The Pillow Puddle: Part One

Next month my local quilt guild will be having a quilt show.  Much of my sewing/quilting time lately has been directed at this.  I've put hanging sleeves and labels on quilts I'm entering, finished up my Whisper Quilt and Russian Quilt and, most recently I've been making pillows for the puddle.

The pillow puddle is a big child's swimming pool filled with pillows.  To win a pillow visitors will choose a ticket out of a jar for a given price (I'm not sure what the charge is) and if the pillow is marked as a winner they get to choose any pillow out of the puddle. 

So far I've made these:

It's sort of addicting.  As I'm making one, I come up with an idea for another one.  I've used mostly orphan blocks and scraps and stuffing from extra pillows around the house.  All but one of the orphans above came from some items I won at our winter quilt guild auction.  So, another member donated the blocks, I bought them and made them into pillows to donate back to the guild for the puddle!  I also got to use my Sashiko for some of the top stitching.

I thought I was finished, but I came up with another pillow design and have planned to make a few more.

My two favorites from this batch are:

Stay tuned for part two!

My Quilt for Russia

A long while back I mentioned that my quilt guild had been issued a challenge by our sister guild in Russia.  They provided us with some Russian fabric and we were to make small quilts that expressed our view of their country incorporating the fabric.  We in turn gave them fabric from this country and they are making quilts of their view of the USA.  They will be sending their quilts to us in time for our June show and both sets will be displayed side by side.  Then our quilts will be sent on to the Russian guild. 

I see Russia as a grey country - hence the grey boarders.  But the people seem to fill it with so much color.  The blocks are red square, nesting dolls, babushka kerchiefs and onion dome buildings.  The red and green flowered fabric is the Russian fabric.  Here's a few close ups:

I had a lot of fun with this project using my decorative stitches in several places and metallic thread on the domes.  I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the collection.

Kevin's Quilts of Valor Block Drive!

I find myself playing blog catch up once again.   I can't seem to keep up lately with all of my hobbies.  I feel like I'm getting a lot done it's just difficult to get a lot done AND record all that I get done.  A long time ago someone in my life stood on the principle that "The unexamined life is not worth living".  This is a famous quote by.......well, you'll just have to Google it because I can't remember at the moment.  My version of this is that "Sometimes examining your life takes away from the time you have to LIVE your life".

But some things need to be recorded and shared and Kevin the Quilter's block drive is one of them!  Kevin is collecting blocks to make into quilts for donation to the Quilts of Valor program.  You can read about the specifics on his blog at the link above.  The blog drive continues until June 1, 2014.  So far I've made these:

I'm not going to mail them in right away, Kevin, because I'm hoping to make some more before the deadline.  They are super easy to make.  And there will be some prizes.  For every 5 blocks you send to Kevin you will have one entry into the prize giveaway.  One of the prizes is a gift certificate to Missouri Star Quilt Company! But, everyone really wins because having a way to show our thankfulness to those who protect us, sometimes literally with their very lives is a great, great, great privilege. 

 

 

 



 

Block of Valor Drive

I've been having fun making some blocks for the is  big block drive at Alycia Quilts for Quilts of Valor.  She is collecting two types of blocks this time. 

String blocks:

and these blocks:

You can see that I made twice as many of the strings.  They are seriously addictive and fun to make.  My supply of blue, however is really running low at the moment.  The drive is open through October so maybe I'll pick up some more blue on my next trip to the fabric store.  Postage for the blocks is also reasonable.  I fit 15 into a flat rate priority envelope for $5.05 (online rate) but I think you could even mail them for less using first class parcel rates. It's a great way to participate in a worthy organization.  Alycia takes these blocks and magically transforms them into some awesome quilts.  Hop over to her web site and see what I mean.

She also has some great sponsors offering prizes.  Every five blocks gives you an entry into the giveaways.  But, honestly, the real prize is being able to show thanks to those who have given us so very, very much.

 

Skirting the Issue: A Somber Last Week

This is the last week of the Skirting the Issue sew-a-long hosted by the girls at Simple Simon & Co.  Each week in July was dedicated to sewing a different item for donation to an appropriate group.  You were encouraged to donate locally or to send them to the hosts for donation (which is what I plan on doing).  So, I've blogged about skirt week, pillowcase week, blanket week, doll week and now, lastly, we have bereavement gown week. 

I didn't know what a bereavement gown was at the start of the month. I was surprised to learn that these are small outfits given to parents who have suffered the premature loss of a child through miscarriage or still birth. They are often used for burial.  There were comments and posts written by those who have suffered such a lose and encouraged by such kindnesses. 

There were several suggested patterns from rather complex lacey ones to the more simple bunting pattern, which I chose to make.  I put a small ruler in the picture to give you an idea of the size.  And this is the LARGE bunting pattern.

Here is the total contribution waiting to be boxed up and taken to the post office:

 

Skirting the Issue with Dolls

Last week's item for the Skirting the Issue charity drive was dolls....another first for me.  Here's my contribution:

The pattern came from a post on Pin and Paper.  There was also a call for little car holders for boys (much more up my alley) but I'm caught in the midst of embroidery projects and haven't made one, at least not yet.  I may go back and try one latter.

Easiest Blanket Ever!

This week the project for Skirting the Issue is blankets.  These can be quilts or fleece blankets or anything in-between.  The tutorial provided be Simple Simon and Company (the organizers of this drive) can be found here.  Using just two pieces of fabric - one 30 inches square and one 40 inches square these instructions make a self binding blanket with mitered corners.  There is no batting involved so the result is light weight.  I used flannel on the back and cotton on the front and since I wanted to use this animal print and didn't have a 30 inch square of it I added the green print:

It was super easy to put together although I admit that at first I did the corners wrong and had a "box" instead of a flat blanket...but still, it was really easy.

 

Skirting The Issue

The busyness of this month has sort of cut into my blogging time, but hopefully I have a chance for a day or two to catch up.  Today and tomorrow we have carpet installers in the house installing new carpet upstairs and down our steps.  The main motivation for this has been our 12 year old Golden Retriever who was having difficulty going down the bare hardwood steps.  And just in case you think that we are going overboard carpeting for the dog, the steps were at a point where we needed to either refinish them or cover them and Seamus just made the decision easier.  Although, honestly, I WOULD carpet the steps just for the dog.

Anyway, I want to start my catch up by telling you about a project that caught my attention: Skirting the Issue.  This group makes skirts and other items for donation to foster children and other groups.  For the month of July there is a drive going that you can read about here.  Each week is dedicated to a particular type of item to make for donation.  You can either donate to a local group near you or you can mail your items to the organizers and they will do the donating.  There are suggestions on the web site for places that will take each type of item.  There is a flicker group here to upload photos of items you make and as an added incentive there are prizes that you can read about here including a new Singer sewing machine and fabric from several online stores.

So, the first week was skirts for young girls.  I haven't done any garment sewing in years, but this idea really appealed to me.  I found a great basic skirt pattern here.  And the results were:

It was fun to be doing something a bit different from my usual.  I also discovered the overcast stitch and foot on my new machine and I just love it.  It will really come in handy when I make curtains for son #1.  I was able to use some decorative stitching on the polka dot skirt and some elastic stitches for the waistband.

Week #2 was pillowcases.  They're a simple and satisfying little project that I've made before.  I used the "burrito" pattern.  There are a lot of tutorials on this pattern online and one can be found here. I like this pattern because it hides all the seams and it's pretty easy to add some special trim or stitching.  I thought I'd make a "boy" pillowcase and a "girl" pillowcase.

 

This week is blankets and once I read the particulars on that one I'll decide what my contribution will be.  I think the month finishes out with crayon holders and bereavement gowns.  I'm not sure what those are particularly for (well, besides bereaving), but the site in the link above promises to provide tutorials each week to help with construction. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Jitterbug Quilt Top

My local quilting guild had a mystery quilt activity a few weeks ago.  The pattern was created and named by one of our members and she cleverly organized the instructions to make the result a mystery.  At the start we were told that this would be a good two color quilt with a light and a dark color or a scrappy quilt using light and dark scraps.  I decided to make it red, white and blue and donate the result to Quilts of Valor.  But, when the teacher realized my color scheme she gave me "permission" to peek at the final layout and decide how I wanted to arrange my colors.  Here's what I came up with:

It measured 65 inches square.  I'm going to send this one on (once we have another meeting so that I can show the pattern creator) as a top since my "to quilt" list is getting a bit long.

 

Guild Top #2

My local quilt guild has a robust charity program with a great coordinator.  She starts by requesting blocks of a particular pattern from members and then organizes them into groups and looks for someone to stitch them together.  From there she packages them with border fabric, batting and backing and looks for a volunteer to quilt them.  Lastly at meetings there are often several women sewing on labels to complete the process.

At the most recent meeting I took home a group of blocks to stitch together.  The only instructions were the size (5 blocks by 7 blocks) and to make it totally random, which wasn't difficult since the blocks were so varied.  Here's the result:

Talk about scrappy!!  It will have a border to sort of calm it down a bit before it's done.  It sort of makes me crazy to look at and seems a bit chaotic.  The variety of fabric is amazing.  There is everything from Barbie fabric to lighthouses to autumn prints.  I like being part of the process.  I'm able to participate doing the parts that I like the best (Notice that I didn't volunteer for the binding!)  And it gives me lots of practice and experience with a new pattern.  I know that if I used a scrappy strip pattern for myself I would need to have something consistent to draw it all together.  But this will look great in the end and the recipient will be glad to have a bit of comfort while going through a tough time.

Guild Top Finished

Last month I attended my first local quilting guild meeting.  I took home some blocks to make into a quilt top that will be used for a donation quilt.  The only "rule" was to alternate the solid and four square blocks.  But the randomness of that request turned out to be more difficult to me that a specific design.  Here's what I ended up with:

I sort of wish now that I had turned some of the four squares around, but I think that's just me looking for order in randomness.  (Son #3, the math guy, would have fun with that statement!) Next, someone will put a border on the quilt and then it will be packaged with batting and backing for another member to quilt and bind and then off to it's intended recipient.

I really enjoy participating this way.  The task is very do-able and doesn't seem overwhelming to accomplish.  I wonder what the next meeting will bring my way.

More Blocks of Valor

I finished a few more blocks for the Quilts of Valor project at Alycia Quilts.  These scrappy trip blocks were mentioned recently on Bonnie Hunter's blog and Alycia said they could still use additional donations in this pattern.  There has been so much talk of this pattern online with amazing results so I decided to give it a shot.

As with everything I make, I always decide on ways I could have improved on it when I look at the final product.  But, hopefully Alycia will fit this in somewhere and make an amazing quilt.

I have to say that this pattern was a bit more troublesome than I expected.  There is a lot of sewing, cutting, unsewing and sewing again involved with several chances to mix up the order or not have the seams match (and some of mine don't match as well as I would like).  I'm glad to have tried the pattern but I don't think an entire scrappy trip quilt is in my future even though I really admire the finished results.

Also: Remember, I have the Two Sister's Stash Giveaway going on.  It ends Friday so there is still time to enter here.

Blocks for Quilts of Valor

Alycia of Alycia Quilts is having a block drive for Quilts of Valor.  This group provides quilts to wounded soldiers.  What better way to say "thank you for keeping us free and safe" than a quilt.  It represents hours of work by one or many.  It's individual in design and keeps the solder wrapped in warmth.   So I felt privileged to be able to donate ten blocks.  Ten is a bit of a significant number.  That is the number of my family members who have served.  Here's a sampling (I have GOT to learn a bit of photography):

The drive continues until March 8 and if you want to participate you can find the pattern and information on her post here.  Every five blocks earns a giveaway entry also for added incentive.