The Next Generation

When my daughter, Megan, was a little girl we sometimes did sewing projects together. She was quick to learn to use the sewing machine, actually pushing the foot pedal to the floor.  Her normal speed was "fast"! At eleven, Megan made her first quilt, picking out Amish colored solids to fashion a simple nine patch.  The second quilt came a good ten years later, in college......a plaid flannel rag quilt. Now a mommy, expecting her second child in a few months, Megan is proving herself to be "her mother's daughter"....the next generation of quilter. Megan has designed and pieced a twin quilt for little Lula to use when she moves to a "big girl" bed. Yesterday, guess who was learning to machine quilt?

I use a Juki machine on a Grace quilting frame to quilt most of my quilts.  Today Megan practiced on one of the Rwanda Quilts (which she also pieced). She still loves to put the pedal to the floor (or hand, in this case)!

The "cursive e" design is something Megan thought of and I think it is a wonderful first pattern for machine quilting.  It was smooth and easy and really cute when finished. I'll have to add this to my list of overall quilting designs. 

I love having my daughter as my quilting buddy!  It makes me really happy!!  Great job, Meg!

Sewing in the Rain

Rainy days are just right for a big old sewing day, don't you agree? That's just what five of us did on Saturday as the heavens opened up and thunder rolled!  And believe me, there was a whole lot of sewin' goin' on!! The deadline for having 27quilts ready to send to New Hope Homes in Rwanda is fast approaching.  Our goal is to make a lap size quilt for each child living in the three houses of the orphanage.  I feel confident that, with the Lord's blessing, our goal is going to be met! The eight ladies participating in Quilts4Hope have been working very hard to complete the quilts. Oh, and are the quilts ever beautiful!  I can't wait to show them all off to you!!
















Megan (my daughter), Vicki, myself, Deb and Sherri (not pictured) had a fun day gabbing and sewing.............my favorite way to quilt!
That's Deb's quilt we are holding...so cute!
She machine quilted it herself; her first time ever....and what a great job she did.

I was focused on attaching the binding to these three quilts and am happy to report "mission accomplished!". Normally, I am not a fan of sewing down the binding by machine, but to save time and to make the quilts more durable, I caved. And, you know what? They don't look too bad! I stitched in the ditch from the front and was able to catch the back. (Well, most of the time, anyway!)
All three of these babies were made using blocks from leaders and enders. You know my spiel by now on "Free Quilts".  If you aren't using this concept...just try it, you'll like it, Mikey!

                     My pile of quilts for New Hope Homes is getting pretty big!

Cookies Anyone?

Or maybe a donut?  I love 'em both and now I can have my fill whenever I want without worrying about those pesky ole calories!!


I need new pot holders....badly.  What you are looking at are the pads I won in last night's Pot Holder Swap at the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild.  Aren't they a great matched set?  Cute as can be. Guess what. They were made by two different quilters! Who'da thunk it that I would draw the numbers for both!  It was just meant to be, I think.

Here's a view from the back. Cute as the front and just as calorie free.  I can just put on the tea pot and plunk my cup down on a different donut every morning to get my sugary fix, don't you think?
The pot holders were made by Barbara and Mary, both friends of mine.  They were sitting together at the meeting and had each made pads from similar fabric without knowing it. It is so much fun when things like that work out so great.  My mother-in-law always loved coincidences (she called them God-incidents) and always had one to tell me about. If she were still living, I'd enjoy sharing this one with her. And this one..................................

These are the hot pads that I made and brought to swap. I had a wonderful time picking through my selvage collection to make them. I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but I pleated a strip of selvage in the center of the hot pad on the right....kinda fun!
Guess who won one of them?
Barbara!  The maker of the cute "flip flop" pot holder. We just exchanged our miniature quilts.  
Another God- incident.  I don't know if God really cares who get what quilted hot pad, but I bet He got a kick out of it too!

Here's the back side of my pads.    I've had the spoon and fork fabric for awhile and was saving it for just the right project. Bingo!
The  pear and apple fabric is by Alexander Henry and has been around for awhile but I still just love it. 
I enjoyed making this pads so much that I decided to make an extra set as a gift to my new friend, Sarah, who graciously quilted two of the Rwanda quilts.  I hope she likes them.

I'm suddenly craving chocolate chip cookies....or maybe a trip to Dunkin' Donuts! Gotta go!
Happy quilting,
Carla

Pink and Black

What's pink and black and loved all over?  This quilt, that's what!! Yes sirree, I finished another top for New Hope Homes, the orphanage in Rwanda that I've been amassing a pile of quilts for over the last few months. It's June and our deadline is fast approaching.  By the middle of July the pieced lovelies will be winging their way into the arms of 27 Rwanda children.  I'm beyond excited!  I was recently given the names of each child so that we can label the quilts before sending them.  I've been assured that the kids will be over the moon to have their very own blanket as they have few possessions to call "mine". 


This particular quilt was easy for me to put together for several reasons. The main one being that I already had most of the blocks finished and stored in a plastic box deep in the depths of my sewing closet.  I collected an assortment of pink and black fabrics over a year ago and then sewed about half of them together using Terry Atkinson's pattern "Birthday Presents" from a booklet called Take Two and Add a Few. (The booklet seems to be out of print.) Then, I got sidetracked and laid the project aside....(hard to believe, I know). I was making the quilt with a certain recipient in mind, but now that so much time has passed, it no longer seems appropriate.  Oh well!  I needed (another quilt for the orphanage so this came in very handy and the colors are perfect for a child.  I still have enough blocks cut out for another similar lap size quilt.  Since the blocks are large (thirteen inches) it went together fast and easy!  Now to find the perfect backing or piece my own from stash fabrics....haven't decided which yet.  
This evening I loaded the Green Zebra quilt onto my quilting frame and should have it finished tomorrow, hopefully.  I found the perfect binding fabric for it....will show you when it's all done! We are having a sewing day on Saturday at the church as we close in on our goal. The fabric will be flying around here in the next few weeks.....(as usual!)


In other sewing news, I've been busy working on hexagons for the Hexagon Quilt-Along with Julie at JayBirdQuilts.  They look so great all grouped together on my tablecloth hanging over the closet door design wall. I bet you thought I'd forgotten about that project!

As usual, while I've been sewing on these two projects, I've also been working on my next 
"Free Quilt".  Look how much progress I've made.........................................!

I'm sewing two inch squares of Kona white and colored scraps together. It will take A BUNCH to make the quilt I have in mind.  I'll keep you posted.  Are you doing a leader ender project?  I'd love to hear about it.

Bargain Hunting

I sure love a bargain, don't you!  Yesterday, I stopped at a little fabric and craft shop in a near by small town. The store had a small inventory, but all of the fabric was marked $4.99 a yard. 
Look what I found among the bolts................

Chocolate Lollipop by Anna Maria Horner


Olive Rose by Valori Wells


and three lovelies by Martha Negley




So, I treated myself to a half yard of each and left feeling like I had found such a bargain!


(I'd have found more, I'm sure, but my hubby was with me!!)


Have a lovely weekend and happy bargain hunting!

A Summer Scarf

Sometimes, when I'm sitting in church or a restaurant and there's an air conditioning vent placed so that it blows right on me, I'm miserable. I just need a little sumpin,sumpin to ward off the draft.  And of course, I want to look chic doing it! Do you feel the same way? You do?
Okay, then. Here's one lovely way to cover your neck and look so very lovely at the same time..............

First, buy yourself a half yard of a beautiful, soft, cotton fabric.  I used Anna Maria Horner's popular Little Folks voile in both Coloring Garden and Little Honey patterns. I'd only seen this fabric on-line as no quilt shops near me seem to carry it. Oh, my!  I am in love with the feel of this summery material. 

I love it so much that I just "had" to order more for a quilt as well.  I'm on the hunt for the perfect pattern, but until then I plan to keep it close so that I can just run my hands over the smooth texture whenever I walk by! (Excuse me, I'll be right back....)


Okay, now back to the scarf..... 




While shopping one day I notice a lovely ruffled scarf worn by a young woman at the quilt shop I was visiting. The clerk asked if she had made it and she replied that indeed she had. I eavesdropped  stepped closer so that I over heard her to say that she used elastic thread to create the ruffle and oh, how easy it was. Then, a few days later, Jennifer (aka That girl...that quilt) showed how she'd used elastic thread to create a darling pillowcase dress for her daughter. 
What's a girl to do?  I gotta try this elastic thread thing.  Here are the instructions that I used to create my ruffly scarf. Dana said that it would take 30 minutes to make.  I didn't time myself, but I will just confirm that it is fast and easy!

I made two, and will let my daughter choose one for herself.  One addition I would make to the directions is to maybe wash and rinse your scarf with a little dab of fabric softener to give it a bit more of a relaxed look. 

   I think I'll go pet my Little Folks voiles. Can't wait to use them in a quilt!! Have you sewn with them yet?

Patriotic Road

My brother and sister, who have both done a bit of genealogical research, tell me that members of my family fought in the Revolutionary War. Some fought (on both sides) in the Civil War as well. My father was a soldier in World War II. When I made this quilt and named it Patriotic Road, it was as sort of a tribute to the blood shed by my own family members to ensure my freedom.  I am deeply grateful.


Yesterday's post was sort of an experiment with using flickr as a source for uploading pictures to my blog.  I'm not sure the the experiment had a very successful result,
 but then again, it may have just been the fault of the experimenter herself, who doesn't really know what she is doing most of the time!

Today I wanted to share with you a little bit about this scrappy red, white and blue quilt.  


The quilt is my rendition of Bonnie Hunter's 3rd on-line mystery quilt, Tobacco Road, which I finished last October. (It sat for awhile before I actually quilted it.)


As you can see, there are many small pieces in this pattern. The color scheme evolved from my desire to use up many of the reds lurking in the depths of my scrap boxes even though I did not know how the final quilt would look.


Since Bonnie's patterns always involve strip piecing techniques , it was not really as labor intensive as it looks. Using the red bricks  to separate the pinwheels and squares was a "new-to-me" design and required concentration when it came time to lay the parts out on the design wall (tablecloth). When I finally got around to the actual quilting I decided to try to stitch a sort of"stars and stripes" effect. 

A fellow mystery quilter noticed my patriotic color scheme from a photo I posted on the Quiltville website and mailed me fq's of "democrat" and "republican" fabric for the back! Add leftover pinwheels and four patches, star backing  fabric and striped binding to the mix and you've got one Patriotic Road! The original pattern was for a bed sized quilt, but I ended up making a wall hanging size so still have more pinwheels and squares in my "parts" drawer.  Believe me, I'll use them sometime, somewhere!

             I photographed the quilt on a wagon wheel used by my great grandfather.