"Modern Crosses" Revisited

Over the summer Richard and I visited the Great Lakes region, traveling in our camper from one state or national park to the next. We planned to be gone three or four weeks, and I knew that would be much too long to go without sewing. 

So I decided to put together some quilt kits to sew when I'd have a bit of down time. We do have to rest, after all. One of the kits that I enjoyed was this modern bright cross quilt. 

By the time we returned home, the top was completed. That meant loading the quilt on the long-arm and having fun as soon as we returned. 

I quilted the negative space in lines, some echoing the shapes between the crosses, others just straight or diagonal. The crosses, though, got a special treatment: I quilted each color with a different motif. Pink has shells, green has pebbles, orange in scrolls, yellow in tiles, and so on. To keep track I had to write the motifs and colors down, but that was an easy fix. 

This one is perhaps one of my favorite quilts. I love the bright colors, the fun design and the quilting. Just for added interest, I extended the quilting colors on some of the crosses. The back is also very pretty since the thread colors create a muted design. 

Because I love this one so much, I decided to put it in the Bloggers Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side. You should run over to see the many (really very many) beautiful quilts and vote for your favorites. 
Happy Quilting!

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Crosses

This weekend our church, Church of the Little Flower, held its annual church fair.  We generally raise money for several projects. We are very blessed that the community and people from many other places as well come to support us.

Since I've had our church and its needs on my mind all weekend, I thought I'd look to the cross for some inspiration.

And so now the cross quilts!

On Bumble Berry Pie and Aging Parents

This week has been difficult.  Richard's 96 year old aunt died last weekend, and only two days later a family friend also passed away. Of course, we attended the funerals and even picked up his dad since Papa can't drive since his brain injury. 

Richard's mom, who usually drives him around, is suffering from a horrible case of shingles.  She also has Parkinson's disease and can barely hold or handle anything.



Today I went by to check on her again only to discover that the shingles have gotten worse--more blisters and more pain.  I insisted on taking her back to the clinic and, hopefully, another course of medicine will do the trick.

On the way home we treated his parents to lunch and pie at Lea's Lunchroom in Lecompte.  It's quite famous for the ham and even more so for the pies.  Rich and I shared the "Bumble Berry" pie and a slice of Pecan Pie.  Bumble Berry combines strawberry, blueberry and blackberry for a real treat!

Eventually we made it home and I was able to get into the studio. Although I didn't finish the cross quilt on the long arm, I made a little headway.  

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful Independence Day!  

Modern Monday: Cross Quilt

I managed to start a new quilt while on vacation.  I'll tell you how I pulled that off tomorrow, but in the meantime, I thought I'd show a couple of sneak peaks of this very bright quilt.

This is what I managed to put together while on hiatus from traveling.  There weren't many hours off the black top, but on those days that we pulled into a campsite early, I pulled out the machine and played.

That means when we got home, I had these blocks all finished up.  I decided to add some more background fabric to separate the blocks so they would not be quite so busy.  

And this is where I am right now.  Quilting the background.  I've decided to quilt all of the background then come back and quilt the crosses.  I am thinking of matching the thread to the individual crosses and that will take time since I have six or seven different colors.

And that's what's modern in my studio. What modern fun are you playing with?  Come back tomorrow to see what I did to be able to sew while on vacation.

Linking up with

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt 

Patchwork Times

Modern Monday--X Quilt

So another modern quilt involving a bee begins.  I asked that my hive create X blocks of low volume neutrals and bright/bold X pieces.  


I have no idea why I wanted these blocks.  I think I started out considering a cross block.  Where the cross became an X, I have no clue, but it's all good.  Especially since I had the month of February, and several blocks are already in my possession.

We start with a nine patch and chop into two pieces, add one strip of the X, cut in half in the opposite direction, and add the second strip of the X.  

The block is really quite easy, but the maker has to step out of her comfort zone for this one, so I'm really happy I've chosen it.  I have no problem at all cutting into a block, but that is not the case for everyone.  In the end it's been a fun experience and several of the others have thanked me for pushing them out of their comfort zones.  

"Why, you're welcome."

Right now I have nine: I made four and five have come in, but we have a FB page and there are a couple more completed blocks that are on their way.  In fact one arrived today!  

How these will turn out will be interesting, don't you think?  Since they are all different sizes, I have something of a plan to make them fit together.  Of course, my plan may not work!  So I'm open for suggestions.  What do you think will work?