Where Are YOUR Quilts?

I have TWO in my bathroom! This is a picture of a quilt my friend, Misty, made for me. Well, actually she pieced the top, and I hand-quilted Baptist fans on it and bound it. It was the first piece I had hand quilted in some time, and it reminded me how much I enjoy the hands-on process of hand quilting. Every time I see it (which is often), I am reminded of my dear friend.

It is a Barn Raising setting of log cabin blocks--my favorite block! The bathroom walls are painted a nutmeg brown color.





This is a shot of the curtain in there. This is a Thimbleberries fall fabric from a few years ago. I used the same print to make the large blocks in my shower curtain, below.

A funny quilter's story. One day, my DH came out of the library (where these photos were taken) and asked, "Why have you been holding out on me? Why don't we have a quilted shower curtain?" I wondered if he'd slipped and konked his head, but found out that he'd been perusing a quilt magazine while (ahem) in the library.

I took the same focus fabric as the curtain valance had been made from and came up with the shower curtain...

I just made very large 9-patches (Each block in the 9-patch finishes at 3"--good scale for a large piece). Having never made a quilt top into a shower curtain before, I was stumped as what to do with it after I had the top pieced. I checked a couple pattern books I had and saw two viable options. One had batting and one didn't. I opted to not use batting, but just line it with a coordinating fabric. It isn't truly "quilted" at all, merely lined. Then--how to hang it?? I didn't want to use fabric tabs because it would be pulled back and forth several times a day (hopefully!). I ended up binding it like a regular quilt and then putting small buttonholes (vertically) spaced across the top to slip the metal shower curtain hangers through (that were already there). Works like a charm. Even after 2-1/2 years of wear, there is no visible wear to the buttonholes like I suspected there might be.

Thus endeth the bathroom tour. Aren't you glad to be moving on to something else??

~Joan