Funny Story

 

I met a guild friend at a Habitat for Humanity home dedication today. Jane and I were there to present this quilt to the family as a housewarming gift from Ninigret Quilters. I noticed on the program that the gift presentations would take place immediately following the homeowner's remarks, and ours was first. This was an emotional group. The volunteer family partner and the homeowner both teared up during their talks, and got everyone else going. And now it's my turn? Great.

I had the speech planned in my head that started with, "Jane and I are happy to be here..." Then the MC asked us to come forward and introduce ourselves. 

 

I said, "I'm Jane. Wait. No, I'm not! She is Jane." We all laughed! They called me "Not Jane" for the rest of the event.

As Bugs Bunny and my brother Vinnie would say, "What a maroon!"

Monday Catch-up

It was finish-it-up week here at Seaside Stitches. First up was a manly quilt for our guild outreach committee. There are a bunch of men and boys moving into local Habitat for Humanity homes soon, so we're trying to be sure we have quilts ready for them all.

Then I picked through three bags of batting scraps and pieced together enough for several small quilts. I couldn't resist quilting up this Finding Nemo baby quilt that Kate L pieced last fall.

I was happily looping and swirling along when the needle suddenly snapped into about 5 pieces. That was scary! I guess that needle was in the machine for far too long.

I was bored and didn't want to baste another quilt, so I made this embossed velvet pillow last night in about an hour. After seeing some embossed velvet on Pinterest, I remembered that I had a couple pieces of velvet leftover from back in the day when I was making origami Christmas ornaments.

It only took about 30 minutes to emboss the whole piece. I added a vintage 18" zipper to the bottom and stitched up the sides. The basting tape worked like a charm to hold the zipper to the slippery velvet. The worst part of the process was finding enough stuffing. I found three bags of fiber fill that were nearly empty! I supplemented with batting scraps, so it's pretty lumpy. That's OK since it is only decorative.

Today, I added a label to the schnitzel and boo mini quilt, so it is ready to ship with a pile of goodies.

Up next, another boy quilt waiting to be pin basted.

Quilt Top in a Day

If you are looking for a fun, quick pattern, this could be it. This free pattern from Project 12 Quilts is called Little Leapfrog. It goes together so quickly, I was able to cut out and piece the top all in one snowy day. I added a few rows, so this one finishes at 54 X 66".

The jewel tones all came from Joan's stash, so I only needed to buy the gray background. It will be added to the massive pile of tops that need to be quilted for charity.

Crackers Quilt

 I finally got around to quilting one of the donated tops from the pile of charity quilts. This one is a crackers quilt that looks like an assortment of true vintage fabric, reproductions and not-as-old calicoes.

This one was a challenge to quilt. It was not flat, square or straight. It's puffy and wavy, but there are no puckers. It is what it is.

 

I wanted to document some of my favorite prints. 

As awesome as the aqua apples are, I love the shade and texture of the blue solid.

This pink one looks vintage to me. It was rather thin.

A fun baby print.

This blue floral looks like a reproduction I had once, but the red looks and feels vintage.

It was fun to hand stitch the binding while watching the Olympics.  If you like the pattern, Moda Bake Shop has a modern version using a charm pack.

WIP Wednesday

It's official. I'm a topper. I could piece tops 'til the cows come home. Some day soon, I'm going to have to get some of these projects quilted and finished.

Top #1: All of these fabrics were pulled from Joan's stash. The pattern is Elizabeth Hartman's Charm Squares Baby Quilt pattern. The baby quilt uses 5" charm squares, but Elizabeth also included instructions that use (38) 10" squares plus 2 yards of background to make a twin size quilt. So fast and modern!

Top #2: I found (24) mile a minute squares in Joan's stash. I pulled some of her calicoes to border each block. I'm ready to piece some friendship block sashing before assembling the top. 

Top #3: For some strange reason, I've never made blocks like this before. I needed some leaders and enders while I pieced the red and blue top, so I reached into a bag of Joan's scraps and went to town. For a more modern version of this idea, refer to 15 Minutes of Play.

 

It was Joan's desire that her stash be used to make quilts for Habitat for Humanity, so that's where these quilts will go. Eventually.

** As I typed this post, I got an email from my MQX friend, Diane. She offered to machine quilt some of the Habitat tops on her new long arm! Woohoo! Aren't quilt friends the best?! **

Today is the perfect day to stay inside and sew!

Finish it up Friday

 I didn't get a whole lot of sewing done this week, but I did manage to complete this top for Habitat for Humanity. I'll try to prepare the back and binding tonight, then set it all aside until we buy batting. I'm calling this a finish!

This is the X's and O's pattern from Missouri Star. We had a stash of 6" blocks donated by guild members years ago, and I found the tan in our outreach stash, too. This will make a great quilt for a 10-year old boy.

Julia has been playing with fabric, getting ready to make a quilt for her boyfriend. Most of these squares came from the Big 10 Inch Swap that Monica hosted on Flickr last year.

She decided to go with the Old Italian block from the cover of Anita's book, because the boyfriend will be an Old Italian man someday soon! The first two test blocks didn't turn out very well. The rotary cutter slipped on the blue one, making the center square not square, and the dimensions of the red one are off. One more test block is in order before we start full scale production.

 

The bleeding hearts are blooming this week. Those little blossoms are so cute!

 

We'll be in Boston tomorrow for the "To Boston With Love" exhibit at the MFA!

Now, hop over to Crazy Mom Quilts to see what everyone else finished this week.