Carlene Foster's Gallery : Traditional

St. Louis Star #2

Carlene Foster — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:47:39 GMT

This is my second St. Louis Star quilt. The centers are fussy cut, and since there are only so many motifs available on one piece of fabric, there are some variations in the group. Different color pallate than the first, but equally visually interesting. The nice thing about the St. Louis Star is that there are no Y seams in the construction, although it certainly appears that there were several. I love it when someone figures out the easier way to do something for me ahead of time. :)

Grandmother's Flower Garden made modern

Carlene Foster — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:30:52 GMT

Most of us have, at one time or another, gotten the English paper piecing bug, if for no other reason than a multitude of scraps and a curiosity about the process. I had done several flowers and they had set around for a few years waiting for me to address them. So.....I used mine in a quilt as you go setting, separating each flower into its own block, then surrounding the garden with a picket fence. Now, I don't have to feel guilty about not tending to my flowers. :)

Bellingham

Carlene Foster — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:07:37 GMT

The center of this quilt is from a pattern produced by ToadUSew, called Bellingham. It was a nice lap quilt, but I needed a queen size version for my parents. So, I added another border with the 4 corner star blocks made from the same fabric and added another layer of radiating arms. Then, I framed the entire thing in more of the cream colored fabric. I just love the little gold details in Robert Kaufmann's fabric line, so this was a "Have to" quilt for me. It is quilted by using a preprinted Benartex backing, most commonly referenced as "Easy Line".

Double wedding ring

Carlene Foster — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:38:33 GMT

This is a king sized quilt done with the Simple Curves ruler and pattern. It worked up really fast, as none of the curves are full and the curves are all one piece of fabric. The thing I really like about this pattern and the ruler was that there was minimal waste, unlike many other patterns I have seen. In a 9.5 inch square, only two corners (less than 1.5 square inches) were not used. There is triming to be done after the block is put together, however, I have seen worse waste on those types of blocks as well. This is definitely a "let's do that again" pattern.

Wildflower Rhapsody BOM 2011

Carlene Foster — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 11:37:36 GMT

I am usually in two BOM groups at a time these days. This was the 2011 project, and I just now got the finishing kit done. I love the use of the wide boarder fabrics in the overall design. It made the finishing that much easier.

Orca Bay Mystery Quilt 2011

Carlene Foster — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:57:55 GMT

Bonnie K. Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery Quilt ran from Thanksgiving 2011 through January 1, 2012. This is my finished quilt top. Once again, Bonnie walked a group of quilters of various skills through a complex pattern by breaking it into managable steps. For me, the twist came at the end with those black/white border pieces...I never would have guessed that was what those were for. I was trying to put them around the Ohio Star units and thinking that the red string blocks would be around the border somehow. The biggest challenge I had putting the top itself together was those blue string blocks....if they weren't placed properly, the flow of the pattern just died in place. There are some of those that got removed and replaced at least 3 times, some 4. I blame it on quilt dyslexia. :)

St. Louis Star Table Runner

Carlene Foster — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:38:44 GMT

I had 3 stars leftover from my other Flourish projects, so I made a table runner just to make certain these choice pieces didn't end up in a pieced quilt backing later on. I'm thinking that since I always seem to have excess binding at the end of a project and usually manage to miscount blocks along the way anyway, this might be a small project I'll be doing more of with the leftovers. These table runners can also be used for festive dresser scarves, or instead of quilting, could be stuffed and used as a decorative pillow (with a few minor modifications). Creative juices are flowing........ :)

Christmas Dinner Table Runner

Carlene Foster — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:12:22 GMT

This table runner is not meant to hang off the ends of the table, which is a blessing for those with small children or pets. It is a Pam Bono Pattern called Holiday Flora. A little intimidating at first, but I actually think I'm going to like these patterns when I get a little more practice. I started this one on December 21 at 8:30 pm and sewed until 12:30 am, then got up on December 22 and finished hand sewing the binding. I gave it to my niece as a Christmas house warming gift that afternoon. She was amazed....me too.... LOL

Flourishing Eclipse

Carlene Foster — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:46:52 GMT

When I saw the Robert Kaufman Flourish4 fabric this year, I instantly knew I had to have it and I had to do this quilt with it. The pattern, called Eclipse, was published in Quilter's Newsletter in the October/November 2010 issue. The original design, which was a ToadUSew kit quilt, strangely enough was done from Robert Kaufman fabrics as well (Shades of Season 3, another of my absolute fav's!) Any large medallions, fussy cut, will make a beautiful quilt from this pattern.

Giant Dahlia Quilt in Christmas fabrics

Carlene Foster — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:34:38 GMT

On Thanksgiving morning, before the turkey went in the oven and the other cooking/cleaning chores of the day began, I got this "bug" about my Christmas fabric that was just waiting for me to do something with it. By the end of the day, I had all of the main splines made and about 1/4 of them put together. By the end of the weekend, the dahlia was complete and the first border was in place. Then, I realized why I don't see many of these around anymore....that outer border is a bear! It took more time to cut and sew the outer border than the entire dahlia piece.....Here it is, with the outer border attached. Just need one more border to call it "complete"....something cheery and festive to square it into something I can quilt and bind.