Edna's Magnum Opus

 Remember Edna and her amazing stash? This quilt is made up of the tiniest pieces of fabric, many of the patterns I have used! I backed it with some perfectly good but slightly faded 1990s blue fabric from the thrift store. This wasn't well ironed, but I thought the blocks were a uniform size... until they weren't. I picked out more quilting stitches from this one until I realized that there were times when Edna just went completely off the rails and there was just no consistency to guide my stitches. We have an art teacher who will enjoy this as a lap quilt. It didn't feel good enough to go to a baby. 

 

Improved Nine Patch

  This is an improved nine patch, the pattern to which I can no longer find. It involved cutting up a standard nine patch block and sewing it back together. I really like the pattern so will look for it. 

The flowered fabric was some that my daughter found at the thrift store, but it is a polyester blend. This is the very last blended fabric I plan on using, as I have had to repair some thirty year old quilts in which similar fabric did not wear well. 

This is for a math teacher who is expecting; I never know how the young will feel about quilts, so it this shows up at the thrift store some day, I won't be surprised. Or hurt. 

Streak of Lightning- Brown

I apparently like this pattern quite a bit. The brown squares are leftover from when I cut too many for my grandson's quilt. The being actually has tiny maps on it. 

The back is a rather large brown and maroon print with pine cones that is from... 1995. It was perfect for this project, so must have been why I bought two yards of it. 

This is going to one of our language arts teachers who has a new grandson.

Two and a half inch squares

Edna's stash included a LOT of yellows, and I had a quantity of slightly odd greens, so this summer's tops used those colors frequently. 

This is going to the grandchild or our former school secretary. My plan is to  make sure any baby in my vicinity has a quilt! 

Back in 2020, I bought a dozen queen sized Mountain Mist batts. (I would have sworn "batt" was a word, but maybe not.) After cutting pieces for the rest of my summer 2025 output, I am down to ONE. I did two full sized during that time, and feel like I managed to stretch the batting pretty far; I'll even piece together scraps of a decent size. I figure the machine quilting keeps them in place pretty well. 

I go through a fair amount of thread, so before Joann's went out, I did order eight Coats and Clarks machine quilting thread on cardboard spools. I also have a friend's mother's thread, as well as thread from my friend Linda and her sister. This is all of the thread I have now. It seems like a reasonable amount. 
 

The bobbin donut was also from Linda's sister. When I got my new Janome machine in 2020, I ordered two dozen bobbins, which is such a luxury. I only had a dozen for my 1978 Kenmore (RIP) and 2000 Pfaff. It's nice to be able to have extra bobbins.

Batik fabric

I have 40 years worth of fabric, which is a really good thing since Joann Fabrics went out of business. I never bought a lot of fabric new, because people have always given me their leftovers! The yellows in this quilt came from a friend whose sister stopped quilting, and the bug fabric came from what I call my "Edna Stash", a large bag at the thrift store that my daughter found. 

This quilt was for a friend of my daughters'. I was happy with the points, and even used the special stitches on my machine to decorate the center blocks. Also noteworthy was the fact that I quilted it in October, when I usually don't sew! 

Jungle Print

 Another four patch, this time with a jungle print Daisy Kingdom for the plain 4 and 1/2 inch block. It's for a friend of my daughter's in Cincinnati. The back is a green leaf print. 

"Edna" had a ton of yellows and yellow greens in her stash; I made at least six quilts in those colors. 

Four Patch

 Not sure if this has a name, but I really like this pattern for using up scraps. This went to our gym teacher.