The first crop of quilts for 2015

About a week after I got home from the east coast, I drove to southern California to Wendy's house.  She has a long arm quilting machine and I make trips down there regularly to quilt and have fun.  I usually fly, but I wanted to drive this time.  All alone.  In my younger days, I'd drive 5-6 hours down to my parents with six kids in tow, so not exactly alone.  This trip would be the first time I've driven that far by myself, but armed with books on CDs, and a promise to Mark that I would stop every 2 hours or so to stretch my back, I headed out.

The plan was to drive as far as my brother's house in Orange County and continue on to Wendy's house in Carlsbad the next day.  I made good time, getting to my brother's house in about 6.5 hours.  The next morning, my sister-in-law fixed a delicious breakfast of paninis and fruit.  She always has a beautiful spread for her guests.  My family thinks she is better than Martha Stewart.

Dawn and Morrie with a delicious breakfast!

I got to Wendy's a little before noon on Wednesday.  I had brought 3 pieced quilt tops and some satin to make a total of 4 quilts.  We were also planning on attending a huge quilt show in LA that would take up the whole day on Thursday, so we had to get busy.  We figure we can quilt two quilts a day.

Here they are.  The first two quilts are made from the same (free) pattern, Ribbon Box Quilt. They are all backed with minky (a super soft, nappy fabric).

 This quilt is very colorful.  There are a few prints that tie all the colors together, but you can't see them very well in this picture!

 This quilt was a "whole cloth quilt."  Meaning we used a big piece of flannel backed satin for the top and just let the quilting design be the focus.  We used a variegated thread which was new for us and really liked the way it turned out.  It is very luxe and I'm hoping someday I'll have another granddaughter that I can give this baby blanket to.