Fishies and Clowns

A few weeks ago a friend shared about a co-worker whose son was born with a rare condition that has required 30 surgeries in the 1st year of his life (I cannot imagine it!)  This coming weekend there is going to be a big fundraiser at a local water park for this wee one and his family.  Part of the deal will be selling homemade items, so I decided to make a quilt. and ended up making 2.

Another dear friend who is an amazing quilter makes quilts for things like this all the time.  I so envy her the opportunity to use her talents and creativity to help someone, so I was thrilled when this opportunity came along!

Here are the two quilts I whipped up... I pieced and quilted these.. nothing fancy, but I think they turned out cute. The Mad Quilter added the binding. I hate that part and he does it so well!  I am a blessed woman!

For the boy quilt, I pulled out some circus fabric I had and used it as the focal fabric adding scraps of this and that to create the coins.  I decided to do something similar for the girl quilt.  I found some fishie fabric in my stash. Can't say it is overly girlie, but I think the fabrics used in the braids helped emphasis the female-ness and the pink backing and binding definitely sealed the deal.

I have to show you the back of the Circus quilt. Hubs and I went to a fabric sell shortly before I made these. A local lady had a fabric shop... she still sells online, but has not been able to cover overhead for a brick and mortar shop right now. She had a big sell out of her home to get the word out. We bought several pretty fabrics and when we commented about some fabric she had with big polka dots, she decided to cut some and added it to our mix for free. We were shocked to find 2 yards of it when we got home. I like polka dots but these are soo big that cutting the fabric would chop the dots up and I am not a big red person.  But I knew it would be used at some point. And it was!  It is the perfect fabric for the back of this quilt!  Goes with the Circus theme so well. And I love the striped binding Hubs added.

Also, I don't usually show labels here as they have personal info. I include the name of the recipient.. a Bible verse (always).. the date and who made it.  Sometimes the quilt gets a name. Well these just got a verse. I add my labels before I sandwich the quilt, so they are sewed on to the back and then quilted through. They cannot be removed without destrouying the quilt.  Here are photos of the labels on these quilt just to give you an idea of what my quilt labels normally look like.

I am working on a new project.. slowly but surely.  My quilting time seems to have diminished greatly... hopefully it will pick back up again soon!

"Belle"

Planning the next project....

I have made several kid/baby quilts using the Disappearing Nine Patch method and really like it. I recently saw this BIG Scrappy Version and fell in love...

http://audreypawdrey.blogspot.com/2011/02/scrappy-disappearing-nine-patch-quilt.html

And so I have decided to make a scrappy DNP for the sofa here.  I did go and look at some other ways to lay it out..

http://www.stitcherydickorydock.com/2011/08/scrappy-disappearing-9-patch-tutorial.html

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ9Qx567V6WSW60BMyQOmb7LiTu6V91RnflsVru87PR_9A5DE0j_D0U9JbHgwugHDRaP4ZXK73ijptBPDY7zYaH57cRitVQkllcqsNBTPq_ulJbKw9JsqtEBzBL1N3qbbYJ0wln0K-f7g4/s1600/baby+dnp+finished+001.JPG

http://sarahlovesfabric.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/img_0671.jpg

But as of now I think I am going to go with the same layout as the nig ole scrappy one... but larger blocks!

And I am thinking of backing it with flannel and using no batting. This creates a very lightweight quilt that will be great to use in the summer here. Yes, we do use quilts at times in the summer despite the heat and humidity of the Deep South. :-)

There are many tutorials for making this easy pattern online.  Here are a few:

Disappearing Nine Patch

DNP - The Easy Way

Chickpea Studio's Way

Cluck Cluck Sew's Version

So today I start pulling out stacks of 5" charms (I have lots!).  Sewing Central was disassembled to become the Dining Room for Easter, so hopefully I can get it set back up in the next day or so and start sewing together some 9 patches!

"Belle"

Another Scrappy UFO completed

The Mad Quilter... a.k.a. my husband... strikes again!  Another one of the scrappy tops he made in the last year or so has now become a quilt.  There is only 1 or 2 left, I believe, and he will be caught up. :-)

"Belle"

Sigh.....

I was zipping along.. getting the Circus quilt quilted... and then it happened. I am doing straight line quilting. Had everything done going in one direction. Had only 6 more lines the other way.  CLUNK.. the bobbin hung up... have no idea why. I removed the quilt, took everything apart, cleaned it up, put back together. Sew, sew, sew.. but wait.. where is the bobbin thread? The needle refused to pick it up. I wonder what the bobbin did to the needle to make her so mad!  LOL!

So off to the shop my little machine has gone.  I have an extra, but don't really want to pull it out to finish this up. So I will wait until it is fixed, which should be this week.

In the meantime, I have the Internet full of quilting blogs and sites.. and this came in the mail to give me ideas for future projects...

And of course I could work on hand-work!  I have several UFOs that are in need of handwork.

"Belle"

As for me and my House....

The House Wall hanging is done and hanging in the eating area of our kitchen.. a very prominent spot in our home as it is also open and visible from our den.  I love love love it!  Looks great with the green walls. As much as I love the Snowman Faces we had hanging there (and will love putting it back up next winter!) I think I may love this one more!

2 more tops done...time to sandwich!

Finished up 2 more tops this week.  The House Wallhanging...

I love, love, love the final border fabric. It looks soo good!

And the other charity quilt I am working on... this one is for a girl.

So now it is sandwich time!  These 2 plus the circus themed quilt (also charity) and a scrappy top of hubby's that has been waiting patiently in the linen closet.

I hate sandwiching.. but it is a necessary step for turning tops into  quilts.

"Belle"

Rainy but productive day....

Today has been a rainy day with dropping temps... this Southern girl is downright chilly tonight! With the rain and such, it was a perfect day to stay in and work on quilts.

I finished up the center block of the wall-hanging last night.  I have to make a plug for a product.. Fabri-Solvy by Sulky.  I used my word processing software to layout the verse like I wanted and then printed it on a sheet of Fabric-Solvy.  Peeled off the back and pressed it to the front of my fabric.  I embroidered as usual, but I didn't have to trace the pattern because it was printed on the stabilize and now on the fabric.  Once done, I peeled and cut off the excess.... then soak in warm water for a few minutes to melt away the rest.  I will say that once it dried, it looked as if the thread had run.  So this morning I decided to wash it. My washing machine has a super delicate hand wash setting. I used that and put the block in a mesh bag.  The rest of the stabilizer along with the excess dye from the thread came right off!  It air dried with no problem and has now been united with the Happy Scrappy House blocks that I had pieced this weekend.

My husband put the top together with sashing and corner stones. He is much better (and more patient) doing those corner stones than me!  I think it is looking great...

Next we needed 1 more fabric for a final border... tried lots of things we have here, but nothing really seemed to suit it. So... a trip to the fabric store was made and this was found..

It doesn't show up here too well, but there are green leaves here and there along with the blue ones. Works really well with the green sashing.  Can't wait to see it added to the top.

While at the store I picked up some pink fabric. Not because I love pink (which I do!!!!), but for a quilt I started today. I am making another quilt for a charity bazaar. I found this fabric in my stash...

Pulled some 2 1/2 inch strips and started making braids with fabrics that I feel "coordinate" with the fishies.

Once all the braids are done, I will use them for the top with some sashing between them and a small inner border that matches it.  Then the fishies will be the outer border. It is going to be a bright quilt!  I have no doubt some little girl will love it.

Here are the pinks I bought..

One of them will be the sashing and inner border.. don't know which one yet.  The leftovers? well they will go in the stash. The pink boxes (yes boxes!) are getting slim and there are 2 baby girl quilts to be made before summer!

All and all this rainy day has been a good one... tomorrow is already full, so won't be a lot of fabric time happening.  Hoping to have the wall hanging and maybe the fishie quilt tops done and ready to sandwich by the weekend.  The circus quilt is waiting patiently along with another scrappy top from last year.  Saturday will probably be a "deli" day.. gonna be making lots of quilt sandwiches!  :-)

"Belle"