On a Roll with "Quilts on Wheels"

At least for today, I am all caught up on the "Quilts on Wheels" charity quilts I have been working on for the Capital Quilters Guild. These tops were made by guild members, given to me to quilt, will be passed on to someone else to bind, and then donated to a local rest home for wheelchair-bound residents.

Here is my favorite: another "Iron Chef" challenge quilt using a bag of ugly fabrics and at least one block party pattern. I can't figure out the ugly fabric, but it must have been the brown background with lavender rose in the center star. This little quilt looks crisp and beautiful. Bear's Paw and Rail Fence are two of my favorite quilt blocks.

I decided to put in a little more quilting than usual on these charity tops. Lots of what I call "artistic free-motion quilting." Here are some bleeding hearts,

and flowers and feathers.

The next quilt may have been made by the same person, because it has that same brown and lavender rose print and similar colors. This one has an additional colorway, brown/gold, added to the stars. That nice green outer border is not pieced: it is what we call "cheater"fabric, a print used very effectively here.

There was no skimping on the piecing, however, with lots and lots of half square triangles and "flying geese" segments. I love the purple batik with gold oak leaves- very striking, and a nice contrast to all the calico.

I did not want to do "custom quilting" on this, but I faked a continuous vine in the sashings. I just jumped back in the sashing and added more as I moved down the quilt.

This was a very pretty quilt, and again, there was good use of color, design, and value.

The last of these was not an "ugly fabric" challenge, but made from fabric scrounged from the Flower Cottage, where we keep our donated fabric stash. A lot of the fabric came from deceased guild members whose families wanted the fabric used for a good cause. Some of this stuff is ancient. When I went out there this summer to make up some kits, I washed every bit of it when I brought it home.

Anyway, here is a very attractive and patriotic quilt made by Carolyn R. of CyberBee from donated fabric.

I believe the George Washington blocks were from a panel fabric used for making pillows.

Paired with red, white, and blue log cabins, it is a very pretty quilt. I did free-motion starbursts and loops.


Now I am more than ready to work on some of my own quilting projects!