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!
If quilts could talk what would this Calvert family quilt from east Texas tell us? First, I am 84″ long by 68″ wide. My maker must have run out of fabric for the binding. The backing was used for the top and bottom with scrappy side bindings. My quilt pattern is a four-patch (I know not my name), placed on point, with triangles set in long vertical rows 6-1/2″ wide. I was hand pieced and quilted decades ago. I am also in better shape than most with my binding intact and a few holes throughout. Stains are also minimal. My fabric appears to be old shirts in red, navy, black, off-white, with a smattering of pink, which I quite like. It can be assumed of the 20 plus quilts that have traveled to Life’s Loose Threads’ abode, I am newer than most.
The following is how I honored this quilt – I made Christmas ornaments, heart-shaped pillows, Christmas stockings, and crosses (two-sided) stuffed with rice (most adorned with a heart). The last photo are mini-quilts (six inch squares are two-sided) with inspirational sayings. I found a panel on Shabby Fabrics that had a dozen psalms in white and off-white and sewed a pink heart on the back.
What I learned – Pinking shears are not kind to human hands. However, they make a lovely finished edge. After creating a few of the small heart-shaped Christmas ornaments, I switched to larger items like the crosses, heart-shaped pillows, and Christmas stockings. I also traced with a heart-shaped cookie cutter pink fabric from my stash and added one to some of the crosses and all the pillows. I found the pink hearts are also great for covering up a little worn spot on the cutter quilt pieces.
A quilty friend is inspirational to a project – A few months back, Janet texted me with an idea to make double-sided crosses stuffed with rice out of cutter quilts. She was thinking of a friend going through a tough time and thought it would be a nice gift. Janet created a template and asked if I was game. We had the best day creating a prototype cross. They are 9 inches tall, and because of the added weight of the rice, fit nicely in the palm of a hand. I’ll be making lots more of these.
It’s kinda fun once a year to reflect on what’s been happening in the sewing room. In 2024, I attended a quilt retreat and was given a quilting journal (thank you Janet). It allowed me to keep track of the finished chaos that can sometimes be quilting/sewing projects. I don’t blog about all my projects, so the journal was a great reminder.
In 2024, I completed 8 quilts (one of them a Quilt of Valor), embellished two jean jackets (so much fun), created one new collage “cake” pdf pattern (which included two prototype quilts), honored a couple of “cutter” antique quilts, a block was created/submitted/and accepted for the 2024 Texas Agriculture Matters quilt for the Texas Department of Agriculture, made three burrito-style dinosaur pillow cases with French seams for the Michigan grands, made a Christmas pillow for a good friend, and four piped-edge pillows (piping on pillows is not easy; just saying) with canal house fabric purchased in Amsterdam last year. 2024 was all about the journey!
I remember purchasing this amazing fabric while visiting Amsterdam in 2023. I couldn’t tell you how much I purchased. They don’t sell fabric in yards (maybe meters?) in Europe. The fabric is tightly packed with adorable navy blue canal houses. After a year patiently waiting on the shelf, I got this idea to make pillows as Christmas presents for my family. I wanted to pipe the edges and had Erica at A Needle and Thread teach me. I’ve had Erica previously make a University of Alabama pillow with piped edges. But did I want to have her put together four pillows? It’s the old story of what do you want to do … give a man a fish … or teach a man to fish! I came prepared to her sewing lounge with yards of bias binding and cording and nearly had a entire pillow finished by the end of our teaching session. I could do this! Each completed pillow looked better than the previous one. I had learned to fish!
I had the most fun embellishing a couple of blue jeans jackets. At Houston’s 2024 International Quilt Festival, it clearly was one of the trends. I was stopped a couple of times at the festival by quilters asking to take a photo of my jacket. It was super easy (the zipper foot was my best friend) and I’m not finished adding to the Texas or Christmas jackets. Someone asked me if I was going to bedazzle it. Seriously, that kinda scares me!
One of my favorite 2024 quilts was “Elephants on Parade.” It is a Laundry Basket Quilt pattern and easy breezy to make with the elephant template. The last quilt I made from LBQ was similar in appearance but with multiple butterfly blocks. Sewing the elephant quilt, I perfected my button hole machine applique. I finished the last block while on a quilt retreat. While laying the blocks on the design wall, someone suggested I should make one of the elephants face the other way. I loved that idea!
My friend, Cynthia, came across a press release requesting quilt blocks for the Texas Department of Agriculture. Every two years, they request quilters make a 10-1/2 inch block for a themed quilt. A few pieces of fabric are supplied which must be included in the block. Creating a block about Texas agriculture was a challenge. I know nothing about the subject! Although they did not settle in Texas, my mother’s side of the family were dairy farmers. I decided to create a block honoring my heritage. Accompanying the finished block to the agriculture department, I wrote the following: “My mother and her family left Holland after WWII for the United States. My grandfather and uncles were dairy farmers and continued until retirement. In 2022, Texas was fourth in U.S. milk production. The Holstein cow is the top dairy breed. It produces 9 gallons of milk per day per cow. The churn dash red and white block is often associated with butter churning, a milk product.”
Big shout out to my friend, Sally, for making my quilt labels for over 10 years. She continues to wow me with her designs. Each quilt label is my favorite! And then there are the longarm ladies that continue to amaze: Lisa and Val. All these ladies make my quilts look so much nicer!
Many months ago, my dear friend, Cynthia, told me about 20 antique quilts that were going to be donated to parts unknown, likely Goodwill, and did I want them. I am not a quilt historian, and will be the first to admit, I do not have any experience with very old quilts. So, of course, I said, YES!
After taking possession of the quilts, this is what I learned. No quilt had a label or information as to who made them, location, and the year they were made. The quilts were residing in Lufkin, Texas on family property owned by Pat and Gene Calvert. The property had for many years belonged to Gene’s side of the family. His aunts and uncles lived there for many years. I betcha nine dollars the aunts had a hand in creating the quilts. Several old homes were nestled together on the property and filled with quilts and antiques.
The quilts probably date back to the 1930’s or 1940’s (my best guess). They were all hand pieced, quilted, and not in the greatest shape. The bindings were mostly shredded and there were many holes and random staining. Despite their condition, I felt there were areas that could be salvaged. After a little research, I learned about “cutter quilts,” a way that tired quilts can be repurposed. The first thing I did was have them all cleaned. My thought was to somehow honor these quilts. But I had to noodle on that for a while. I knew it was going to be emotionally difficult to take a pair of scissors and cut into the quilts.
It is my plan to work on a few quilts a year. The first quilt I tackled was a red 8-pointed star pattern with an orange and red burst. I don’t know the name of the quilt pattern. The quilt measured 63-1/2 inches wide and 69 inches long and hand quilted with navy thread. The backing is a blue and white plaid and might be cotton, but maybe not. Â Â Â Â
I decided to start by making three Christmas stockings by fussy cutting the star and sewing a red binding/hanger at the top. Next, I used cookie cutters to trace and cut out two sizes of hearts for Christmas ornaments. One thing I noticed was how physically difficult it was to cut into the quilt with pinking shears. My thought was perhaps the batting was super dense, or maybe I need to invest in better pinking shears. As I was struggling with the cutting, I imagined this quilt had to be super cozy and warm during those East Texas winter nights. On the larger heart shapes, I sewed a cute ceramic button in the middle of each heart. The buttons have been gathering dust at my house for decades. It seemed right to finally use them. I sandwiched two hearts for each ornament and placed a ric rac loop between the two layers before sewing the layers together with red thread.
I have also fussy cut a stack of six-inch squares highlighting the eight-pointed stars. That project is still simmering on the back “inspiration” burner. I do have an idea! Future blog post alert!
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.
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.
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!
I have posted multiple photos of quilts and projects in Instagram (@lifesloosethreads), but thought I needed a proper 2023 end-of-year blog post!
In 2023, I finished 7 quilts.
The first benefitted MD Anderson’s Ovarian Quilt Project. It is an online auction held every other year. The funds go to ovarian cancer research and education. This is my third quilt for MDA which honors the memory of my sister, Mary. My sister, Gretchen, made her first quilt for MDA’s project. The angel wing art quilt pattern is my own design. The quilt measures 44″ wide by 49″ long. Since teal is the color designated for ovarian cancer, one of the feather layers is teal. The others are yellow, purple, and orange. Expertly quilted by Lisa Taylor and awesome quilt label by Sally Wasserman.
The second quilt is a Quilt of Valor given to a local World War II veteran in August. The quilt kit is entitled “For the Brave” by Patti’s Patchwork and measures 72″ long by 58″ wide. As I was constructing the quilt top, I kept telling myself this was the only Quilt of Valor I would ever make in my life. The kit had some challenging blocks and I was just over it. However, when months later, I placed the quilt over the shoulders of my veteran, I changed my mind. I’m already thinking about my quilt for 2024. It was quilted by Lisa Taylor.
I am not certain when I started quilt number three! Maybe at the beginning of 2022. I worked on it at several quilt retreats and got lots of fun poked in my direction. And rightly so! The complex little blocks (each 4 inches square) took up very little space on my designated very large design wall. The quilt is entitled “I Spy 96.” The adorable paper-pieced I Spy quilt pattern is by Kimmie Tanner and Missy Winona. It is 43″ wide by 60″ long and contains 96 of the 100 quilt blocks in the book. I have a specific wall for the finished quilt. My least favorite block was the teapot with 41 fabric pieces. Judy Mathis used a swirly quilting design and the label was made by Sally Wasserman. I used Kona solids and mixed in batiks for the images and various white solids for the background. The backing is by Wilmington entitled “School is Cool” by Nancy Mink.
Quilt four is a baby quilt entitled “For Baby Calvert” for my friend’s first grandchild! I used a Moda panel called “Farm Charm” by Gingiber and sashed the blocks. Love the black sheep! The backing is from the same collection but with small sheep. It was quilted by the lovely Val Payne and label by Sally Wasserman.
Quilt five is “The Little Ghost” from a pattern/kit by Leslee Price with multiple blue and cream blocks and appliqued eyes and mouth. It is 45″ wide by 50″ long. It is quilted by Val Payne and label by Sally Wasserman. The quilt goes with the children’s book “The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt” by Riel Nason. I am thinking about donating this quilt/book to a charity next fall.
Quilt six is a Minecraft wall hanging quilt for my grandson, Jacob. The pattern is by My Rainy Day Designs. I made nine 12″ blocks and Jacob picked his favorite Minecraft characters: dirt, sheep, chicken, creeper, mooshroom, pig slime, and zombie. I have no idea what Minecraft is all about but that is okay! I used a fusible 2-inch Quilt Fuse grid for fabric placement. Jacob and Ben helped with the layout of several of the blocks. The finished blocks are sashed with finished 2-inch black borders. The backing is Benartex’s “botanica” by Amanda Murphy. It was quilted by Val Payne.
Quilt seven is a 30″ by 30″ small quilt from Jillily Studio entitled “Joy Wreath.” I purchased the kit/pattern (included fabric for the top, back and binding) at this year’s International Quilt Festival. It was a fun little project that came together quickly. It was quilted by Val Payne with a snowflake panto.
There were several quilt-related projects in 2023, which included: a collaged banner with granddaughter Melanie’s name, a University of Alabama pillow for my favorite neighbor’s awesome son, barn quilt (it was a super fun class), and participation in our guild’s 2024 paper-pieced raffle quilt.
Life's Loose Threads 