Madeline Strong

I rarely post family news on this blog. Quilting is much more interesting than my family. But next week we are celebrating a great family event. My granddaughter was diagnosed with leukemia when she was just 3 days shy of her 14th birthday. Nine years later she is celebrating her 23rd birthday with 9 years of remission due to the life giving medication that was many, many years in research.

Madeline in Hospital 9 years ago                           Madeline's Joy Today

Did you know that only 4% of the US budget is allocated for childhood cancer research? Private donations are essential. Someone else's donations provided Madeline with her lifesaving medication. Madeline graduated from college this past December and last week started her first job. Instead of giving her a birthday gift this year Madeline has asked friends and family to donate to the Rally Foundation  rallyfoundation.org. She wants to give the gift of life to other children with cancer. A few years ago Madeline was asked to write a short essay about living with cancer. She started her essay by writing "When I got cancer, I found joy... Madeline is the joy of our family.

Van Gogh inspiraton

Now that you've seen the small project with the Square on Square ruler here is a quilt made using the 8" Square on Square ruler. It is a traditional Square on Square design. I call it Starry Nights Storm At Sea. One of my favorite paintings is Starry Nights by Vincent Van Gogh. I even have a Starry Night umbrella with images from the Van Gogh painting. I also saw the Van Gogh movie this summer. He is one of my favorite artists.

This is the quilt I made using the colors from the Van Gogh painting. I made it for a Cut Loose pattern jeanannquilts.com.

How to make the quilt using the rulers is featured in a Creative Grids Youtube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34Wr8gFrV68

Starry Night Storm At Sea

Snow or Sew?

Quilters know what to do on snow days. They sew! I have been playing with my Square on Square rulers over the past few months and I have designed a series of Storm at Sea blocks and projects. I went a little crazy with the small projects with the 8" Square on Square ruler jeanannquilts.com. For the patterns I made a tote bag, a table runner, placemat and potholder set, a chicken kitchen set with apron potholders and placemats and a pair of pillows.

Stormy Beach Bag 

Bon Appetite Table Ensemble

Chicken Kitchen Set with Apron, Placemats and Potholders 

Storm at Sea Pillow Pair

New Year's Resolution Time

It's time for me to get this blog up and running again. I have been so busy for the past year....and hope to be just as busy with quilting in the year to come. But, all the business with designing new rulers and making project to go with them has made a big claim on my time.

I am still working on mini-rulers to go with the full size rulers I have previously designed. The latest is the 4" Curvy Log Cabin. It is available on my website, along with 5 patterns for quilts and projects. jeanannquilts.com

With each new ruler comes new quilt and quilted project designs and Cut Loose Patterns. My creative brain spurts have produced smaller projects to go with the smaller rulers. Here are two projects I designed to go with the 4" Curvy Log Cabin Ruler. 

Fried Green Tomatoes

I couldn't resist making this table runner and placemats and naming it for a famous southern treat, fried green tomatoes. Take the photo required a trip to my favorite southern supermarket, Publix, to buy some green tomatoes and an orange pepper to dress up the photo. Also a trip to the quilt shop to get just the right orange fabric for the borders and backing. The 4" blocks are arranged three across in each row to make the circles and curves. The overall size of the table runner project is 16" wide and 36" long. 

Round The  World Tote

Here is another easy to make project. I have resisted making tote bags because I don't like sewing the zipper part. So all of my totes don't have zippers and they are super easy to make. This one has eight 4" curvy blocks to make the modern design. My daughter, who is an exhibits designer for the Smithsonian here in DC, is adopting my totes so she can have one to match whatever she is wearing. This is one of her favorites. More totes to come...!