Small Quilts All Over The House! (Serious photo overload!)

Okay, Sarah, you asked for it! 
DISCLAIMER: I am not a decorator, but I will show you the way I display my little quilts. The Easter decor is still up, so this will seem very seasonal. You have seen some of these photos rather recently--my apologies. This is only the little quilts. I did not make them all--some are from friends. This is how they are arranged today. They are known to move around during the night.
You will see some oddly sloped walls--I live in a dome.

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Sometimes this little Shaker peg rack hosts little quilts, but right now it houses 2 1/2" quilted ornaments.

Bathrooms   

Not much wall space in these rooms. : )

Master Bedroom

I need to put more in this room. In spite of the dramatic slope of the outer wall, I do have a flat wall with a little bit of room. This may be the next place of focus for hanging little quilts. Wonder if DH will notice?


















Hallway

This is where it all started, in a very short hallway between my kitchen and sewing room. After seeing Anne Hermes (notesfromthequiltlab blog) gallery of little quilts using old yardsticks, I was hooked. It began with one yardstick in the hall, then two, then three. Now there are 4 yardsticks and three rulers. (My gallery instructions.) I have contemplated hanging some tiny quilts over the doorway, too, but maybe that is overkill.














This is the main gallery, shown to the left in the photo above. It is how you see it when you exit the bathroom (TMI?).

Sewing Room
Here is where things get congested. Maybe this room should have been a post all by itself.

This wall is quilts made by others (except for the one under the clock). Five of them were AAQI quilts made by blogger friends that I purchased. 

The little quilt shown on the dresser top in the photo above was one of the very first actual quilts that I attempted to free motion quilt. It was a hostess gift for my sister at Thanksgiving that year, but I was so embarrassed by the quilting that I remade the exact quilt, did a better job on the quilting, and pulled a switch on her.

 

Above, on the right is a new little finish from the last batch of basted quilts. Tiny (3/4") leftover 9-patches (many of them quite wonky) from the quilt below the clock in a previous photo.

I'll pause in the tour here to give you a close-up of the finish. Just ditch-stitching, cross-hatching and a feathered border.

 Okay, back to the sewing room.

You can barely see the little rail fence quilt made from shirt parts beneath the tree and bowl. A little twister quilt sits beneath the print of "Hands of Time", by Liz Lemon Swindle.

These three quilts hang above the sewing room closet doors.
 

This is beside the sewing room door as you leave the room.

 That's it! Tour over. Whew!

If you love little quilts like I do, you might be interested in picking up a copy of this current magazine. There are scads of patterns for little quilts from designers you know and love--Jo Morton, Lisa Bongean, Pam Buda, Anne Hermes, Julie Hendricksen, Jill Reid, Betsy Chutchian, Sharon Tucker, Diane Hansen, and more!

Here are a couple of teasers.

This is the pattern from Pam Buda, which was a SAL on her blog a while ago. It is a tiny runner, which I put into a square quilt instead.

If you recall the two little quilts I made last year from the "It's a Small Honor" pattern, you will see the similarities here. From the same designer (Diane Hansen) we have another very small foundation pieced patriotic quilt. Can't wait to make it!


I'd love to see your little quilt decorating ideas. I know many of you do a much better job of it than I do!

This must be a record for my longest post ever. Blame Sarah! *LOL*
If you stayed with me this far, I'll try to make it up to you soon with a great giveaway to celebrate the 5th anniversary of my blog in less than a month.
Until next time (which I promise will be shorter!),
Janet O

In the home stretch...

...with the little quilts. Won't we all be glad when this is over!?!
I decided to post the "finishes" on this batch, even though the one in the middle won't be finished for a while. It is being hand quilted, but the others are done!

This was the "before" shot. 
I can't put into words the euphoria I feel over getting these little quilts finished.




I haven't shared the finishes on the most recent two, so here you go.

This was Lori's (humblequiltsblog) Midwinter Blues SAL. It is finish #22 this year.





You can click any of these photos for a closer view of the quilting 

 

Here we have finish #23. This sweet 9-patch was made using 9-patches made by my Mom. They  were leftover from one of her quilts made many years ago.

I hadn't planned on quilting feathers in this. I thought it might be a little over the top for a humble 9-patch. But I tried out my original plan in one block and I did NOT like it.The quilt sat for a couple of days while I pondered and debated. Then I thought, "Who am I kidding--I WANT to do feathers on it!" So I did.                                                   These two styles of feathers are different from what I usually do. I tried them out on one of the Mystic Basket blocks (in my last post), and I liked them, so I put them all over this quilt.  

                                                     

This is my LAST BATCH of little quilts that need quilting. Three are really mini (the Mariner's Compass is 3"--not the whole quilt, just the compass), one is small and the other three are more wall hanging size.  Haven't basted these yet--maybe I will get to it this weekend. I am so much more likely to get quilting if the pile of quilts are basted and ready. If I finish all of these it will make 31 little quilts quilted this year!

Only one from this group was a SAL--Lisa Bongean's 10th anniversary SAL. I didn't add the last couple of rounds because I knew it would be too big to hang in the place I had for it.

This last photo is all because of Paulette (Sweet P Quilting and Creations blog). I blame credit her. She has had a few posts lately of the little pillows she has been making as bowl fillers. Her most recent is here.

She pointed out to me that I could use little leftover blocks to make some and that was all it took. I put all of these together yesterday using little bits of quilts that hadn't made the cut--and I also copied her idea of using Cheri's (quiltsbycheri blog) recent Facebook little basket quilt pattern to make a couple. There are definitely some seasonal themes here. I used what I had on hand. Thanks for the inspiration, Paulette!

Until next time,

Janet O.

                  

Finishes Number 18, 19, 20, and 21, and other stuff.

Number 18 received very simple clamshell quilting with cables in the border.

This quilt began as a quiltsbycheri blog SAL, but I fell behind. Then I discovered some orphan blocks the same size as the ones in this sampler and combined them with what I had made and called it done. It has been in the closet for some time.

Number 19 was made when Kindred Quilts blog hosted an every-other-month-"Simply Charming Book" little quilt SAL some time ago. I made six little quilts that year from Tara Lyn Darr's book.

 This is the only one I hadn't yet quilted. And now I have. : )

 You can click the photos if you want a closer view of the quilting designs.

These two (20 and 21) are not my usual style, I know, but I do love playing with batiks. The quilt on the right was another creation from the wealth of batik scraps I received in a swap years ago from Sandi (kwiltnkats blog). It was one of the first things I made from her scraps and is one of the last to get quilted.
I'm trying to think of a "K" name for this, in honor of Sandi, who names ALL of her many quilts (she is prolific and very talented) with names that start with "K".

The basket quilt on the left was one of the four quilts I made when Temecula had their Blessing Baskets SAL. I call this one Mystic Baskets.  I did a different fill design around each basket.

There are pebbles, meander, paisley, hooked swirls, and feathers. The baskets finish at 4", so some of that fill work is pretty small.

I have decided to hand quilt this one, so it won't get finished quickly. This was a SAL by Lori (humblequilts blog) named Harmony.



Did you notice that four of the five quilts here were from SALs? Further proof that I have had no resistance in the past. I have been so proud of myself this year, I have made it 3 months without joining a SAL, and that has to be a record!

My ornaments were completed in time for Easter and will remain hanging through Spring. 



Made a little progress on one of my two little long term projects. This is Pinwheel Garden from Primitive Gatherings, as I have said before. The pattern calls for 12 of these blocks, so I am halfway there. But I can't decide if I want it square or rectangle. When I get 9 blocks finished I will decide if I am done.

There are two pieced borders, as well, and I have been cutting pieces for those as I go along. The pinwheels here finish at 1", and the blocks will finish at 4".

Have had the good fortune to receive zippered pouches from a couple of good friends in the blogging world. I love these, but have never ventured to make any myself because zippers are not my favorite thing to do. These bags are the handiwork of Teresa and Betty. Quality workmanship here on both bags. I love them! Thank you so much, ladies!

Until next time, 
Janet O.

They just keep comin'!

Three more finishes! I can hardly believe it! (Yes, the sewing has been a bit frenetic around here lately.)
Summer Stars is bound, and I realized I had never shared a good photo of the log cabin mini when it was bound. (It had been in a group "finished" shot earlier, but it was pretty covered by other little quilts.) Plus, the 9-patch leader/ender demanded completion.

Finish #15:  I have wanted to have this one finished for a long time now, but had been at a loss as to how to quilt it. I think my best solution for situations like that is to start the ditch stitching and let the inspiration flow as I handle the quilt.

Finish #14: (I know, it is out of order) Love the little log cabins. This is now at home on the mini ladder in my living room.

Finish #16: This little 9-patch was made from the leftover logs, chopped into squares. The photo on the right gives you a size perspective.

Of the quilts in my recently basted batch, I have only ditch stitched this quilt and marked most of it for FMQing.

I didn't plan to get this bunch done as quickly as the previous ones--too much else going on. Besides, I'm getting tired of figuring out how to quilt everything. There is only one more I'm sure of, and then I may stall a while.

After all of this "dark & dirty" stuff, I had an urge to do something Spring-ish, so I grabbed a bag I keep stuffed with some of the more pastel repros, and I went to work with the scraps, making 2" baskets. This was the result.  Oh, I just realized that this makes Finish #17!! (I'm a little slow on the uptake.)

Didn't turn out quite how I had hoped--I think I should have used narrower sashing. This sashing finishes at 1/2" and the quilt is just over 8" square. That is too much sashing for such a small quilt. Those are pretty small feathers, too, but not the smallest I have ever stitched.

Love those grandkids!

But even if I am not enamored with it, I think it still looks sweet in its new home for Spring. I am calling it "Easter Baskets". Real original, huh? : )

And while the pastel scraps were handy, I made a few more ornaments to hang on my Shaker peg rack for the season. All of the pastel ones I have made before have been gifted away. These still need their stuffing and fluffing, but that won't take long.

With all of the finishes I've had this year I've been hanging little quilts in new places and tucking them in previously empty corners. Maybe one of these days I will do a post of where all of these quilts are ending up.
But first I need to convince my friend Gayle to share her little quilts and rugs all over her home--it is so much cooler than mine! (Are you getting the message, Gayle?)
And now I think it is time I woke up "the beast"! : )
Until next time,
Janet O.

P.S. Thanks, Mary, for this lovely batik that surprised me in the mail! One of these days you will learn to love batiks and you will be sorry you sent them to me. *LOL*