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!

Star Flowers

The StarFlower quilt is done... bound... washed... crinkled! I love using all cotton fabric and batting and thread so that when the quilt is washed and dried it will crinkle up.. gives it an old-timey look and feel to me.

This blocks for this quilt came from a group of quilty ladies. One of them donated fabric for the back. I have to admit that the first time I saw it in person I had two thoughts.. first I LOVED IT.. it is very much a ME fabric!  And secondly, I am not so sure this is going to work with the quilt top. I had seen a photo of the fabric, but it was brighter in person and the top is more muted soft colors. Well I love them together! I feel like this is a 2 for 1 quilt.. the front is soothing and comforting and the back is cheery and uplifting!  I think I am going to look at backing fabric a lot differently from now on... not sure I will always aim to be matchy with the front.

I had 4 extra blocks so made up a pillowcase that holds the quilt for shipping and storage and can be used with a pillow if our friend wants.

The quilting is straight line and creates these neat Xs and Star patterns on the back.  My sweet quilty husband, whom I affectionately call the mad quilter, quilted this. The man loves to quilt and is sooo fast!

Cannot wait to mail this off next week... wish I could see the recipient's face when she sees it!

The best part of quilting is giving it away!

"Belle"

Finally some time to sew!

A group of quilting friends are making a love quilt for one of our own. I am the collector of blocks. Saturday my quilting hubby and I had time to lay them out and get them put together into a top. I think it looks great. Tomorrow we plan to get it sandwiched together with the back and some batting and then "Let the quilting begin!"

On a very different note, I had a bit of fun this afternoon. My mother needed a little happy for a young couple in her church expecting their first child.  They are using bees in the nursery decor. I whipped up 3 burp cloths for them.

The how-to for this project can be found here: Basket-O-Burpies

2 things I did differently. The instructions say sew down the top and bottom before the sides. I did that with the first one and ended up with a bit of a crease in the diaper when I sewed down the sides. So for the other two I just sewed the top then the sides and then the bottom. Worked great! Also, I used a straight stitch with the first one.. and it looks fine.. but with the other two I did a small zigzag right along the edge of the fabric. I really like the way it looks.

I will most definitely be whipping up some more of these for future baby showers!

"Belle"

Comfort Quilt

Recently an online quilting buddy went through a series of treatments. One of our mutual friends made her the sweetest quilt using fabric that has certain Psalms already printed on it. I have made a quilt before for a friend going through chemo, but never with the Bible verses. I loved that ! I am a firm believer in the power of God's Word.. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word is alive and active and I can attest to the fact that that is TRUE! Now I don't think a quilt made with Bible verse fabric is magical.. not at all! But it will remind its recipient of the promises of God. So when a dear friend received a devastating diagnosis, I knew I had to make her a Comfort Quilt. I used the Psalms fabric and I also found some really lovely Faith, Hope, Love and Joy Fabric. This is a lap size quilt.. went together super fast. My hubby, who is the speediest quilter I know, quilted it for me in a flash! I love how it turned out. Here are some more pictures:

Love Quilt for a friend

I am part of a wonderful fairly small online quilt group. We are sooo close... it is so difficult to explain how real our relationships are. These ladies are truly my sisters... we all love and support each other... and even offer hard to hear, but needed, advice at times! One of our sweet sisters has been going through a rough time... her husband had a chronic illness, she cares for her parents, cared for her mother-in-law who recently died, and more including all the normal life stuff we all experience. So we decided she needed a Love Quilt to reminder her that God loves her and so do we!

I chose the pattern and fabrics... she loves 1930s repros, so that part was easy. I decided to go with a traditional Churn Dash made with 2 different repros per block and white for the background. I made a couple of blocks and others in the group made blocks and sent

them to me. Once they were all here white sashing was added, a pieced flange and then a cheery yellow border. And then.. it sat.. and it sat.. and it sat.. until finally my sweet husband, who can quilt a quilt on the sewing machine in no time flat said "Want me to quilt that for you?" So I got the label made and on the back... we got it sandwiched and off he went! Basic in the ditch straight line quilting.. which would be true to a quilt made in the 1930s. Added a great purple repro for the binding and it was done! I love how it turned out. My dd wants one like it... my mother wanted this one (so I will be making her one soon)... and to be honest, I really wanted to keep it for myself! But I didn't! I was a good Belle and sent it on to my precious friend who loves it too!

I strongly urge you to use whatever gift God gave you to bless someone else. It is the best feeling! One I get to share with my sweet QWHT sisters who have the biggest hearts I know!