Art Nouveau Quilt For a 50th Birthday

A friend turned fifty recently, which deserves a special memento! At the last Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara, CA this fabric collection caught my eye as a perfect fit for her -- and the result is her 50th birthday present:

Art Nouveau bed quilt for Emily's 50th birthday, 2015. Quilted by New Pieces, Berkeley, CA.

The quilt is composed of a center panel that is surrounded by several borders -- with the corners of the last two borders mitered. If I had to do it again, I would do blunt corners throughout (the peacock figure in the last border ended up not lending itself well to mitering). Also, I had originally wanted custom feather quilting in the cream second border, but unfortunately got talked into just an all-over quilt design at the quilting shop. But, even with these learning experiences, I still think it's quite a glamorous and beautiful quilt(!). The hand of the fabric with the wool bat is luxurious feeling.

Carquinez Strait Stitchers Quilt Show

My Mom and I finally had some quilts in our hometown quilt show: The Carquinez Strait Stitchers "Spring On The Straits", 2-3 May 2015, at the Benicia Clocktower! Each quilt was shown with a brief story attached.

1- My Mom entered her "Home Sweet Home": "A project, out of McCall's magazine, by the Martinez Senior Center Quilting Group. Each of us chose our own fabrics, which made such different looking quilts, but all from the same pattern."

"Home Sweet Home", bed quilt, by Anita Jessop. Quilted by Anna MacAllen.

2- My Mom also entered her "Fractured Stars": "A friend of mine, a beginning quilter, chose this pattern for us to make together. It ended up not perfect, but was fun to do with a friend."

"Fractured Stars", wall hanging, by Anita Jessop. Quilted by B&B Quilting.

3- Together, my Mom and I entered our "Birds All Around": "This is a shared project: Started by Anita as a Christmas present for her daughter, Holly ... and finished by Holly, when she discovered it in the UFOs(!)".

"Birds All Around", large bed quilt, by Anita & Holly Jessop. Quilted by B&B Quilting.

4- I entered my "Raggedy Ann Friends": "I made this in the January 2014 Carquinez Strait Stitchers "Lil' Twister" class, with fabrics entirely from our stash."

"Raggedy Ann Friends", wall hanging, by Holly Jessop. Quilted by Holly Jessop.

5- I started making T-shirt quilts this year, and entered my "Graduate School Memories" quilt: "I went to graduate school in ecology & evolution at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, specializing in sea urchins and marine biology. I decided to convert my T-shirts from that time into a memory quilt."

"Graduate School Memories", lap quilt, by Holly Jessop. Quilted by B&B Quilting.

6- I started this "Pueo & Friends" quilt last year ... but was afraid to quilt it after the applique was done. So, I entered it in the show, which forced me to finally finish the free-motion quilting! I tried a new technique, using a fine netting over the entire quilt. I liked the shading effect from the netting, which made the quilt more like a night scene: "Pueo is the short-eared owl endemic to Hawai'i. Pueo is an 'amakua (spirit animal) for many Native Hawaiians, and a sighting can be interpreted as an omen. Pueo have made appearances in my life in Hawai'i at a number of important times. Pueo's friends are the Hawaiian endemic "happy face" spider, Nananana makaki'i (a pin in the lower left), and the Hawaiian endemic bat (flying near the moon), 'Ope 'ape'a."

"Pueo & Friends", wall hanging, by Holly Jessop. Quilted by Holly Jessop.

7- Our last quilt in the show, "Nene Story", was probably started first, when I still lived in Hawai'i: "My Mom and I took our first paper piecing class in Hilo, Hawai'i, in 2008, and made these blocks of Nene (the Hawaiian endemic goose). This year I put them into a quilt that tells part of the geologic and biologic story of the Hawaiian Islands. These islands arose from a mountain of lava in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, were gradually colonized by plants and animals, and eventually evolved endemic diversity."

"Nene Story", wall hanging, by Holly & Anita Jessop. Quilted by Holly Jessop. Embellished with shells, and glass leaf beads as a lei on the center Nene.

Birds' Quilt

My Mom started this quilt for me many years ago, and I decided to add it to the UnFinished Objects (UFO) list for this year so that it could finally get completed. I had a difficult time deciding on a fabric for the sashing. A cream/light brown fabric with swirling vines found its way into the stash recently, and ended up being the perfect choice for breaking up this very busy quilt pattern. I was able to find and order more of the sashing fabric online, to use for the backing. This quilt is now on my bed, with a coordinating pillow case and mini-pillow -- perfect for lying in bed in the early morning hours listening to all of our backyard avian winter visitors singing. Long-arm quilted by B&B Machine Quilting of Orland, CA, in a swirling hearts pattern.

Birds' Quilt.

Takin' Care of Business: A UFO Bonanza

This year I joined the UFO ('UnFinished Objects') Club with the Carquinez Strait Stitchers: You list ten of your languishing projects and then finish one per month. Since summer, I've so far completed the following:

UFO #1: I bought these blue Tonga Batiks at the Portsmouth Fabric Company in Portsmouth, NH in 2006. I usually don't gravitate to the color blue, but these blues were just luscious. Later, a blue-and-white summer quilt pattern in a magazine caught my eye. When the piecing was finished I bought two different backing fabrics, but neither were quite right. The perfect backing finally jumped out at me while at Hawaiian Fabric Mart in Honolulu this past August. Quilted by B&B Quilting in Orland, CA using a loop-D-loop pattern with fish and starfish motifs.

UFO#1: Caribbean Blue, front.

UFO#1: Caribbean Blue, back.

UFO #2: This second UFO goes WAY BACK: It was started in a class that I took with my Mom at the Road To California Quilt Show, January 2004. This quilt was then in storage for years and is well-traveled from Boston to Hawaii and finally back to California. It is a lap quilt and was quilted by B&B Quilting in Orland, CA, using a large all-over stipple pattern.

Holly and Anita at the Road To California Quilt Show, January 2004.

UFO #2 "Road To California" finally finished, November 2014. It has a light green back and binding.

UFO #3: This past January I took a class with the Carquinez Strait Stitchers in Benicia for the first time. I had done this "twister" pattern with template once before (see "Girly Girl") and liked the effect. For this project I chose all of the fabric from the stash, and thought the Raggedy Ann panel would be cute with the heart. It is wall-hanging sized and was quilted by me, with stitch-in-the-ditch and free-motion hearts (!).

UFO #3: "Lil' Twister Heart".

UFO #4: My Mom's quilting group at the Martinez Senior Center started doing projects with this table runner pattern, and I started one too a few years ago. Now it's finally finished, and is the perfect size for the entry-way furniture. And, I had enough left over to make a little coordinating table-topper as well. I quilted both with stitch-in-the-ditch.

UFO #4: Fall table runner.

Fall table-topper.

Vallejo Piecemakers Quilt Club Show, May 2014

Our guild, the Vallejo Piecemakers Quilt Club, had their very first quilt show, "Sew Amazing", this past May 2014 at the Solano County Fairgrounds -- and both my Mom and I entered quilts. This was also our first quilt show! It was really neat to see our quilts on public display, and I had a really wonderful time volunteering and enjoying the show all weekend long. Our show quilts were:

1) I entered "Raven Love", which was a birthday gift wallhanging for a friend. This quilt won a ribbon for "Best Use of Pattern" in the guild's quilt challenge (to make a quilt inspired from a guild library book), and was selected to be featured with an artist photo. I really liked the artist photos at the show -- I think it makes the quilts mean more to see a picture of the artist with the quilt.

"Star Attraction": My photo with "Raven Love".

"Raven Love", by Holly Jessop. Quilted by Holly.

2) My second quilt was one that I made from fabric given to me by Kim West when we were sewing buddies in Honolulu. I love, love, LOVE this fabric, and scoured the internet to get MORE! I did a "twister" pattern with it, and called it "Girly Girl" because I think it's very feminine. It is lap-quilt size.

"Girly Girl", by Holly Jessop. Quilted by B&B Quilting of Orland, CA.

3) My third quilt was one of my recent scrap-busters, and is nearly a twin size quilt. There is a previous post about this quilt here.

"Mumbo Jumbo", by Holly Jessop. Quilted by B&B Quilting of Orland, CA.

4) And finally, my fourth quilt in the show was another scrap-buster -- a very traditional star quilt, made entirely from fabric out of our scrap baskets. It is a large twin-size quilt. I previously blogged about this quilt here and here.

"Frugal Stars", by Holly Jessop. Quilted by B&B Quilting of Orland, CA.

5) My Mom also made a star quilt with the same pattern, but all out of 1930s reproduction fabrics that she's been collecting. I think it's fascinating how these two quilts turned out, made from the same pattern but different fabrics.

"Ode to the 30s", by Anita Jessop. Quilted by Anna MacCallen of Napa, CA.

6) My mom's guild challenge quilt won First Place for "Best Use of Color". She and I both love yellow, so we were quite pleased with this ribbon!

"Sunshine On My Shoulders Makes Me Happy", by Anita Jessop. Quilted by Anna MacCallen of Napa, CA.

7) And last, but not least(!), my Mom entered one of the first quilts that she ever made. It only recently was finished because we picked out all of the home machine quilting she'd done (and didn't like), and she had it long-arm quilted (huge improvement!). This quilt was also selected for one of the "Star Attractions" quilt-maker photos.

"Okra Coke", by Anita Jessop. Quilted by Anna MacCallen of Napa, CA.

It was just a matter of time ... Holly Hobbie

This year a Holly Hobbie fabric line came out, and so of course it was just a matter of time before I made something! I saw and had to have this kit, at the Ironstone Vineyards quilt show in Murphys, CA this past Fall. It reminds me of the Holly Hobbie bedspread, lamp (that my Mom painted), and desk vase that I grew up with. I put one of the line's coordinating fabrics on the back, so this quilt can be used as either a lap quilt or wall hanging. It currently makes its home draped over the back of my reading recliner.

Holly Hobbie wall hanging quilt.

First Block-Of-The-Month Kit -- Finally Finished

The very first full-sized quilt kit that I ever bought was a block-of-the-month from Joann's, when I still lived in Boston. That was awhile ago -- indeed, another lifetime ago! Well, in a just-get-it-done mood, over the past year, I finally finished it! The blocks were actually pretty challenging, but were made more so by the fact that the cutting had not always been done super accurately (the kit came in a series of 12 blocks, with the individual pieces for each block already cut out). So, not an ideal project for a beginner at all. As a result, there is one block with a MAJOR piecing booboo; can you find it?! When I see it, it makes me cringe ... but on the other hand I kind of like it because 1) it makes me laugh, and 2) it shows the progression in my quilt piecing skills because that's not a mistake I would make now! Because this will be a quilt to use, I just had a simple and inexpensive large stipple done by B&B Machine Quilting (Orland, CA). I still love the colors -- muted greens and pinks -- and it will now be "The Living Room" quilt since it coordinates with the couch's colors. Another long-term UFO is now out of storage and off my list!

First Block-Of-The-Month quilt (~2000), finally finished (2013).