Monday Making

It's been a pretty productive week.

Some more blocks were made for my son's upcoming

wedding quilt!

Woohoo!

I'm mainly cheering to celebrate

a wonderful daughter-in-law to be. 💓

:)

I did quite a bit of trimming.

I kind of like this work.

It's peaceful.

It's serene.

It's easy on the brain (No thinking....LOL)

I also finished a charity quilt

with a short time lapse video to document it all.

Enjoy!

I am known for doing things fast.

I sped it up a bit more!!!!

What are YOU making this week/

Link up and share.

Simple dresses for Lori

Lori, over at Humble quilts, asked for some simple dresses.

She will be taking them to Bolivia in the fall.

I enjoyed a little break from quilt making

and made some DRESSES!

The pattern I used is found here.

It took a while to DIG in the stash and find some pretty fabric.

Then.....to DIG some more and find coordinating prints for pockets.

Then....to DIG around some more and find the seam binding

and rick rack to match!!!!

Putting the dress together is a CINCH if it weren't for all the DIGGING!

LOL!

Happy sewing (and digging) to YOU!!!

Monday Making

Little orphans are becoming

Little quilts at my house these days.

I received quite a few orphan blocks 

a couple of years ago (has it been that long???)

and I'm STILL working at getting them 

Finished UP!

Most of them became charity quilts...

but I few blocks didn't quite FIT in.

These little quilts will be part of an auction.

They will be the centerpieces at a retreat/conference.

We'll eat our meals around these pretty little quilts.

:)

Thanks go to all the SWEET quilters

who sent me these lovely gems.

My goal is 12.

I'm up to 6

and I have until April.

Yeah! I think I"ll make it in plenty of time!

Although.....as you can see....

these guys are not DONE!

Knowing ME....

I'll wait until the very last minute to get the bindings on.

At that point I will have to DIG again to FIND

the right fabric!!!!

LOL!

I love all of them!

These table toppers would also make GREAT doll quilts!

Some of these little quilts are STRETCHING me.

I learned how to add PRAIRIE points!!!

It's always a good thing to LEARN something new.

;)

This is for when I'm NOT at the sewing machine.

I'll make a little progress today while I sit 

and watch Downton Abbey on PBS...  :)

The kids have been wearing the HATS I gave them for Christmas!

Made me want to make some MORE.

;)

flannel LOVE

I walked into the fabric store 

and was immediately SUCKED IN

to the flannel isle!!!

Who can resist the CUTE prints they have there???

Good thing too.

I'm donating these to a family in need for the holidays.

Seven kids.

SEVEN chances to make a cute pillow case!

SEVEN cute flannel fabrics to CHOOSE!!!

SEVEN strips of cotton to POP in the middle there!

My fabric stash is an UNENDING source of POP goodness!

Yep.

I'm having fun!!!

Hey!

I even made a one for someone at MY house!!!

;)

Super SIMPLE last minute sewing project!!!

I made mine very much like this one.

My pillow case and coordinating fabric are flannel

My POP (trim) is cotton fabric

and 3" wide.

Hope you're able to SQUEEZE a little sewing in this week!

It's definitely a squeeze at this time of year!

A quilt for Education

I finished my African quilt last night!

I love ALL the color in this one!

That SKY blue really sings....doesn't it?

Believe it or not...

I had that tie dyed border IN MY STASH!!'

You COULD say I have a BIG stash.

:/

Since there wasn't QUITE enough of that pretty blue backing...

I was able to make a BLOCK and piece it in.

Ooooh!....I LOVE it!

This quilt is ALL READY

to be used for a fundraiser.

(Not sure YET how I'm going to go about it.....

But I'm READY!)

Any ideas about ONLINE fundraising

would be appreciated.

 *****

 Thanks to Elaine....

  I Found a fundraising site!

here it is.

This is Erika.

My house guest this week.

;)

She's going back to Africa to open a school

for the local children there.

I'm excited to be able to help!

She helped ME by making dinner one night!!!!

The LEAST I can do is make a quilt.

RIGHT???

Little bit of green

When I began piecing a brown and pink jelly roll

I thought I'd have a brown and pink quilt.

NOT.

 

Jelly rolls are not created equal.  ;)

There wasn't enough JELLY roll to make a quilt.

Sooo....

I dug around in the orphan box

and came up with some options.

 

The orphans that made "the CUT" contained GREEN.

 

I would never have thought to add it...

but I WENT with it.

Who am I to argue with an orphan???

 

 

I'm so happy these orphans

led me to the color green.

I like what it does for the brown and pink!

 

I'm participating in a quilt drive

for HAnds2Help.

Thank you, Sarah, for organizing

an Opportunity to

GIVE a QUILT AWAY!

 

 

Number 5

I was able to get the 5th

orphan block quilt top together!!!

 

This one has the feel of SPRING!!!

Flowers...gardens....houses....butterflies!!!

I have really enjoyed finding blocks that

kind of  GO TOGETHER!

Using these donated ORPHAN blocks!

 

There are some oddballs in the group....

but doesn't that make life a quilt interesting????

Thanks to YOU!!!!

We now have FIVE beautiful,

unique, full of LOVE QUILTS!!!

 

I hope to quilt them soon

and get them sent off

to the quilt drive for SANDY victims!!!

 

Thank YOU for being so generous!!!

 

 

 

Heartfelt quilt

One Heartfelt Charity quilt

IN PROGRESS!!!

In other words.....

All spread out on my living room floor!! ;)

 

I'm using orphan blocks from YOU

and loving the way

this quilt says "WE CARE"!!!

 

It needs some FINE tuning...

but I think it's going to be

A WINNER!!!

 

Don't you??

 

It's AMAZING to me

how quilt blocks from

ALL over the world

 can COME TOGETHER

in such a cohesive way!!!!

House update

Houses have been arriving at my house.

Neighborhood houses

that say WELCOME!!!

I love this blogland neighborhood!

A very friendly and encouraging

place to "live"!

 

Tuesday is the BIG day!

I'll spread ALL the houses out..

take a quick picture...

and then...

I'll divide them into little neighborhoods

and choose some winners!!!

The winners will recieve a set of houses

to make a quilt with!!!

 

You've also been sending little orphans

and...

The orphans are finding HOMES!!!

 

I love this BRIGHT quilt!

Thank you for coming to the party

and

for being so generous with your orphan blocks.

 

We're up to THREE charity quilts

and enough to make one or two more!

Woo hoo!!!

;)

 

 

 

Orphans no LONGER!

Here's another charity quilt

made with YOUR blocks!

 

The blocks have been all LINED up

on my living room floor for the last couple of days.

Today was the day I really NEEDED to get them together!

Having them there on the floor

Blocked the path from

Fireplace to Christmas TREE!!!

 

How would Santa get THROUGH???

 

I solved that.

A little sewing

and

the quilt top is complete!!!

 

Whew!

Santa can come on over!

We're ready.

;)

One Happy QUILT!

Here's A VERY FUN charity quilt using

some orphan blocks

and

EXTRA house blocks you sent!

 

Isn't it CHEERY???

 

Thank you.

Thank you

for participating in making this quilt!

 

I have enough orphans

and houses to make a couple more!

Woo Hoo!

 

The quilt measures 55"x70"

I love ALL the color in this quilt!

There's movement in this quilt too...

Thanks to those stars and pinwheel!

 

I'm thinking...

a little girl is going to SMILE mighty BIG

when this is covering her up!!!

 

I'm smiling too!

Giving quilts DOES that!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calling ALL orphans!

I'm collecting.

Trying to get a BUNCH of orphans together.

 

Orphans need a home.

;)

My sewing machine and I

are going to be giving them a HOME!

 

The above orphans

were included in our Neighborhood party envelopes.

Thank you Carol and Barb!

 

If you have some orphans

that have been quilt-less TOO long...

Send them along.

With a house block...

or..

WITHOUT!

They won't mind.

;)

 

I'm requesting 12 1/2" square orphans...

but I will NOT discriminate!!!

I will LOVE them ALL into quilts!

:)

 

If quilts for Sandy victims are still needed

when these become quilts....

THAT will be their destination!

 

There's ALWAYS a need for a QUILT..

Somewhere in the world!

 

*leave a comment or email me

IF you need my address.

 

 

 

Thursday

The first two neighborhood party houses have arrived.

Sheila sent these to be used in our CHARITY quilts

for the Sandy victims!!!

Aren't they sweet?

There are a few quilty projects going on now in blogland.

Hope you're able to give in one way or another!

 

Here in MY corner of blogland

we are celebrating with a neighborhood party

and

collecting house blocks for charity quilts!

 

The idea is for you to send

TWO house blocks.

12 1/2" square

 

ONE for a giveaway...

and

ONE for a charity quilt.

 

YOU might win a FEW house blocks

to make a blogland quilt of your OWN!!!

PLUS

you can donate house blocks for ME

to make into donated quilts!

 

Win. Win. situation!!!

 

Let me know if you'd like to join in!!!

Leave a comment

and I'll send you my address.

 

** I cannot respond to NO REPLY bloggers.

:(

 

 

3rd Annual Neighborhood party!

It's that time again!

Time to celebrate this AWESOME neighborhood

I call "Blogland"!!!

 

It's a GREAT place to own property.

Getting the blog address is fairly easy.

Neighbors are friendly.

There are even some FAMOUS people

that "live" here!

 

It's a place to connect.

A place to make friends.

A place to SHARE!!!

:)

 

If you're interested in CELEBRATING

All you need to do is construct one house block.

12 1/2" square.

 

Send the block to me.

I will group the houses into neighborhoods

and THEN....

I'll let Mr. random generator help me choose some winners!!!

 

The winners will receive

9-12 houses each...

Kind of depends on how many come in!

Here are the houses from two years ago....

(seems like yesterday!!)

all SPREAD out in my house!!!

 

If you'd like to play along,

leave a comment.

I will email you my address.

 

There are NO firm commitments here.

If you decide later NOT to sew a little house...

That's o.k.....Life happens..... ;)

 

Add your blog address on the front.

That makes it fun for the winners!!!

 

Deadline for these houses is

JANUARY 1, 2013.

LOTS of time!!!

 

************

NEW THIS YEAR!!!!

************

Send an extra house for a charity quilt!

(this is totally OPTIONAL)

I will be constructing these and

giving quilts to those in need.

There are LOTS of quilts needed

in the aftermath of SANDY!

 

Also...

You could send any 12 1/2" orphan block

for these charity quilts!!

They don't ALL have to be houses.

 

I'm excited!

This will be the best PARTY ever!!!!

 

I look forward to

CELEBRATING blogland with YOU!!!

 

Please include email address if you are

a no reply blogger,

if you have no blog...

or are unsure!

 

 

 

 

Free Quilt!

When someone offers you scraps.....

TAKE them!!!

This quilt was FREE

and...

it was easy!

A little bag of scraps.

A free afternoon.

For me.... the means.....

FREE entertainment!!!

;)

Here it is BEFORE the border.

Doesn't that bright border fabric make a difference??

There were even a couple of CUTE Prints!!!

Big trucks!

What every little boy dreams about!!!

This is the book that inspires me

EVERY time I open it.

String quilts could keep me busy FOR----EVER!!!

There are SO many possibilities!!!

I'm hoping to quilt this one up in the next week

and donate it to my local quilt guild!

They do a GREAT job of supporting LOCAL agencies...

providing quilts to needy organizations!

What are you donating this week??

There is a linky party here if you'd like to share!

There are so many needs....

Let's CHEER each other on!!!

Stars!

I pieced star blocks yesterday.

YOUR stars!!!

So far there are THREE quilts tops!

Woo Hoo!!!

Thank YOU for being so generous.

IF I receive any more blocks before July 1

I'll JUST have to make these quilts

BIGGER!!!

Giving Quilts

Do you make charity quilts?

Do you donate quilts to a favorite cause?

I invite you to join me on a NEW blog...

All about GIVING quilts!

You can share about your favorite charity.

You can share about your newest donated quilt!

Let's get together at

Quilts are for giving!!!

Hands 2 Help

Here's my quilt top using Sarah's fabric.

Simple 10" blocks.

I used 6" squares and surrounded them with 2 1/2" strips.

Like I said......

SIMPLE.

This quilt is going to a charity called

Hands 2 Help.

The only time I had to rip out

was when the fishies here decided to swim the wrong way!

As in....up and down!!!

 ;/

Now....

if the sewing machine Doctor ever finishes

 fixing

MISS JUKI....

I can quilt it!!!!!

Friday Finishes

One charity quilt ready to go!!

And it is 100% scraps.

Isn't it a fun one?

I quilted long lines...

no marking....

red thread....

very ORGANIC.

I like that word.

As I quilted

I tried to make

Confident lines,

since I knew they wouldn't be straight.

IF

you're going to quilt lines that are NOT perfectly straight....

then, I think....they'd better be .....

CONFIDENT lines.

I had a few hiccups.

In other words, They're not all

CONFIDENT.

Some of the lines do not f-l-o-w.

You know what I mean, right?

Well, I'll practice some more and

maybe I'll improve in my

organic quilting abilities.

:)

Scrappy Binding.

Scrappy back.

What a happy little quilt!!!



I also...
...FINALLY...
quilted this one.


It's queen size.
Pl-eeea-zze remind me
over and over again....
Queen size means:
B-I-G!!!!
So glad I was able to quilt this one
and say I'm done!


I used quilt basting spray again and didn't get
one pucker!!!
Yeah!!!

I had an awful time trying to find a backing
for this one.
Turquoise and brown must not be "IN" right now.


I finally found this one that worked just fine.
Oh yeah!
I was also looking for a good PRICE!
That's important too, huh?
Especially when you have to buy
8 YARDS!!!


What a busy week!!!


Maybe I'll put up my feet and watch a movie??
OR...
Begin that new baby quilt I want to make.
Hmmm.....


I'll add this to Amy's sew and tell.
Happy quilting!!!