More Tile Quilts.

I belong to the Applique Goddesses here in San Jose. The group has been active for many years now and has members who love all kinds of applique. Occasionally, a challenge is offered with a packet of fabrics to be used, either all or some, and a couple can be added. The resulting small quilts are exhibited at the Prairie Queens Quilt Shop in San Jose where we meet. Customers are asked to vote for their favorite.

As it happens, the first and second choices were both tile quilts. Helen Hodack of Los Gatos took first place with a quilt she designed after a visit to Turkey where she saw the wonderful stained glass windows in the Blue Mosque. Helen purchased our book and needed no further instruction! Her quilt, seen above, is called Turkish Delight. It's definitely a winner! Her quilt is on the left above.

The second place went to my quilt, Winding New Ways, which was made from a block that Carol and I designed and submitted to "Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from today's top designers" magazine published last year. It is the traditional Winding Ways block redesigned as a tile block.
The quilt is on the right above.

Label Your Quilts

We're always being told to label our quilts. The quilt historians of the future will love us if we do! Heeding that advice, I have generally been in the habit of labeling my quilts. That advice came to nice result lately. In 1990, I made a wall quilt as a gift to my aunt and uncle for their 50th wedding anniversary. Aunt Elizabeth was my mother's sister and my only aunt. And she was a wonderful aunt, even though she lived clear across the country in Florida from me in California. When I did manage to get to Florida for a visit I was always pleased to see the quilt I gave them hanging in the hallway. My aunt passed away several years ago and just last month, my uncle followed her. Recently, I received an email from their son. He and his sister had started to sort through their parents' house and their many collections. He found the label on the back of the quilt which stated who it was for and for what occasion, "given with love and admiration", the date and my name. My cousin reported that he had the quilt and he and his wife are redoing their Will to be sure the quilt stays in the family. So, labeling your quilts is good advice!

The quilt is named Star of the Orient. It was a little tricky to piece the stars.

Latest Quilt

From my first quilt to the latest I have finished. And this is a tile quilt. It's called Birds in a Cherry Tree and is based on an Arts and Crafts embroidered panel. Most of the fabrics are from Barbara Brackman's William Morris lines for Moda. This quilt is 24" square and a pattern may be coming soon.

It seems appropriate that my first post to "One Quilter's Journey" should be my first quilt. It is called Holly and the Ivy and is from a pattern in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, Nov. - Dec., 1987. It is all done by hand because that's how I thought quilts were supposed to be made. Though I had sewn clothes since I was a young girl, I really didn't know how to make a quilt. I still love to do hand work.