Super Nova
August 2019
Do you have a fabric in your stash that sits there day-in and day-out, month-after-month, year-after-year, taunting you to make something of it? Challenging you to do something to let it be the shining star it is? But, in your eyes, it lacks. It won’t play well with others. It doesn’t have a pretty motif, it isn’t modern, and its colors are juxtaposed in an odd way.
The plaid binding fabric in my Super Nova quanket was this fabric. It is one I probably would not have picked out in the store. I ...
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Yesterday was a fun day as we packed up the goodie bags and made the delivery to Safelight. For those new to the project, Safelight incorporates many services for domestic violence victims and sexual assault victims providing counseling, case management, court advocacy, support groups and job training under one umbrella organization. These bags provide much needed support for residents who are going through a terrible time in their lives, betrayed by someone they loved, fleeing abusive situations with their children and many times virtually nothing else. These bags are filled with special items, to help someone feel like someone cares ...
read moreI found out about this awesome ministry when I was giving my quilt lecture in Bend, Oregon. I made sure to look them up on quilt show day and support them by purchasing this wall hanging.
Their main goal:
We teach quilting to impoverished women in Kenya, including obstetric fistula survivors, and young sexual assault survivors. We help women gain the skills and self-confidence to become economically independent and assist the girls to complete their education.
Have you ever just wanted to sew, sew, sew?! No complex cutting, no pinning, and especially no thinking! That’s exactly how I felt a few days ago. I dug through my charity quilt bin and pulled out pretty strips that a reader donated last year. They were not full strips, some really short, some half strips and the full length ones I cut so I would have all varying sizes. I wanted some sort of accent in there so I cut 2 x 2 1/2″ black and white blocks to put between each strip.
And next? I sewed ...
read moreWe have just two weeks to go for the Safelight Project, and I am delighted to announce that the financial goal has been exceeded. Just yesterday in the mail, our donations rocketed past the goal! The project will be providing 62 bags for the shelter, with 60 of them designed for women and two for men.
I had hoped we would get to sixty, so I went ahead and ordered the canvas bags with three different handle colors for the women’s bags, 60 in all. I figured I would just make up the difference if needed, but now that ...
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Going to the mailbox last week was such fun, with new surprises several times. We are making progress towards the goals, and I plan to order the bags this week. The first package to arrive had three pretty case sets from Melanie Tehan.
The incredible Becky Harbour sent five case sets plus a generous monetary donation.
Heidi of My Little Stamping Blog sent six beautifully layered cards.
She put a personal note in each one, and every one was different.
Danice Gentle sent three lovely cards with nice notes inside and fun stickers on her envelopes that looked like stamps ...
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These two quilts were donated quilt tops for Hospice that I quilted and bound.
These two were tops I put together from blocks sewn at the Quilt & Sew-In retreat. I also quilted and bound these.
Both were backed with yummy, soft fleece. I especially like the butterflies.
I couldn’t resist lining all the Hospice quilts to date on the clothesline. All that color! All that generous effort by so many! Looks like a carnival!
And here they are, all stacked up and ready to go. At the end of summer I will hit it again and add a few ...
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Be Dazzled
May 2019
The star of this quanket is the zebra fabric blocks which are alternated with a medley of grey blocks. The zebra fabric represents zebras not only as black and white – or white and black read more
Whew! The extreme heat of May (weeks of 90 degrees+) kept me inside getting lots of sewing done. All but two of the completed Hospice quilt tops have been quilted and bound, bringing the total today to 22! Four of those quilts were donated completely pieced, quilted and bound. A very talented and generous quilter donated them, but she wishes to remain anonymous. Look how great these are!
And here’s my May wrap-up. Now that it’s June, I’ll be taking a break from Hospice sewing and concentrating on a few of my many Works in Progress.
A couple of years ago Kaufman Fabrics generously donated “scrap” fabric to the Fairview Quilters, the group I work with to make Hospice quilts. I quickly grabbed the bright batik scraps and fun lizard fabric. Last year a quilt was made with some of the lizard fabric and I saved a few of the leftover blocks. At one of the Quilt & Sew-In retreats, attendees pieced strips of the bright batiks together. I brought it all home and played on the design wall. I love the results!
There wasn’t enough left over to make another quilt wholly from the batiks ...
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At my quilt guild monthly meetings, there is a table marked “free.” Often someone is cleaning up their scraps and patterns and occasionally someone cleans out their whole quilt studio and shares their unwanted excess with guild members. Such was the case with this quilt. Laurie brought a table full of goodies to be scooped up and I grabbed this pretty little blue and white.
Funny, I’m sure she started this many years ago. Her style and fabric tastes have changed so much. Although this quilt was almost completely finished, there it was, abandoned. There was just a little ...
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