This small quilt was made from one yard of a stripped fabric, cut into strips on the bias, and pieced back together. Then it was quilted in the ditch along all the diamond shapes, giving the illusion of a pieced quilt.
When my scrap bag gets too stuffed, and I can’t fit any more quilting leftovers into it, I schedule a “scrap quilting” day. I clear the deck, dump out all the scraps onto the table, cut a pile of muslin foundation squares, and go to work. Taking random sized strips, and bizarre color combinations, I start sewing and flipping, making at least four of the same kind of pattern. When put together, the blocks form very interesting mini quilts. I use them for hostess gifts, ladies’ club raffles, or hang them in rotation in my house.
This is another double sided, “quilt-as-you-go” project. I found a lovely small-scale floral print to use for one side, and selected a variety of green and cream prints for my steps. The final result is a strong pattern on the front side, and a very soft, easy-on-the-eyes back side. The reversible binding technique I learned from Judy Doenias at City Quilter. It makes a neat knife edge finish.
The simplest shape there is to sew, The Square, lends itself to countless treatments. In this small piece, I used two-inch, and six-inch patches in a modern layout to stress the squares, and quilted them in like fashion, to emphasize the shape. The batik I chose blended very well with the soft buttery yellow.
This winter scene of snowman mixed with glistening ice blues is a lovely holiday piece of home decor. I made it for my niece who has a passion for snowmen. It is a simple design, with strip sets of the blues cut into bands and joined together, set between bands of snowmen.
Half of the squares in this quilt are pieced “crazy quilt” style with bits and pieces from my scrap basket. They were too “busy” when put together, so I alternated blocks with a dark wine-colored print. That was a bit flat, so I decided to paint the red square with metallic paints using rubbing plaques and oil paint sticks. That was a lot of fun.
This quilt was a study in free motion quilting patterns which are different for each color in the quilt. I utilized a variety a soft colors in bars that reminded me of bar codes. Placing the batik strips randomly, and then making rows resulted in a pleasant, easy-on-the-eyes piece for a table top or a wall hanging.
This quilt was created as a dining room wall hanging for my daughter Larisa and her husband Peter. They requested a horizontal piece. I found some Asian panels that I cut and incorporated into a sea of small squares in blacks and bright Asian prints. The panels reflect aspects of their life and their interests. Gardens, planting, and tea.
This baby version of French Braid was made from a one and a half inch wide roll (called a honey bun) of coordinated strips. The colors offered a wide choice of creams and every color of apple in the orchard. It was fun to create a mini version, and this quilt was selected to be part of a quilt exhibition of quilts from The City Quilter at the Williams Club in NYC in the Fall of 2009.
The cutting of the four-inch squares for my first kaleidescope quilt yielded many extra sets, so I embarked on another related quilt. I utilized twenty more blocks set close together for an entirely different look. I separated the blocks with thin piping in a muted batik fabric that contained most of the colors of the blocks, but in softer tones.
I make quilts to send out into the world, to make people happy.
Louise Naples Quiltmaker 