Older Quilts

Today I'm going to share some more of my older quilts.  After moving back to Orlando in 1998 (or was it '99?) I had more time to sew and more room too.  I had the passion to quilt, after my early Jinny Beyer success, but few of the skills and none of the knowledge.  Deciding to make something for our queen size bed, I decided to try a mariner's compass.  Here's the crazy part:  I didn't know where to look for a pattern so worked it out on graph paper myself.  At the time that seemed like a logical thing to do; now I know it was unnecessarily difficult and there were lots of places I could have turned for help!  I was so pleased with the top, but then it all went wrong...  I used a horrible spray basting adhesive that resulted in a tragically wrinkled back, my first try at machine free motion quilting was startlingly bad,  I should never have used inexpensive muslin for the beige parts, I didn't know anything about choosing batting, etc.  The list could go on and on.  Of course we used it regularly for years and I still use it once in a while.  If you did a drive-by, looked through the window and saw it, you might think it looks nice.  But once you got within 20 feet you would see how pitiful it really is.  But I know how hard I worked on it and how proud I was to work out the compass angles, so I'll never get rid of it!

Here it is: Mariners' Blues.  I called it that because we had to sell our boat when we left
Baltimore and the Chesapeake Bay.

In the couple years after Mariners' Blues, I made a few more for family.

This is a simple but pretty quilt for my brother and his wife.  I called this one Biltmore Rose after a fun trip we all made to Asheville NC.

This next one is GrayC's Garden, made for my mother around 2002 I think.  Mom was a fabulous gardener and her beloved cat GrayC was out there with her most of the time although she was and is a confirmed house cat the rest of the time.  Mother chose most of the fabric and encouraged me to use a Stack-n-Whack pattern I had recently found.  We had a blast working on this; it was an important time for both of us.  After Mom passed, I just couldn't keep this one around and was thrilled when my sister in law wanted it.  She and my mother felt great affection for each other so it was the perfect home for the quilt.

I don't have a picture of the back but it's wide alternating stripes of the light gray and the deep maroon-ish purple.   

I've got lots more quilts to categorize and post, but I'll save them for another day.  Here, instead, are a few GrayC pictures then and now:

And now:  22 pounds and the queen bee of the household!