Quilting With Children

After spending a week with our other granddaughter, 

I thought I should share photos of the quilt we made in her pre-school class a few years ago.  First we looked at a few sample blocks and discussed the traditional names, like Spinning Star, School House, Snail's Trail and Ship of Dreams.

Then each child was given four purple triangles and a white square of paper that had already been folded into quadrants. Together we assembled house blocks, pinwheels and "Birds in the Air". Next they chose their favorite design, glued the triangles to the paper and signed their names.

In the studio I pieced some of the blocks and fused the creative blocks made by the students that didn't go with the one-in-each-quadrant plan. I lettered their names with the wide end of a permanent ZIG marker on each block. The teachers' names were lettered with a flat brush and acrylic paint. The finished quilt hung at their school the rest of the year for the whole school to enjoy. 

This was such a successful project that I have used it twice in the children's summer art camp that I have taught at for years.

It's called "Slug Soup - Art For Young People with Unique Tastes" and is scheduled for June 23 – 27, 2014 at Nestucca Valley Junior/Senior High School. 

By the Sea

Just completed, an original design
 by Charleen Hakala. 

Local scenes glow in sunny coastal colors. 

Watch for this quilt in person

 at the Tillamook County Quilt Show in May.

This beauty was a joy to quilt.... Denise 

New From the Hen House

      Cee Stadtler did this collection of roosters proud                in this colorful quilt. 

                     Inside their chicken-wire borders                        you can practically hear them crowing. 

                                Precision pieced by Cee                                  and machine quilted by Denise Clausen.

Postage Stamp Quilt

    On a recent Saturday my daughter Bethany and I were antiquing in Portland, which is one our favorite things to do. As quilters we always look at quilts and hope to find just the right buy. Bingo! Bethany found this wonderful PostageStamp quilt top that was very colorful with lots of fabulous fabrics. Another wonderful feature of the quilt top is it had been hand pieced. I can't imagine the hours that went into piecing this top. We both hesitated to look at the price, and when we did we found it was only $69. needless to say we did not hesitate to purchase it. The owner of the antique store told us that the elderly lady who brought it in was clearing things out and knew the quilt top would find a good home.

      Denise and I both looked over it thoroughly, and decided we had truly found a gem. We judged the fabrics to be from the 1950's to the 1060's. Of course we don't know when it was quilted, but felt it was some time ago. I machine quilted it in straight rows and it is safe and sound on my bed.

      We often sell vintage quilts after rehabbing them, but I loved this one and couldn't let it go. I'm glad my daughter and I found this treasure.

      Always Treasure Hunting

      Bobbie Hunter

T-Shirt Quilts

Speaking of T-Shirt Quilts, over the years Bobbie and I have quilted a bunch of T-shirt quilts. They are fun to quilt because they are each so unique. The first was a collection of drawings from each year of a young man's life and his sport T-Shirts in honor of his college graduation.

I quilted environmental-themed quotes in the empty spaces. 

Bobbie quilted a T-Shirt quilt that still hangs at

 McMinnville High School. 

Other quilts have included teams, cars and even Highland games. At first I thought they would be hard to quilt, remembering the old days of stitching on polyester double knits, but not so. It turns out that when the T-Shirts are properly mounted on lightweight, fusible fabric that they are easy to quilt. We commonly use polyester batting to keep the weight down. 

#T-Shirt Quilts make great memory quilts and are so cuddly!

News from Bobbie

I just had the privilege to quilt a #T-shirt quilt for a friend at work, Mardi Mileham.  Mardi commissioned our friend, Shelly Sanderlin, to take T-shirts that belonged to her husband and make a quilt for her. Sadly Mardi lost her husband suddenly two years ago. Shelly and I are so glad that she chose us to make this memory quilt for her.  I know Mardi will always cherish the quilt that holds so many memories of her husband.  

Civil War Quilt

Another January quilt is a one made by Bonnie Eberly. It is made with reproduction Civil War fabrics and is the first of that kind that I have quilted. Before starting I researched the type of handquilting that was done during that time period. The two major sources that I used was Barbara Brackman's 
Quilts From the Civil War and the online Quilt Index. From these sources I decided to quilt straight across all three boarders and sashings with pairs of lines about an inch appart. Each 12" block is quilted differently using "elbow designs", diagonal pairs, tripple lines and a small fan. I have two more #Civil War quilts in the queue so watch for them in the near future.