Stripping and Stringing

It only takes attendance at one quilt guild meeting to drive home the fact that quilters are a generous group.

There is a strong emphasis on charitable giving and many of my colleagues make a variety of fabric blankets and items that go to various groups.  We've made little blankets for preemies, newborn baby blankets for local babies born on National Quilt Day, blankets for veterans, blankets for military families, quilts for Alzheimer's patients, bibs for nursing home residents, Linus blankets, Habitat quilts, quilts to decorate the walls of hospice rooms... well, the list goes on and on and on.  I'm always impressed by the number and quality of the quilts that are donated through our guild.  Within our guild we have a very active group that puts together "kits," shares patterns, finds fabrics and batting for us to use or at least get started on a "community quilt project."  And once a year, in January, we have a working meeting where community quilts are actually constructed in a group setting.

Last January at the guild meeting, I started this quilt.  We were given a pile of 2 1/2 strips of various lengths that someone thought went together either by color or theme.  We were instructed to sew the strips together randomly and then cut them into 45 inch lengths and then sew the strips together until we had a quilt top that measured approximately 45 x 60.  Well, I switched some of my fabrics and sewed until I got the quilt top about the correct size.  That's as much as I accomplished at the meeting.

But I also had time to look through the fabric donations and found a piece of backing fabric that went along with the Asian theme of at least some of the fabrics in the quilt top.

Here you can see the backing fabric:

                                     
I brought the top and backing home and put it aside and it wasn't until this year's community quilt meeting was fast approaching that I finally sandwiched, quilted and bound the resulting quilt.

From this angle you can see that it is really more square than rectangular.  That's because the backing fabric was that size.  But I think it still came out pretty nice.  I wasn't able to go to the meeting this month, but a friend handed it in for me.  Better late than never!
                                     
I can't remember if these quilts were being made for a particular request, but I think that it would make a nice lap quilt for a lady, perhaps someone in the extended care facility at the local hospital.

My next project was a "string quilt."

When I was at the Houston Quilt Show, I signed up for a challenge to make a quilt for "Quilts Beyond Borders."  QBB is a group that provides quilts to children in need in under-served areas of the world where the warmth of a quilt is needed at night.  Lots of their quilts go to orphans in areas of the world like Ethiopia, Romania, Guatemala, Kenya, and most recently Syria.  We were encouraged to choose a fat quarter and let that inspire the kind of quilt we wanted to make.  Well, I chose a green piece of fabric, but it was really my friend Alice who provided the inspiration for the type of quilt I made.  She has been making "string quilts" with some of her scrap fabrics and so, I thought it was time for me to try out the technique.

I had some off white strips that I had cut for a past project and I acquired some precut strips of fabric from an estate sale I recently attended.  So here is what my first strip quilt looks like:

 I probably should have cropped this photo a bit since you are seeing a lot of my sunroom floor, but I think the arrangement of blocks looks like the "god's eyes" we used to make in Girl Scout Camp.  Interestingly enough, I forgot to use my green "inspiration" fabric!

I used a rather dark mottled red/black fabric that I had on hand for the backing.  Probably not the best choice for a child's quilt.  I thought it looked a bit dreary.  But I used some of my scraps to put some color accents in the back:

 The backing color is really more like the above photo, but this photo shows the entire back:

 I'm not sure why this picture makes it look like it has a kind of purplish cast.
And here's a close up so you can see how the blocks come together to form the pattern.

 And one last photo of the back that shows off some of the accent pieces and the meandering quilting.

It's interesting to think that this quilt will likely travel to a part of the world I will never have a chance to see!

On a roll...

...just like a sesame seed!  While gathering photos for the last two posts, I came across a number of recent projects that I hadn't posted.  So I thought I'd share a few, just so you don't think that I have been idle.

While in JoAnn's a couple months ago, a product caught my eye.  It was a chiffon-like fabric strip with scallops on one side and holes on the other side.  I can't remember what it was called, but the package said that it was long enough to knit a scarf.  You use the holes to knit, basically just like each hole was a stitch.  It's a little odd to get started, but then after just a few stitches you start to see a twirly, puffy boa appear.  It was fast and fun!  I've included a close up of one of the ends so that you can get a better idea of what the fabric looks like.  I worked on this during one of my bee meetings and one of the ladies went right over to JoAnn's and made one in hot pink for her three year old grand-daughter diva... she loved it!

While in Houston at the International Quilt Show, I saw several demos by Marlene Glickman (www.silkdyes.com) of a very simple silk dying product and process.  So, of course, I had to buy her product.  This is so easy.  I literally did the dying at my dining room table.  Here are a few of the scarves I dyed.  I gave a few away as holiday gifts, too.  

Also on the Houston trip I renewed my membership in the Quilt Alliance and I got a few little "gifts."  One of them was a stack of 2 1/2 inch fabric squares.  I forget how many squares were in the packet, maybe 20 or maybe 40.  Anyway, enough to get me thinking of making them into scrappy 8 inch squares that I then made into potholders. 

Again, they are nice little gift items.  Potholders always get pretty sad pretty quickly at my house, so new potholders are always welcome.  I think these are very cheerful.

 And I love the polka dot back.  Local people will recognize that as a Just Ducky fabric.

And my usual "busy work" while riding in the car or sitting in front of the TV is "no brain knitting."  These dish cloths are a perfect example.  They are made out of the sugar and spice type cotton yarn and I have accumulated a stash of it that I am trying to use up.  I like this particular pattern because it has texture on both the front and the back.  It seems to do a good job of picking up crumbs from my counter top.  

And just like pot holders, I find that dish cloths get pretty sad looking after multiple uses and washes, so it's always nice to have a new one.

And as I'm accumulating some finished cloths, I've been tucking them in this nice turned wooden bowl that our friend Ed made us for Christmas this year.  Didn't he do a lovely job?

Finally, some more pot holders.  Actually, I think these contain some of those original squares I was talking about.  I brought them to Maggie at Thanksgiving, along with a couple of lobster tea towels.  While in Maine this summer after the twins were born, I picked up this embroidery project at the local Maine store called Reny's.  It's one of those stores where you never know what you are going to find.  Well, I found a very appropriate embroidery project for Maine... lobster towels.  They were fun to do and maybe next summer I will be using one to wipe the butter off my chin when I eat a grilled lobster!

On a chilly day like today, it's nice to think about a lobster picnic!

Ben's Quilt

On December 27th, my brother's 9th grandchild was born.  So, I made him a quilt.

Of course, earlier in the year I heard that a baby was expected, knew he would be a boy for several months, and even knew that his name would be Benjamin.  But for a variety of reasons, the most likely one being the fact that I am great at procrastinating, I didn't start his quilt until his mother was having contractions!

I'm happy to report that his quilt is ready to be put in the mail on his one month birthday... could be a lot worse!

Here's his quilt spread out on my little sunroom table.  The quilt (and my table) measures about 40x40 inches.

I'm including a close up of the center block which has Ben's name, mostly because I think the square of blue fabric with the vehicles on it was leftover from Ben's brother Harry's quilt.

I was happy to find a similar vehicle print for the back of the quilt and, since I want the quilt to be lovingly used and worn out, I decided to not include a label, but just signed the front corner of the quilt.

                                     
So I hope Benjamin loves it!

Do you know what a silky is?

Last week Maggie asked if I might make a silky for little R.  It seems he likes to rub something on his face when he settles down to sleep.  Typically, what is at hand is his burp cloth, which is really a repurposed old-fashioned cloth diaper.  She thought it would be nice if he had something cool, smooth, pleasant and made for this purpose... and informed me that such "lovies" were referred to as "silkies."

So, I did an internet search and found a variety of little mini-blankets, ranging in size from about 14 inches square to 28x36 inches.  Generally they were made from satin (for it's smooth silky feel) and then something like fleece, flannel or some other fluffier fabric for contrast and likely stability, as well.  Seemed like an easy enough project!

I already had some cream colored minky cloth on hand.  For those of you who might not know what that is, it's a very soft, fuzzy, textured knit that I thought would be perfect for the non-silky side of the blankie.  I made a trip to the fabric store and bought a yard each of a deep pink and a blue satin that had a bit of flannel fiber on the back.  Having worked with slippery satin in the past, I figured that if one side had a little "traction" it might make things easier, and it did.  I decided on making my silkies 18x24 inches.  I could easily get two of each color out of the single yard pieces, allowing for a nice deep fold-over binding.  I also had enough minky cloth for four blankies this size.  I also decided to put a layer of batting in each.  Since these items are likely to need frequent washing, I just thought that the batting would help support the stitching and give them a little firmer feel.

So, here they are:

                 

 

 

... and a close up to show the nice texture in the minky cloth.





I hope little R and little A like them!











And here I am, trying them out...

... they do feel nice!  Perhaps I need to make one for myself!