Studio Staff Projects, Part I

While Jinny catches up after teaching in Spain, we, the staff, are taking over her blog. This past weekend, we celebrated National Quilting Day, a day to “appreciate and to recognize quilt makers, along with all of their long labor, love and skill that goes into the making of each quilt.”

We also hope that you take the time to celebrate the camaraderie of quilters. For generations, quilters have come together to share more than stitching…but, oh, how we love our stitching. Here at the Studio, we share our projects, give praise, offer advice and learn from each other. Here, then, is a look at what we have under our needles.

Elaine purchased an incomplete quilt top on eBay a few years ago. She calls it “Scrapple” because so many of the pieces are SO tiny! Fabrics range from the 1890s to the 1930s. She completed the top using antique fabric from her stash. She didn’t like her first attempt at machine quilting so she removed all of it. It took her several hours! It was then re-basted and quilted using a home-made spiral stencil. Now, she says, “I love it!” That’s quite a lesson of sticking with something until you think it’s right.

 

 

 

Diane has been furiously stitching away on her La Passacaglia from Willyne Hammerstein’s Millefiori Quilts book. This amazing quilt contains only Jinny’s fabric. Diane and her quilt will appear on The Quilt Show later this year.

 

 

Our newest staff member, Elizabeth, is almost all done with this one. The pattern is called Rock Candy by Jaybird Quilts. The fabric was from a scrap bag of Jinny’s batiks. It is hand pieced and quilted.

 

 

Some of us like to have both machine and hand work projects going at the same time. Nancy made this this cute little table topper as a carry-around project. Does it look familiar? Check out Elizabeth’s project above. It’s hand pieced and made with Jinny’s Malam batiks and 60° diamond template. She’s about to machine quilt it while hand stitching the binding on a baby quilt.

 

 

Many of you saw the staff tuffet class on our Facebook page. Lura just finished hers. Nice! She’s hand piecing these rose star blocks for a wall hanging for her sister using vintage Jinny borders. She also continues to make pie trivets/potholders which are great gifts. She’s discovered the perfect “crust” fabric is Jinny’s Palette #112.

 

 

We are sad to say that Marion will be leaving us this summer to return to the Netherlands. Before she goes she’d like to finish her toothbrush rug started in a Studio class last fall.

 

 

 

Kelley has three projects going. As a member of a pincushion club with a group of quilting friends from Virginia, Arizona, Texas, and California, she learns new skills on one small project each month. She is also taking part in the “Primitive Triangles Sew Along” with Lisa Bongean using Jinny’s Casablanca collection. The blocks finish at 4”. And then, of course, there’s her Farm Girl Vintage from Lori Holt which just needs the binding completed. Her quilt has 56 blocks that finish at 6”. She asks, “Can you tell I like small pieces?”

 

 

 

 

Well, when we started this it seemed like a nice little blog post but we soon became aware that we, as a group, have a lot of unfinished projects that we are currently trying to finish up. Can any of you identify with that? Check back next week for Studio Staff Projects, Part 2.