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.