Louise Naples Quiltmaker

After many years of quilting, my scrap bag was quite full of strips and bits. During one long rainy week, I dumped it all out on my table, and started making squares using those pieces. I sewed the srips onto muslin backing, then assembled a number of quilt tops. I was amazed at how many quilts I could make out of those remnants. All those strips are memories of previous quilts.

Often, after completing a quilt I have a fair amount of fabric left over, so I like to make small pieces from them. They make lovely hostess gifts. Here are a few samples.

I had purchsed yardage of three scales of a brown gingham fabric on e-bay; they looked so appealing, but for years I didn’t know what to do with them. Finally, I bit the bullet, and decided to cut squares, tumblers and triangles, and see how they might fit together. By themselves, they had no life, so I pulled many brown prints from my stash, and added them to the mix. Now I had something I could work with. The soft, comfortable quilt that resulted is a quiet charmer.

A friend in a new apartment wanted a bed covering, it was my pleasure to make this for her.

Our niece did a major remodel of her home, adding a new bedroom for herself. It cried out of a new quilt. A new technique of piecing the squares automatically embedded the black frame of the lattice. It creates the illusion of looking through a grill into a sweet garden.

With a new set of small rulers I purchased at a quilt show, I worked with a warm palette of strawberry and chocolate. The curved pieces came together smoothly, and the rows made lovely waves. I scalloped the edges for a dramatic frame. A pretty wall hanging.

Our daughter requested a set of six placemats for her table. With a mind to her family’s concern with nature and earthy matters, I chose a subdued palette of muted colors in the green and purple range. On the backs, I chose a brighter pattern for a reversable set. I set piles and piles of one-inch strips on my work table, and the placemats came together very quickly, to her family’s delight.

I have wanted to delve back into Black and White work for some time, and came up with the idea of fan blades. I utilized my Accuquilt GO fabric cutting machine and a “Block on Board” die for precise and easy preparation. Using a medley of black and white prints, and solid black and white, a red accent for an inner border, and piano key outer border, Arches was born. I used the embroidery stitches on my Viking sewing machine to emblish the blades. My quilt is now displayed in the front office of my NYS Assemblywoman, Jenifer Rajkumar, who supports the arts and artists in our community.

After hearing a lecture by MJ Kinman, who invented this technique, I was determined to try to create a gemstone. This photo set illustrates the method I used. I started drafting my design on graph paper; printing it out on sheets of freezer paper; cut and ironed the patches onto the freezer paper, and slowly, slowly, the segments were assembled. I was thrilled with the results!

This quilt began with a jellyroll of Kinte fabric strips. Using them with Amish black, making split blades, created dynamic Dresden plate designs in numerous configurations. This makes for a dramatic wall hanging.