Magpie Quilts

Having large piles of blue jeans on hand for quilt making or other items means boxes and bins taking up space. Used clothing requires deconstruction and while I looked for faded denim jeans and waited for my customer to get back to me with an ok for her queen quilt, I started the task of cutting everything apart. I cut the jean legs from the tops right at the crotch level, leaving the tops intact for making bags. I then cut the seams off and I have a few ideas for those pieces that will show up over the next year or so. A lot of the darker jean legs were cut into squares and matched with some purple and green flannel fabrics that I already cut into squares for a rag quilt and layered them with a square of batting that was an inch smaller. After laying them out to get a random placement of the flannel fabrics, it was time to sew it all together. I had enough squares for two lap size quilts - big enough to use on a twin bed as an extra blanket. After sewing the squares together with the ...

Denim - it goes with everything and although the quilts made from them are heavier than a normal quilt - they will wear forever! This lap size quilt was made early in 2024 and the customer who bought it loved it. She then messaged me to ask if I could make another one, this time in a Queen size.  So I tapped into my online friend network to find the denim I needed as that first quilt used up all the denim I had on had. I ended up with a pile of a variety of colors. My customer then requested that she would like the faded denim look from the first quilt - which I made solely from my husbands worn jeans that were all the same style and color. The denim I had collected was definitely more on the medium to dark blue and wouldn't work for her. I had one more friend that had jeans for me and thankfully, most of her jeans were the well-faded variety! Not sure that I had enough for a queen quilt, I traced and cut out circles, figuring that if I didn't have enough, I would at least know...

I have a bin of fabrics from the Hyde Park line designed by Blackbird Designs. Some of it was already cut into squares in preparation for a project I had in mind, but never got to.  This scrappy Irish Chain pattern was free online and I've had it printed out, thinking I would use my many scraps to make it. And then it was on my table at the same time as I was looking at the Hyde Park fabrics and ta-da! There was some pink yardage in the bin with the Hyde Park pieces that were already cut, so I just started to add pieces to the design wall and put them together. I have made more than a few Irish Chain quilts and I love how they get that diagonal movement using just squares of fabric. Making the squares next to the creamy white background all the same pink just looks amazing. I backed it with a cream Fireside polyester for the cuddle factor and sent it off to Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilts in High River, Alberta for quilting.  Love how it all turned out and bonus - it was scoop...

Ok, I still had the odds and ends of batik scraps out on the cutting table and thought that just maybe, there were enough for a little quilt.  This pattern is called "Kisses for Dad" from a Miniature Quilt magazine - sorry, I don't have the issue number on hand! It required 2 small 1" squares and a rectangle for each X. The piecing was diagonal and it took a bit to sew together as I wasn't able to speed through it and keep everything in place. I first picked out this turquoise blue border, but when it was sewn on, the quilt was no longer square - and that happens when the edges of a piece are bias edges like on this quilt. I took the border off, took the time to measure for the borders - a step I must admit that I have been skipping - and sewed on a new border. I was much happier with the result. Added a batting and a backing and quilted the middle portion with an all over meandering design. And finished the border with some ruler work - definitely need more pra...

Sometimes, I will just buy charm packs - in quilting lingo these are packs of 5" squares containing a full complete sampling of a fabric line. These quilts were inspired by one little pack. I made a couple of table runners out of the first little charm pack I had picked up - likely at a quilt show somewhere. One of these table runners was sold and that person decided she wanted a queen quilt made from the same fabrics. Now, fabrics can sit in my closet for a while before I make anything, so the likelihood of finding the exact fabrics again get less as time goes on. I was fortunate to find a jelly roll (pack of 2.5" strips) and a fat quarter pack to make the queen sized quilt. All good.  And earlier this year, the bin that I keep my batik fabrics in was no longer closing, so I pulled the baggie that had the left overs from the queen quilt out and went searching for a pattern or two to make some new quilts. I found this pattern in a book called Tabletastic 2 and made a couple ...

Most of the time, my quilting process is based on my stash of fabrics, a photo or pattern I've seen online or in a magazine or book, and very rarely, a pre-packaged kit that includes fabrics and pattern. I bought this kit a number of years ago - the pattern is "Homecoming" by Shania Sunga Designs - and it's been in my to-do pile ever since. I finally took it out and finished the top and then it hung in the closet where it wouldn't get wrinkled until I figured out how I wanted to quilt it. My free motion quilting skills are improving - still working on them - and I saw a couple of ideas on Pinterest and had a few friends on social media give me suggestions and I had a plan! I quilted it and listed in in the Etsy shop and it sold immediately and then I had a request for another one. The original batik red fabrics were no longer available, so I made the next one with a Northcott Stonehenge Canada fabric and it turned out just fine. And then there was enough fabrics ...

This pattern is a fav of mine and as my pile of worn out jeans piled up, I put aside a layer cake bundle (10' squares from the same fabric line) to use as the centers.  There's a bunch of tutorials and patterns online, but I used the pattern Forever in Blue Jeans by Fons and Porter available at Quilting  Daily . I often get asked about the dimensions for this quilt, but I encourage quilters to purchase the pattern from the designer.  I decided to sew the cotton fabric, batting and jeans together with an X before sewing the jean circles together as I had some minor issues with the last quilt I made like this with fabrics and batting shifting. This really helped hold things together and made for a better quilt in the end. This time, I sewed down the curved flaps as I went instead of waiting until the entire quilt was done. Jena quilts are quite bulky and hard to manage at the sewing machine, so this saved the really tough seams until the very end. And ta-da! All finished! B...

One of my friends lost her husband a couple years ago and was overwhelmed by the floral arrangements she received in the days following. She did have the presence of mind to take photos and make a plan to somehow incorporate them into a quilt. After seeing my granddaughter's quilt (see previous post), we decided to go with the same attic window design. We went back and forth with a few choices for the attic window frames and for the fabric for the borders and backing. I fixed the issue I was having with the cat photos and the white borders and printed all the photos she gave me. I had a few left after putting together the front and I used them on the back as part of the backing. This quilt was custom quilted by Christine Tessier in Okotoks and I love how the quilting echoes the attic windows. The quilt was finished with a hanging sleeve and now my friend has it hanging where she can see it daily.  --Ann PS I apologize for the fuzzy and dull photos. I don't always remember to cl...

I have a tradition with my grandkids that sometime in the year that they turn ten years old, they come and spend a few days with me and we create a quilt together. I love to spend time with each of them one on one and they get to learn what goes into making a quilt.  The granddaughter who made this quilt is a cat lover and she wanted a quilt with pictures of cats on it. So she collected cat photos that she liked from all over and then we printed them on printable fabric. Then, we selected the bright pink fabric for the sashing and borders and the two shades of blue for making the attic windows. I did regret that the cat pictures had so much white showing but every quilt has something that I learn from. The best part of this quilt pattern was that she was able to do most of the sewing herself. She was able to keep herself motivated and in the few days she was here, we finished all but the borders. We chose a soft white Minky backing and sent it off to be quilted by Marie of Blueberr...