I am a quilt designer/teacher/author, a wife/mother/grandmother, and certified yoga instructor who is searching for balance, strength, and happiness in all things.
Connie Werner sent me a photo of her completed Birds in Toyland quilt and it is fantastic! She changed the design of the top, center, block making the tree bend over with the big ornament. That is super cute and I wish I had thought of it myself!
Connie was in one of the original live Birds in Toyland classes that I taught on Creative Spark during the pandemic. She wrote: “This is my finished Birds in Toyland. Your class made COVID shutdown much happier. Thank you for all your wonderful teaching.“
Connie, you are very welcome. This quilt made lots of us happy during that long, trying time—and if you haven’t made it yet, it can still make you happy! You can find the online class here, or the book here. Happy stitching!
Peggy Schemenauer sent this photo of her Aunt Millie’s Garden quilt that she machine appliquéd and was long arm quilted by Debbie Ramsey, completed in 2005. The color scheme is happy and the layout has space to let the blocks breathe.
I love the scallops around the blocks! They are similar to but very different from the scallops in Nancy Arseneault’s quilt from a previous post.
Alice Smith sent this photo and she wrote:
“I have always loved this pattern and finally jumped in and made it. It wasn’t quick but I persevered and eventually it was finished. The red background always intrigued me so I wanted to do the same which did turn out challenging. During COVID lockdown I spent a lot of time in my sewing room making the flying geese for the sashing I designed. I am so happy with how it turned out. Thank you to you and Linda for your wonderful patterns. (PS this one was in the AQS 2023 Paducah Show)”
The red background is beautiful and eye-catchiing. I love the way you arranged the colors of the flying geese… they quietly lead your eyes through the quilt. Well done!
Nancy Arseneault sent 2 photos of her almost completed Aunt Millie’s Garden. I love everything about this quilt! Notice the scallops inside the sashing… so cute! The background has a gingham-like appearance that, when combined with the sunny orange and grassy green, makes me think of a picnic on a beautiful day. Happy!
Nancy wrote:
I think it should be called The Long and Winding Road.
When Covid hit and I was secluded, this is the first pattern I grabbed. I made the blocks with prepared edge invisible machine applique and set them together. Then I set them aside to await a border. A few months later, I was diagnosed with a serious disease which claimed the next 2 years of my life. No sewing for me at all.
Finally I pulled out the quilt and figured out a border that I could accomplish. The sewing was challenging but it brought me back to myself. I’m not able to manage the quilting part right now so I sent the quilt to Jan Hutchison to be quilted. I’m so happy with the way it turned out. Now I have only to block and bind it. Since I’ve so enjoyed all the photos of this pattern on your blog lately, I decided to show you this one in the works. Nancy Arseneault, Santa Fe NM
Nancy’s story is not picnic-like, but there is joy in this quilt! Nancy, it’s nice to know you are sewing again!
Diane Kirwan sent this photo of her quilt, saying: “I so enjoyed make it Aunt Millie. I felt it deserved custom quilting.”
I love the cool, calm, collected colors that Diane put together. I do not usually have this much self-restraint which makes me appreciate it even more 🤣.
Cathy’s color palette includes all the colors in a thoughtful and balanced layout. Purple sashing adds visual unity to the quilt as a whole. Cathy writes:
Here is my version of Aunt Millie’s Garden. I loved making this quilt and seeing other people’s interpretations. My quilt won a blue ribbon earlier this year at our Pride of the Prairie Quilt Guild show. Your appliqué patterns are among my favorite and I’ve made several over the years. Thanks for being here and being you.
It’s fun to see these quilts together. Each is wonderful in its own way. Thank you, Diane and Cathy, for sharing your quilts with us!
In my recent newsletter, I invited you all to send photos of your Aunt Millie’s Garden quilt. Nancy Bradford responded right away. Her quilt is so happy :-)! And I really like the strips in the top and bottom borders that lead your eye to the applique blocks. Nancy wrote:
My version of Aunt Millie’s Garden won a 1st Place and Best of Show at the 2013 Golden Needles Quilt Guild Show in Conroe, Texas. I collected the fabrics while on a trip to visit a quilting friend in Minnesota with other quilting friends.
Amy Mitchell sent in the following photo of her Aunt Millie quilt top. The colors sing on top of the deep chocolate brown. And using 9 blocks instead of 12 make a very nice square quilt.
It’s nice that Nancy and Amy shared their quilts at nearly the same time because it’s great to see how the light and dark backgrounds change the look of the quilt. Both are lovely, but they are also very different. I will date myself and say… Cool!
Thank you, Nancy and Amy, for sharing your quilts with us. Happy stitching.
I’m in NYC and just visited the Folk Art Museum where a wide variety of old and new quilts are on display. Loved seeing Paula Nadelstern‘s kaleidoscope quilt in the exhibit… I wanted to tell those around me that I know her and how wonderful she is, but I just smiled and kept that inside because it is a museum, after all 🤣.
I spent time with this quilt top by an unknown maker. I love both the structure and the freedom of the design. Notice the way the applique fills most blocks, going right up to the seam lines. There isn’t sashing and there doesn’t need to be. And the leaves and stems are cut from only two fabrics. I wonder if she ran out of one green and had to switch in the middle of making the quilt?
The applique stitches are invisible but if it were judged today, some might find faults…
It is subtle, but you can see the vines and leaves shadowing through the white flowers, outer points on the ostriches are blunt. I like that the hand of the maker can be felt and I think she was enjoying her stitching.
Hanging next to the quilt were some of the original templates which I find to be illuminating.
First, she drew on printed paper that was probably not stiff. She did not require “special” paper. I will say right here that I am happy that I can use heavier paper and I like that I can cover it with peel and stick laminate 🤣.
Second, it looks like she she drew at least some of the shapes by hand and then cut them out. Notice how she adjusted the outer edges to make the shape easier to sew.
The beak is blunt on purpose and the funky toes on the feet of the ostrich are the way she intended them to be. Now look at the block again.
So what are the lessons this quilt teaches?
One big lesson to be learned here is that we are way too judgmental of our own stitching.
We might be too judgy when it comes to other peoples’ stitching as well.
I am reminded once again there can be a lot of freedom in a design that has a tight structure.
While I love working with lots and lots of different fabrics, it’s good to be reminded that you can do a lot with just a few.
I hope you enjoy this quilt as much as I do. Happy stitching!
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