The Quilter on Osage Hill

Most years I don’t think about making any Christmas presents until it is too late in the year to start and commit to finishing. This year I went in the opposite direction and probably bit off a little more than I could chew. In the end, I took on not 1, but 3 new quilts for Christmas presents and started them midway through the year (probably explains why my last post was in June). In a facebook post my friend Penny called me a Super Quilt Santa; I felt that was pretty fitting for this year and thought it would be a great title for this post! Thanks, Penny!

My friend Jesse has wanted a quilt for a long time so I decided to make him a quilt for Christmas this year. He picked a quilt called City Lot out of the City Quilts book that he liked. The blocks are simple 9 patches with borders in a rainbow of solid colors. Each 9 patch is all the same color of solid in different hues. The quilt pattern was for a twin sized quilt, but Jesse wanted to use it on his bed so I changed it to fit a Queen size bed. In the end, I also added an additional black border which was a great addition. Jesse is happy with his quilt and picked out a great, but unexpected fabric for the backing.

I also decided to make a quilt for my boss for Christmas. He is a great boss and appreciative of handmade things and crafts. He and his wife are bee keepers so I knew the quilt called Calico Hive out of Lori Holt’s Quilty Fun book would be perfect for them. The quilt has 3 large bees and a bunch of snowball blocks that look like honey combs. Here is the finished quilt:

In the end I used many scraps in the quilt. The only fabric I had to buy was a little extra white. I couldn’t tell you how many different fabrics are in this quilt, but there are A LOT! There are 348 snowballs in the quilt; each with 4 connector corners. This quilt required a lot of cutting and a lot of sewing. I did free motion quilting on the bees and background of the bees. Although it took more work, I did straight line sewing in the honey combs to make their shapes stand out. Here is a close up of one of the bees and some of the honeycombs:

Last and certainly NOT least is the quilt I decided to make for Kent. I found a pattern that looks like the Earth from Space and immediately knew I had to make this quilt for Kent as we are both Geographers and Cartographers. The quilt is done in KONA solids. Each row on the quilt is 1 1/2″ tall (finishes 1″). There are 96 rows in the quilt. Here is a picture from the pattern.

Although this quilt will be stunning and was extremely well received it is very tedious and time consuming. Most rows take about an hour to complete and a lot of concentration (it is VERY easy to get the pieces in the wrong order). I finished this top on Christmas Eve, just in the nick of time. Instead of wrapping the quilt I put it on the bed on Christmas day so you could get the full affect of the quilt. Kent was completely surprised and LOVES the quilt as I knew he would! My friend Penny coined this as the quilt of the year; I’ll go with that! Once I quilt this (I’m thinking topo/contour lines) we will hang it somewhere you can really see the pattern well. Here is a picture of the quilt on the bed. Once I quilt it I’ll take a vertical picture and post it.

I have a good friend Kathy who lives in Nevada and is always very supportive of me and my quilting. As I was getting making my list of Christmas gifts to give I thought it would be nice to send Kathy a quilt for Christmas. I looked through my finished quilts and found the one I thought would be perfect for her and one that was very dear to me to share with her. The quilt I ended up picking is called Aurelia’s Journey, a Path to the Civil War. I made the quilt in a class taught by my friend Cora which I thoroughly enjoyed. I took the class with 2 friends, Lisa and Jackie so I have very happy memories of making this quilt. I knew Kathy liked traditional quilts so chose this one and she loves the quilt. Here’s a picture:

I am pleased with my Christmas gifts and they were very well received by all which makes it all worth it! And, of course, my quilting friends gushed appropriately at all of them.

It has been a great year; here’s to a great 2015 for all. Happy New Year!

       Sew long from the Quilter on Osage Hill!