Primary Starburst - My husband loves gazing at the stars and enjoys the planets through his telescope. He chose the colors and the material for this quilt and requested simple line quilting to represent light rays. The batiks added a nice hue to the mariner's compass.

Grandparents' Garden - Each family member's block includes their self-handwritten name, birth date & place, & state flower fabric for the birth state. I quilted the outline of the appropriate state map in each block & included a photo of my in-laws in the center of the quilt. The quilt represents 48 family members, from my in-laws' parents to their great-grandchildren.

Reach for the Stars - To Jacqueline's pattern I added 11 Golden Dolphins and 33 azeztulite crystals. The quilt was made especially to honor Stardreaming, a complex of sacred temples, aligned to the stars, in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Untitled - This Mystery Quilt pattern was posted on-line by an Australian quilt guild.

My Geisha - Originally designed for a Hoffman challenge, but as the deadline approached, I found the quilt was not even remotely square, some of my quilting tension went wonky, and my dear cat chewed off the beads (grrr). So, I parked it for a couple of years, then pulled it out this year and fixed it to enter in the Ogallala Quilt Show.

Citrus Summer - Used the Li'l Twister tool

Small Comfort - When my father died, friends from an online group sent me signed snowballs and 9-patches. There wasn't enough of the 6 inch blocks for a quilt, so I added some orphan blocks, added more snowballs and a flying geese border. The top remained unquilted for far too long; I finally quilted it in early 2013.

Jewels - I loved this pattern by Jacqueline de Jong. It was a very difficult pattern but so satisfying to complete. I decided to duplicate the patter in the border and thus the curved borders were created. This is the second pattern of Jacqueline's that I have completed. I love the bright colors and the challenges that the piecing require. It was quilted on my sit down long arm.

Lilium 1 - An experiment of random pieces of fabric in blacks & reds stitched onto pellon & free machine embroidered with the outline of a lilium flower which I had photographed.

Fireworks - Watched Ricky Tim's Caveman Quilting video online & started cutting & sewing fat quarters together!

Val's Bears Paw

This is part of a series of 'DNA' quilts that use hexagons and colors to represent the bases. The first in the series did not try to represent real sequence, but just represented the double helix shape. A more complex one that is still in progress incorporates sequence and a mutation of academic importance to my colleagues. The current iteration, IPP (isoleucine-proline-proline), is simpler, and represents a tripeptide (3 amino acid 'protein') that occurs in milk and has physiologic function. This one and its companion, GSH (glutathione), were made for show and sale in the Baylor College of Medicine Graduate Student Art Show and Auction. Proceeds benefit Texas Children's Hospital. See http://susieturn.blogspot.com/2015/07/more-dna.html for details of design and construction.

Tomorrow, this year's "Tour de France" will run through my hometown and whizz past the corner of  my street. That's the reason why my "Reverse of the Medal" welcomes the peloton in the local pharmacy.
As a sports addict, I was disillusioned and upset by last years’ doping affairs and the tearful confessions of some convicted racing cyclists.
NADA and WADA information disclosed the apparently common abuse of “supportive substances”, even in unexpected disciplines.
These athletes defraud their competitors and us, the fans, but also put their health and life at risk – to gain medals, break records, keep crowd and sponsors satisfied : “To win silver is to lose gold !”

Expecting to add an update some day soon, I finished the right edge with a divisible zipper. On the back, I printed tattoo bicycle gears.

The quilt was on display in shows in England, Japan and the States.

 

 A miniature Baltimore Album quilt which I've adapted to fit my home area.  Like Baltimore my 160 year old home in Burray is by the sea. In fact it is part of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland.  So I substituted my house (minus it's conservatory) for the lovely American buildings often shown on a Baltimore Album quilt and was keen to include the sea motifs.  

All the motifs, apart from the house, were tradition Baltimore ones mostly, but not all, from Elly Sienkiewcz books.  I went through countless patterns looking for ones which were appropriate to miniturise.  

The quilt was entirely made on a domestic machine using turned under applique with my Apliquick tools and stabilser.  It was using them that gave me the condience to try this quilt.  The motifs are enhanced by overpainting. 

Broken Rainbows - September 2001, for the IQF Houston special exhibit after 9-11. 2nd Place, Oklahoma City Winter Quilt Show, 2003; published: America-From the Heart, C&T Publishing. The idea for this quilt came from the block name, Broken Rainbows (Nancy Cabot 1937). It reflects that our own perception of our world was shattered for a moment, on September 11, 2001, and it, along with the New York skyline, looked pretty dark. But we're recovering, and though we might still be a little shaken, we're not by any means broken. The fabric in the lower left quadrant of the quilt was chosen to represent the lives lost and the rubble at ground zero, along with our national symbol of hope and pride, raised by the firemen. This quilt is dedicated to those victims of hatred and violence, and to the memories of the heroes, both the known and the unknown, on the ground and in the air, who gave their lives for their fellow man, regardless of race, creed or nationality.

King Lear - "King Lear" is from a photo of my brother protraying King Lear in a Shakespeare play sometime in the 1980's. The original photo is in blacks, browns and flesh tones.