Maverick Star Quilt (for the cat)

When I bought my Poang Chair, I wanted to make some mini quilts to cover it to help control the cat hair. I did finish a small one that fits on the footstool. The "rules" were that I could not buy any new fabric - it all had to come from my stash!


I used this Maverick Star tutorial. I like this block because it is scrappy and I didn't have to have all the points matching - I am not that precise a quilter so don't look too closely to see if the corners match!


It took a few weeks, but now it certainly is the cat's favorite resting place. If you look closely, I'm sure you will see a nice overlay of cat hair!

Completed Yellow Vintage Sheet Quilt

I finally finished this little mini quilt that I made out of vintage sheets. I love the cheerful colors. The flowers are lavender from my garden.

I plan to use it for a table quilt in my dining room.

Crazy Quilt Teddy Bear

For my final post on Craxy Quilt Week, here is a sweet teddy bear that I crazy quilted. The pattern is from the book Bullion Stitch Embroidery: From Roses to Wildflowers (Milner Craft Series)
- however I changed the design to a use crazy quilt patches and did my own embroidery designs. After making sections of crazy quilt out of fabric, I drew the pattern pieces on them with pencil. Then I added the embroidery stitches onto the pieces before cutting them out and sewing them together.

The bear is fully jointed in the arms, legs, and head.

Close up of the foot - pretty stitches and felt foot pads .

I hope that you enjoyed this peak at my crazy quilting!

Crazy Quilt in Ivory

Here's some more crazy quilting - all in shades of ivory with vintage pearl buttons:

Crazy Quit in Pink and Blue

I first started crazy quilting many years ago when a parent brought in some examples of work that she had been doing. I immediately fell in love with the colors and the textures, so I bought a book and started playing. I already had tons of fabric scraps to use and knew many embroidery stitches. I loved the silky look of the perle cotton thread.


My first project was a pink and blue vest. It had bits of all kinds of fabrics that I had worn through the years. I used to wear it with a blue chambray skirt and it truly was a cute and clever style. (I do wish that this type of floral fabric wasn't considered so frumpy now!)

Aren't these vintage flowery white buttons pretty??

Crazy Quilt in Black and Pink

I used to do a lot of crazy quilting. I enjoyed mixing fabrics and thread and stitches and buttons and silk ribbons and beads. It certainly took a long time to complete a project, but the end results are so rich in texture! I made this Christmas Tree Crazy Quilt several years ago. I also made several crazy quilt vests - alas, not very fashionable anymore, but still pretty.

So this week I've declared it to be crazy quilt week at Clever Karen. I'm going to share a few close ups from some of my projects. Today we'll take a close look at my favorite vest which used a variety of black and pink fabrics.

Vintage Yellow Sheets 2

Here is the end result of my little vintage sheet project - a small quilt top that I can use as a table topper. It measures about 18 inches across.


It still isn't quilted yet - I think that will have to wait until after Christmas.


I like the cheerful combo of colors. It is a splash of spring color on a cold gray November day.

Vintage Yellow Sheets

About a year or so ago I started seeing some neat quilting and sewing projects popping up in blogs and in Flickr where people were using old colored sheets for the fabric.I loved the pastel sherbet colors combinations and I'm a sucker for vintage floral fabric. So every so often I've been stopping at the Salvation Army and picking up any cool colored sheets and pillowcases that they. I've been accumulating a little stash. Here is my collection of yellows:

So what to do with the fabric? I finally decided to do a little project just to see how the colors looked when combined together. It was somewhat traumatic to cut into those huge untouched sheets and pillowcases, and especially difficult to navigate the fitted sheets!

I cut strips one and a half inches wide....


sewed them together into long strips...


Stay tuned - next post I'll show you what I've made out of them.

Shipshewana Part 8 - Yoder's Department Store

Yoder's is a "modern" department store for things Amish and more. Need a hat, apron, shovel, Amish rocker, or a non-nonelectric kitchen gadget? This is the place to look. They have a mixture of new goods that you'd expect in a store from 30 years ago, and they DO have electricity! It's fun to wander around, but I mostly go to look at the fabric. The fabric used to be significantly cheaper than you'd find anywhere else - now it is similar in price to other places - but they still have a great selection.

I love how they arrange their fat quarter collections in these cute little stars!


And this was my purchase - this book filled with the coolest apron patterns and ideas!

One more stop before we leave for home - a family style Amish dinner!

Shipshewana Part 4 - Lolly's Quilts

I love Lollys! Row after row of lovely quilt fabric, quilt books, patterns, and equipment. Huge selection, although it leans towards more traditional fabric rather than some of the more contemporary designers. Actually, they have 3 stores - one for fabric, one for quilts and homegoods, and a store in the basement with sale fabric. Here are some more pictures I took in the store:

I liked the design and colors on this quilt top!


They have a large section with my favorite - vintage reproduction fabrics.
And I always look forward to scrounging around in their boat! Fat quarters for 2 dollars each! Even though I don't have a project in mind, I always come away with at least a dozen.

This is what was in my basket. Click here for closeups of the vintage reproduction, red and blue, and brown fabrics.

Next stop, some more of my favorite stores in the downtown!

New Vintage Treasures

Last week I unearthed a couple of new vintage fabric treasures. The first one was a tablecloth that I found at the Royal Oak Garage Sale last Saturday. I have a collection of old tablecloths. I have fun looking for them and part of the game is that they don't cost any more than 10 dollars. As more and more people are collecting tablecloths, the price has gone up, so it is harder to find ones cheap enough to buy. This one was marked 10 dollars, and (without even having to ask) the vendor told me he'd take five! SOLD!


It was the colors that I like, had a floral/fruit print, and didn't have any damage or stains. I really love the graphic designs on these old tableclothes. More scans of my collection are here on Flickr.


Also, I had blogged a few days ago about buying old postcards last week at the Wooden Shoe Antique Market in Holland. My other purchase there was this old quilt for 25 dollars. When I saw the tag, I thought surely it was a mistake, but it wasn't. I grabbed it!


Now it does have a faded spot, some damaged fabric, and a frayed corner - it has been well loved. And some paint on the back side, by some *guy* who probably used it as a drop cloth. Even with the damage, I think it is wonderful. For 25 dollars I can cut it up to use for pillows and other projects. I love the design and the muted colors. What great bargains, huh???

Celebrating the Home of the Brave

I know I posted this quilt awhile back, but I thought I'd pull it out again to decorate for this Fourth of July. It is a scrappy quilt - made of various shades and colors, all the fabrics unique, none that exactly match, but blend together to a whole. Kind of like America!

Thankful today for freedom!

Friendship Block Quilt

This is my most recent quilt and is my favorite. It is based on the technique in Eleanor Burns' Egg Money Quilts. It was a great way to use all my fat quarters of vintage reproduction fabrics. I like to use it on my table during the summer.

Thimbleberry Quilt

This is another quilt that I first saw on Simply Quilts. I had the quilt store order the pattern for me. I thought it would be a lot smaller, but actually it is a medium size - too big for my wall space. I really do like the design with the pine trees, the houses on the diagonal, and the fence that surrounds the border of the quilt.

Tomorrow is the last of the quilts. I'll share my favorite and most recent one!