Quilting- some totes and wall hangings

Still on the bags/totes for conversation topic.

Beside the raggedy ones

(rag quilt technique)

I've already told you about,

and the knitted and crocheted ones

I also told you about,

today

I would like to tell you a little bit about the quilted ones,

or as I like to call them, my essays for quilting...
See..., I am a self-taught quilter.

A machine quilter that is.

Though for so many years I've been fascinated with quilting,

my personal and professional life wouldn't leave me much free time
(I was a teacher for about 20 years the last 10 of them in special education ).

Anyway,

as a self-taught quilter
I'm quite sure one will find flaws on my work

but overall I'm pretty happy with it.

My first quilt was somehow naive

(not good colors combination or border print selection)

but boy!, was I happy when I finished!

Like always, my husband would brag about it
and make me smile!

This next one was my first big project

and it was a gift to my husband

on Valentine's Day

(the last Valentine's before everything changed).

It's a very special memento to me.

This one

is a print panel that I quilted and embellished

and I call it "Teddy on the Deere"

and it's almost like a tribute to my husband

and his John Deere mower

with the overalls and everything...

Father's day used to be just was another excuse for quilting,

and so one year I made one wall hanging

with our kids pics

and the next year

I made another one with the grand kids.

Useless to say, he loved both of them!

This next one was also one of my first projects

(I was still experimenting the applique technique).

You can already imagine there's not much

white wall left in my home... :0)

Well, when I see all those wonderful quilts on my favorite TV craft shows, I really feel very small and ignorant... but I don't give up and keep quilting...

Anyhow,
let me show you some more quilted wall hangings...

These two are very similar...

First I made the top one
(which hangs in my bedroom)

and the second one is quite close, with the same applique patterns;

I made this second one for my God-daughter.

This poor quilt has already traveled back and forth to Portugal

(it's now back in Tennessee... (:0 ... incorrect address...)
(Fofinha, este é o teu quilt!)

Of course I've already talked about the angels wall hangings (post of August 27th),

which are in fact printed panels that I adapt, quilt and embellish.

The Teddy & the Bunny here are another example of those panels;

as a matter of fact

this one was a baby quilt panel that I cut out.

Another with angels, this time applique angels.

and another with some more applique.

The long legged bird was another essay, this time almost like a painting or landscaping with fabric, the motifs being ironed on using double sticky interface.


This one is made of three log cabin blocks
and some applique motifs.

I particularly like this one, it's a totally different technique that I watched on a quilt TV show. First I built the strips with ribbon and fabric; while sewing it I used several different stitches, and then the fabric is cut into long strips, which were then sewn into a background fabric an embellished with different cords.

I think the finished product is somewhat unexpected and unusual.

I love it, and it sure draws visitors attention... :0)

And for today I think this is it.

But I will come back to quilting, I have some more stuff to tell you about.