My First Kaleidoscope Quilts

Here are my first tries at making kaleidoscope quilts. These two are 4 patch quilts made with some funky fabric that came from who knows where and ended up in my stash. It wasn't the kind of fabric I would normally use for a quilt but it was a large print, so I figured for the first try they would work and I wouldn't be out an expense if they didn't turn out very well. I've found out since making them that they are favorites of my grandkids.

In this first quilt I only had enough fabric to make 8 blocks so I just cut a block from the actual fabric that the other blocks were cut and pieced from and put it in the center. It seems to work okay I think and it's interesting to see the unique designs that came from the fabric along side the actual fabric.

My prize kaleidoscope is one I made using a 6 patch block and some beautiful large print flowered pattern fabric. This is not quilted yet nor bound, but you can get an idea what it is going to look like from looking at the top which is now finished.

The colors in this quilt are black, white, pink, and green. They are really quite pretty but it was hard to get a good photo of this entire quilt that shows the colors up well because I have to get back so far to get the whole quilt in the photo. This is a twin bed size quilt.

Here are a few close up shots so you can see the cubes better.

My Pattern - Flippin' Bowtie

This quilt was my own design. I called it the flippin' bowtie quilt. I made the smaller one (above) and entered it into a contest but didn't win. It was quite a learning experience to try to figure out the measurements for each piece to make it come out just right. Needless to say, in the beginning I had a few "weird" looking squares before I got it just like I wanted it. This is the small wallhanging I entered into the contest. It is currently for sale on my 2009 - For Sale post if you are interested.

This is a larger lap quilt made from the same Flippin' Bowtie pattern. It was made with only 3 fabrics, red, white, and blue and the fabrics are patriotic fabrics so it can be used around the 4th of July and other patriotic holidays. It was finished with pieced red, white and blue binding.

Grief Quilts for Another Family

The grief quilts I'm going to show you this time were all made in November and December of 2009 for a lady from St. Louis whose husband died. They were made from his t-shirts and dress shirts. She sorted out which shirts she wanted in each quilt. Two were for her daughters and one for her mother-in-law. She chose the shirts for each one according to the events and who was with him at those events. Shirts that could go in all three were put in another bag. This first quilt was made for her mother-in-law.

The last two quilts were made for her daughters. All the quilts are hand tied per her request and both the fronts and the backs were quilted from the shirts. Fortunately, there were a lot of shirts to work with.

This last quilt was made with the stack and whack technique except that I kept the templates the same for each block rather than varying it as some do. The t-shirt parts were then appliqued on top of the quilt.

Grief Quilt Pillows

These pillows were made from Savannah's sweatshirts and jackets. In some cases I've included a photo of the backs so you can see how these were made.


Some times I sewed down the sleeves and hoods and some times I didn't. I just stuffed them or tacked them down in just a few key points.


These are easy to make either by hand or on your sewing machine IF your sewing machine can sew easily through all the heavy fabrics.


I had trouble with a couple of them being too thick for my machine to handle well and ended up sewing some of them by hand. It still didn't take as long as you might think.

More Quilts in Memory of Savannah

Here are the other 3 quilts I made for Savannah's family. The two T-shirt & jean quilts were made for her two teenage brothers.

This rag quilt was made for her father. It is made from all denim jeans that were Savannahs, and it has her name in letters on it.

I'm Back!

Hello everyone! I can't believe it's been so long since I've written anything on this blog. My how time flies by. We are seeing all our snow finally melting away now and see the beginnings of green grass. Yeah!

Today I am going to share a memory quilt I made for a friend from my church in memory of her daughter, Savannah. It was made from her cotton dresses and blouses for the most part. I made 3 other memory quilts for the other members of her family a year earlier, but this one was special for me. Savannah had been one of my piano students.

I have started a small business on the side of making memory quilts (I call them grief quilts) from the clothing of dear ones that have died. The family members really treasure these reminders of their loved ones. So far I have made 7 such quilts. The website is located at http://www.griefquilts.com/ if you are interested in having one made.

Here are a few closeups of this sampler quilt. Michele Pettorini did a beautiful job of the quilting on this quilt, so I wanted you to see the close ups so you can see that too.

My two puppys are both a year old now and very good little dogs. They were a lot of company for me during the long winter of staying inside a lot.

Today I'm going to share a sampler quilt I made for a client from my website http://www.griefquilts.com/. I make memory quilts from the clothing of those who have passed away. I made 4 this past winter. I'll show you all four of them here. The one that was most special to me was the one I made for Willie in memory of her daughter, Savannah. Savannah was one of my piano students and I was so happy to make memory quilts for each member of their family. I did the rest of the family's quilts over a year ago, but I just finished Willie's quilt last week. This was made from Savannah's cotton dresses and blouses for the most part. Here are a few close up shots. Michelle Pettorini quilted it beautifully.