100 Quilts for Kids

Hey there! Welcome to my first blog post (here) for 2015!  I've been busy as the DC Modern Quilt Guild president this year and have been blogging over there.  But now I'm back for a post about 100 Quilts for Kids.

I made four quilts for the quilt drive this year.  My guild is donating all that we collect to kids at the DC General Homeless Shelter.  That shelter has about 600 children on average.  After reading that, I've had those kids and charity quilts on the brain for two months straight. 

The first collaborative quilt has blocks made at the Denyse Schmidt workshop that the DCMQG hosted in June.  Attendees gave me two blocks each, I added a few more from my stash and Cathy added a bunch more.  My guild friend, Jamie, did the quilting and another friend, Anjeanette, stitched the binding down.  I adore the colors and movement in this quilt and it will be missed the most.

Next up is another quilt made from blocks from the DS workshop.  Again, I added a few more from my stash and Cathy's friend, Stella, added all of the blocks she made at a similar workshop.  Jamie did the quilting and Cassandra stitched the binding down.  This quilt has a Cotton + Steel metallic Netorious print as binding and that extra bit of bling was a perfect addition.

When my friend, Alyson, was over for a sewing day in August she helped me arrange some guild orphan blocks into a quilt top.  Three of these blocks were ones I received back in my days in the 3x6 Bee.  The rest were blocks donated by other members.  I love how they all fit perfectly with the other blocks in this quilt.  Again, Jamie did the beautiful quilting and guild friend, Cindy, stitched the binding down.

This last quilt was made entirely by me, but the quilting was made possible by Anjeanette.  She has a midarm machine and she let me come over and play last month.  The "back" of this quilt is a zoo print, so I quilted the "front" with names of zoo animals done in cursive across the quilt.  I've always wanted to do word quilting, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out. This quilt was SUPER hard to photograph so you'll have to trust me that the print and the yellow solid are much prettier in person. 

So that's what is up with me lately.  What is happening with you?  Or what have you been up to in the past nine or ten months since I blogged?  Do you belong to a guild?  Do you make any charity quilts?  I'd love to read about it.

Still finishing things

Back in January, I declared 2013 as the Year of Completion.  Well, I've been chugging along on my quilting UFO's (unfinished objects) and have made great progress.  I've been pretty good about not starting new quilt projects, too.  There have been a few garments and a couple of baby quilts for gifts, but I have really held back in starting new epic projects.  (Beware, I have two big ones in mind that I will probably start in January 2014--maybe even when the clock strikes 12:01am....)

So, all of this is to say that I've been a very good girl.  And, earlier this month, when I was so sick of staring at the same sewing projects that I had to wander off, I picked up some old knitting WIP's (works in progress).

I finished mittens that I started 21 months ago.

I finished a charity baby knit that I started 11 months ago.

And then I tried to finish a sweater that I started over five years ago.

Well, my knitting gauge is much smaller than it was five years ago, and I'm (ahem) not smaller than I was five years ago.  So, the size I had cast on for was incorrect at this time and then I knit one front of a cardigan that was 2 inches narrower than the other side.

So, I had to rip out all of this delicious texture. (sad face)

I have another plan for the yarn and I'm already 11 rows into it.  I'm cheating on my old quilting projects, but the fall winds demand that I knit, so I'm listening.

Baby Quilt 3

As I mentioned yesterday, I have another strip quilt to show today.  I've heard that charities get lots and lots of girl-themed baby quilts and not many boy-themed ones.   I have a TON of blue and green and gray fabric, but many of them are still floral or cutesy in a way that doesn't work. 

But I had this Tula Pink fabric that was just itching to be made into a quiet boy quilt.

Both today's quilt and yesterday's will be sent to Bundles of Joy.  BOJ is a group of knitters and crocheters on ravelry that send out new baby items to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  Pine Ridge spans the two poorest counties in the United States.  The blankets and quilts sent by Bundles of Joy are first used by the babies born on the OB ward, then they are used by the elders as lap blankets or wherever they are needed to provide a little extra warmth and brightness.  I know that these quilts will be used and reused and that makes me very happy. 

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I have one last baby quilt to show in this series of potst but I have to finish up the binding.  So maybe I'll post tomorrow, or maybe the next day.  After that, I think there will be a long baby quilt lull over here.

Baby Quilt 2

Two months ago I had a day when I just wanted to whip out a quilt top all at once.  The very easiest way to do that is to make a strip quilt in baby size.  I grabbed some fabric that I needed to use up and then grabbed a few more wacky options from my stash and this came together in no time.  The straightline quilting was quick and easy and I've been working on my machine binding, too.



This quilt is for 100 Quilts for Kids.  Katie of SwimBikeQuilt is a friend and member of the DC Modern Quilt Guild and she started the 100 Quilts for Kids drive.  Katie is hosting a local charity sewing day on September 28th (details on her blog) to sew quilts and the DC MQG will be there stitching away.

I have another strip quilt to show tomorrow and I'll tell you then about the charity that I'll send both of them to. 

Thinning the pile of quilts here

My parents were just here for a visit and I ended up sending four quilts home with them.

One for my dad:

One for my aunt:

And two baby quilts for a charity auction:

But, before I sent them, they all needed labels.  I love the look of hand embroidered labels, but that was not going to happen.  So I tried stamped labels.

I ordered the fabric ink online and I got the letters and the clear acrylic press at Joann's.  It feels good to get quilts labeled with more than scribbling with a Micron pen. 

I didn't get a picture of the stack of four folded quilts that my parents had to haul home.  We had to loan them a piece of our luggage for the plane ride.  But now I have more room to make more for the stack of quilts to stay here.

Knitting Tiny Things 2

I've been having a lot of anxiety lately.  That is an odd thing to admit on the internet, but it is true.  There are many things going on in my life that are out of my control and it makes me awfully uncomfortable.  Anyway, when that happens to me I have a few things that help.  One is clutching tiny needles and knitting silly things like Barbie clothes.  

The patterns came from this site again.  The skirt and wrap around top are pattern number 248 and the dress is a shorter version of pattern number 849.  These will be sent to my young friend that adores handknit Barbie clothes.  I passed my last model doll over to her, too.  And then I sent my husband out to get me a new doll with the bendy elbows.  Just take a moment to imagine my sweet husband in the store and on the phone with me at home, debating the merits of different dolls for about 15 minutes.  (This one is Hispanic Presidential Barbie 2012.  Thank goodness she stands on her own so I didn't have to talk my husband into lying outstretched on the floor to hold her up for the photos again.  He is a ridiculously nice guy.)

And here are two newborn hats for the babies of the Pine Ridge Reservation.  I'll be donating these through Bundles of Joy again.

I have more charity and Barbie knits coming up. I know some of you have hinted that you'd like to see some sewing project finishes, particularly the Farmer's Wife quilt and the hexies.  I will get there eventually, but the tiny needles and tiny yarn are attempting to soothe my fraying nerves right now.  

Ten (!) Years in the Making

I like new.  New fabrics, new ideas, new projects....oooh, shiny!  But, every once in awhile, it feels good to pull a quilt out and finish something for once.  I'm in that mood right now.  So, if my blog has been obnoxious lately with the amount of finished items, please know that all of these have been months in the making.

Or....ten years in the making.

These started as one queen size jeans and corduroy quilt TEN years ago.  Then the quilt top loitered in my craft cupboard for 9 years.  I pulled it out last year to baste it and attempt to quilt it. 

Let's just say that it didn't go well.  It was so bulky and so heavy and so painful, that I gave up for another ten months. 

Until last week.  I pulled it out and hacked it into 4 pieces.  I ripped out every stinking quilting stitch that a wrestled with months ago, basted it again, quilted and bound all four baby quilts in three days.  And they are heading out to charity as we speak.

And now I have a whole shelf of my craft cupboard that is free and clear and it feels so good!

Another Quilt Finish

I'm especially excited for this one. It is another quilt that will be headed to the Pine Ridge Reservation. This one is made almost entirely of vintage sheet fabrics. I'm just so excited about the springy colors and the improv piecing in the quilt top I had my sheet scraps cut up and I just started throwing them together and making all decisions based on instinct. I felt like a driven woman for two days while I looked up close, then stepped up on a chair to get some distance, while I turned things clockwise and counterclockwise, while I added strips and took some away.   

My brain grabbed onto this idea and wouldn't let go.

Once the top was done, I did step away for a short time. Then I rented time on a long arm quilting machine to freehand quilt.  I tend to gravitate toward a loopy meandering quilting pattern, so non-crossing, non-loopy meandering was a big challenge for me. A big enough challenge that my curves are HUGE on this, but I don't mind.

I bound this in Hooty Dots from Riley Blake.  

The color is just a bit too bright a lime green, but I think I like it that way. 

The back is another vintage sheet.

Even on a super gray day, this quilt seems to brighten everything up

The hard part about giving this away is that I wish I could see a baby snuggled up in this one. 

I'll just have to use my imagination, though :)

Bright Return

I was a quilter back in college.  My first quilt was one I made from three fabrics and I traced a boxed cake mix to make the "squares."  I made another five quilts after that and then I just...stopped.  I lost the inspiration and I started focusing on making more pottery and then knitting.

Anyway, 9 years later I was pregnant with Henry and nesting and I had an intense need to make him a quilt.  I designed and pieced about half of the quilt top, and then neglected it in favor of other nesting projects.

This was my return to quilting, and it is the first baby quilt that I'll be sending to charity.  It will go to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.  If you are on ravelry, there is a group there called Bundles of Joy.  They knit blankets, hats, sweaters, booties, and other items for the babies born at the Pine Ridge Hospital OB Ward.  I'll be sending this quilt to the same place.

This is the first quilt that I did freehand on the long arm machine.  

I had a lot of fun making a meandering loopy pattern.  

This quilt was the gateway to my current sewing madness.  

I hope it will keep a new little one warm and happy.