Weekend Quilt Activity - The Kid Quilts

I finished pin basting the Kindergarten Art Quilt and began the machine quilting.

I also worked on pulling fabric choices for the next two quilts. One for our 3 year old granddaughter:

 

And one for our 5 year old grandson:




I bought a few pieces of the fabrics and then pulled matching pieces from my stash.

There's a whole lot of quilt activity going on around here!!!

A Quilted Pumpkin Table Runner in July!

What's a girl to do when its July and its awhile until Fall is here?

 Sew some pumpkins!

I already had everything I needed to make this runner.  I have been working on a quilt that has a lot of orange in it, so I was able to pull fabrics from that project and I also found some in my fall fabrics that I store in a plastic tote. A while back I found some orange remnants in the remnant bin at Joann's Fabrics, so that came in handy for this project.   I love going through that bin! 

Its a perfect project for using up some scraps.

I always have scraps of quilt batting left over from other projects and found a piece that was just the right size.

The backing fabric is a calico print that I'm pretty sure is from the 80s or 90s.  I'm not sure, but that small orange flower made it perfect for the backing.

I love the orange dotted fabric I used for the binding and one of the pumpkins on the front.  That fabric came from Walmart and is probably still available.

Here is a link to the pattern.  (click here)

I did not use the printable sheets.  I just did regular fusible applique.

Kindergarten Quilt Art!

Our six year old grandson won first place in the art exhibit for the whole county for his age group.   When I saw it, I immediately said "That's a Rail Fence Quilt!"

I have been thinking about what kind of quilt to make this child and I think its going to look a lot like this!

What do you think?

Grandbaby on a Quilt

She's 9 months old and going places! This is the quilt that I always use for outside pictures. I've taken pictures of the last three grandbabies on it, as well as part of a photo shoot of my daughter and her family standing in a cotton field with the quilt around their shoulders.

Its probably the scrappiest quilt I've made.  The pattern is Jewel Box and the finished quilt can be seen HERE.

Have a great day!

Scrappy Rainbow Double Irish Chain Quilt Progress

I got started on this quilt about a year ago as part of Scrap Happy Saturday on the So Scrappy Blog HERE.   Each month there is a different color of scraps to focus on.  The color for April is Aqua.  So if you have lots of scraps, this might be a good way for you to use them.

These blocks are just laid out on the bed so that I can check the progress.  I always love how a pattern comes to life once you lay the blocks out together.

I would love to quilt some kind of special design in each of the white areas, maybe like THIS or THIS

Here are some of the different colored blocks.

Sometimes I have worked on the quilt as a leaders and enders project.  Other times it has been the main project.  I only need to make six more blocks in lavender.  I have already sewn some of the blocks together in rows, so it won't be too long before it will be a completed quilt top.

I'm playing around with ideas for quilts for three of my grandchildren.  They are 2 brothers and their sister, who lost their quilts in the house fire.  I'm planning to do similar, but in different colors, twin size quilts for them.

A good part of the enjoyment in quilting is in the planning!

A Quilt Story

I normally would only post pictures of quilts if I was working on a new quilt or had finished one and had pictures of the completed quilt.  But, life happens and sometimes there is a sad quilt story.  Thankfully, this is rare!

Two weeks ago the house my stepdaughter, her husband and three children (ages 2, 4 and 6)  were living in caught fire and they lost almost everything.  The wonderful thing about this tragic event is that they all got out safely without having a hair on their head hurt.  Thanks be to God!  They were renting this house while waiting for a new house to be built.  Thankfully they bought a smoke detector since there was not one there.  The smoke detector woke them from a deep sleep, each parent grabbed a child or two and ran outside.  They put the children in their van.  The fire was spreading so quickly they could not even go back in to get the keys to the van!!!  They only were wearing what ever they were sleeping in.  No shoes.  No coats (and it was a cold night).  I don't have to say any more about how close a call this was!  Sadly, two dogs didn't survive.

We are so thankful that they got out and also for another wonderful thing that came out of this situation.  The family and community have been absolutely amazing!  They were offered a fully furnished house to stay in at no cost.  By the second day after the fire they were living in this generously offered home.   They have been given so many things, including cash and replacement clothes, toys, etc.  They are overwhelmed with the kindness of people they have never even met!  Honestly, they have more clothes than they have ever had.   It will be a long time before everything is replaced.  You don't think about all the "things" we need and use everyday.  The list goes on and on, from driver's licenses to a basic screwdriver.  But they are doing just fine!  In a few months they will be able to move into their new "forever" home.

As we all know, "things" can be replaced!

My stepson-inlaw brought me these quilts that I had made, to see if they could be saved.  I tried very hard, but for most of them, it just wasn't meant to be.  The chemicals in the smoke or soot on them acted as some type of acid which ate holes in the fabric, dissolved quilting threads and quilt batting.  It was also impossible to get the stains out and I'm not sure if the smoke smell could have been removed.

Only one of the quilts is salvageable.  It is the quilt I made back in  early 2011 shown HERE and the name of it is "Farmhouse Magic":  It was stored in a closet that was at the opposite end of the house from where the fire started and only had a couple of small spots on it.  I think it will be just fine.  I aired it out on the clothesline for several hours and then washed and dried it as normal.


THIS sailboat baby quilt that I named "Blue Skies From Now On" was at the daycare, so it was safe! There were three more baby quilts that couldn't even be found.


Here are before and after pictures of the ones I tried to save: 

I already had in my mind (on that never ending quilt dream list) a plan to make each of the children a new twin size quilt.  So I'm going to get on that ASAP.  It takes me a while to make a quilt, but maybe you'll see some progress on that soon.

Have a great day and check those smoke detectors!

Slow Sunday Stitching - Table Runner

Slow Sunday Stitching... Super Bowl Edition

I am linking this post to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

One of my favorite slow stitching activities is hand sewing down the binding on the back of a quilt.  In this case it is a quilted runner, so it won't take too long.  It will just be nice, slow and no stress sewing on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

This pattern can be found at Quilting Digest HERE.