It's a Great Day

Today is a great day.  Actually yesterday was too.  It started out with our getting thank you notes from two of the kids we have given quilts.  The first note was actually from Eli's mom thanking us.  Eli got a quilt with his favorite colors--blue, yellow, and green.  He likes it so much he sleeps with it every night!  The second note was from Justin who is 3 years old.  He said he was scared but he just pretended the hospital was his "hotel".  He calls his quilt his "sick blankie" and he said it made him feel better.  He also sent a picture he had colored and a photograph of him with his quilt.  Talk about positive reinforcement!  After opening those, I went back to my sewing room and just sewed faster! 

Another reason today is a great day is the number of quilts we have now donated to Lawrence Memorial Hospital is 40.  We have lots more in progress and many more that will be needed but I think 40 is outstanding. That is a lot of quilts and I could not do this without the wonderful group of women who are involved.  There are lots of ways to be involved--some small, some large, but they all make such a difference.

Yes, of course.  This is one of my favorite quilts.  Surprise!  I love the turquoise and peach color scheme of this.  I didn't actually plan it that way.  I had the print fabric and had to come up with something to do with it.  This is what I ended up with and I couldn't like it anymore if I had planned it. Susan sewed this one and I think she was as excited about it as I was. I had to take it to the hospital quickly before I was tempted to keep it.

The back of this is very plain but the peach is such a great color.

This quilt is made with scraps a friend gave me.  Blue and yellow are always a cheery combination.

The backing is a gorgeous piece of fabric.  You can never go wrong with blue and yellow!

I hope you enjoyed seeing a couple of our latest quilts. While we may have used a fabric in more than one quilt or made several with the same design, none of our quilts are duplicates.  Each one is unique.  The only thing that is constant about each quilt is the piece of us we put in each one.

I hope you put a piece of yourself  in everyday.

Amazement

Marla has asked me to "guest blog."  She is actually the Queen of Blog, but I think she wants more time to quilt, so here we go.  I am the rookie of the Pieces group.  Although I have been a lifetime seamstress, my efforts have been focused on sewing apparel for our three children (now wonderful adults) and home decor and gifts.  What I have in common with Marla is the love of fabric.  The sight, the feel, and yes, even the smell of fabric is amazing.  Through the years, when I'm having one of THOSE days at work, I will slip off to a fabric store over lunch just to browse and run fabulous fabrics through my fingers.  It is my addiction.  What is new to me is this world of quilting or more accurately, this world of quilters.  They are amazing.  When we first started spreading the word of our project, hoping to recruit help and donations'  I was hopeful to accumulate a few odds and ends of fabric.  I recall commenting to Marla, "Where will we store the fabric if we do get a large amount?"  Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine or understand the generosity and kindness of quilters.  It is amazing  The donation of fabric that has been made and help that has been offered leaves me speechless.  The fun and joy we have in creating and delivering the quilts--well, the whole is just AMAZING!!  Hope you are having an amazing day.

Shelly

Inspiration

There is nothing like a trip to a quilt store for inspiration.  You walk in and see a vast array of fabric, patterns and quilts. You touch it, you imagine what you could do with it and you want to take it all home.  If you are a quilter, you know what I mean.  If you are not a quilter, you think we are obsessed.  And that would be true.  I am obsessed.  I love fabric and I thrive on figuring out what would be fun to do with it. This is one reason the quilts we are making are so fun.  Figuring out what to do with some scraps someone has donated is sometimes a challenge but so rewarding when you end up with a quilt some little boy or girl falls in love with.  I guess you could say it is like putting a puzzle together.

Now for some quilts.

                         This quilt has a great underwater print with fish, coral and sea creatures.

The back of the quilt is very bright and cheery.

This quilt is one of my favorites.  (Have you heard that before??)  It is shades of greens and pink and peach.  The quilting was done by one of our quilt fairies and is just exquisite.  This quilt was made by Shelly with just 4 1/2" squares that were leftovers.  She did a great job putting them together.

The back is a sweet pink with flowers and touches of green leaves.  Hopefully you can see a bit of the quilting. 

Now that you've seen some of our ideas for using scraps, does anyone have any suggestions for using camouflage fabric?  Using it may require a lot more thinking on my part!  Leave me a comment if you have ideas!  Thanks as always for following the blog.  Feel free to leave me a note.  I love hearing from you.

Look Underneath

Have you seen the shows about Hoarders? There are several different ones.   They show people who are addicting to saving things.  Their homes are overwhelmed with things they buy, trash they don't throw away, rotting food, and all kinds of unimaginable things. A television crew comes in and films while a team cleans their way through the house all the while making sure you are totally disgusted at the filth. The news reports about a woman whose husband told the police she was missing.  The police searched, using cadaver dogs. Her husband found her several days later under a pile of trash in their home. True story!!  Now I want to make it clear...I am not a hoarder!!  My house is somewhat in order even if I haven't dusted.  My trash is thrown away and I have vacumned in the last two days.  But I do have a little secret.  I love to save scraps.  I save scraps of all sizes.  As long as they are one inch wide and one inch long I save them.  You can always use those to start a log cabin quilt block.  The good news is that not only do I save them, I use them!  Those triangles you cut off corners?  Saved.  You make half square triangles with them and use them for all sorts of things.  Borders, blocks, whatever your imagination comes up with.  It isn't really the saving that excites me.  It's the fact you can take a scrap that a lot of people just toss in the trash and use it for something.  Kind of like the last squeeze in a bottle of shampoo.  I can't justify just tossing it.  That being said, I have been sewing lots of half square triangles.  They make great pinwheel blocks.  My sister and I have made a deal.  I sew them and she takes them and comes up with a way to use them in our kids quilts.  Nothing goes to waste!

Just a few of the thousands I have done. 

Now, on to the quilt for today.  This is one my sister made from....you guessed it...our scraps.  Isn't it amazing what some random scraps can end up being?  I think it is a great quilt.

How can you not love those bright colors?  Doesn't it make you smile just looking at it?

And you thought the front was bright?  How about these jungle animals.  No matter which side the kids look at there is lots of cheer in this quilt.  Even my cat (down in the corner) is trying to get a closer look.

There are three things I would like for you to consider from today's blog.

1.  Stop!  Don't throw away that scrap.  Someone can use it.

2.  If you don't want your scraps, the kids and I do!  We'll make a quilt for them with it. Just leave me a comment and I will return a message to you.

3.  If I go missing, please tell my husband Greg to look under the scraps!

Zoo Animals

I am spending the day today with two of my favorite things to do--watching college football while I quilt.  I seem to be more productive when there is something I like on tv and I love watching college football.  I always pick a team to cheer for even if I don't know the team.

This week has been busy finishing up quilts I picked up from the ladies who graciously quilted them for us. I want to share one of them with you.  It is bright, cheery, and has a great backing.

Zoo animals are fun for the kids--they can hunt for their favorite animal.

No animals were harmed in the making of this quilt!!

The back of this quilt is almost more fun than the front.  Zebras, zebras, zebras.  I think they look like they are just ready to say something to us!

Check back for more pictures.  We have some great quilts in the works and I can't wait to share them.

Just a random thought--Can you imagine all the good we could do if every person did one nice thing for one other person?  It wouldn't be a big commitment of time or money but would make such a difference for someone.  We never know how the little bits of kindness grow into something great.

Quilting Angels

Three ladies have now offered to quilt a few quilts for our group.  I have gotten four back from them and we are getting bindings put on.  When they are done, I'll be sharing pictures of them.  These ladies do fantastic work.  They are so talented and have really given us a boost in getting the quilts ready.  A big thank you to them--truly angels sent to help.
I just received 9 quilt tops from Susan today.  She has been sewing her fingers off!  They are all different and really some fun quilts.  I can't wait to get them quilted with binding and labels on so I can show them off.  The kids are going to love these.

I have to admit I feel like these quilts are my kids.  I love each and every one of them and it is almost hard to give them away.  I can't decide which is my favorite.  Ok, Joshua and Joel--you are my favorites--the quilts come in second.  The quilts do each have their own personality though and I love them all.  Susan and I say frequently, "This might be our best one ever."   



I call this quilt Crazy Cats.  It is fun and full of color.

The second quilt I chose to show you today is a wonderful red and blue--great for a boy or girl.  I love the focus fabric in it.  The pattern in the fabric reminds me of a quilt itself.



Please feel free to leave me a comment.  I love hearing from everyone and appreciate the comments.





Fabric Travels

One of the interesting things about our project is seeing where our fabrics have come from.  When we started, we literally had next to no supplies.  As we mentioned to our friends what we were doing, we started having people say, "I have some scraps you can have."  From there it has blossomed.  We have gotten anything from small scraps to lots of yardage.  Sometimes it is a challenge to put together fabrics that coordinate.  Other times they seem to fall out of my closet together.  We have gotten fabrics as close as our own closets to states across the nation.  Some of the first came from Washington, D.C.  Some came from Oregon, Arizona, and Michigan.  And of course friends in Kansas have given us what they can.  Fabric has come from friends, friends of friends, and total strangers.  One person donated thread.  Several people have left fabric and batting with my hairdresser. You never know what we will get next and where it may come from!

Hopefully everyone had a nice and relaxing holiday weekend.  The change to fall weather will bring an increase in children becoming ill.  We are gearing up and trying to finish as many quilts as we can.  The increase will result in the quilts being given out quickly so we need to try to stay ahead and have quilts ready to go.

Here's a block that I have been playing with.  It is a very simple and quick block, but I think it can be very effective in different color options.  The hospital keeps telling us the brighter the quilts the better, but we just can't help making some soft and sweet ones too.

There are lots of possiblities  to work with on this block.

This is a great flannel quilt that my sister put together using leftover blocks from a quilt she made for her family.  It was fast and easy--great for an older boy.

This quilt is a favorite of mine--bright but still easy to look at.

Sometimes the back of the quilt can be as much fun as the front.

I hope you enjoyed this sampling of blocks and more quilts from our stash.