Birds and Blossoms Handmade Quilt

Combination of quilting and applique enhances this quilt design. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Birds and Blossoms Handmade Quilt

We are starting to have those wonderful sunny fall days when birds are singing, bees are humming and all seems well with the world. This year the cooler days after record hot weather remind me of spring and this lovely Birds and Blossoms custom handmade quilt.

Birds and Blossoms Handmade Quilt was shared at a Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild show in Rolla, Missouri a few years back. I enjoy looking at these quilts, each one has such details and wonderful stories attached.

This is a lovely combination of very detailed quilting along with the applique and quilting. Quilting makes all of the difference on a quilt, regardless of the kind of quilting it is.

The direction of a design can also easily update a quilt square. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Fabric choices can also easily change the overall look of a quilt. Of all of the choices one has to decide, the choice of fabrics can make or break a quilt.

Every quilt has a story. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Well I would say this quilt was a winner, wouldn’t you?

Charlotte

Hang In There Cat Quilt

Don’t some days remind you of this cat? Hang in there! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Hang in There Cat Quilt Wall Hanging

We all have them. Favorite quilts we like to curl up in or were gifts that we don’t use because they were made especially for us.

Now is the time to take a look at them and repurpose them into a wall hanging. Especially for that guest room, basement or garage that has become an impromptu office. There is no better way to warm up a space than to hang a handmade quilt from a wall.

Depending on the size of the wall, standard lap quilts 50x60 inches make excellent quilted wall hangings. Hang in There Cat Quilt seems to reflect where we are today, literally hanging in there.

There are also some smaller versions often found as baby crib quilts 36x48 inches that also work well as a quilted wall hanging in a baby nursery.

Quilts can help insulate a room and also deaden that hollow sound some rooms have, especially garages and basements with unfinished walls. The quilted wall hanging also helps to insulate the space from outside noises.

Charlotte

A Monarch's Life Handmade Custom Quilt

The Monarch Butterfly’s life cycle from cocoon to butterfly. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A Monarch’s Life Handmade Custom Quilt

As we start to hear that Monarchs are migrated back north from their wintering grounds in Mexico, I remembered this lovely custom handmade quilt featured at the 2019 Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild in Rolla, Missouri.

The custom handmade quilt by Lillian Collins features a Monarch Butterfly’s life cycle from cocoon to eclosing as a butterfly. If you look at the photo of the Monarch butterflies in a circle, it’s easy to miss that the green spots in the center are cocoons.

In a wider view of the custom handmade quilt, Monarch caterpillars are around the outside border, enjoying one of the Monarch butterfly’s food source.

The Monarch’s Life Cycle in this lovely custom handmade quilt. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Monarch butterflies depend on the various native milkweed varieties to guide them south in the fall. As one species dies off, Monarch butterflies move south to the next food patch, staying only as long as there is food.

One of the more common Monarch butterfly food sources is called “butterfly weed.” The very orange flowers are part of the milkweed family, the main source of Monarch butterfly food.

Butterfly weed, a member of the milkweed family, is featured in quilt corners. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The loss of habitat for butterflies like Monarchs, and other insects, is now part of nationwide effort to plant more plants for pollinators.

Missouri’s Missourians for Monarchs includes more than 43 major federal and state organizations focused on planting 385,000 acres of new pollinator foraging areas. Although Monarch butterflies are mentioned in the partnership’s name, other butterflies, and bees, will benefit from the additional food sources.

The love of Monarch butterflies was also the inspiration for Lillian Collins custom handmade quilt.

Here’s how this custom butterfly quilt was designed and inspired. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The custom handmade Monarch Butterfly quilt is a lovely work of art as well as tribute to these amazing butterfly pollinators.

Charlotte

Escaping Bugs Handmade Quilt

This pink snail first caught my eye on this charming handmade quilt. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Escaping Bugs Handmade Quilt

This had to be one of the more whimsical and fun handmade quilts at Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild’s October 2019 bi-annual quilt show in Rolla, Missouri. I enjoy these quilt celebrations because i get to see a variety of patterns and, better yet, stories that go with each of the handmade quilts.

When I think of this handmade quilt, i tend to first think about the jars. What a great way to use fun fabrics to fill up the jars, especially since I like all sorts of insects from butterflies to spiders.

Speaking of butterflies, in the upper left hand corner there is a Monarch butterfly caterpillar.

A Monarch butterfly-to-be is in the upper left corner. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

On the right side, a lovely applique spider is starting to spin her web in the corner.

When I think of bugs, I do separate them between good bugs, like honey bees and native bees, and bad bugs. Ticks fall into that category as do aphids and mealy bugs. Good thing those aren’t popular bug designs.

Lovely spider in the upper right hand quilt corner. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Not sure this qualifies as a bug but this little mouse is certainly joining the party. A purple button makes up its eye.

Not a bug but a cute mouse is also loose on this handmade quilt. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I was wondering what compelled the quilter to make this charming buggy quilt. Here is Lillian Collin’s quilt story, in her own words:

Wouldn’t you love this handmade quilt if you were a little boy (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

And now here is the Escaping Bugs Handmade Quilt with all of its escapees including a frog, dragonfly, lizard and the charming pink snail I featured at the top but actually hanging from the handmade quilt bottom:

Escaping Bugs Handmade Quilt with all of its visitors! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Not sure what that one bug is on the second from the bottom row, my first thought is a tick.

This would make a great wall hanging in any little boy’s room, too!

Charlotte

Raining Cats Dogs Handmade Quilt

Love those valiant mice in the center of this Raining Cats and Dogs handmade quilt. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins0

Raining Cats Dogs Handmade Quilt

No surprise to anyone who knows me that this would be one of my favorite handmade quilts. This was an entry in the 2017 Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild Bi-annual quilt show. I love the details, from the tiny green trees and mice to the animal faces.

What makes this custom handmade quilt even more intriguing is how it was made. The quilt group members each added a row, not seeing the final product until everyone was done.

Can you imagine? Could you do it?

Raining Cats and Dogs handmade quilt story of how it was made. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I think I would be tempted to run off with each of the handmade quilt rows. This is one of the rows for the dogs, floppy-eared happy pups courtesy of eye and nose buttons. I won’t look at buttons the same again!

Fun eye buttons and noses on these patchwork dogs with bone charms. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

On another row, the feline additions, from favorite toys and food to the charming cats themselves. Some handmade quilts with repeated patterns change out details on the patterns only, like using different fabrics.

For these cats, their faces change expression from one quilt cat block to the next.

On the other side, cats with a variety of facial expressions. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Finally, it’s all pulled together and quilted, making this “rain” a fun experience. So much fun, Lee Linebarger!

The whole quilt with all of the rows together. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I would love to participate in something like this although I don’t know how well i would do not peeking. Or repurposing the quilt blocks for something else. These cat blocks would make fun throw pillows.

And my favorite block, this charming cat! (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Charming!

Charlotte

Hummingbirds Handmade Quilt

This is a hummingbird handmade quilt, do you see the hummingbirds? (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Hummingbirds Handmade Quilt

The first reports are coming in, the scout hummingbirds have made it to mid-Missouri and are now checking out the area gardens. Hummingbirds migrate to Central and South America in fall to winter over in their summer season. Then as those continents move into their fall and winter, the tiny birds made their way back to North America.

Just their migratory patterns are amazing, these little birds require a lot of carbs to keep their tiny wings beating at 103 flaps per second.

I was thinking about this migratory pattern as I spotted this Hummingbirds Handmade Quilt featured at the 2017 bi-annual Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild Show in Rolla, Mo.

It took me a few seconds to recognize what pattern represented the hummingbirds. Do you see them?

The story behind this hummingbirds handmade quilt. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

They are easier to see surrounding the Hummingbirds Handmade Quilt center block, which looks like a modern columbine. As I looked at this center block, the blue hummingbirds made their appearance as they “fly” into the flowers.

Love the center flowers, I assume columbines. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Looking closer at Hummingbirds Handmade Quilt one can see the very detailed machine quilting that adds a lovely dimension to this custom, brand new quilt.

The quilt border is also very pretty with blue morning glories enticing the hummingbirds for a visit.

Hummingbirds, butterflies and bees, the largest of the pollinator groups, are among the pollinators that help plants reproduce and produce the variety of foods we currently have in our diet.

Excuse me, I now have to go make up some hummingbird syrup for the new arrivals!

Charlotte

Vintage Twin Crazy Quilt

This twin-size vintage crazy quilt has wonderful details. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Vintage Twin Crazy Quilt

Years ago, a friend gave me a pillow made out of men’s ties with embroidery along the rectangle seams. It wasn’t exactly a traditional crazy quilt pattern but it was a strong nod to the mismatched design, one of the hallmarks of this vintage 1800s craze.

And a craze it was according to historians. On the one hand, it may have been a misplaced recycling trend since the quilters incorporated vestiges of clothing, fabrics and even lace into the odd-shaped fabric designs embellished with embroidery.

On the other hand, it was also a new quilt concept since traditional quilts up until that time were very geometric, repeating pattern blocks in fabrics without any additional features such as embroidery.

So it was with delight that I found this twin-size crazy quilt at a sale. The 68x88 inch size is close to a standard 64x86-inch standard twin size quilt, which is also an excellent size for a quilted wall hanging.

This crazy quilt has lovely embroidery details. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

One of my favorite features of crazy quilts are the embroidery designs. Having been taught embroidery from my very early years, I enjoy seeing the dexterity of the quilter and how they incorporate embroidery floss colors into the fabrics.

That’s not an easy thing to do since some embroidery floss colors can easily get lost.

Another way to see the artwork of the embroidery is to look at the back of the crazy quilt, which will feature the embroidery without the distraction of the fabrics.

The backing of this crazy quilt helps to highlight the embroidery. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

This vintage crazy quilt has another wonderful feature, a red heart close to the center with an embroidered horse inside. This detail makes me think this quilt was made for a young girl who had a very special four-legged friend.

This embroidered horse towards the center is so charming. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

As you spend time looking at this crazy quilt, the fabrics also start to tell their story.

How many of these fabrics were originally favorite clothing now repurposed into this crazy quilt. There are some soft cottons and rough solid textiles. If this crazy quilt could talk!

More examples of the crazy quilt embroidery. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Crazy quilts are getting harder to find so this would be an excellent candidate to be used as a quilted wall hanging, installed somewhere away from damaging sun, smoke and cooking fumes.

Charlotte

Ah, Autumn Handmade Quilt by Brenda

This handmade quilt features traditional autumn colors. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Ah, Autumn Handmade Quilt by Brenda Morton

Ever wonder what inspires the fabrics in a handmade quilt?

I do every time I see a quilt, especially ones at quilt shows. The 2017 Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild show in Rolla, Missouri featured several handmade quilts in the same pattern with different fabric choices. I will feature each of the three here so we can look at how fabric choices changed the overall design.

This Ah, Autumn quilt was made by Brenda Morton in what I would call more traditional fall colors of burnt orange, green and cream fabric colors.

If you look closely, some of the patchwork designs feature multi-patterned fabrics that add texture.

Patchwork leaves add more fall color tones. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Those fall leaves are sure familiar, they look very much like the fall leaves in our Fall Leaves Quilt.

This is a quilt pattern from Linda Johnson and Jane Wells, who taught a class in Rolla, Mo. using a patchwork pattern out of their own book.

And here is what inspired these handmade quilt colors. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Would these be similar to fabrics you would have chosen for a fall-themed handmade quilt?

Stay tuned, coming up are two more handmade quilts in the same pattern but decidedly different fabric choices.

Charlotte

Flight of the Honeybee Handmade Quilt

Love the bright colors in Flight of the Honeybee handmade quilt and wall hanging. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Flight of the Honeybee Handmade Quilt

We’re expecting our first frost in mid-Missouri tonight. My plants are all tucked inside as are my honeybees in their outside hives. After 8 years of keeping bees, the hardest part of winter is not getting to visit with my honeybees every day.

I thought about that when I first saw Flight of the Honeybee Handmade Quilt at Piece and Plenty’s bi-annual quilt show in Rolla October 2017. It’s actually a wall hanging, a lovely piece of fabric art that nicely honors the flight of the - well, you know.

And, to boot, it features my favorite flowers!

The flowersare one of my favorites, zinnia flowers. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I just spent a couple of hours preparing zinnia seeds to plant in my garden next year for my bees and butterflies.

The other surprise was that this was made by a former colleague, Johnnie Fiscus, and her mother, Alverta.

Nice explanation of what this quilted wall hanging represents. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Usually every featured handmade quilt and wall hanging has a short biography of each of the quilters and this one was no exception.

Biographies of Johnnie Fiscus, left, and her mom, Alverta. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

If I could bundle these two together, I would add Flight of the Honeybee quilted wall hanging to our handmade Honeybee days of the week kitchen towels. Yes, I’m getting in the holiday spirit!

Charlotte

Blocks and Beads Handmade Quilt

From a distance, Blocks and Beads Handmade Quilt reminds me of books on a shelf.

Blocks and Beads Handmade Quilt

It's interesting to me that when some people talk about handmade quilts, they only think of them as traditional bedding, or bed covers. Today handmade quilts are more than just updated takes on favorite patterns like harvest crazy quilt, they are understandably also recognized as art, and here is a wonderful example.

Blocks and Beads Handmade Quilt was one of the entries in Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild's fall 2017 show in Rolla, Missouri. It caught my eye because, from a distance, the blocks look like books on a shelf.

As I got closer, the quilting had my attention. Usually modern quilts tend to be quilted with a lot of detail but this one obviously had been deliberately kept simple, a good decision when one looks at the overall impression.

This handmade quilt was also a good choice for a design for a quilted wall hanging.

The story behind this "mystery" quilt by Cynthia Felts gives a hint at how fabric art gets created.

The color choices were also wonderful, I don't know how many times I have seen beautiful work but the fabric choices were dismal.

Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild's bi-annual show is judged and this one was in a category for judging. And the end result?

And this lovely modern quilt won first place at Piece and Plenty Quilt Guild's fall 2017 show.

A winner in all categories!

Charlotte

Australia Continent Art Quilt

Part of our quilting work at the Grimm Museum in 2014 in Amsterdam, Sweden.

Australia Art Quilt

I haven't been to Amsterdam but the artist who collaborated on the wall mural told me when the installation was up and where. The final collaborative work was installed at the Grimm Museum June 5, 2014 to August 9, 2014. It took me longer to make the piece were were commissioned to make that it was on display.

The quilted mural covered one wall, a depiction of the world made out of white quilted t-shirts against a quilted, navy blue fabric background. That was the part of the installation we were involved making. We were also asked to piece and quilt the continent of Australia out of 35 white stained t-shirts bordered by one-inch red satin. To most accurately reflect the land contours, I rouched by hand on both sides of the one inch red satin border. In the photo, our work was the piece to the far right.

As with most art quilt projects, it started simply enough. After quilting the navy blue background fabric by machine, the white t-shirts were also sewn together to form the Australian continent. It was then my job to finish it by sewing the red satin - yes, red satin - along the land contour by hand.

I started sewing the red satin on a straight stretch of the land contour on both sides.

If you have ever worked with satin, you know how hard it is to keep it in one place. It's almost impossible to sew straight with most sewing machines, and even tougher to keep straight and even sewing by hand because it moves so much.

To make sure the red silk fabric was tacked down evenly and correctly, both sides had to be stitched at relatively the same time by hand. If one edge was out of line, then it could be easily corrected before moving on. I had to redo a number of the sections to keep the width the same. It was a slow, tedious process.

When I reached curves, I would rouche the red satin on both sides, working one inch at a time, then sew the rouched area by hand, and move to adjust the other side before sewing that side down. Although the work was slow, it made all of the difference in terms of accurately defining the edge of the land contour.

Rouching curves was done an inch at a time, sometimes half an inch, to reflect the curves.

When the curve was especially tight, my decades of embroidery and hand-quilting, as well as the rouching technique, paid off nicely. This would not be possible sewing this satin on by machine.

Tight curves required work at half inch increments to make sure the fabric stayed in place.

To give you an idea of the scope of this section of the installation, here is the Australian continent section spread out on a double bed.

The finished Australian continent art quilt on a double bed to give you the scale of the quilt.

I can't do this kind of tiny, detailed stitching any more. I broke my wrist in 3 places September 2015. Although surgery implanted metal rods to mend the breaks, my years of embroidery dexterity are gone. 

I look at these pictures and frankly marvel at what I once was able to do. There were other quilts I worked on in the past that also ended up in museums but it never occurred to me to get photos. I assumed I would have the embroidery skill for most of my life, not counting on breaking my wrist.

Yet another reason why I tell people who ask me what their handmade quilts are worth. No two are exactly alike and no one knows when one won't be able to make another one. In my world, their work is priceless.

Charlotte