Do You Like Green Eggs and Ham?

My latest quilt...the center ABC section is a panel, and the "pages" from the book came on a different piece of yardage. I just added the blue sashing and border to make the quilt a more usable size. Gotta love that striped bias binding...

Here's a shot of the back. I had two "pages" left over from the front of the quilt, so I just added them to the back.

And here's a closeup...

This will probably be donated to some charity at some point. I've gotten very picky about which charities make money from my work, so it will take me a while to decide.

Still More Good Stitches

As I mentioned in my previous post, I haven't been doing much of my own sewing or quilting, but I have been participating in group outreach projects with other members of my guild. Last week, on our monthly charity quilting day, we put together three fun kids' quilt tops that we'll be using for demos during our county fair in August (I took the picture before we finished the third one). Just simple solid squares and novelty squares, but the tops look great. We'll work on tying them during the fair, with the goal of donating them to our local foster child program.

If I'm not able to do my own sewing, I'm always happy to participate in something like this!

It's the End of February Already?

Sigh, I don't have any finishes for February, but that doesn't mean I haven't been sewing. I did manage to finish a quilt top, but before I start another one, I need to quilt two that are waiting.

In the meantime, I did help sew some blocks for one of my guild's outreach projects, Quilts of Valor. Our guild recently held a workshop to learn to make an Arrowhead block, so our outreach chair decided on using the pattern for our current QOV top. Some of the blocks that we made are shown in the above photo. They go together very quickly and perhaps next month I'll be able to show you a completed top from the group.

Another Finish for August

This one looks very similar to the quilt I showed earlier this month (see my post here).

(click on the photos to enlarge)

It's basically made with the same fabrics, except that the white has multi-colored polka dots on it. Again, half-square triangles.

Here's a shot of the pieced back...

And a couple of closeups of the quilting...just random wavy lines...

And another shot taken outdoors...

This quilt is made mostly with fabric that I bought in 2013 and some donated fabric, so I can't say I used up too much of my pre-2013 stash. Only the polka-dot fabric comes from that category -- a measly one yard.

Like the other flannel HST quilt, this one is destined to go to my guild's current outreach project, our local foster children's program.

First August Finish

This is just half-square triangles with a row of sashing inbetween the vertical rows. I love the shot taken by the flower garden, even if it does wash out the quilt a bit. The fabric that looks white is actually a very, very pale blue.

Leftovers from a charity quilt that I made back in May (you can see it here) were used on the back...

A closeup of the quilting...just loops and a few double loops...

This shot shows the backing and binding fabric a bit better.  All the fabrics are flannel.

I'm afraid that this doesn't count toward using up my pre-2013 stash. The bright flannels were purchased this year and the backing and pale-blue fabric were donated to my guild for use in charity quilts. This quilt is now destined for my guild's current outreach project, our local foster-child program.

And Another May Finish

This one is not from my pre-2013 stash, so I won't add it to the total yardage used up, but it will be counted as a finished quilt for 2013.

I made this one after I once commented on my Facebook page that I was running out of friends, family, and charities to give my quilts to, and a friend/fellow quilter mentioned that she was making chemo quilts for the facility where the owner of our LQS was having her treatments. My friend said that my bright and cheery quilts are the type that work well for that, so I decided to get some fabric and whip one up. The front is flannel from Joann's (bought at a great price of $2.25/yard!) and the backing is fleece (again, bought at a great price after the winter). No batting, and just a large meander for the quilting.

The binding is made by bringing the backing to the front and then machine-stitching down with a zigzag stitch. I usually hate this method of attaching binding (I really prefer hand stitching it to the back), but it works for this because the fleece edge doesn't fray. I even managed to miter the corners.

The tutorial I used for the binding can be found on Vicki Welsh's blog here. And while you're visiting Vicki's blog, check out her gorgeous hand-dyed fabrics on Etsy.

Doing Good Stitches

(click on photo to enlarge)

April is National Volunteer Month, so I spent this past Saturday working on some charity HST (half-square triangle) quilts with fellow guild members. Check out my guild's blog (click here) to see more photos. We all had a great time playing with the infinite number of layouts that are possible with HST's.

Many Hands Make Light Work

My guild's charity sewing group met yesterday and we quickly whipped up this fun top that will eventually be a quilt that goes to our current outreach project, quilts for the local foster child program. Just a simple disappearing nine-patch pattern with fun boy-friendly novelty fabrics. The fabrics were cut into six-inch squares, so the top is approximately 48 inches by 64 inches, a great size for an older boy.

First April Finish

It feels good to have another UFO completed. I made this top and backing back in August 2011 (I blogged about it here), but put it away until I got around to quilting and binding it this past week. As I mentioned in that blog post, this quilt was made after I made this block you see below...

The red/white/black block was part of a modern block-of-the-month project from the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. When a friend of mine first saw the block on my blog, she thought it was an entire quilt -- so that gave me the idea to make a large quilt based on the same design as the block. 

I changed the measurements a bit to make the quilt a rectangle rather than a square, but it's the same basic idea.

Here's the pieced back, all from my stash...

And a closeup of the quilting...

The colors are not quite right in the photos -- I'm afraid that blue and purple and pink don't play well with my camera and computer, but in real life, the colors look really good.

This quilt used up 3 1/2 yards from my stash and will be going to the local foster child program.

Stashbusting Break

I took advantage of a recent sale at Joann's to buy five one-yard cuts of flannel at 60% off and an extra 25% off with a coupon so that I could quickly make a chemotherapy charity quilt. I also bought some royal blue fleece (at 50% off and the extra 25%) for the backing. The quilt will be just a simple rail fence pattern, but it will be done in no time at all. And I'll even have a bit left over for a small baby quilt top. After this one is done, then I'll go back to stashbusting.

Although the fabric is not the best (and look at that honking-big selvage on the green strip!), it will make for a perfectly fine quilt to keep someone warm while in treatment...and the colors are bright enough to hopefully make someone smile.

Not bad for $17 (including tax!).

I Don't Just Quilt

I seem to enjoy almost anything having to do with fiber, so I often spend time making crochet-edged fleece blankets, mainly for charities. My friend Susan of Hanging on by a Needle and Thread blog got me hooked on these (basic instructions can be found here). You can find a video on Susan's blog here and she also has some crochet patterns here and here.

Susan doesn't realize that she's created a monster...since she's the coordinator of my guild's local outreach program, these will go to her to be distributed to foster children in our local area.

More Stashbusting

Some of my readers may remember when I first blogged about this quilt (read about it here) about six weeks ago. It's now quilted, bound, and labeled and will be donated to my guild's latest outreach project -- our local foster child program.

The back is all from my stash...

And my favorite part is the bias striped binding...

My only complaint about striped binding is that it can be very difficult to find a thread that will match all the colors, so some of the stitches disappear better than others. This closeup also gives you a view of how I've been attaching labels to these charity quilts. It's just a five-inch square of fabric, folded in half, and then sewn into the binding on the raw edges. I usually just fuse the folded edge to the backing, but I suppose I could easily hand-sew that part, too.

This is another 4 1/2 yards of fabric used up in 2013 from my stash!

February Finish

I've finished the quilt that I blogged about in this post a little more than a month ago. You can read the details about it there.

Here's the back....I love it!

And a closer look at the back...

And a closeup of the meandering quilting...

This quilt will now go to our local foster child program (after I show it off in my two quilt guilds!). I think it will be perfect for a pre-teen or teen girl.

And all of the fabric (and batting) came from my stash and scraps!

Orphan Blocks and Quilters' Generosity

Some of my readers may know that one of my goals this year is to use up orphan blocks that have been sitting around for way too long. Some orphan blocks have already made it into quilts, and alas, a few (only a few) had to go in the trash.

A fellow quilting blogger, Nancy of Quilting Potpourri, belongs to a guild that has a great idea for orphan blocks. Check out Nancy's blog post about it here.

I also have to mention some of Nancy's community work -- she volunteers helping with a woman's prison crafting program. Here's one of her blog posts about one of the projects that the women worked on.

Quilters are a very giving bunch, aren't they?

Come In From The Cold

I blogged about this quilt several weeks ago (see my blog post about it here), but I thought I'd show it again because the tickets for it go on sale tomorrow.

I made this for the Friends of the Green Free Library in Wellsboro, PA for a raffle fundraiser. The Friends are hosting a reception (11:00AM - 2:00PM) at the library during Wellsboro's Dickens of a Christmas celebration tomorrow, where the quilt will be on display.

If you're in town for Dickens and need a place to warm up, stop in at the Green Free Library for hot cider and cookies. And while you're there, buy some tickets for this fun quilt. Tickets are $1 each, 6/$5 and the drawing will be held on March 2, 2013!

November UFO Challenge Complete

My guild's president issued a UFO challenge to our members last month -- we were to list six UFO's that we had sitting around and give her the list. Every month for the next six months (except for December), she will pull out a number, from one to six, and we are supposed to finish the UFO that matches that number on our list by the next month's meeting. Every time we complete a UFO, our names will be entered into a future drawing. This was a great way to get me moving on some projects that I've had for way too long.

 The first one is this jelly roll 1600 race quilt top that I finished last November. It's made from strips of vintage sheets from local thrift stores.

Here's a closeup of my favorite way to quilt strippy quilts...

I used a vintage sheet for the back...

This one will be going to a charity...