Remembering the Year 2004

On New Year's Eve my amazing hubby put together my new Grace Machine Quilting Frames. I got to spend the new year playing with my frames. I started out practicing on muslin and scraps.  This is what it looked like set up without the machine or a quilt.  

Once I was comfortable with the frames, my mother had me quilt many quilts for her. I started out on two whole cloth quilts for my mom. One had trains and the other eagles. This really helped me get used to quilting on the Grace Frames. 

Then I quilted her two fairy quilts I had pieced in 2003 on the frames. She keeps them in her grandchildren's room for when the granddaughters come to visit. 

I quilted my Milky Way quilt on the frames next.

My mom had a huge baby flannel stash, so I took all of it and serged around 24 receiving blankets with woolly nylon for her. Then I quilted six baby quilts for her, including a dinosaur one for my cheetah boy.

I quilted two wall hangings next which were made from the scraps of the large stack-n-whack. One was given to my mother-in-law for Christmas.  I kept this one to hang above my bed.   

I then finished two more of my Grandma Mildred's block sets for two of my brothers. They were machine pieced and hand quilted. One was for my brother W and the other for my brother M.

Then I made this bug jar quilt for my cheetah boy.  It went together a lot faster than I thought it would. 

At this point I was feeling limited using my little Pfaff on the quilting frames. I shopped around and bought my Janome 6500 for machine quilting.  It has an eight inch arm.  With my new machine I quilted six queen size quilts for my mom on the frames, including these four.   

I loved using the grace frames.  They gave me the courage to quilt certain quilts I would have been intimidated by before I had them.   All this quilting really helped to improve my skills, and my mom was happy to have her old quilt tops finished. 

A decorator fell in love with one of the flannel quilts I quilted for my mom. He asked to buy it and she refused. Then he asked her to make him another one. She again refused, but I said that I would make one for him. Thus my first real custom quilt came about. This is a Buzz Saw. 

Towards the end of 2004 another change came in my family life. We bought our first home and my grandmother moved in with us. Looking at this huge list, I have no idea how I got so much done while taking care of my grandmother, young son, and moving.  I really think that quilting kept me sane. 

XX,

Jasmine