Collection, Memory and Other Quilts

Baby clothes collection quilt – Rosie’s quilt

The bed-sized quilt above was made for Rosie Cline when she was just barely out of her little girl clothes. Her mother couldn’t bear to part with all the baby clothes she had bought for Rosie and her little sister Nina. As a result, she had me make heirloom quilts for the girls to enjoy the rest of their lives. I cut down the little ballerina dress and the poodle skirt to make them fit the “model Rosie” in the corners.

Block – baby coming homr

In this block depicting newborn Rosie still in the hospital, a portion of the actual blanket given newborns by the hospital is stitched across her “tummy”.

Two Little Sisters on a Seesaw

A redheaded Rosie plays on the seesaw with her sister Nina in the block above. The background is made using Rosie’s special towel. Every piece came from either a dress, a little suit, a top, a towel, a blanket or some pants.

Rosie loves her quilt

Rosie loves her small quilt (made out of her baby clothes) which I also made for her to enjoy while she was still a little girl. This quilt is something to drag around, curl up in, and take to show and tell.

Nina’s quilt made from her baby clothes

Nina said when she grew up she wanted to be a rock star. In the upper right hand corner, I made her dream come true. The ideas for these bubbles were a mixture of information about the girls provided by their mother and my own imagination of what little girls like to do.  I tried to mirror their distinct personalities and individuality.

Nina dressing up

A closeup of one of the ‘bubbles’ showing Nina playing dress-up.

Leading the horse

Nina especially loved animals, so they are sprinkled liberally all over her quilt.

Nina loves her quilt

Nina with the small quilt made out of her baby clothes for her to enjoy now!

Quilt Displaying Scout Badges

Jordan with his Scout Badge Quilt

Jordan had about a hundred badges and what good were they doing in a drawer?  I used official scout material for the back of this quilt.

Boy Scout Badge Quilt 2

I had so many badges I had to put some of them on the border.  Above is a closeup of the top of the quilt, showing how the badges were placed.

Memory Quilt Honoring Past Sewing Projects

Memory Quilt honoring past Sewing Projects

Barbara sent me a package filled with scraps from her past sewing projects and asked for a memory quilt. Above is the result, showing that she had a myriad of projects using all sorts of fabric. Don’t you wonder what she made out of that shiny blue and purple material? This project reminded me of the loaves and fishes bible story. When I was finished, I didn’t think I’d made a dent in the stash of fabric leftovers she’d sent me.

Quilts to Display Tea Towels

Collection quilt – calendar tea towels

Lisa gave her mother tea towels each year for 30 years. Then she had the idea of making a quilt out of them to give to her mother.  She loved the outcome!

Quilts to Display Heirloom Handiwork

Sampler Quilt displaying heirloom pieces of handiwork passed down from distant relatives

This sampler quilt was made with many pieces of handiwork. This included crochet, embroidery, cross stitch and even an old patchwork made by Ande’s grandmother (she thinks).

Detail of Sampler quilt

I must admit I was influenced by Kaffe Fassett in my use of brightly colored modern material to display the heirloom pieces made by my customers decedents. Fassett has changed the quilting industry by introducing wild and glorious colors using tried and true old fashioned patterns.

Quilt Made from Mom’s 1970’s Knit Fabrics

Many of us have old fabrics stored in our attics. Some of these are very precious, such as the fabrics I received from Ande. Included were a cheerful assortment of knit fabrics, the scraps of materials leftover from the clothes her mother made for her when she was a child. She asked me to make a queen-sized quilt with a contemporary design. I rarely use bought patterns, but for this one I did – the popular “Bento Box” by Tracey Brookshire.

Collection quilt made from mother’s fabric collection

This patchwork in this particular quilt required extensive backing, since every piece was a cotton knit or some similar stretchy fabric.

TREE OF LIFE QUILTS

Tree of Life Quilt for Ailing Mother-in-law

Tree of Life quilt made for ailing mother-in-law

I loved making this Tree of Life quilt. Heather contacted me not long before Christmas requested that I make a tree of life quilt for her mother-in-law who was very sick. She and her family were sure it would cheer her up to see the hand prints of all the people in her family.  Everyone loved it.

Happy’s Tree of Life Quilt

Tree of Life Bereavement Quilt made from Chef Outfits

The bereavement quilt above is also shown under Bereavement Quilts and was made for a mother out of her daughter’s chef outfits. The daughter had a similar depiction of the tree of life tattooed on her body. It was a very meaningful symbol to both mother and daughter. Click on Bereavement Quilts to see it in the bereavement section.

WEDDING QUILTS

Quilt for Dan and Cynthia

The most joyous of all quilts are wedding quilts. This is the second quilt I made for my son Dan, my oldest son of four. Years ago I made a quilt for him out of material I had saved from making shirts for my four boys. Young Dan gave it away to a girlfriend with whom he had just broken up. A generous gesture, for sure, but since we never saw her again, I wasn’t pleased.  More recently I was happy to give him and his new bride this quilt, but I made Cynthia promise not to leave him. Losing another quilt would have just been too much for me to bear!

Wedding Quilt for Dan and Cynthia

Although the block name for this quilt is Storm at Sea, I knew that this marriage would go the way of the central heart motif rather than the storm. So far Cynthia has kept to her promise to stay around, and we are all very happy and relieved.

Heart of the quilt – center of Wedding quilt

Wedding Gift for Daughter

Wedding quilt based on a theme of sunflowers and lace

I absolutely love it when I get to make a second quilt for a customer who was very satisfied the first time around.  Soon after I started my business, I made Robin my one and only Rhino Quilt (see below), which she gave to a friend, who still has it and enjoys it, she says. So when Robin’s daughter started planning her wedding, Robin secretly asked me to make a quilt for her, following along with the wedding theme which was to be sunflowers, lace and burlap – an interesting combination.

Center of Sunflower Wedding Quilt

After thinking about the quilt possibilities, I told Robin that I’d stay with the first two – I couldn’t see burlap as part of a wedding quilt, possibly due to a lack of imagination. The family loved to do jigsaw puzzles, so Robin wanted the center to look like one. She wanted the initials of her daughter and her husband-to-be in the center, and she thought a few colors other than yellow would be nice among the flowers. Although it doesn’t show up well in the picture above, the white lace I used throughout was beautiful, full of flowers that could pass for sunflowers!

Wedding Gift for Nephew Keith and his Wife Carol

Wedding Gift to Keith and Carol

This brightly colored quilt I made for my nephew Keith when he got married.  His living room was fairly dark and he and Carol wanted something bright and cheerful.

Wedding quilt label

Labels are an important part of a quilt.  This one was one of my favorites.

Sally’s Wedding Gift to Granddaughter

Wedding quilt from Sally to her granddaughter Lindsay

This was a warm and luscious quilt I made for my sister Sally to give her granddaughter as a wedding gift. Lindsay wanted something in gray, as that was her fiance’s favorite color scheme. I backed the quilt with an animal fur like minky that was ultra soft and deep.  The wedding couple live in Ohio, so they will need a warm quilt.

BABY QUILTS

Before I started Rhino Quilting, I mainly made baby quilts. Now I make them for friends and customers alike, as the need arises. Below are a few of the quilts I have made:

Jungle Quilt

Children’s Wall Hanging – Jungle Quilt

This quilt started out as a baby quilt, the drawing made by my then husband Wayne. But after selecting various flannels for the fifty animals sh0wn above, I couldn’t give it away. It lives on the wall of my bedroom, awaiting a move to a great-grandbaby’s wall (as yet unborn.)

Below are a few close-ups:

Jungle Quilt detail

Miscellaneous Baby Quilts

Now I mainly make minky backed quilts using brightly colored patterns for baby quilts, such as:

Gigi’s baby quilt

These days minky comes in all colors and patterns:

Kirsten lying on her polka-dot minky quilt

I prefer stimulating patterns and colors for babies. They can easily get bored.

Hollis enjoying his quilt

Bereavement Baby Quilts

Whenever I make a bereavement quilt for someone, if they have small children or a baby on the way, they often want something for that child, either to remember the loved one or to have something tangible to show their children when they are old enough to understand. Following are some bereavement quilts I’ve made for babies or children:

Quilt for Happy’s Granddaughter

Bereavement Quilt for Lola made from her Aunt’s Chef Outfits

A joyous baby quilt to make! I had made the Tree of Life quilt for Lola’s grandmother (see above under Tree of Life quilts), honoring Happy’s daughter Katie who died much too young and had been a famous chef. Happy’s other daughter wanted a quilt for her baby, Lola, born some time later. Both Happy and her daughter chose the pattern which I was used.  The black and white material comes from Katie’s chef outfits.

Collin and Mackey

Collin and Mackey showing off their bereavement quilts made with Mom’s clothes

Shown here displaying the quilts I made for them out of their mother’s clothes are Collin and Mackey. Twelve friends of the family pitched in together to commission these quilts, a wonderfully generous gesture.

Label for Mackey’s quilt

Above is the label showing the names of the twelve who sponsored the quilt.

Violet’s Quilt

Bereavement quilt for Violet who is expected in October 2014. The quilt was made from her great-grandmother’s clothes.

Violet will never meet her great-grandmother who died recently at age 101 and was an interesting, vibrant lady who loved brightly colored clothes.  The back of the quilt is made out of yellow minky.

Sophie’s Quilt:

Sophie sitting under her quilt made from great-grandmother’s clothes

Little Sophie was also born just after her great-grandmother lost her fight with breast cancer and her clothes were used to make this quilt.

Davin’s Quilts

Quilt made for 5-year old from mother’s chef outfits

This striking full-size quilt was made for a five-year old from her mother’s chef outfits. A second quilt, much smaller and of more use to her now when she is small, was also made (see below):

Small bereavement throw for 5-year-old

Each diamond holds the picture of something memorable to remind Davin of her mother. Her label says it all:

Label to small bereavement throw

Charlotte

Sarah sent me 54 colorful cotton shirts belonging to her Dad. The quilt below was made for her daughter Charlotte. I used a quilt by Kaffe Fassett for my inspiration.

Charlotte’s quilt remembering her grandfather “Grandpa Stevie”

Below you will find Charlotte happy on her “yellow quilt”. The quilt below hers was her mother’s quilt, shown under Bereavement – Traditional Quilts.

Charlotte on her quilt

Peter’s Quilt

The quilt below was made for a young boy using his grandfather’s red silk pajamas, along with other of his clothes. Peter loves his quilt.

Peter’s bereavement quilt

Brooklyn’s Quilt

Below is Peter’s cousin Brooklyn’s bereavement quilt, using some of the same clothing, but also parts of her grandmother’s wedding dress, plus the black and yellow fabric of her grandfather’s swimming trunks!

Bereavement quilt of Brooklyn using her grandfather’s clothes and parts of her grandmother’s wedding dress

Bailey

Bailey loved her grandfather and misses him very much.  Now she has her quilt. A story quilt for her mother is shown under Bereavement Quilts.

Bailey holding her small bereavement quilt made from her granddaddy’s clothes

Granddaughter’s Wall Hanging

Some years ago I made four small wall hangings as bereavement gifts for a family who had lost their son/brother/father/grandfather. For the granddaughter I made his simple wall hanging also, made with his shirts.

Small Bereavement Wall Hanging made with grandfather’s clothes

Great-Grandbaby’s Quilt

Yet another baby gift made from his great-grandparents bedclothes.

Baby quilt made from the bedclothes of his great-grandparents

Liz’s Small Quilt

Liz already had a bed-sized quilt made from her Dad’s clothes, but she needed a small throw for now. Her large quilt can be seen under Bereavement Quilts – Traditional.