Month: September 2016

Baby Quilts

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Minnesota State Fair, QuiltingLeave a comment

Recently, the daughter of one of my friends announced that she was expecting a baby.  This new life will be the first grandchild for my friend, a miracle that will bring lots of joy to the future parents and grandparents.

This happy news gave me the opportunity to design a baby quilt, something that I haven’t done before.  Looking for inspiration, I came across a photo of baby blocks and that sparked an idea.

EQ7 design for Baby Quilt
Close-up of Quilting
Pink Baby Quilt
Blue Baby Quilt

 

I did enter the pink quilt in the MN
State Fair and received a blue ribbon.

Another State Fair Quilt

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Minnesota State Fair, Quilting, Scrap QuiltLeave a comment
Photo from State Fair
About a year ago, I won a package of fabrics from a local charity auction.  This set was a thick “layer cake” which included over one hundred of the 1895 Bali Handpaints Batik fabrics.
Palette of all 370 of the Bali 1895 Batik fabrics.

 

I love these fabrics, they are beautiful to look at, all of the colors of the rainbow.
After I arriving home with prize, I decided to sort them into the base colors.  In doing so, I realized that they would make a lovely quilt with the fabrics sorted into their respective color groups.
Using my EQ7 program, I started playing around with some ideas I had, looking for a design that would show off the gradations of the colors.
Shooting Star Block and Modified Block
The block I settled on is a modified and simplified version of the Shooting Star Block.
EQ7 design
By removing some seams and changing the coloring, I achieved a design that looked like intertwined ribbons.

Time to start sewing!

Finished Quilt “Dancing Ribbons”
Decorative Pillow

 

Pillow Sham – really shows the quilting in the “ribbons”.

 

Minnesota State Fair

On By Erickson's HeirloomsIn Applique, Fabric Dyeing, Minnesota State Fair, Quilting, Scrap Quilt1 Comment

The Minnesota State Fair ended one week ago.  Finished up just in time, I entered my butterfly quilt this year.  A third place finish was a nice outcome considering that the Sweepstakes winner was the first place quilt in my category.

Butterfly Quilt on display at the MN State Fair
Quilt and Pillows on our guest room bed.
Pillow sham

After submitting the quilt, I did have some time to make a pillow sham and decorative pillow.  The sham was made with custom dyed fabric and thread painting similar to the quilt.

Decorative Pillow

For a decorative throw pillow, I did an on-line search for paper piecing butterflies and found a really nice site (https://lillyella.com/2015/09/02/butterfly-charm-block-paper-piecing-patterns/).  I really enjoyed using my dyed fabrics to make the butterflies for the pillow.