration art quilt first. Next, a birthday cake. After that … maybe a wedding cake! Stay tuned for future blog posts! The finished art collage quilt is 35 inches wide and 50 inches long. The pdf downloadable pattern comes with detailed instructions, supply list, and full-size pattern (print out the pages and tape together). Create a hanging sleeve or use your own favorite hanging method. I had this quilt professionally longarmed. Lisa custom quilted the cake image and used an overall bubble pattern for the background. It is also double batted!

The pdf pattern can be purchased on my Etsy shop.

Two Chicks lost trying to find Two Chicks

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Today, April 30, 2024, is the final day of the very first All Texas Shop Hop. Over 100 Texas quilt shops participated which began on the first day of March. My sister and I participated this past weekend for just one day!

It was an interesting adventure that had some steep downs and lots of ups. It all started on Friday evening after checking into our country hotel. Gretchen and I were catching up in our room … Room 104. Suddenly, there was a little “eke” from my sister’s bed. And then … “there’s a bed bug on my bed.” After a frowny face at the front desk, we were offered another room and a large discount.

“We will check it out and let you know,” I sternly said.

It was far away from Room 104. It checked out fine and we reluctantly stayed. It was late and the thought of checking out and going to another location was not appealing. I mean, what if we encountered alligators in the bathtub? What would we do then?

The following morning we headed out to Two Chicks Quilting. We decided the back roads were our best route! The thing about back roads is there are lots of twists and turns. Unfortunately, we both have no sense of direction. When we wound up at the end of a long dirt road there was an entrance for someone’s ranch. Obviously, we knew something was amiss. The sign read “No Trespassers.” Yep, our maps program had let us down. These two chicks would not be going to Two Chicks. Maybe next year, we said, and turned around!

We did make it to four lovely quilt shops: Yorktown’s Seams Like Home, Shiner’s The Square Quilter, Hollydee Quilts in Luling, and Fiberworx Fabric Studio in McQueeney. At the shop in Yorktown, we noticed someone had dropped off Flat Colleen (kinda like a Flat Stanley). We offered to take her to our next quilt shop destination. Flat Colleen rode in the backseat and was a wonderful travel companion. We could tell from all the signatures on the back of Colleen, she had traveled to lots of quilt shops!

Road trips are so much fun! Road trips to quilt shops, even better, especially when there are sisters involved! We are going to do this again next year. This time we may even make it to Two Chicks Quilting.

Teaching Collage Quilting is Fun!

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Recently, I had the opportunity to teach Debi and Anne collage quilting in my home. Super nice ladies! Private lessons are the most fun. Late last year, Anne won a collage quilting class I donated to a silent gala auction.

During our first introduction class into the wacky world of collage art quilting, Debi picked a pattern to make. It was the Halloween version of the gumball machine. Not gonna lie … it is pretty stinking cute. At the end of the first day, the ladies were skeptical they would come out alive with an actual quilt! So much information, they said! It looks hard, they insisted! But I kept reassuring them they were going to be most pleasantly surprised.

By the end of our two-day class, they were delighted. This pattern is so fun to make. I have previously made prototype gumball quilts in three versions: I Spy, Halloween, and Christmas. Future options for this pattern can include just about every major holiday, including Easter! I gotta remember to make an Easter version. Can you see it … giant Easter bunny (from a panel) hanging out in the gumball machine surrounded by all things Easter?

But I digress! Anne and Debi LOVED the glow-in-the-dark spider web binding from my prototype Halloween quilt. Looking through my stash, I noticed there was just enough left for the spooky binding on Debi’s quilt.

Future blog post spoiler alert! I found a Moda marble black fabric for the background. The cut out and fused collage was next glued to the background. After piecing a super cute Halloween backing I found at My Favorite Quilt Store‘s online shop, my go-to fabric shop, all was delivered to Erica at A Needle and Thread in Old Town Spring for her expert longarming! Waiting is going to be hard! Just saying!

Angel in Flight Art Quilt on “A Joyful Embrace: A Memoir”

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So I wrote a book entitled, “A Joyful Embrace: A Memoir.” It is now available for purchase as an e-book, paperback, or hardback on Amazon. The book was a labor of love about the rare glimpse into the inspiring and joyful life of my daughter, Mimi, who was born with cerebral palsy. Though wheelchair-bound with the mental capacity of a delightful two-year-old her entire life, her extraordinary social and spiritual gifts challenged what is “normal” for anyone she encountered.

I also designed and made the collage art quilt, entitled Angel in Flight, which graces the cover of the book. My friend, Lisa Taylor, did a beautiful job longarming the quilt. The pdf pattern is available for sale in my Etsy shop.

Profits from the book will be joyfully donated to The Village Learning Center in Mimi’s memory.

Collage Quilting students are the best!

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The Christmas Quilt!
Lots of new Kaffe fabric
Lots of blue!
Picking out background fabric
She made a smaller version!
Notice the Tula roses?
Can you find the tuna can?

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of presenting and teaching for the Tri-County Quilt Guild in Cypress, Texas. This is a large guild with over 300 members and 80+ in attendance at the meeting. I was treated to dinner before the meeting. Not gonna lie. It made me feel like a rock star! Later in the week, I taught a dozen enthusiastic ladies at Bobbins & Threads Quilting & Crafts in Houston.

I have found the heart pattern is the best way to learn collage quilting and the ladies certainly stepped up! It is a large enough image that students gain confidence in their collaging skills to move on to a more challenging pattern. The ladies came ready to work and by the end of class we actually auditioned lots of completed hearts for background fabrics.

Each heart is so unique! This is the first time I’ve had someone try Christmas motifs and it is beautiful! The lady in the hot pink shirt had lots of new Kaffe Fassett fabric. Seriously, I was on the verge of drooling. It was all so new, I didn’t have any of it in my stash. Also, you might notice a Tula Pink vintage tuna can in one of the quilts. I allow students to pick through my secret stash when I teach. I have found quilters to be very good at sharing. It is probably why I always wind up with more great fabric than when I started teaching the class.