Sunrise Quilt Studio

The art quilter's group I belong to, "Fancy Threads", had a challenge this spring. We each contributed a 12x12" square of fabric and an embellishment to be included in a quilt. That made 6 different fabrics and 6 different embellishments to use. "Prairie Home" is my challenge quilt. Two quilters contributed cheesecloth, so I included them both. It was a very fun project.

My mother-in-law is a quilter and she gifted me with this beautiful Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt a few weeks ago. The blocks are made from fabric she inherited from her mother and grandmother. Betty hand stitched the blocks over several months and hired someone to hand quilt the top for her.   I love how the cheddar yellow makes the flowers pop. It is truely a family heirloom.

I always hesitate when considering quilting a vintage top. Will it detract from the value of the top?When it is a customer quilt, I always follow their wishes. For my own tops, I tend to procrastinate. However, this vintage bowtie quilt top needed to be quilted before it was cleaned or it would fall apart. I decided that quilting would give it a longer life and possibly add value - if not monetarily, at least in the enjoyment that my family and I would receive from it. What good is a quilt if it is stacked away in a dark closet and not appreciated? This top isn't a historically significant quilt. I purchased it at a flea market for very little money. So I bit the bullet and quilted it. The end result was worth it I think. I really love the feel of the quilt - just like an old quilt that has been well loved. It's soft and cuddly. The quilting is traditional to fit with the age of the top. Next to clean it to take care of some of the dark spots. I'm so please with the re...

Meet Molly! She's my new puppy and is about 11 weeks old. She's a Paptese - Papillon and Maltese mix. We are all having soooo much fun with her! She is supposed to be my puppy, but my youngest daughter doesn't like to share the puppy with me. Sarah is a great help with walking her and taking care of her, so I guess I can share.

I didn't get a very good shot of this top, but here it is. I found this one in Mountain Home, AR. It is hand pieced. The green sashing is faded in a few spots and the fabric is thin like it came from a piece of worn clothing.

This is a close-up shot of a quilt that I purchased at an antique store in south central Missouri. It came tied to a muslin backing with cotton batting. It also had a tiny bit of hand quilting as well as machine quilting, but it wasn't bound. Binding these types of quilts can be a challenge! I pulled out the ties and quilting because the backing was mildewed in a couple of places. The shop I found it in had the quilt laying outside on an old wooden bench. I decided that taking the backing and batting off was a priority to save this top from damage. Luckily, the mildew hadn't reached the pieced top. It's all hand-pieced and the fabrics look to be in really good shape.

I am working on 2 small projects at the moment inbetween customer quilts. The quilt above is the challenge quilt from our "Fancy Threads" group. We each contributed a 12" square piece of fabric and one embellishment to each participant. We had 6 people particapting, so we had a nice selection of fabrics and embellishments to work with. We each received the same materials and had just 3 rules to follow: We have to use a recognizable amount of each fabric and embellishment; the size could be from 4x6" to 30x30", and we could add any additional fabric and embellishments we wanted. The deadline is the 4th Sunday of June, so I need to get moving on this one. I finally decided that I needed to make a quilt that reflected my business name "Sunrise Quilt Studio". So here is the work so far. It's fused and made from my hand-dyed fabrics. The quilt will become the logo of my business and appear on my business cards, letterhead, etc.