Daniel's Stars, Disaster averted

     Over 7 years ago, I made Daniel a baby quilt. He was born with a terrible disease called Nemaline Myopathy. He can't swallow food or have much muscle control. He has had a hard time but is a determined fighter. Back then, I made him a Laurel Burch quilt called Running with the Horses. 
     Now, it dawned on me, he needed another quilt. With schools closed down, he is not getting help and instruction and all his care falls on his mom. I asked her what he liked and she said super heroes, animals, and the color red. 
      I was inspired by a quilt I saw https://www.robinpickens.com/blog/showering-stars-quilt-pattern, but it was too big and didn't have the star effect I was aiming for. Using graph paper, I drew up a good idea after a lot of bad ones. I used lots of reds, Kona Ash, and a variety of 2 1/2" squares fussy cut. It went together a little different than other quilts I did, but it fit together. Once it was sewn, I made a back with fish that I had to add water to. 
     Once loaded on the longarm, I sketched lots of ideas and decided to do a sampler of patterns held together by a grid inspired by the long red lines and breaking up of the squares.  I quilted top and bottom with Mocha Glide. Bound with a red bandana print.

     Ok, now for the disaster part- before I washed the quilt, after binding with a red bandana print, everything was hunky dorey. I had to wash the quilt because Daniel's immune system is fragile. 
     Upon taking the quilt out of the washer, my hair stood on end (I was also wearing a Holter monitor). The red batiks used bled all over the Kona Ash. After the room righted again, I remember saving an article by Vicki Welsh about saving a bleeding quilt  (download it, people). I found it, although I saved it years ago. 
     She called for a bathtub of hot water with Dawn. In the quilt went, fully agitated. After 3 hours, the dye "burped" out of the quilt. I changed the water and let it refill. It stayed all night submerged by plastic bins filled with water. 
     In the morning, the water was still clear. I put the wet quilt in one of the plastic bins, put it in the washer to rinse and spin, and then the dryer. NO bleeds left anywhere!!

No red bleeds at all.

Fish back, loaded the backing upside down, that is why the label is . Mad about that.

     After the dryer, I photographed to make sure. Then, it was bundled with a card and book into an XXL Ziploc and delivered to Daniel by leaving it on his porch. I sure hope he liked it. I was greatly relieved. 

Clean up, clean up, put away, put away

     I reached the point in my studio that I had to clean out or scream. I had so many plastic boxes and bins everywhere and especially on my floor. I had to do something. Michaels had 10 drawer rolling drawers on sale ($29.99 and coupon) and I bought 5 (one I gave to my son for his watercolor supplies). Shipped them to me for free. 
     I have to give Michaels a shout out, because one wheel in all of these units was the wrong one. I emailed them with a photo and within a few hours, they had one in the mail. It fit and the unit was useable. I have to say Excellent Customer Service! I thought I was doomed with the wrong wheel.
     I taught my 8 yr. old granddaughter to put one together. She showed her 10 yr. old brother how to do it, and they put all 5 together for me. They did a super job with little intervention by me. Kids need to know how to put things together.
     It was painful to sort through all the scraps and cut pieces. Sometimes I just have to leave the room and take a walk around. Took loads of time. Eventually, all the units were filled and reorganized. I have a whole unit of drawers for batik scraps. Today, I am making all new drawer labels and attaching them. The old ones are from the previous bins and are shabby.
     I have a closet in this room for more plastic boxes for cut pieces and another room with bookshelves for bigger fabric, but this area was out of contol. I love scrappy, but organizing them is work.
    Here is the result of all the effort.

Cutting/pressing counter- all clear, WOW

View from one side of sewing table to counter

From room entrance, no boxes on floor anymore

Other side of sewing table, clear floor, windows to left

Side of table I work the most at for piecing. There is a floor!

      My watercolor room set up is in the guest bedroom. I work on my paintings and sketches here. I have to leave the sewing studio in order to concentrate on painting.

Churn dash top sewn

     All of the blocks are sewn complete with border. Have to think of what to use for the backing. I loved having this quilt on my wall, it was comforting. The blocks are 20 years old- 1999- that I found in a bag of donated fabric. They have some signatures on the back and are from the LLQA of Illinois. I live in Buffalo, NY.
      Now I have to find a suitable backing.

From the back here are some names. If anyone has an idea how I can find these women to show them what was done with their blocks, let me know.
Erin O'Neill, Leroy, IL
Christi Pallo, Maroa, IL
Karen Moon and Connie Miller of Champaign, IL
Pauline Bury
Sharon Amberger
Mary Chester
L. Plotner-Pierce
Leu Blakeney LLQA
 

Robins, and flowers and bears, oh my!

     Since my grandchildren (10 and 8) are out of school, I try to do something fun, crafty or outdoors with them a couple of times a week. They live across the street. Yesterday was a fine sunny, blue sky day. We went for a 2+ mile walk looking for birds, flowers, and the newest thing- teddy bears in windows. We saw some robins, crocuses, a few daffodils and 15 bears in windows. They wanted to keep going, but this lady was tired out. I took the camera along and we took 42 photos. 

Anenomes

Daffodils

Crocus

Hellebores from my garden

      When we got home, I took the photos off into the computer, cropped them and printed out the bear ones. We cut them out and made a book (sewing the signatures) which they will then write the stories of the bears.  Some of my favorites of the 15 we saw.

My favorite

       It was good to get out and not think about anything but spring and outdoor stuff.

Tribute to Unknown Quilters

     On National Quilting Day, I pulled out a stack of churn dash blocks found in a bag of donated materials. People give me stuff because they know I make and give comfort quilts. Sometimes, there are some gems of fabric or blocks found among the home dec and cut off curtain pieces. 
     The 29 blocks had some name stickers or names written on the seam allowances. I determined they were made in 1999 (some had dates next to their name) and they came from Illinois, because LLQA was written on a few block backs. I looked up LLQA and it is an association of guilds in Illinois, but I could not find a contact to call or email. I would love to let them know about these. (Cheryl, are you reading?)
    If I placed the blocks 5 by 6, I was short one block. It seemed only fitting that I should make one as it was National Quilting Day. The workmanship in every block is superb. I wish I could thank them all. It was a joy to sew these.
    I decided on sashing them and auditioned a bunch of fabric. I chose a cream and white polka dot because it keeps the nostalgic flavor, but adds a modern twist. For the cornerstones, I went through my 2" scrap drawers and chose a variety of colors and designs that were a similar flavor and value.
    Because I have used the webbing method I learned from Wanda before and just saw Bonnie Hunter's quilt cam where she webbed a small block quilt with sashings and cornerstones, I webbed the whole top and just need to complete the rows. Everything stayed in order. I will chose a fabric for a 4" finished border so this can be a good size comfort quilt, which has already comforted me.
     Thank you to the unknown lovely quilters in Illinois from 1999! I will copy the names off the back of the blocks and post them soon. 

Auditioning sashing

Cornerstones arranged

Blocks set up for webbing

All webbed, rows need to be sewn. Then borders

On a different note, my orphan blocks have been awarded by drawing a name. Lisa Marie- you won. I emailed you and need your mailing address. 
Thank you to all who entered.

    

Happy National Quilting Day!

     Wishing all you quilters and fabriholics a Happy National Quilting Day! Now go stitch something! 
      I couldn't find clothesline or something to string across my yard, so the fence had to do with only two- one vintage and one new.

Orphan Adoption

    Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is more fun than Housework, is sponsoring another Orphan Adoption with links on her blog.
     This is a good time, with cleaning out all my studio, to offer something. In some bags of scraps given to me for my comfort quilts, I found these blocks. They are made from Cherrywood Fabrics and are 6 1/2" unfinished and there are 18 now. It looks to me that someone made intricate blocks along with the 365 quilt block patterns, but petered out. I would have. I love the fabric and the blocks, but I have too much to work on and will not get to these in the near future. The package includes the blocks and some Cherrywood fabric as seen in the photo.
     If you would like these blocks to complete, add to, or otherwise create a finished quilt, make a comment. On Sunday evening, I will have my granddaugher pull a name from the comment requests and I will announce it on Monday on this blog. I will mail them to you if you have proper email info and able to give me a US address.