Sewing Time

I have had some blocks of available time for sewing so I finally was able to tackle Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World.  This is a pattern that I have wanted to make for years.  When Bonnie came to San Diego a few months ago I was unable to get into her class which was doing this pattern so I resolved to do it on my own.

Here is the progress that I have made so far..36 blocks.  I think that it is big enough, although I am sure Bonnie with her gigantic quilts would disagree.  Still playing with the layout.

Latest Quilts

Here are two of the latest quilts for which I have photos.  The black and white quilt was commissioned for a baby.  The request was for a baby quilt that is black and white with splashes of color.  It would be nice to have the baby's name on it.  So I decided that pinwheels would be fun to make.  I put the baby's name in morse code on the top border of the quilt.

The second quilt is one I made of bits of fabrics for a woman named Judy who is in my quilting class.   Judy has been downsizing her stash in preparation for a move and has been giving me the fabrics.  I love Judy's fabrics, they are bright and cheerful.  I told her that if I had gone to the store they would be the ones that I would pick. So, I made a lap quilt for Judy so she would keep her fabrics with her.

Long time No Post

Time does get away. I have been busy making lots of quilts. Here are the six I made for a wonderful family with five daughters adopted fom China.

A Good Cause

Adeye, a mom at one of the blogs that I read daily, http://www.nogreaterjoymom.com/

is doing a fundraiser. The purpose fo the fundraiser is to free Vanya from an orphanage in Eastern Europe. The cost of international adoptions is great. Families who want to adopt internationally face the burden of trying to raise funds to proceed with the adoption, resulting in less families able to adopt and more children without families.

I sent these two quilts to be included in the fundraiser. What a joy it will be to help Vanya find his forever family.

Today I am sewing on a Zig Zag quilt. I don't usually sew quilts on the diagonal so it is something new for me. http://beesquarefabrics.blogspot.com/2990/03/how-to-make-zig-zag-quilt-without.html is the link for the instruction.

Latest projects

Here are two other quilts I have worked on. The first is a quick kids' quilt. I had the fabric out since I whipped out a quilt for a preemie using these fabrics. Insted of putting the fabric away I cut what I needed to make one of these. The pattern is from Downey's Quilts for Kids site.

The other quilt here is from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.com. She calls it Little Monkey. I will call it Little Monkey on My Back since once I started making the little monkey wrench squares I kept on going since they are addicting to make. Usually I work with larger squares and bigger pieces, but with this the squares are 4.5" finished. I do like this one.

Jelly Roll and latest quilts

I finally had a very productive time with the quilting. Have you seeen the Jelly Roll 1600 race video? If you go to http://blog.heirloomcreations.net/?p=1897 you can see the pattern and get a link to the video. I opened up a jelly roll and started the clock. My time start to finish in sewing a complete top was just one hour. This quilt was a bit boring to sew since it is just long seams, but once I started getting closer to the finish it got more exciting. And, it was just an hour of sewing. After I basted it and started quilting I decided to add a few circles to the top just to add some contrast to all of the linear features. The fabric that I have on the back has circles on it and I also pieced a circle on the backing.

I will be making this pattern again since it was easy and fast to sew. A great donation quilt at 48 x 64" finished size.

This Week's Quilts

It was a busy quilt week for me!
I finished two quilts. This first one is a Bright Hopes quilt that I made for a client of my husband. I have mentioned before that he is one of the top Personal Injury attorneys around. I like to think that the firm has both a brain and a heart since they commission me to make quilts for special circumstances. This case involves a man who was tragically killed in a traffic accident leaving behind a young daughter. This quilt is for her. I personalized it by paying close attention to the fabrics that I pulled for the quilt. (There are around 250 unique fabrics!) The girl has dark hair so of course I had to have fabric girls with dark hair. I also hid her name in the quilt and had some fabrics that referred to her dad.

On the back of the quilt I pieced the girl's name. I have been a follower of Tonya Ricucci for quite some time. Her book Word Play Quilts is one of my favorites and I use the technique for special quilts like this one where I want to personalize it.

This quilt is a quick baby quilt meant to be put on an isolette for a preemie baby. It finishes to 32 x 39, using 2.5" cut squares for the 4 patches and 4.5 cut squares for the focus fabrics. I put flannel on the back so it would be soft and could be used once the baby is released from the hospital.

Since I just finished these I have not really started the next quilt, although I am making crumb blocks. Usually I make them 6.5" square. I am trying something different this time and making the blocks tiny at 3.5" cut size. They are easier to create than the bigger blocks so I have nearly 100 made so far. I don't have any plan for them, I just wanted to do some brainless sewing and empty a tiny scrap basket. No, the basket is not tiny, no such luck there, it is the basket in which I place all of my tiny scraps.