What's on the line?

Lots of sunshine and warm temperatures are back in Minnesota! When I went out to the line to hang quilts for picture taking yesterday, it couldn't have been more beautiful. There was only one problem........a slight breeze and tons of mosquitos!!! Usually the wind blows the mosquitos away but not then. The quilts look so pretty when they blow in the wind and then they are dappled with sunshine. I love it and I love this quilt that I'm sharing today. I made it from 4-1/2" squares that I hand-sewed together into a quilt top, and then hand-quilted it with Perle cotton (chunky quilting as my friend, Denise, calls it!). This is from a class I taught called a "Baker's Dozen Beginning Quilt" class. I drew on the skills I learned from my mother and many years of sewing and quilting and shared those skills with fellow friends and students. :-)

The quilt in the photo above is the result of teaching lots of students how to quilt by just taking twelve 4-1/2" squares and sewing them together into a small quilt top that can serve as a doll quilt, a placemat or a wallhanging like the ones you'll see in the following photos. I sewed lots of samples in the years that I taught beginning quilting in our community education program, at Murphy's Landing (living history museum), Michael's and as a volunteer activity in our local county libraries. Each little quilt measured 13" x 17 " when finished. All of the quilts you'll see in this post were done by hand from 1999 to 2000. The class was a hand-piecing/hand-quilting project. I felt that it was important to start with hand sewing as it is necessary to sew bindings on those quilts and once you are good with needle and thread, then you can move on to sewing these little projects by machine.

All of the quilts used fabric from my stash and so today, I will be sharing a similar post over on Rae Ann's Stash*Manicure blog. It's my first post there and I was thrilled when Rae Ann invited me to participate. I had planned to share these quilts on this day and decided to do similar posts here on my blog and also on Stash*Manicure . Stash fabrics were the basis for all these projects. I brought a suitcase full of fabrics from my stash to each class and then students could select scrappy fabrics or coordinating prints for their little quilt and I was always making new samples!

In the first class that I taught, I showed students the little quilt you see on the left in this photo. I loved the scrappy colors in that little quilt. :-) I made a number of the little quilt tops in those colors as samples when I would teach. Then I began to make samples that followed the seasons or holidays. For a closer look at any of the photos, just double click on them.

I made a small quilt for a favorite teddy bear, then a placemat for Valentine's Day and then one for St. Patrick's Day.

Each of the little quilts fits just right on my old antique sewing machine and when the right accessories are added, they make a sweet vignette.

The little quilt on the left in this photo has ceramic heart buttons that were in bags of fabric that a friend gave me when she decided to give up quilting and focus just on knitting. She left five grocery bags filled with fabric on my doorstep! The jelly bean fabric had been around for some time and I had never used it. It was just right for a little quilt. The blue and tan quilt looks great with a clay pot full of flowers on it, and the blue and black one is for tea and crumpets. :-)

I really enjoyed teaching adults and kids how to get started quilting. Whatever the season, I shared fabrics that fit the time of the year........and I kept making samples as I taught. I found that simple as this project was, to some it was a real challenge. My youngest student was a seven year old who was destined to be a really fine quilter. The oldest student was 73 and when she finished her little quilt, she could hardly wait to show it to her 93 year old mother and say "Look, I finally learned to quilt". I laughed as that was so fun and so cool!

When summer arrived I pulled out red, white and blue fabrics to celebrate........4th of July, birdhouses, apples.......

and then when summer ended I made a scrappy little quilt in autumn colors, then Halloween and one in an fat quarter fabric that I had saved but never knew what to use it for and I love it as a fall mat for a dried floral arrangement.

I showed students that just by adding more squares they could make a tablerunner or candle mats from scraps. It's may seem like a simple project to an experience quilter but to someone who is just learning, the simple approach allows them to succeed and then they want to learn more!

Cute Christmas buttons were used on the blue and red fabrics for a little wallhanging. For the Christmas poinsettia fabric, I sewed a crocheted doily in the enter of the little quilt. This looks lovely with a poinsettia sitting in the center.

I love to share my joy in stitching and delight in encouraging others to know that joy! These are simple projects but they look lovely in just the right setting. They look cool just hanging on the line but I'm afraid if I left them there "for looks" that one strong wind would whip them into the woods!

Here's one more photo of the larger quilt that is made by sewing sixteen of the small quilt tops together. This was a quick and easy way to make a warm and snuggly lap quilt. :-)

Sometime next fall, I plan to offer this project as a class and for those of you who live nearby, just watch my blog for details.

That's "what's on the line today" but I have one more thing to share.....

the clothespins that I use belonged to my Grandma Goldie. After she passed away in 1994, my mother ended up with her bag of clothespins and she passed them on to me. I like to think that Grandma is watching and enjoying the quilts I bring you each Monday. :-)

Hope you have enjoyed this days quilts. Have a good Monday!

Sandi