Pincushion Swap

I have shared here before that I am blessed to be part of a small online quilting community.  I love these women dearly and only wish we were closer together geographically. We range from Oregon to the UK... from Rhode Island to South Louisiana.. and many places in between.  We chat and share.. laugh and cry... and a few times a year we do something quilty together... swap fabrics,  participate in a Round Robin, have some sort of challenge.. ugly fabric, UFO... this summer we decided to have a pincushion swap. I was thrilled!  I collect pincushions.. my collection is small, but growing. I am picky. I prefer hand-made pun-cushions to store bought ones.

Once we decided to do this swap, I knew exactly what I would make.  I have made several of these over the years. One for myself and some for others. Here is the tutorial I use.. it is great!  Pincushion Organizer

Here are the ones I made for the swap:

2 of the ladies have already received a Pincushion Organizer from me. One as a birthday happy and one as part of another swap. So I made a different pin cushion for them.

I had so much fun with these that I made an extra one for me, as well as that little square guy.  And a few extras to have on hand to share with other friends.  I am thinking this technique would be cute for quilted Christmas ornaments!

Here is the tutorial for these:  Patchwork Hearts

And one final photo that I had to share.. my little furry shadow, Mac. He was determined to get my attention away from quilty stuff and onto him!

"Belle"

Anthropologie... nope just looks it...

My son's girlfriend is an artsy-craftsy kind of girl who loves to make things for folks.  2 of her cousins had babies this year... both sweet little girls... so JJ decided to whip up some baby quilts.  You can see the first one here... Bunting Baby Quilt

The 2nd quilt is simple, but classy. Very modern. Looks like something from Anthropologie. The new mommy and daddy loved it.. pretty sure the baby did too!

Good Job, JJ!

Isn't this birdie fabric too cute!?

"Belle"

Scrappy Fun

My husband pulled out the scrap boxes a month or so ago and whipped up a bright, fun scrappy quilt top... and then proceeded to quilt it up in no time.  He is so fast!

Here is a photo of his latest scrappy creation...

If you wonder about all these random scrappy quilts and what we do with them, I'll tell you. They start out living with us. Occasionally one is claimed by someone in the family.  But if not, then the quilt is available to be sent forth to share a bit of love with others.  We like having these on hand for when a need arises.  We have given them to shelters.. to our son's girlfriend who moved into her apartment on a Friday in winter to find no electricity would be available until Monday.  She "borrowed" a scrappy quilt and it never came back. :-)  We have given them as comfort quilts when someone needs a reminder that they are loved and prayed for.  And yes, we have some just hanging around here. We go like to rotate all our quilts from closet to couch or bed and give them air and use.  I feel certain whichever ones remain here will be claimed by a child or grandchild one day. In the meantime, we will keep on stitching!

Summer Colors for a Summer Baby

A sweet young couple in our church just welcomed Baby #3 into their family... yesterday in fact!  When I heard the nursery was bright colors.. pink, teal and orange.. I knew this was going to be a fun quilt to make!  I went with a really simple nine patch pattern and let the fabric do the talking!  And oh the fabric!  The nine patches are from scraps on hand in the stash. Some of the larger quares are from stash fabric, but a few were purchased just for this project. I think the colors are very summery and very fitting a little girl born in Summer. 

The Mad Quilter quilted it using orange thread creating fun linear patterns (so architectural! LOL) I how it looks on the back.  It adds a whole new dimension to this already fun quilt. The back, by the way, is a vintage sheet in the softest pink color.. and feels just as soft. So sweet. This was fun to make.. I would take one for myself!

Lots more has been happening in sewing central. Completed top (soon to be quilted)... finished quilt.. pincushions galore.. photos coming soon!

"Belle"

Recent Purchases

Ran to Hancocks to get some basting spray recently (I love the Sullivan's spray they sell and it was on sale!)  They had tables full of fabric marked down from 20 - 60 % off. I found 2 that were 50% off.  Cute, Cute!  .... Kid Themed... I have no plans for either one as of yet, but I know there will be more kiddie quilts in the future and these will be great jumping off points.

Cowboys and Butterflies... can't go wrong with those!

While waiting in line to have the fabric cut, I spotted this... and bought it.

I hate to rip stitches and have the most trouble seeing what I need to see.  I have actually used this once and it work pretty well. Not perfect. The magnifier moves with the ripper which is a bit awkward on the eyes.  But overall it is works.. I will definitely continue to use it.

"Belle"

Colorful HSTs

My husband just finished up a quilt for a friend in his office. She had a great niece born recently and asked him if he would make a quilt for the baby. The co-worked picked that pattern and bought all the fabrics.  I think it turned out cute. Definitely bright and cheery!

"Belle"

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"