More Charity Quilts - Cathedral Pattern

 First, let's just get this out of the way - this fabric that is. I figure after 20 years of aging it and using lots of pieces off of it, I must not be going to sew this.

 I recently packed up three shopping bags full of fabrics, a little cross stitch, etc, and let someone else be in charge of sewing it. Actually I had one long arm customer who was making many charity quilts take one shopping bag full.

 Some of these ended up in the quilts below but the rest went to Goodwill. No more guilt for me on not sewing these fabrics!!! It truly felt so good to share these with someone else that would use them.

 The Cathedral by Villa Rosa Designs is the pattern here. I've shown them before, little 4 x 6 postcards with simple cute patterns.

 I added some fun 'newer' fabrics to make these older ones pop, bought a beautiful sunflower batik almost half price for the backs and had two quilts ready. Here is my machine binding that I'm so thrilled about - thanks to Nancy at Tattered Garden Quilting.

 These quilts are very similar but different quilting designs and bindings.

 Now to find them a home!

 These fabrics were leftover from a little quilt I made last year. Just enough to make this baby quilt!

Another all machine binding!!

And, just as a word of caution! Yesterday as my husband and I were eating lunch, we heard a really loud crash. So loud we even looked outside. When we went to the other end of the house this is what we found in the guest room bath!! The glued mirror had fallen off of the wall and shattered into a million pieces. A mess to clean up and wash quilts and things that were laying close by but mostly we are just so THANKFUL no one was in the room. This is where the crib for the babies is and could have been so tragic. So, now all our mirrors have clips at the top to hold them in case the glue lets go. I have now heard of several instances like this, even our next door neighbor, but many times a towel bar or adjacent wall caught the mirror before it crashed. Don't let it happen to you!

WIP

 My Words to Live by is coming along. All pieced EXCEPT the last border which has those hundreds of half square triangles to sew together plus four more pretty appliqué blocks in the corners.

 After getting this far, I just needed something quick and easy to work on. I will say the HST's ended up very accurate using the triangles on a roll paper. I am having a hard time knowing how to press them best so they will all lay flat. With those in the center, I pressed the seam allowances between the rows open. Any more suggestions? 

 Here is the FUN project for now! Under the Big Top 2. These fabrics are leftovers from a baby quilt I made last summer for a great nephew. This will be a charity quilt.

 I really love working with scraps like this. Just take the leftovers - lay them out - and see what comes to mind. I had so many cool triangles leftover that I began sewing them together. 

 What would be the best layout?

 I sewed them very similar to the original quilt but didn't have quite enough to go around the border. No problem!!!

I improvised and filled in with some other leftover fabric. I pieced a backing and now it's waiting to be quilted. . . more when that is finished!

Kaleidoscope II and Farmer's Wife Blocks

 Here is the quilt I began working on last week during our snow, using up scraps from a previous quilt. Well, sometimes when you try to use all the scraps, you should just stop and let them go. I thought by adding the half blocks on the ends that it might turn out 'artsy' but instead it just makes you wonder "what happened"? Oh well, that is how I learn with quilts. It seemed okay when I took the photograph but when completed, just makes you wonder - lol!! 

One of the things I've enjoyed doing through the years when making quilts from leftovers is trying new things or making do with what I have. Some have turned out great and others, well, not so great. I enjoyed working on it and I think it will be a nice baby quilt for some child when I decide to give it away.

 Here is a close up view and I guess my favorite 'scrap' was the striped binding I had left from the nautical quilt I made in January. It was absolutely perfect for this quilt, too, and just the right amount.

 As for the back, I had fun piecing some backing leftovers from my "Not So Easy Street" from Bonnie Hunter's 2012 Mystery quilt.

One of my UFOs I would like to finish this year is my Farmer's Wife Quilt. Yesterday I actually made these three blocks and pulled fabric for about a dozen more. I think I enjoy choosing the fabrics as much as I do making them - just trying to find the 'perfect' choice from what I have to look similar to those in the book, and then getting them to all turn out the same size - 6.5" unfinished. 

When I began quilting in the early eighties, a 12" block was pretty much standard, and so much simpler to be accurate with larger pieces. Now 6" is a popular size and I have to work pretty hard to get them all the same. Guess I'm spoiled to so many blocks that you make and 'cut down to size'. I'm about 1/4 finished with this quilt now if I make all 111 blocks.

To see some other Farmer's Wife Blocks with a totally different spin on them, visit Pinkadot Quilts. Her fabrics are wonderful and so happy!

 Happy Stitching!

More Projects Being Finished

It seems I am just on a mission to finish some things. I am enjoying the journey while I am doing it, since I get a feeling of accomplishment when this happens. Here are some recent quilt projects:

 This little quilt - 20" x 26" were leftover half-square triangles from my SBOW 2012. It was a struggle with all those tiny pieces for me but it did turn out quite lovely IMO.

 Now all that is left of those projects is the "Freebie" - below, that Lisa Bongean always does. 

The blocks finish at 4.5" or 5" so they are tiny but cute. A dozen of them to stitch sometime this winter maybe. It's called Favorite Things and has a special word with each block.

 And here is my latest Word block quilt, SBOW 2013, from Primitive Gatherings. I just finished the Hospitality block. It is SO nice to have them all bonded, in a container, ready to stitch! Worth the extra effort to get them all ready.

And my latest finish, Chinese Coins, begun from leftover fabrics from a guild challenge in 2009. I sewed all the extra pieces together in the 'mile a minute' fashion, no matter the size, I just sewed them together and squared up the blocks. All I had left was adding the sashing - why did I take so long?? This will probably be a charity quilt to brighten someone's life!

Happy Stitching!!

Hurricane Sandy Quilts

 As so often happens when we hear of a storm or disaster, we want to help. Many years ago when Katrina hit New Orleans, my friends and I began quilting up a storm and actually made several quilts in one week to send to those without. Sweet Home Quilt Co. in Conyers, GA sent out a notice last week that they were collecting quilts and blankets from our area to mail to Bumblebeans Basics in New York. I took the above quilts last Friday to their shop and am working on another. See below:

Seasons & Charity Quilts

I was reading a blog this week and found out that I am in the 'winter years' of my life. I'll admit, that sounded a little discouraging to me, even though the writer said it was just another new beginning. Well, I'm well into that season so guess I better hurry and get things done before I pass from this life. I was thinking I was more into the Fall season, which happens to be my favorite time with the cool, crisp mornings and colorful trees, which are beginning to turn in our area of Georgia. Just this morning as I was walking and dreaming along, a deer quickly bounded across the road right in front of my path, whew, what a neat sight to see, though!

Anyway, as I was viewing my 'to do quilt list' I realize what I thought were quilting priorities turned out not to be so this year after all, since my list hasn't dwindled down near enough and it is October. However, I have quilted several charity quilts this year so I think I'll at least check that off my list. Here are some from this week, working on some freehand designs with a circle in a circle.
And here is the back of another baby charity quilt.
Guess I better go work on my 'list' (I love lists) while I still have some time left!!