Quilter’s Name: Dr. Denise Gravitt from Macomb, Illinois
Name of Pattern: Nancy’s Notions Sampler (Find Free Pattern Here!)
Featured Date: 11-13-24
Hello- I am Denise and I have been quilting for over 20 years, but only have been doing bed size quilts for about 10 years. Watching Sewing with Nancy on PBS started me on my quilting journey and then I added watching the TV show Love of Quilting from Fon’s and Porter to add to my knowledge.
I started off making quilt jackets and small projects. Then around 2014 I sewed my first Queen size quilt using a panel then quickly made 2 more Log Cabin queen quilts from batik fabric jelly rolls in shades of purples and teal greens I just fell in love with. I had to find a longarm quilter and learn how to sew on binding to finish them. After that I just did some lap quilts until this past summer. I seem to do a lot of sewing then put it aside for a few years before I have just have to get back into it.
I just completed my Nancy’s 2023 Sampler (pictured above) using Fall Frolic fabrics I purchased in fall of 2023 when I saw them and just had to have them- I bought a lot! Fall is my favorite season- I just love the colors. The sampler is a Queen and 100% pieced from 2-1/2″, 5″ and 10″ precuts and a couple jellyrolls of Fall Frolic fabrics. I used Caramel Macchiato for the light cream fabrics and used jelly rolls, 5′ and 10″ precuts from that material- I bought both from Missouri Star Quilt Store. I rarely follow patterns 100% and instead use them as inspiration. The sampler squares I struggled with as some were not suited to 10″ precuts and were not oversized so I couldn’t trim them all to be perfect squares and not lose some points- yardage would have been much better but I didn’t have any so I made do with what I had and chose the sampler patterns I liked best.
This sampler was a challenge for me because I also struggle with wanting color balance and just can’t let loose and randomly select fabrics from the selections. It is the ADHD in me that can make it hard to start cutting and not stress the details plus I often get distracted when sewing and have to rip out a lot of crooked seams. I have learned to embrace imperfections and most people that get my quilts as gifts don’t notice. I used forgiving pieced borders with beige spacing blocks so I could get them to fit whatever the base quilt dimensions turned out to be. Perfectly square quilts are not in my wheelhouse yet. It took me 10 months just to pick the patterns I wanted to try and then make some squares and decide which would work and which wouldn’t. I added the bright green as it was an accent color in the Fall Frolic line and I liked how it popped in the quilt.
I couldn’t decide on a single color for binding so I spliced what I had left from the jelly rolls into 1 1/2 to 2′ lengths and mixed up all the colors and used the variegated binding for both the Queen and had enough left over for a lap quilt binding. I had so many left over 4 patches and orphan blocks since I don’t like to do the math to figure out exactly how many I will need for my main project that I made 2 lap quilts and then used the fabric scraps to make crazy quilt blocks using used dryer sheets that I had been wanting to try.
I really enjoyed the crazy quilt blocks- felt freeing and I hate throwing away fabric scraps. I still have a lot of the light Fall Frolic fabrics that I didn’t use at all though I used up almost all of the dark and medium fabrics, and more scraps for future crazy quilt blocks. The one lap quilt uses a colorful fall leaf fabric that I have had in my stash for years and have used in table runners and place mats. In place of cotton batting I like to use my old flannel sheets in light weight quilts as an internal layer instead of batting though the Queen quilt has light weight cotton batting. I love using heavy weight flannel sheets all year around so I end up needing to use up the old used sheets when I get new ones. They are perfect for spring, fall and summer weight quilts inner layers. Janet and her sister Cheri from Patches and Piecework Quilting in Macomb, Illinois did the quilting using leaves and nuts in fall patterns for all 4 quilts and I think they turned out beautifully.
Dr. Denise Gravitt, LEED AP
Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois
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