Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Lady Quilts

I just returned from a quilt retreat with 15 friends. Aren't retreats great? In addition to making progress on a new applique quilt, learning new techniques, eating well in the daytime, and resting well at night, I was able to spend uninterrupted time with friends. That's the best part of a retreat for me.

The three quilts that I am posting today are all applique quilts -- one of my favorite venues. They are all what I call my "lady quilts" because they each feature a lady.

"The Quilt Lady"
This quilt is about 5 x 7 feet in size. I loved making the staggered star border. Many of the ideas for my borders from the Judy Martin and Marsha McCloskey book on borders: Pieced Borders: The Complete Resource. It is a wonderful book that provides innumerable examples of borders - checkerboards, squares, diamonds, stars, delectable mountain, dogtooth, flying geese, sawtooth, and more. I advise everyone to get this reference book before it goes out of print!

"The Garden Lady"
The idea for the borders on this quilt came from two different sources. The inner floral vine border was based on some wallpaper I saw while walking in a restaurant. The outer border was based on a round-robin quilt that I received with a similar border on it. When I like things, I generally keep them around, even if that means repeating them on a quilt!


"The Christmas Lady"
The inner star border on this quilt was chosen because I love stars; you see a lot of them in my quilts. The outer border was one that I had used a year or two earlier on a medallion quilt; I liked it and so it found itself repeated in this quilt.

More quilts will be posted soon. Until then - happy stitching!
Sue
(c)Susan H. Garman 1996-1999

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