Quite a hiatus since my last quilt report. Quilting gets a little complicated for me during the summer. In 2023 we spent six weeks in Minnesota, visiting Russell, Julia and the grandchildren, while enjoying the tranquility of the Mississippi bluff country near Winona. Then we spent several weeks in the Canadian Maritimes (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) before finishing the summer with visits to our siblings.
One drawback of all that time on the road is that I only work on quilt tops. I design the quilts and package up the materials before we set out and hope that I will get the chance to work on them. Here are the five tops from our 2023 travels, completed in the fall.
These summer quilts were exercises in squares. Somehow earlier in the year I brought home an awful lot of 6×6 squares, some just 4 of a kind and some in groups of 18 or 24. They were easy to pack and interesting to arrange. A variety of southwest themed squares lent themselves to a kokopelli quilt; all of the borders around the reverse applique medallion are actually made up of squares.
A few bright orange batik squares were left, and they spilled over into “Under the Sea,” along with some blue squiggly ones.
There were only four green squares with tiny ladybugs, but they fit right into “Going Buggy.” It used up a print of lots of tiny bugs, and gave me a chance to applique one of my favorite subjects–ladybugs.
The 24 squares of feathers set the theme for “Sitting Pretty Peacock.” I had fun designing the peacock applique, and it was my first try at free-motion quilting feathers in the central medallion.
My favorite quilt from the summer is “Quail Trail.” I have always wanted to do something featuring the Gambel’s quails that live around our house in New Mexico. The long summer trip was a good time to applique lots of little ones. And the log cabin squares gave me a chance to use up a whole bagful of desert-colored strips.
