homemade gingham

My little granddaughters, Alayna & Audrey, moved in to their own bedrooms.

They needed some new quilts for their new twin beds.

I'm on it!

They are both very specific about color...

Alayna loves pink.

I quilted in the ditch on both quilts.

Here's the backing of Alayna's - she wanted flowers.

I also made matching pillow cases.

Audrey loves aqua.

They wanted "big" quilts, which translated into adult language is "puffy", so I used polyester batting on both of them.

Audrey wanted birds on the back of hers.

My friend, Carol - from Montana, also used this same pattern to make her gingham quilt.

I honestly never thought of using prints!  

It is so darn cute!

 I quilted a simple all-over wave  pattern on Carol's.

I LOVE her coral binding print.

Gingham seems to be the fun "go-to" quilt these days.

I will certainly be making more.

It's a free download found here from Jolly Jabber and the Fat Quarter shop.

Steam Punk

My California friend, Anitra, created this, (nothing short of amazing), Steam Punk quilt.

The Steam Punk quilt is a Jen Kingwell Pattern.

(one of my favorite designers)

You can find it here with the templates.

The really amazing part about Anitra's gorgeous quilt is that she worked on it while visiting Antarctica.  

Who does that?  

Anitra does!

I LOVE the Antarctica panel she incorporated on the back of her quilt with some patches 

she picked up along the way.

Look at this adorable little penguin just hanging out among the steam punk blocks.

Anitra has such a flair for color and design.  

Some of her blocks have one different wedge or maybe she mixed up the different areas in a block.  

I love the randomness of them! 

I outlined each wedge and added a little mini wedge inside each one.  I also outlined the appliqued' centers and looped the background. 

It was so fun to quilt.

Anitra said is was one of the most special quilts she 

has ever made.....I see that.

And, she has made hundreds of quilts!

She has inspired me to take another look at my future 

Steam Punk.....

This is it - just sitting in my pretty basket waiting for my attention.....waiting and waiting and waiting....

Cotton & Steel - scrappy trip...

I love everything Cotton & Steel.

So.....when I received a gift of an entire fat 1/4 pack of C&S 

I had a hard time deciding what to make with them.

Then I purchased another fat 1/4 pack - now I had around 90 fat quarters - oh.happy.day!

I decided on a Scrappy Trip Around the World block.

I started on them about 1 1/2 years ago and just couldn't find the time to complete them - I was 5 blocks in. 

 At this rate I knew I would be long gone before I ever saw the finished quilt.

Soooooo - I contacted my friend, Trish Poolson from Mississippi, who pieces quilt tops for me and she finished the blocks - all 90 of them!  

It finished out at 108" X 120".

Here is the result:

I set them together in a zig-zag pattern and quilted straight diagonal lines to follow the setting design.

I love this quilt so much.

I have "Pastel Thrift" on the back - LOVE this piece. 



It comes in different color ways.

Thank you, Trish, for piecing the blocks for me.  And a GIANT thank you for pressing the blocks in a way that every single seam nested - no pinning at all!  

It's so beautiful.....

Referrals.....

I'm experiencing a crazy turnaround time right now.

(I'm almost finished with the quilts I received in March).

I think what happened is this......everyone must have had a very cold, very long winter which allowed most of you fabulous quilters out there to spend some serious time with your domestic sewing machines.  

You have created stunning quilts - and a multitude of them!

Because my back log is on overload right now, I will not be accepting any new customers at this time.

I know some of you have referred a friend to me, which I sincerely appreciate. 

But right now I need to spend my time on my current queue of quilts that are patiently awaiting my attention.
(this is not an actual photo of the quilts I have waiting - it's a Google image...:))

I promise I will get them all quilted - I repeat to myself 

every day, "one quilt at a time.......one quilt at a time."

Thank you all for your kind words and patience.

Village

I finally finished my "Village" quilt.....all 132 houses.

I used up my stash of American Jane fabrics I had been hoarding for years....and years!

I knew the perfect pattern would come along one day and Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. created this one.

I think it's perfect!

You can purchase the pattern here at the Fat Quarter Shop.

I stippled the entire quilt - it's so busy you would never have seen any fancy quilting. 

 I had to include my last name, "Olkowski" - this "Kinder" line of fabrics, by Heather Ross, is perfect for these doorways!

I added a scrappy binding using some prints 

and a solid black.

 I fussy cut a few little characters and letters for some of my windows and doors.

Out of the 132 house I added 16 chimneys - one for each home I've lived in.....I had no idea I had lived in that many homes until I started counting.

I added "Ennis MT" in this row....my home town.

The backing has a couple of panels that come with the fabric lines and more chunky pieces sewn together randomly.

I had 3 little house left over so I added them to the back.

This was so fun to create.  

I taught this class with my friend, Lexie, at our Adult Education evening classes this past spring.  

The students were so fun and every quilt turned out differently - it's one of those quilts you get to add all kinds of personal touches to.

Just hanging out with my very weathered bird house. 

This might be my only finish this year and it was 

worth every single minute.

I love it so much. 

(Thank you, Danette, for letting me use your wagons and fences on your property for some of the photos.)

Fat Quarter Friday pattern...

Allison, at Cluck, Cluck Sew, asked me to quilt this 

happy little quilt recently.

I love her color combinations.....and this one is no exception.

I wish I had that kind of color sense.

The pattern is, "Fat Quarter Friday".....

You can read about it on her blog, here.

I quilted an all-over popcorn/petal design.

I love the backing she used - it's a Bonnie & Camille print.

Allison used one of her own prints from her "Hello Jane" line for the binding.

Darling quilt!

You can purchase the pattern from her pattern shop here.

Kate's quilt....

A Montana customer of mine, Kate, made this beautiful 

quilt for her mom.

The pattern is a free layer cake quilt pattern designed by April Rosenthal, called, "Moda Love".....found here.

I quilted an all over floral, paisley, feathery design. 

 I absolutely love this backing fabric.

This is the center star.  

Kate placed the colored fabrics all around this center.

This is probably my favorite print in the quilt - but, 

they're all fabulous!

Kate chose the perfect binding - a black & grey gingham.

This is Kate's second quilt - I tell you what.....she already has some serious skills!

She packed up this quilt along with her adorable little twins and hauled a horse trailer all the way to California so she could deliver this quilt (and the horse trailer) to her mom.  

That's love.....

Thank you, Kate, for trusting me with this beautiful quilt.  

I'm sure we'll be seeing many more quilts in your future.