I made this quilt seven years ago. At that time I had no children, but I was really wanting them! These ducklings were kind-of my hope for the future family. You know… kind of an “If you build it they will come” strategy. SO now I have two cute kids who do follow me everywhere (sometimes too much). I pulled this quilt out and realized it has still never been washed. It just sits in my cedar chest waiting to be used. 
I have always LOVED the color yellow and so one day I decided I wanted to make a yellow and white quilt. At the time I had not seen chevrons done on a quilt and so my design of half square triangles creating chevrons was, I thought, ingenious. 
My mother had traced a duck 25 years ago out of a coloring book. I used that as my inspiration for the applique. It was my first time doing applique and I learned a whole lot! I wanted them all to be fun and unique and I wanted more boys than girls. 🙂
Maybe the next child will get it. Happy Wednesday! 
Archive for the ‘Highlight: Quilt’ Category
3 Little Ducks – Quilt
Wednesday, June 10th, 2015Mom’s Blue-Green Baby Quilt
Thursday, June 4th, 2015I love fabric. I love jelly rolls. And I love blue and yellow. Put them all together and you have one of my favorite quilts–my sunshine Jacob’s Ladder baby quilt–thanks to Jenny Doan and her Jacob’s ladder tutorial! I saw this tutorial, and I had to try it. I’m a simple quilter and I love it when someone dreams up a simple way to do a complicated pattern!
I have grandchildren standing in line to get this quilt, but I decided that it was MY baby quilt–the one my mom never got to make for me! I love it, and luckily I’m short enough that it’s almost a lap quilt on me.
I have to say I’m not really much of a “blue” girl. I like other colors better. But just put yellow with blue, and I love it. It makes me feel all sunshine-y and summer-y. Even though it’s cloudy today and I just heard thunder, now is the time to celebrate sunshine here in Arizona!
Have a great, sunshine-y day today, and remember that yellow plus blue means summer!
Charming Chavo
Friday, February 27th, 2015I can’t believe it is already the end of February 2015! Happy Christmas, Merry Thanksgiving, Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to four of the gals here at Triangles Gone Mad! (Jaime, Hilaree, Jessica and Me (Stephanie)… TIME FLIES!!! We have gone a long time with no blogging and I have gone a long time with even no quilting… Instead there were holidays, birthdays, a funeral, buying a new house, moving, and normal every day life happenings. And now here I am getting back on the horse. 
I always wanted to make a charm quilt (a charm quilt is a quilt where each fabric is different and never repeated). I liked the idea of using hundreds of different fabrics to create something truly unique and never replicable. Because of the sashing and borders this is not a true charm quilt but it was inspired by them. I named this quilt “Charming Chavo” because it’s colorful and festive.
This quilt was a long time coming! I spent YEARS collecting the fabric and MONTHS cutting each piece, WEEKS sewing it together and mere DAYS to quilt and bind it. The closer I got to finishing this charm quilt, the faster and more diligently I wanted to work on it. The pieces came from old fabrics my mother used for our clothing as children, fabrics we had quilts made out of and scraps from my own quilting. I was somewhat un-scrutinizing in the way I selected the different fabrics. If it was colorful or interesting, I would cut a piece and add it to the pile. I just wanted enough to make the quilt. 🙂
Choosing the sashing was a bit of a conundrum for me. I thought since it was such a big part of the quilt that I had to get it right! I imagined it originally with plain white sashing. However, after laying some of the completed blocks onto the sashing material, I realized that it was boring and too predictable, so I found a fabric that I felt gave the quilt my desired vibe. I was hesitant because sometimes a small print on a large area can get crazy, but I think on this one it was a win!
The quilt deets:
485 different fabrics used in this quilt
120 rectangles (each made of 4 fabrics)
1″ finished sashing between each rectangle
Finished quilt measures 60″ X 78″
One accidental repeat of fabric… oops!
Happy Saturday!
Grandpa’s Quilt of Valor
Tuesday, November 11th, 2014The mission of the Quilt of Valor Foundation is ” to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.” To date the QOV Foundation has awarded over 108,000 quilts to veterans of American wars. I have been quilting for QOV for about two years, and it is so very rewarding to do some small thing for our service men and women who give so much for our safety and freedom. To learn more about QOV go to their website here.
Last month I was privileged to award a Quilt of Valor to my father-in-law, Gene Wade, who served in the Army’s 11th Airborne Division as a paratrooper. He was stationed in Japan at the end of WWII. At the time we gave him the quilt he had just had a stroke, and was in a skilled nursing facility at the time. They were gracious enough to let us use one of the public rooms for the ceremony.
The quilt we gave him was one that I had done the longarm quilting on. The quilt top was made by Ruth Dassen, who is a tireless worker when it comes to making Quilts of Valor here in Arizona. The quilt was beautifully sewn and the quilting added the final touch.
Here is my husband, David, wrapping Gene up in all the warmth and appreciation that is stitched into every Quilt of Valor. Gene and Joy were happy to receive the quilt and appreciation that came along with it. All the family members wanted to share in the excitement of the day, especially the great-grandchildren! Thank you, Gene, for your service to our country!
Passionate Paisley
Monday, August 25th, 2014Shall we make a pattern? Many quilters either pick a pattern and get the fabric to make it, or have fabric and then pick a pattern that matches the amount of fabric they have. So, I’m the quilter who just wants to make up my quilt based on the fabric I have. When I pick fabrics, I start to design a pattern in my mind. I have a hard time sticking with a pattern from a quilting book. Of the four quilts I’ve made, I designed three and modified the other. With my paisley quilt, I didn’t even try to find a pattern that would work. I’ve realized that, when it comes to quilting, I just need to design my own quilts and do my own thing. After a few quilts, I decided to try a more complex pattern, but not one too crazy.
For Passionate Paisley, I decided I wanted to showcase the fabric, so I chose to do squares. One thing you have to decide is whether you want your fabric to be the focus of your quilt, or if it’s all about the pattern.
While making my quilt blocks, especially the nine-patch squares, I had to keep seam allowance in mind. This means a quarter inch is taken off each edge for the seam on every piece of fabric. That was the most difficult part of the design process because of the math.
I learned when making my featured quilt, Passionate Paisley, sometimes you just have to make do with what you have. Don’t let it frustrate you into quitting, be flexible. The fabric for my backing wasn’t quite long enough, so I added a strip of another fabric to make it big enough. Now it’s one of my favorite parts of the quilt. Making your own design is satisfying, you should try it!
Quilt facts:
The binding is corduroy, which adds just a little fun.
There are thirteen different fabrics in the quilt.
It’s made up of more than five unique blocks.
Fruit Market and Swirly Stitching
Monday, August 11th, 2014In August, 2007 I bought my long-arm computerized Statler Stitcher quilting machine and that was the beginning of great relationship between creating and quilting. The more I quilt the more I enjoy quilting on my machine. Every day I learn something new from quilting on my Statler! I have begun to feel proficient using my Statler, and I enjoy quilting almost every day~it’s addicting! There is lots of excitement picking out the pattern for the quilting, choosing the color of the thread, and figuring out how to make the quilt unique.
I named the quilt that I’m highlighting today “Fruit Market” after the original pattern I used. “Spice Market,” a pattern designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, was featured on the cover of the April, 2007 American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, and I fell in love with it on sight. At the time, I was using lots of bright colors in my quilting and wanted to make my quilt out of some of my favorite colors. So I did.
The pattern went together fairly quickly. Sewing the individual strips together was fast, cutting them, and then laying them out so that there were no repeats was not quite as fast.
It made my head spin trying to make sure that I hadn’t used the exact same combination before. Although I tried and tried, I still had some places where the same fabrics were together. Even so, I still love it and the bright colors make me so happy!
When I did the machine quilting for this quilt, I chose the pattern “Sticky Buns” by Anne Bright, because I wanted the machine quilting to contrast with the straight lines of the quilt. The swirling lines of Sticky Buns created just the right amount of distinction between the quilting stitch and the quilt. The result was just what I was looking for. I find that when I am doing an all over quilt pattern, I am happiest when it varies from the design of the quilt. Straight lines with curvy quilts, and vice versa.
Bright quilts still make me very happy. Even though I make quilts in other color ways, I think my heart will always be with bright colors! Hope you enjoy seeing my first Statler machine stitched quilt! Happy Monday!
Quilting Romance
Wednesday, July 30th, 2014It all started when I saw a “Boyfriend” quilt at the American Quilting store in Utah. It was love at first sight! This quilt was just a basic square block quilt. I was excited and decided to make it. I have always loved plaids and gingham and so I decided to give it a western theme. I then renamed the quilt my “Cowboy” Quilt, and decided that my future “tall dark and handsome” could maybe be a cowboy. I mean really who doesn’t like tight jeans and boots!!? When designing my quilt I also added more rows as well as added borders. This quilt was the easiest quilt to make. It’s simple and straightforward. The hardest part was laying it out. It is my favorite quilt I’ve made so far.
I often joked that this quilt was for my future husband, which was very forward thinking of me since I didn’t even have a boyfriend at the time. however, whomever he was he was going to become the lucky owner of a very cool quilt. That was back in 2010.
Three years later I met Dan and we started dating. He is tall dark and handsome but no cowboy. When we started to talk marriage I told him my cowboy quilt would be his if we got married. (I think that’s what sealed the deal.) After visiting his family for Christmas we went on a drive together. He drove us to a scenic view, said I had to stand up, and gave me a pillowcase with something inside. Not exactly the ring box I was hoping for! To my surprise inside was a quilt he had made with his mom. A quilt asking me to marry him. The quilt says “Margaret will you be my eternal cuddle buddy? Y/N ~Dan” I circled the “Y”. It was very original and pleasantly unexpected. Dan, with the help of his mom and sister, came up with the idea to do a quilt because knowing how much I like crafts, Dan wanted to do something crafty. It was the first quilt he’d ever sewn. He chose the fabric well, it’s cute and completely made of Minky, the soft, plushy material perfect for snuggling with. (So of course I said yes.)
Now we are living happily ever after in our apartment and finishing our undergraduate degrees together. And we often use these quilts for cuddling and watching movies together. It’s great because we’ll have these quilts, and eachother other, forever. Happy Wednesday!
5 steps to get excited to quilt! How I did it!
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014
Compared to my sisters I was late to the quilting game. All my sisters had already made quilts of their own before I even considered the idea. I had the desire to quilt after seeing their end results, but lacked motivation. I didn’t quite know where to get started or how to get excited. I decided what the heck, let’s quilt, and found a sure way to become a quilting lover! There are a few steps that got me through my first quilt and I think they apply to every quilt!
1. Love your fabric. If you don’t like the fabric, you won’t like the quilt in the end. I chose 30’s inspired fabric that fit my personality.
2. Go for simple. I used a simple strip quilt design and picked my fabric that was already matched and cut into strips (I used a jelly-roll). First quilt, Sew,cut,piece it together, sew the sashing and borders, but for sure make it simple!
3. Have help! There are so many resources for quilting; quilting blogs, stores, classes, the internet! I had my mother and sisters, I got lucky. 
4. Enjoy the work (probably the most important step). Focus on what you enjoy. I love to design quilts and then piece it together. I don’t enjoy cutting fabric, so I got pre-cut strips of fabric that skipped that step. Also, I liked to listen to music as I sewed. I recommend John Taylor and Neil Diamond!
5. Professional finish. It’s worth it to hire someone to professionally quilt your finished top. Looks clean and polished. Again I was lucky, I had my mother and her long arm quilter, this massive machine in her garage that makes quilts look put together!
I am so proud of my first quilt. I loved making it! Follow these steps and you’ll love quilting too!
Happy Tuesday!
My First REAL Quilt (well… the first one I started)
Tuesday, July 15th, 2014This is the first quilt I ever started.
Throughout my youth, I had seen my mother make all kinds of pretty quilts and decided around 16 that I wanted to make one also. My mom helped me design the quilt in a new computer program she had. Once designed I did some math and we went to the store and purchased material. After we got home, I was all “Gung-ho” about making it, for about a week. I started cutting out the fabric but there were SO many pieces. Did I take on too much? This really was a time commitment… then my drive fizzled.
At that time I think I thought this might be the only quilt I ever make so I had better make it good. In hind sight I probably should have chosen an easier pattern with less peices. Five years after starting my first quilt and after starting and completing two other quilts I finally got back on the boat and finished this quilt. I was so proud when it was finally done! It’s very imperfect… just look at those points… but I like it anyway.
This quilt was finished eight years ago. Its a fun quilt and I will always love it because I designed it and it was my “first”. Now the quilt belongs to this sweet little girl. I hope she likes it. 
Happy Tuesday!
