I am not an heirloom quilter...

No, really.  I don't quilt to create beautiful works of art to hang on the wall or to enter into contests for ribbons or prizes or whatnot.  I make quilts for people to love.  I make quilts for the love of people.  I make quilts for the love of quilts.  What prompted this revelation?  I found my way to this wonderful post from Dawn at Spring Water Designs.  So, this morning, I wandered around my home and took pictures of my quilts in their natural habitat.  These humble blankets that I love to create and share in their proper places in my home.  I wanted to share with you what my quilts are designed intended for.

This is the guest bed.  This bed has so many options for quilts.  Mostly based on what I feel like when I make the bed.  This quilt was made with fabrics I picked up during my cruise to West Africa.  They aren't from very many different countries (because I couldn't find the fabric in each country), but they represent my time in that far-away land.  This is also the first big quilt I finished on my long-arm.

The star quilt is one I made for my husband when we weren't living together due to our jobs being in different states.  I will admit, after making a queen-size quilt on my domestic machine, I was pretty much happy with making smaller quilts for a long time.  On the foot of the bed is my quilt Mischief.  Darling Husband and I don't have the same ideas about what constitutes a comfortable sleeping temperature and sometimes I just need another layer.  This is that extra layer.

We don't spend a bunch of time in front of the television, so this love seat is all the couch we need.  Guests, if they ever join us in front of the television, are delegated to chairs.  This fun little quilt was made with a bunch of 2.5" strips.  It was my first, last and only attempt at pantograph quilting.  I absolutely hated it.  I was tense and annoyed and not all that impressed with my results.  I prefer free-hand quilting so much more.  It is also one of my early attempts at machine-finished binding.  I'm not all that fond of that, either.  That's what that lamp is for; so I can see what I'm doing when I sit down to hand-finish quilt binding while we watch a little television.

For a while, every time Darling Husband would see a quilt rack at a thrift store, he would bring it home.  Thankfully, he didn't get too carried away.

This helps me not just have stacks and stacks of quilts, though I have been trying to keep the transfer of quilts out of the house relatively consistent with the transfer of fabrics into the house.  I might be fighting a losing battle, but I don't mind overly much.  That really scrappy quilt has some wonderful experimental quilting on it.  It also has fabrics from quilts I made over 10 years ago.  How crazy is that!

I regularly finish quilts for Annapolis Quilts for Kids and have donated quilts to other charities.  The quilt above was donated to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary in Winton, CA, as part of a raffle to support cancer research.  I give quilts as gifts to friends and family.  I never want to pass up a chance to give a quilt to a new family and that brand new baby that is wreaking havoc in their lives while at the same time teaching them that family isn't about the individual but about the whole.  I want to give something of myself.  This means the quilt should be used.  And used.

Is there anything better than a baby with a quilt?  This is little Layla, who isn't quite so little anymore, with her quilt.  She wasn't the first baby to receive a quilt hug I made just for her.  She also isn't the last.

So, I'm going to keep making quilts that are meant to be loved and cherished and used.  The important part of that is that they will be used to wrap someone up in a fabric hug.  Don't hang that hug on the wall!

EDIT:  At some point, I will make a wall-hanging.  Correction, I will make another wall hanging.  Then, I will have to step down from my soap box.  

African Fabrics

What seems like ages ago, I picked up fabric while on a trip to Africa (I'm sure I blogged about it at some point, but I'm too lazy to go look for the post and link to it) and I've had it in several stages of U.F.O. over the last six to eight months.

Here is a quick shot of all the fabrics.  They aren't the best quality fabrics, but I did pick them up while traveling abroad, so I was going to make a quilt out of them no matter the quality.

Because I wasn't too pleased with the quality of the fabric, I decided to use a foundation of muslin to build the block on. 

Since the fabrics are big and bold, I also wanted to make really big blocks to ensure the fabric could be seen.  The foundation was cut around 31 x 31 inches to make sure I had enough room to highlight this great fabric.

I did do some smaller piecing, but just a small bit.  The black fabric was from my stash, but that was the only top fabric that didn't come from my trip.

Here is one of the many blocks trimmed and ready to be sewn to the rest.

I told you those blocks were big.  A total of six blocks were used to make this quilt.  I'll have to measure it, but just know that it will fit the bed it was designed for.  

Bright colors and bold prints really jump.  This quilt was almost too big for the long-arm, so I did not add a border.  The binding will be the only little spot of different fabric.

I couldn't really decide on how I should quilt this monster quilt.  I ended up using a simple meander for the majority of the surface.  

When I got to the small black strips, I couldn't resist adding in a somewhat messy swirl.  Again, I used Superior Thread's King-Tut to long-arm quilt this quilt.

I resisted quilting over the women on the red/white print.  I didn't want to muddy her shape if possible.  The backing was pieced with about five yards of batik in dark brown and yellow and a kind of rust and yellow.  All that's left is to finish the binding and label. 

Praia, Cape Verde, a look at the sea

The birthplace of Atlantic hurricanes looks pretty good from this side of the pond.

This is the port in Praia, Cape Verde.  What you don't see, is the huge swell that comes in and nearly rolls over the pier on its way in.  Large container ships rock at the pier alarmingly.

It appears this voyage did not end well.  Okay, so I only have proof the vessel did not end well.

They are making progress on the jetty that will eventually stop that dangerous swell from heading into port.

Praia, Cape Verde

Cobbled streets abound.

I did find a market that had everything.  Clothing, shoes, knick-knacks and... FABRIC!  The best fabric I managed to pick up the entire trip.  (I promise, the fabric will appear in another post, as soon as it becomes something.)

The buildings are often perched precariously on the hillsides.

 With everything so close together.

I wish I'd gotten some pictures of the fine food we had while here.  Granted, my Portuguese is worse than my French, but the food was wonderful in any language.

Banjul, The Gambia: Streets and Buildings

This is the entrance into the crafts market.  Over one hundred shops filled with shirts, dresses, wood carvings, jewelry, leather work and fabric!  I'll admit it, within ten minutes of walking inside, I'd spent my entire allowance for this stop.  The rest of these are just some random shots I took while traveling to and from the hotels.

Next stop:  Cape Verde!

Banjul, The Gambia: Signs, signs, everywhere a sign...

No witty comments for this one.  These can speak for themselves.