Hands2Help Wrap Up

      I almost forgot to post the last day of the Hands2Help Challenge.  I made three baby quilts, 2 girls and one boys, for Hands2Help and Little Lambs. I used the free pattern, Speedy Baby 2, 45 x 45. They were mailed a couple of weeks ago using the $15.00 flat shipping available for certain charities. I have enjoyed participating in this challenge for every year except when I had a heart attack 4 years ago. Then, I shipped the top to Sarah and she quilted it.
    First time I ever used flannel in a quilt and backing. It quilts real nice.

Upstairs Downstairs for a challenge?

      Because of A Left Handed Quilter, I have made some Upstairs, Downstairs quilts and some bargellos. For some odd reason, I love sewing strip sets and chopping them up. I love color. Recently, she suggested that I work with her on a challenge making the same quilt, the same fabric, but different main diagonals. I ordered the jelly rolls from jellyrollfabric.net and started unrolling according to the directions on her blog.

Need to buy 4 rolls since 20 strips are in a roll

     I laid out all the colors and labeled all the 8 sets. Her directions are excellent- I printed them out so I could check off as I was working. I sewed them easily on my new speedy machine.

    Finishing the binding on Quiltdiva Julie's Blithe on new machine.

Purple, Black and Horses?

      When I asked a mom to tell me what her daughter liked so I could make her a comfort quilt, she said, "Purple, Black, and Horses." Yikes, I did not have any of those fabrics. I am sure Alycia would know what to do about the horses, but I started browsing fabrics. I have been supporting Quilted Twins because of their dedication to helping Ukranian refugees, both with quilts from the US and supplies from Becky in Poland. So, I started with them and found a line of fabric by Ann Lauer called Horsin' Around. I admit that I am not a big fan of that style fabric, but this quilt is for a young girl that is. I ordered three whites and three blacks, two panels- one black, one white, and purple and blue background fabric all from the same line. I hardly ever do that, but I thought it was necessary for this project.
    The pattern that I used, Crown and Anchor, was one that I had made some sample blocks using indigos. I thought it would work well. Instead of the recommended fat quarters for the quilt, I tried to use the panel horses for the center columns and the different yardages for the two outer columns. I even drew up a nice graph paper map. I numbered the fabrics and tried to proceed in an orderly fashion.

     Maybe it was the roofing job going on, maybe it was the infected dry socket from a tooth extraction, but there was mental confusion, and I had the hardest time cutting the pieces to go in the right places. Eventually, I just cut out all the pieces for one block before I cut for another and put them on the wall.  Complicating matters was there was not enough purple available for all the background, so I had to use the blue and cut very carefully. For whatever reason, this was one tough quilt to put together. It measures 64 x 81 before binding.

With a small border so the points won't end up in the binding

    So, finally all sewn together. I luckily found, on sale for $3 a yard locally, the small tossed horse print for the backing. I can't believe how hard this was for me to get all in place. I am satisfied with it, but I don't love it. I am not making this pattern again. Yes, I know, I discovered a big smudge on the camera lens when downloading all the photos which is why there is a blur in all the photos in the lower right.

Another one found its home

      A little while back, Quiltdiva Julie sent me some tops to finish as comfort quilts. As soon as one gets finished, a request comes in.

A great combo

This past weekend was no exception. I finished Blithe, a man from my cardiac rehab group, who had a heart transplant 12 years ago, received a kidney last week at the Cleveland Clinic. They let him come home to Buffalo for the weekend, and then he had to go back on Monday.
     I had just finished quilting Blithe and binding it. I quickly scrambled to make a bag, card and wash the quilt so I could deliver it to him Saturday morning. I had to move so quick that I did not get get a shot of the bag with quilt block pocket or the quilt package. I thought I had, but no. It has been a crazy two weeks because we got a new roof and they were here for 2 weeks hammering, etc. and flattening my garden. I also had a tooth pulled that was just filled and it got infected, so I have been barely under the radar.

     I quilted it in the same pattern on the solid blues, but a different pattern in each row of light values. Julie provided the wonderful back. 

     Ron certainly looked terrible when I dropped the quilt off and I am praying the kidney will kick in and do what we mostly take for granted every day.

    Thanks to Julie, I was ready for this call.
     And I realized after unloading a lot of photos, that I had a huge smear on the lens which is why the photos look odd in the lower right.