Some Lessons Learned - General quilts

This post is a group of quilts where I learned something significant.  It's all a journey.

Texas sampler, pattern by Veda Whilhite.  I love applique, who knew?  This quilt was made for my dear father in law who loved his Texas home.  I fell in love with the pattern at a local quilt shop but was worried about the applique.  But I tried it and discovered I really enjoyed it.  This quilt got me started.

Batik stars or how not to press flying geese.  And setting blocks on point and adding sashing makes it bigger very fast when you are tired of making the blocks.  There are sixteen flying geese in every block,  I used the four at a time method so they went pretty fast but they never came out the right size.  I was so frustrated until a quilting friend pointed out I was stretching them as I pressed.  Wish I had known about making oversized and trimming.  

Bears in Berties Cabin, pattern by Ricki Tims.  I've made this a couple of times but on this first one I learned  Watch out for twisted blocks BEFORE it's quilted.  And yes I fixed it anyway, I couldn't stand it being wrong.

Stack & Whack tree skirt - contrast is important.  There was a lot of fabric killed in the making of this tree skirt.  I kept the scraps for years but finally tossed them last year.  On the floor under the Christmas tree it really doesn't look as interesting as it does in the photo.  The pattern needed to have more background, bigger figures to really be effective.  

Fractiles or why I don't like pineapples.  This was originally going to be at least a throw sized quilt, but after sixteen blocks I decided I was done.  I do love the wall hanging though it kind of makes your eyes twitch.

Two colored New Mexico Star - after doing lots of scrappy quilts, two fabric quilts are so FUN and FAST.  Also "modern" quilting isn't as easy as it looked in the sample.

Christmas table topper.  Contrast!  Stand back and look before you cut.  The focus fabric is so busy you can hardly see the piecing.  But it made a good tree skirt for my daughter later.

Betty's Fracture Jewel - pressing direction is important.  And those darn flying geese again.  And my quilting was awful, but my aunt loved it anyway.  And how fun are secondary patterns.  And Tri Rec rulers aren't as easy to use as they seem.  This is such a fun pattern, I really should try it again.  Bet I can figure out those Tri Recs now.

Hearts of Fire  made for my red loving daughter.  A simple pattern can still be very fun and dramatic.  And even if the colors aren't my favorite, using up left overs from Aunt Betty's quilt made for a great quilt.  I also tried to be interesting with fabric placement.

Circles in Batik - sewing curves really needs pins regardless of what the pattern says.  Despite not a single point matching, this quilt gets more comments than any other.  It's fun to just stand and watch it move (or appear to).  Laying out the fabrics took week, but it was worth it.  Just wish the points were better.

Twisted Daughter - paper piecing using freezer paper is much more fun than tearing off the paper.  My daughter and I both love bright colors with black.  I thought this quilt was for me, but she took it for her room.

Bible Stories quilt - be careful of fusible, especially with batiks.  You get it too hot and the glue solidifies and doesn't hold.  Raw edge applique is a lot like paper dolls, but don't volunteer to make two.  I worked on these at football games one season while waiting for my daughter to march at half time.  Lots of interesting looks and comments. I need to try another fusible project, the paper dolls was pretty fun.

Well another group of older quilts down.  I'm having fun going down memory lane.  I hope others will find it interesting too.