Quilts and a Smile

I have a great group of quilts to show you today!

This quilt was donated by a member of the local quilt guild.  What a great use of all of those half-square triangles we all have left over!  The colors are great.

Judith pieced this quilt made from brights.  

Karen added the backing and the gorgeous quilting.

You may think every quilt that comes our way makes the cut. Not so!!  They must be carefully tested by my cat.  This one passed her test!

I gave Deb a panel and asked her to come up with something.  This is her stunning result.

Sandy took it, added backing and quilted it. It turned out gorgeous!  It just shows that we all have our specialties when it comes to these quilts.

I also gave Deb a pretty panel that I had no idea what to do to make it usable for us.  She once again cut the panel and added her touch.  I think this one is outstanding.

 

Shannon added the backing and quilting.  The quilting always makes a good quilt top even better.

This quilt is a favorite of mine.  I love the scrappy borders and binding.  Susan pieced this and made the binding.

Karen added Dr. Seuss to the back and quilted it to give it a great swirly motion to compliment the "Flying Geese".

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Kathy made this stunning quilt.  It is so simple but it is simply sweet.  The colors are soothing.

Kathy also added backing and quilted it.

There's nothing like a smile to make your day!

Being Grandma

I thought a good way to start out today's blog is to post a picture of Simon and I taken while we were in DC recently.  The weather was wonderful so Greg and I took Simon on a little tour of the neighborhood.

Life has been totally wild recently.  Between "being grandma" for two weeks, traveling to meetings, and keeping up with the quilts, I have been hopping!  Oh, and then there is March Madness.  It has been total madness for the Kansas Jayhawks (my team).  They are playing for the championship on Monday night.  That is a total surprise for the fans.

I've got some fun quilts to show you.

Is this totally fun?  There is something about the color combinations in this quilt that I love.  We've used this pattern before and I always like the way it turns out.  The quilting really adds to the finished quilt.

What do you see?  I see a fun, colorful quilt that someone is going to really enjoy!

This is a panel that Deb added borders to.  Sandy took it and added some fun race car fabric that fits the theme of this quilt perfectly.  She also added detailed quilting.

This quilt was donated to us by our local quilt guild.  I don't know who made it, but it is just so cute!  I love sailboats so I was delighted to find this quilt in those given to us by the guild.  The quilted "waves" is just perfect for this quilt.  A big thank you to whoever made this for us.

We have made and donated many, many quilts. We do get thank you notes from time to time but very seldom do we have a connection to who received a quilt.  Recently some good friends had their youngest child in the hospital.  Caroline was quite ill for a number of days.  I was quite delighted when I found out Caroline had received the quilt above.  Judith had pieced this one and Karen had added the bright backing and quilting.  I was so proud that we had a hand in making the days in the hospital better for Caroline and her mom and dad.  Although we know we make a difference, this was a definite confirmation.

Okay, one last picture of Simon!  I promise, it won't be the last.  The quilt in the background?  I made it for me, Joel liked it, and it went home with him.  Simon loves to look at it and he actually coos at it as if they are friends.  It is too cute.

Come back for more fun quilts!

I made it!  After weeks of looking forward to my time with Simon (and Joel and Cara), I am finally here in DC.  Simon is so sweet.  He is such a good baby.

My duties  while I am here is to do daycare while the kids are at work.  Daycare in DC is a real issue.  So while that issue is being worked out, family is filling in as daycare.  Lucky me!!

Life in DC is quite different.  That is certainly not to say it is bad at all.  I am amazed at it and how these two Midwestern kids grew up and are totally immersed in the city.  They live in a historic area of DC called Foggy Bottom.  Their home is the second and third level of a three level townhouse.  There is a Starbucks less than two blocks away in every direction and George Washington University is only a block away.  The White House??  Eight blocks away.  Presidental Motorcades go by the townhouse frequently.  Marine One, the helicopter the President travels in, goes overhead.  It is a facinating city to say the least.  The best thing in the city without a doubt though is Simon!

Even though I am in DC, the need for quilts still exists.  Thanks to some help from some great people, we were able to get a stack to the hospital and a stack waiting to be delivered.  Greg has stepped up and volunteered to make the delivery.  As I have said before, it takes a village for sure!

I've got some great quilts for you.

This quilt was pieced and donated to us.  The bright squares really work well.

Shannon added an awesome backing and her magic quilting.

This awesome quilt was made and donated by someone in our local quilt guild.  Of course, the yellow makes it!

Not only did someone piece this but she also hand quilted it!  I consider that a labor of love.  Isn't the backing fabric fabulous?

This quilt is a perfect example of how our process works.  I cut a kit and passed it on to Teresa.  She pieced it, returned it, and I passed it on to Shannon.

Shannon added the backing and the quilting.  She passed it back to me and I added the binding.  I love the fact that we all do different things and do what we like to do.

Everyone told me being a grandma was going to be awesome.  They were right.  Awesome doesn't even begin to describe it.  Simon is truly a delight.  The only thing better is if there were two of him!

Creativity

Creativity and neatness are not always compatible.  Have you noticed how things can be all in their place and your sewing room nice and neat?  You go in to work on a project, get sidetracked by an idea, and before you know it your sewing room is a mess. The project you are working on is here, some scraps you want to trim over there, the beginnings of a disappearing 9 patch right under your feet.  Yes, creativity is flowing!  One of the problems I run into is that although I am constantly trying to use up our scraps for the quilts, I am creating more scraps all the time.  Add that to the fact that I have many more ideas than I do time and I have stacks of ideas everywhere!  My sister seems to have the same problem. We've discussed possible solutions and decided the only thing to do is to sew our way out of it.  We both are optomistic.   If only we have more time to sew and less cooking and cleaning to do, we can complete all of our "ideas" and just "sew our way out of the mess!"

Maybe we should just go ahead and look at some quilts.  At least we are getting some things done!

 

This is a fun quilt!  It is a disappearing 9 patch--fun to cut and fun to sew.  With patches of ducks, stars, and the alphabet among others,  it shows off some great color.

Sandy added a red with white stars backing and some fun quilting.

Kathy pieced this quilt for us.  It is our basic four patch with focus squares.

This close up shows the focus fabric is soccer players.  The black and white four patches mimic the look of the soccer balls.

This backing is great with soccer balls and sports figures.  Kathy also quilted this one.

 

Shelly's Mom, Lois, pieced this quilt  It has a great flannel football fabric.

I had bought several yards of this rust fabric to use as a backing for a quilt I had made for myself.  It turned out to be not what I wanted.  As I was looking for something to use on this quilt, I ran across the rust fabric.  It turned out to be just the right choice for the footballs!

Sandy pieced this very traditional looking quilt.  It has an old fashioned scrappy feel.

Sandy added a soft floral backing and great quilting to add to the old fashioned feeling.

Judith took a stack of fat quarters that had been donated to us.  This darling St. Patrick's Day quilt is the result.

The backing gives it a fun and whimsical feeling.  I would not have guessed this quilt would turn out so cute!

I hope you enjoyed the quilts today.  I am off to Virginia tomorrow for a quick trip.  The weekend will find me trying to sew my way out!!!

 

An Increasing Demand

I have been planning on posting an update for days now.  Four days in Michigan last week plus a sudden increase in the need for quilts for the hospital has put those plans on hold.  Unfortunately, we are seeing more sick kids right now so keeping up with the demand can be a challenge at times.

Let's get right to looking at some quilts.

I love this quilt.  First of all, it has the cutest yellow dot fabric.  Of course, I love that.  It also has a print in the border that is pencils.  It is too cute!!  Shelly's mom lives in Salina, KS and has now made about a dozen quilts for us.  Be watching--I'll be posting more of her quilts.  A big thank you to her for all her work!

A fun backing of blue with umbrellas and lots of different words make this quilt a fun one for either a boy or girl.  (Isn't that yellow dot fabric just the best??)

This is a kit I cut and passed on to Teresa.  She pieced it and I think it turned out great.

If you look closely, the patterned blocks are brightly-colored ladybugs.  Sandy added a wild batik for the backing and added some fun quilting.

This quilt was pieced by Kathy.  Strawberry Shortcake fabric is always a favorite with little girls.

Blue backing and great quilting by Kathy added the finishing touch.

These are just a few of our latest quilts.  I have lots more to show you, but my time is short tonight.  I will be posting again tomorrow so come back and take a look at more of our great quilts.  Thanks for looking!  Hope your day is a good one.