Hi Sue,
Thank you. Yes, it can be overwhelming going through all of the supplies and then when I add another photo, it goes to the end of course so you have to scroll through to see if there is more. With some of the boards I've found great links so if time allows, it's good to scroll through some. The quilt really is pretty in our living room. Just the right touch.
Patty

Gorgeous quilt. I am always amazed of the creativity of those that do round robins.

Thank you. When I saw my first round robin quilts I knew then that one day I hoped to get to participate in some.
Patty

I love the quilt in your avatar. What is the name of it. Love the colours.

This is one of my favorite quilts. It was started the first year we were married, a few years later when the quilting process was a disaster I stored it away in the cedar chest until our daughter was married and I needed the cedar chest to store her wedding gown so I pulled out, tore it apart and totally reconstructed it and completed it just before our 38th wedding anniversary - hence the name of the quilt. The pattern is attached for download. It's amazingly easy to do. the squares of the quilt are hand embroidered flowers but I think this would make a perfect photo album quilt. It's amazingly quick and easy to do and this is the 1st of 3 quilts I've done using this pattern. Thank you for liking it. It is one of 6 that I have kept. All of my other quilts have been given away as soon as they were completed but I do love this pattern. I saw this frame (see pattern 1) and thought this would be a perfect way to frame my flowered squares. I did NOT comprehend the stars until I started sewing the squares together and oh my, what a surprise. It was in a magazine wayyyyyy back. The quilt was started in 1964 and I think I tried quilting it a couple of years later but didn't find this pattern until our daughter got married and she's been married 18 years so that was a long time ago.
Hugs
Patty

Thank you so much for the pattern. I does not look too difficult so I will certainly try my hand at it. Your quilt is beautiful and you have a lot of patience to keep as long as you did and then finish it. Thanks again. Carol

Hi Carol, You're very welcome. I had put a lot of hours into hand embroidering each of those flower squares and was determined to learn how to quilt. My husband's two very elderly grandmothers were giving me pointers and all I can say is "oh dear." LOL. We drove to Peoria, IL to buy quilt batting and couldn't find any and JoAnn's didn't know where I could get any so Don's grandmothers told me to use one of my wedding blankets for the batting. The floral pattern showed through and I tried machine quilting it and actually had it half done - it was the ugliest quilt on the planet and I just couldn't finish it so I stored it away and vowed to complete one day after I learn a whole lot more about quilting and that's exactly what I did. I completed several beautiful quilts before I had the patience to rip that one apart and totally reconstruct it. The original was the flower block, plain white block, rotation but it just didn't work at all. I just love the end result of this one remodeled and Don said I can not give it away. We don't use it. I only bring it out when company is coming for display on the bed and people do ooh and aah over it. By the way, I did use scraps to make this quilt. Below are photos of the other two quilts using this pattern. The pink and lavender quilt have a square of pretty butterfly fabric in instead of the embroidered flower squares. It's beautiful but a little too color intense for my tastes but I had a ball making it.

CW's quilt is one I refer to as CW's memories. In the white squares I hand quilted pictures representing memories in his life. He's 12 now. We relcoated from IL to FL 4 1/2 years ago and they've visited us 3 times. He had his first plane ride, horse ride, boat ride and these are depicted in the different squares but they are quilted with white thread like pictures in clouds. For his I used sports fabrics. Tried to find golf but that wasn't a year for golf fabric so most of them are everything but. It's a fun and easy pattern to do.

You cut out your squares, frame your squares which make the blocks and sew them together - as you sew, the starts are made up of the corner of the squares and is beautiful.
Patty
Have fun and I hope you do give it a try.

Very, very beautiful. Bravo!

Patty..the other two quilts are beautiful. It is amazing how different fabrics changed the look. Thanks for taking the time to answer. Carol

Thank you Maureen.
Patty

Carol,
Thank you Carol. It is interesting how different fabrics can make such a dramatic change in the look. You can see in the CW's quilt, the white squares that I think would be great to use for photos for a memory quilt. The 38 year quilt is a queen and has more borders on it. The other two are twin sized quilts. Although I'm a hand quilter, I did do each of the twin quilts in less than a year but I'm retired and quilt at every opportunity which helps. Prior to retirement, while working full time and keeping up with a family it would take me 18 months to 4 years to complete a quilt depending on life and how things were going. If you're a machine quilter, this pattern would be easy to do and you could churn these out quickly with ease.
Glad you enjoyed seeing them.
Patty

You've just seen one of my butterfly quilts. If you'd like to see the other one, go to the new photos and look for Patty's butterfly throw. I made it using left over material from my 3 butterfly quilts. The 3rd one is a twin size and isn't completed yet but will be in the next 3 or 4 weeks. I do quilt as you go in panels so now I'm to the add and quilt the border and bind it off time.
Patty

Wow, Patty everyone did a superb job and it looks like it was intended to be made that way. Everyone is so talented and creative!!

Just lovely! What a talented group!
Kind Regards,
MaryAnna

I am learning about these shared collaborations, this is beautiful, Well done all!

Gal

beautiful

Thank you Karen. This quilt as are ALL of my quilts have all been hand quilted WITHOUT a hoop or frame. Just thought I'd let you know since you posted the question to the board. Also, those who are now doing it in my chapter telling me it's a lot easier on them to quilt this way - less pain for those who have pain for one reason or another. I was amazed at the meeting last night when one of our experienced machine quilters came over and asked me for instructions on how to hand quilt as she's decided she wants to give it a try. In the course of the conversation, with basically the entire group standing around my table where I was hand quilting without a hoop, our male member told us that he has now set aside his hoop and is "quilting like Patty." Since he has a mid arm quilt machine and is very good without, I thought he'd give up his hand quilting but he said no as this is how he can relax in the evening and spend time with his wife. He gave up the hoop because it was causing him pain in the shoulders and neck - which is where I had gotten pain too plus my upper arm muscles. With quilting without a hoop, the only pain I experience now is when I stick my finger. I highly recommend it because you can sit in a comfortable chair with your feet elevated, relax and watch TV while you "torture your fingers." I'm finally just now learning how to use a thimble. Normally I prefer a bandaid or masking tape on my fingers to protect them but the quilt I'm working on is a bit thicker fabric so I've had to use a leather thimble - the black ones. Also, if you try this, have a tub of Bag Balm on hand to dip your fingers into at the end of your quilting day to heal your sore fingers over night - it really works unless you get a bad jab which does happen.

spectacular final border!

Patty,
I have been told that I can handquilt without a hoop or frame but I'm afraid to try it...but when I put my quilt in the hoop, I have to support it on a table which take up a lot of room and I after only a few stitches, I start getting pain in my shoulders. I think I will attempt quilting without a hoop or frame. Thank you for the encouragement.

Thank you. I love the scalloped border. The hardest part for me was figuring out how to sandwich it as I wasn't sure I wanted to tackle binding it off but with a narrow border, it works just fine. I'll be binding off another one in about 2 months and can't remember what size I used. This time I'll need to make a note somewhere for future reference but it was either 1 inch or 1-1/2 inch strip. I'm pretty sure it was 1 inch as I machine sew it on with a 1/4 inch seam, fold it over which takes 1/4 inch and the back side will be another 1/4 inch with 1/4 inch folded over and then I hand stitch it in place. I love how they look on a quilt.

That is so lovely and fresh looking. Wonderful work.

Depending on the size of the quilt you're working on, if it's bed size, make sure you are sitting in a comfortable chair with your feet elevated as your legs will help support the fabric. I use a recliner love sit that I bought for this purpose. In IL, before relocating to FL, I had a nice comfy straight back chair and had to buy a nice foot stool specifically for quilting.

It is possible to hand quilt while sitting at a table as I do that at the rec centers but I take up an extra chair to prop one leg up on to support the quilt as I move it around.

I do begin quilting somewhere towards the center of the quilt and the actual quilt layout determines whether I work a row of blocks across, top to bottom, side to side or work blocks one at a time moving around the first block I started with. With hand quilting, it honestly doesn't matter but I do prefer to begin somewhere near the center area and work out to the edges making sure my backing stays smooth.

You MUST baste heavily, at least every 2 - 3 inches in every direction. For the first time ever, I'm quilting without the hand basting, just heavy pin basting and it's working well. You do have more margin for risk of wrinkles or puckers in the backing - or so machine quilters tell me.

I highly recommend you give it a try. Be patient as it may take you a week or so to feel fully comfortable but my stitches are smaller and more even than they ever were before and the real plus is the only pain I ever experience is when I manage to stab a finger as thimbles and I aren't friends but for this quilt, I've actually been using a thimble about 50% of the time which is amazing to me.

You may need to adjust a pin here and there as you proceed as well. Every now and then I'll detect a small wrinkle on the backing and feel the need to adjust the pin in that area and it works just fine. Relax, enjoy and please let me know how things go for you. The members in my chapter who've made the switch were all amazed at how quickly they all took to it and it's really puzzling the machine quilters at this change that's been slowly happening since I joined the chapter. I like to have something in my hands to work on every time I sit down and a quilt is my preference as it is for most quilters but most don't want to haul their machines to quilt meetings at the rec centers for them, the meeting time is quilting time wasted or missed while I sit there happily quilting away while visiting with them.

I prefer to work on quilts in panels rather than say an entire queen sized quilt - even a twin is larger than I care to work on so a twin would be done in 2 panels of 3 or 4 rows each panel and then the borders are added last and quilted last - just easier for me.

I use a variation of Marti Michell's <Machine Quilting in Sections Book.> I started using her technique years ago when she was interviewed in Womans Day Magazine. I bought her book because my machine quilting friends are interested in my technique but mine won't work for them. They need to get her book and actually use one of her recommended techniques for machine quilting as they want to avoid having the entire quilt on the sewing machine as much as possible. For your next quilt, I highly encourage you to check out her book and work in panels as it will also ease things for you comfort wise.

You can order her book from www.NancysNotions.com. Search by her name and it should come up. I believe she also has a web site. You can try www.MartiMichelle.com and see if it comes up. Her books are also sold on Amazon.com.

Good luck, enjoy and please share your experience with us.
Hugs
Patty

Very nice. You guys did a great job. :thumbup:

Thank you.

Thank you Pam.