Around the Vine Quilting by Martha

December 2019, I won at least 100 strips of 2.5″ various fabrics from a game I played at quilt guild. I challenged myself to use them all up in quilts. After I divided the strips into piles and made four quilts I was getting smaller piles that I was going to have to add strips to. I had a small pile of blues and my niece is expecting a baby boy in a couple of months so this is perfect for a baby quilt. I sewed 18 stripes across, cut 10 inches down from the top, added a strip of fun boy fabric and sewed the top and bottom back on. Careful to make sure the stripes are going in the same direction. I couched red yarn across the top and bottom of the added fabric to create dimension then added the name Holden at the bottom with my couching foot on my Handi Quilter Forte. Finished it off with red binding creating a 36×49 sized personalized baby quilt.

I had another small pile of black and white fabrics and I had some Purdue fabric to make my friend’s daughter a quilt so the fabric would work together. I had to be more specific on the layout of the fabrics because the Purdue strips had to be equally spaced across. Not all the strips on this one are 2.5 inches. The Purdue strips were 3 inches to include all the design and the gray were 2 inches because they were left overs from another project. I wanted a larger quilt because she is a college student. I cut two 11″ Purdue strips and measured 10 inches from the top and 10 inches from the bottom and sewed the two wide strips in, then added the multiple strips back together. Careful to make sure all the stripes are going in the same direction. I used my glide foot on my HQ Forte and couched the name Logan at the top creating a 62×44 finished college quit with black binding. Did I not tell you that these quilts can be addicting!

I won a lot of 2.5 inch stripes of all different kinds of fabric that I challenged myself to use up. I decided to keep them simple and just sew the strips together. After sewing the strips across (17 or 18) I then cut at ten inches down from the top, then added a strip of fabric across and sewed the top and bottom back on. Careful to keep the lines in the same color direction. They make easy baby quilts and I only used the strips I won. Its amazing how they turned out. I have a neighbor, Vernice that has a new grand baby called Addison so this was a fun and easy quilt I made for her to give. I used my couching foot on my Handi Quilter Forte longarm to freehand the name Allison on the quilt to personalize it. The yellow one is a spare for when I need a baby gift I am ready. These quilts are very addicting and would be fun to make with a jelly roll! I hope this inspires you to start sewing your strips together and making quilts!

I attend a local quilt guild called Material Girlfriends in Shelbyville, Indiana. (picture below) For our Christmas 2019 party we played the game Left, Right, Center. Everyone had to bring five 2.5 inch strips of fabric and we rolled the dice and threw the strips in the center or left or right. You keep playing until the last person has strips and that person wins all the strips in the center. I Won all the strips! (second picture) Never did I think I would have time to make anything out of them, well this year (2020) has brought me some time.

I divided the strips into piles. The first quilt was for my friend Amelia because she has moved from Indiana to Texas. I sewed 17 strips across (2.5×40) and then a light colored fabric (6.5×40) then added 17 strips across the top. (2.5×10) I added a 6.5 inch border around. I added the word Home with the state of Indiana in place of the “o”. The second quilt is from the Christmas strips.

I made this quilt from uniforms worn by Garnet Wagoner that he wore while working at Eli Lilly corporate center in Indianapolis. All the greens went well together and the outer border was made from his work pants. I put my heart and soul into this quilt because I think the world of Garnet. I custom quilted it leaving his name tags on his uniforms and even leaving the pockets open by not quilting them closed. This is one of my favorite quilts I have ever made. He received it for Christmas 2019. After he received it he called me to personally thank me for making it. That is his generation because they would say thank you or send you a card.

I was honored to be asked to make a quilt for Sophia. I’ve watched her grow up in the church. Mom, Kate had lots of shirts, using front and back’s. Sophia was involved in so many activities. This was going to be the Too Cool T-shirt quilt layout, which is all T-shirts. So many colors and designs yet so many memories throughout her years up until graduation. This truly is a collection of memories. She will have this quilt to wrap up in and to go back into time with. Sophia graduated from New Palestine. Go Dragon! I quilted the HQ meander design.

I love this time of the year, finishing one segment of life and starting a fresh new start. I had been requesting T-shirts for the last four months to make Cody’s graduation quilt. He did not want to give them up, he’s still wearing them. I had found a panel with the Football saying on it, so I could not wait to make this quilt. His mom, Jody gave me a few t-shirt (4), not enough. So I begged for more. She gave me four more. It was just enough to surround the panel and make a nice manly quilt. I quilted the straight lines across that gave it a nice finish without distracting from the saying or the T-shirts. Cody loved his quilt! Yes, he is really special because he received two for graduation! Way to go champ and Best of luck in business.

Oh what we do for family. Connie took on the challenge to make a T-shirt quilt with the Too Cool T-shirt pattern lay out and using the templates. She backed all her T’s then cut them, then created the puzzle to make all the T’s fit together. After she had the quilt layout she sewed them all together. She asked me to quilt it and she found a picture “out there in cyber space” with straight lines across. I loved the straight lines because it did not distort any of the T-shirts and the look is very modern. So the quilt was quilted and given back to her in record time. We are all on a deadline for graduation. I loved the straight lines so well I used in on Cody’s T-shirt quilt.

Marcia Robertson is known (to me) as the Queen of T-shirt quilts. She can put one together in no time and she knows she can call me on a dime and I will get her quilt quilted for her. Most of the time the rush is because the student is not ready to part with the Senior T-shirts. But we all love deadlines. Marcia made a double sided quilt and she had it in time for the big day. Owen was in the Triton Central Band and I quilted the design with HQ music meander. Way to go Owen!

I love T-shirt quilts because they are one of a kind. This May I had a hand in five graduation quilts. No easy task since all required a quick turn time and secrecy.  The first was made by Angela Carmony Simpson for her grandson Cody graduating from Roncalli High School.  He wanted a red, white and blue quilt for the school colors.  Angela used her embroidering machine and talents and created the school emblem “R” which made the quilt.  I custom quilted the quilt with straight lines and swirls.  A great memory of his last two years of high school.

I purchased this stained, hand pieced red and white quilt top at a local flea market for $12.  The quilt top had holes, different shades of white fabrics and did not lay flat, but I could see the finished look.  I love to take old quilt tops and bring them alive with various types of quilting.  This one needed lots of small quilting to flatten down the unevenness.  I could not find the name of this pattern, but many  saw turtles, geometric design and birds.  I had a book that had a fish pattern in a circle and I thought it looked close, so I decided they were fish.  I loaded the quilt top on my Handi-Quilter frame and could immediately tell I had my work cut out for me because the quilt top was very wavy.  I thought this would be a perfect time to learn free-hand quilting.  I first basted the quilt down and started with red thread to create the fish.  I quilted gills and eyes on the fish.  I then quilted with off white thread double circles on the cream/white and beige fabrics to matte down the quilt top and to give it a continuous look instead of drawing the eye to all the different shades of white.  It was a lot of fun! I love this quilt! After it was quilted I was told the pattern is doves.  I see fish, what do you see?