Another finish...

I've been in the process of slowly cleaning out my sewing room.  Yesterday I finished going through all of my apparel fabrics and set aside these 11 bags to donate...

11 Bags of Apparel Fabric I gave away

I have some wonderful neighbors who just happen to have 9 kids of their own.  They were able to take them off my hands and I know they'll share them with their church and others who sew.  It's good to see that the fabric will be turned into something useful rather than languishing on my shelves.  I used to love to sew clothes, but now that time has been taken over by quilting.

So as of yesterday evening, this was the state of my sewing room...

The current state of my sewing room

What a mess!  I'm now thinking I want to paint the walls and shelves as well so it's turning into more of a long term project.  However, I took a couple of hours today to push aside some of the clutter and finish up some pillowcases to donate to the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge.  I know at least one of my local quilt shops is a participant.  It only took maybe 2 hours and the use of my serger to finish 21 pillowcases.  They only needed the last step and some ironing to finish them.

21 Flannel Pillowcases to Donate

Most of the fabric is flannel.  Only the pink one has a cotton header.  Best of all, all of the fabric came from my stash!  Now I'm on to sorting through my quilting fabrics.  I've already boxed up a bunch to give to my mom, but in the process, I've found more fabric that would be perfect for more pillowcases.  So it looks like I'll be making a few more in the near future.

Until later...

“We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  

Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

Charity Quilts...

I've already mentioned that I'm spending the next 5 days at a quilting retreat with my bee.  Have I also mentioned this retreat is at the beach?  I know, lucky us.  This is the first of two retreats we have planned for this fall.  The purpose of this first one is mainly to work on charity quilts to be donated to Interact, a woman's shelter.

I've got tons of charm squares from swaps over the last couple of years and I thought this would be a great chance to use some of them.  Here's a picture of some of them sorted by color...

Charm square stash

I figure I have at least a couple thousand of them.  When I started thinking of patterns that use lots of charm squares, a Disappearing 9-Patch seemed the obvious choice.  I'd made this one for my mom earlier this year...

Disappearing 9-Patch quilt

There are tons of tutorials about how to make a Disappearing 9-Patch block, so I'm not going to rehash it here.  If you've never made one and are interested in learning how, just do a search in Google.

I designed a simple quilt in Electric Quilt 7 using this block.  I love designing quilts in EQ7.  It's so easy to draw a complete one in a matter of minutes.  (If anyone would like the EQ7 project file for this, let me know.  Although you might not get it until I get back.)  So here's a picture of the quilt I came up with...

Disappearing 9-Patch charity quilt

As I have it drawn, the quilt will finish at 59" x 74".  Each quilt uses 108 charm squares along with sashing, inner and outer borders.  I've spent some time over the last couple of days putting together kits for it.  I've made 6 kits in 3 different colorways (green, blue and purple).

Kits for D9-Patch charity quilts

I'm not planning on making all of these quilts myself.  Any of the ladies at retreat who'd like to make one are welcome to them.  I also separated out enough charm squares for more quilts in red, orange and yellow if they'd rather do those.  I just didn't have a coordinating border fabric for them (and didn't want to purchase one).

Enough charm squares for 3 more quilts

It's such an easy pattern, I'm hoping I get at least 2 of the tops made.  I have another quilt I want to make for a child out of different fabric.  I'll have to let you know how much I actually get done when I get back.

Until later...

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and rescues those who are crushed in spirit." 

Psalm 34:18 (NLT)

And yet more pillowcases...

I have just finished another 26 pillowcases to donate to charity.  That brings my total to a lot and I think I'm really tired of making them.  Or maybe I'm just really tired.  I didn't get a nap today and that's been known to make me a little cranky.  Or so I've been told...

In any case, I'm ready to move on to something else.  And I have plenty to choose from.  In between making the pillowcases, I managed to find some time to turn this...

into this...

which should eventually end up looking something like this...

 Hopefully in time for my niece's birthday in April.

And at the same time I found the fabric for the doll clothes, I also found the final fabric for the sampler my quilt bee is about to start.

Don't you think it coordinates well with the other fabrics I picked out?

I'd like to say it's because of my keen sense of color but actually they're all from the same fabric collection - Legacy Studios Ravendale.

I had another 50% off coupon so I managed to acquire this beautiful piece to add to my stash as well. (Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.)

I'm now trying to find someone willing to bring my finished pillowcases to the quilt store to donate.  After all my recent purchases, I figure it's better if I stay away from any more temptation...

Until later...

Lots and lots of pillowcases...

I have been busy lately making more pillowcases.  They are such a great project.  They're so easy to make and are a small investment of both time and money.  Plus they look great.

I've been making them for my family as well as to donate to the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge.  To start, I made two pillowcases for my mom's February package out of flannel.  As I've mentioned before, she loves snowmen.  And the flannel made them so soft.

Then I made my sister, niece and nephew each one.  I used the focus fabric in my sister's quilt to make hers.  (I knew she would love it because she picked it out.)  I made my niece's out of a bright flannel with flowers and my nephew's out of cub scouts fabric.

And finally, I finished 18 more pillowcases (again out of flannel) to donate to charity.  All of our local quilt shops are accepting donations and giving them to those in need.

It felt really good to focus on others today.

Until later...

Wild strawberries...

Yum!  Wouldn't they be delicious?

Not the right season for that though.  And not what I was referring to either.

I've finally finished my Crayola Challenge quilt top.  My color was Wild Strawberry this year.  I don't have a picture of the whole top yet.  Hopefully tomorrow, but I do have bunches of snapshots.


If you'll recall, I started with these fabrics...

I used one of the patterns from the French Braid Obsession book (with a few small changes).  The pattern called for fewer fabrics than I had.  Since I went to the trouble to dye a 12 step gradation, I really wanted to use all 12 of the fabrics.

I made 3 braids as the pattern required...

Unfortunately this made the quilt almost twice as long as it was wide (because of my additional fabrics).  So I added an additional braid and separator.

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out.  I'd love to keep the quilt for myself, but it's already promised to be one of the quilts raffled off to benefit the Ronal McDonald House Charity.  I guess I'll just have to buy more tickets and hope I win it...

I still need to quilt it.  I'm hoping to get it basted tomorrow and quilted by the end of the week.  However because it's bigger than I anticipated, I no longer have enough backing material.  If I can get out of my driveway tomorrow and down to JoAnn's, I hope to still have enough time to finish it by next Monday.  Wish me luck!

Until later...

Quilts for Kids charity

At the end of last year, several bee members and myself decided to make a quilt to donate to Quilts for Kids.  It's a great charity and to make it even easier, you can request a quilt kit.  They'll send you all of the fabric for the top, binding and backing.  You sew it, add batting and quilt it.  What could be easier?

We've finally finished the quilts we were working on and I plan to mail them tomorrow (assuming I can get out of my driveway).  Thank you Verna, Hils and Bridget for making one of these bright and cheerful quilts.  I'm sure they'll be appreciated!

Did I mention they pre-cut all the pieces for you too?

If you want to do something closer to home, there are local chapters of Quilts for Kids all over the country.  And you can also make pillowcases for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge.  I worked on them some more today.  As a quilt bee, our tally is now up to 68!  Woohoo!

Until later...

Stash Report Week #4

January 22-28, 2010

What a great week for stashbusting!

For the 2nd week in a row, I purchased NO fabric!  I wonder how long I can keep this up?

I also finally managed to finish the quilt Thistle Down for my sister.  Because the quilt top was done previously, I only counted the backing fabric as stash.  Still that was 3 yards.

And I donated fabric to make pillowcases for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge.   My conservative estimate is 39.5 yards.  Wow!  That's a lot of fabric.

So the totals are:
Purchased-this-week: 0
Used-this-week: 42.5
Purchased-to-date: 9.75 yards
Used-to-date: 47.5
Net used: 37.75

Until later...