Every Once in Awhile A Girl Needs a Quickie

On my UFO tab I have "box of various themed Happies and orphans for donation quilts" listed.  I probably have enough bits and pieces for about 20 quilts in that UFO box alone.  

Since I signed up for the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge I hunted around in the box for the makings of a quickie quilt or two.  I found about 25 Owl themed 8 inch Happy Blocks in there and some 4.5 inch strips of Owl fabric for the makings of a few more blocks.  (Blocks are 4.5 inch centers and 2.5 inch strips for sides)

Ten additional blocks later I had 35 blocks in a 5 x 7 layout for a 40 x 56 quilt top.  I also found some dotty  fabric in the stash suitable for the backing but after I took this picture on Sunday I found a piece of Owl fabric big enough for the backing and was too lazy to take another pic.  Whoooo knew that with this quickie I could kill two birds with one stone...I'll soon be able to mark another UFO off my entirely-too-long  list and I'll soon have a quilt ready for Happy Chemo. 

Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 

I Think I Need a Bigger Box

I finished up two quilts for donation to Wrap-A-Smile, a partner of Rotaplast International, a non-profit organization that treats children with cleft lip and palate anomaly who otherwise would not receive surgical intervention.  Some of the hospitals where the missions take place have no linens so the quilts cover the operating table during surgery, keep the children warm after surgery and they then get to take their quilt home with them. Sometimes the quilt is the only item of value other than the family's cooking implements. 

See that box? Do you think they will fit? 

Aliens

40 x 58

It consists of a couple of Lotto blocks I won last year from Sunshine Online Quilt Guild's monthly lotto, a few orphan Happy Blocks, some scraps left over from a Quilt of Valor and some 2.5 inch scraps and and some alien fabric from stash. 

Hearts

40 x 58

It consists of a few scrappy heart blocks, another block lotto winning block and some 6 inch orphan blocks along with some 2.5 inch scraps for sashing. 

I had made both tops last year but had to finish some other UFOs in order to have enough left over batting to piece together for these.  I usually buy Queen-sized batting on sale and piece leftovers for these smaller quilts that I quilt on my plain Jane DSM.  I quilted Hearts with flowers and Aliens with stars. 

The last time I put the quilts in a box for mailing I decided it wasn't quite full enough and I could make a couple more quilts to fill it up.

And now I think I need a bigger box. 

I need to find it soon because these are sure taking up space in my sewing room and I now need space for Christmas gifts!

Happy, Happy

I finished my January goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes. 

(Number 122)

Happy Butterflies

40 x 60

I will donate it to Wrap-a-Smile - quilts for kids undergoing cleft lip/palate surgery. 

(See the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild blog  for more information and pictures, ways to donate and then join the Sunshine Yahoo Group.  The Sunshine Yahoo Group makes quilts for Quilts Beyond Borders and Wrap-a-Smile and share emails, photos, challenges, advice, and fun. )

Back to the quilt...well, this is also a UFO finish. You might get tired of all the Happy Block quilts you see me finish up this year from the bottomless box of Happies. 

These blocks started with 6.5 inch centers and have 2.5 inch sides. 

I quilted with freemotion flowers on my Plain Jane sewing machine.  I don't really like machine binding but it is recommended for these quilts.  I'm getting a little better at it but it's far from perfect. The binding was a piece of fabric I picked up at the thrift store.  

My second finish is Happy Cats. It's also 40 x 60 and going to Wrap-a-Smile. 

These Happy Blocks started with 4.5 inch centers, 2.5 inch sides and finish at 8 inches. 

I picked up the gingham for the backing at the thrift store also. I think I have enough for two quilt backs.  The binding was fabric left over from the Happy Butterfly backing. 

I also freemotion quilted this one on my plain Jane sewing machine with some wonky concentric squares. 

Now I'm going to Whoop it up over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

Design Line Monday

44x56

Fall Lottery

This quilt will be donated to Wrap a Smile- quilts for kids undergoing cleft palate/cleft lip surgery.  It is made from 6 blocks won in an autumn color block lottery hosted by the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild and some other miscellaneous scraps, pinwheels and wonky stars. 

Isn't that Scottie Dog cute? They are looking for more "boyish" quilts so hopefully this could be appropriate for a girl or a boy. 

I quilted it with loops and stars on my plain Jane DSM. Looks like I should have gotten a little closer to the edge with my quilting  but that's the way it stays now. I'm also getting better at machine binding. I actually enjoy sewing down binding by hand but I do understand that machine binding is better for kids.

40x52 

 "Happy Cats"

This quilt will also go to Wrap a Smile and I think either a boy or girl would enjoy it. Who doesn't love a happy cat? 

Looks like I hung the quilt upside down so maybe the cats aren't that happy now. 

I think I have a bottomless box of happy blocks in different themes waiting to be made into quilts. 

Quilted on plain Jane DSM with spirals. Looks like I made it closer to the edges on this one with my quilting. And, again, binding is sewn down by machine. 

And now I'm linking to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times. But I guess since I don't have a design wall but do have a clothesline now you know why I titled my post today Design Line Monday. 

Crumby Yellow

I didn't have many yellow scraps for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I had to combine with some orange and red scraps and with a pink background I made some crumby bow tie blocks which have now been turned into a quilt top that eventually will be quilted and go to Wrap a Smile. 

To see what others have done with yellow scraps: Rainbow Scrap Challenge - Scrap Happy Saturday

To learn more about Wrap a Smile visit Sunshine Online Quilt Guild blog (and maybe even join our Yahoo group). 

Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2013 In Review

I promised one quilt for Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo.   And when I was finished with that I decided to make quilts for Quilts Beyond Borders and finished four.   
The five quilts I mailed yesterday are as follows: 

Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo

Quilts Beyond Borders 

Quilts Beyond Borders

Quilts Beyond Borders

Quilts Beyond Borders

To see what others have made as part of the challenge visit Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Nothing But Crumby

I've finished three more crumb quilts for Quilts Beyond Borders (QBB).  I first heard about QBB from Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict as part of her Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge.  Since then the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild (the only guild to which I belong) has decided to also sponsor QBB in addition to Wrap-a-Smile.

I challenged myself this year to 1. Finish up some of my 73 UFOs and 2. To see how many donation quilts I can make this year from scraps.  I've been following along with the color of the month with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge  this year so that keeps me motivated. So far I've completed a donation quilt in all the colors of the month...hot pink, orange, purple, green, sapphire blue

The latest finish is a fish quilt- the Sapphire Blue Fish. Someone with Sunshine posted a link to a Flickr picture of a fish quilt and I knew that would be my next crumb project. 

With my quilting on plain Jane (my DSM) I tried to simulate waves and bubbles in the deep nether regions of the sea and did some loops in the fish.

Crumby Orange Stars is my next quilt.  You can see a secondary pattern and no stars at all if you look at it for too long.  I actually didn't think I had enough orange scraps for a quilt. Surprise, surprise! Where did all that orange come from? 

 I quilted with some orange thread I didn't even know I had in my thread drawer and made an attempt at stars and loops.  I can tell you I'm not an artist!

And this one I'll call Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dream Quilt and it uses scraps of many colors+ muslin.

Oops...I hung it upside down! Oh, well. You can still kind of see the stars and loops I quilted it with.   And, now, after the fourth quilt I'm finally getting a little better at machine binding....just a little. Guess I'll just have to practice a lot more.

So, I've found a box just perfect for these three quilts and the Green Bear Tracks I finished last week. As soon as I get the labels sewn on they will be in the mail.

Feeling really crumby! How about you? 

May I get a Whoop, Whoop, please?  Others are whooping it up over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. What are you whooping about? 

This Memorial Day weekend I will be working on my Quilts of Valor Quilts and doing a virtual sew along with Heartstrings.  You are welcome to join in also!! 

A Tale of Two Finishes

I've finished my quilt for Hand2Help Charity Challenge that I promised for Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo. 

As a side challenge I've challenged myself to see how many donation quilts I can make from my scraps. This quilt used most of my purple scraps.   I first made crumb blocks and then made them into Puss in the Corner blocks.  I decided to use my purple scraps for Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo because that was my mom's favorite color.  She died of breast cancer and while she was in hospice she raved on and on about the purple quilts she had on her bed.   My mom was a drunk and rarely showed that she cared much about anything but she couldn't say enough about how she loved the purple quilts they put on her bed.  Hopefully this purple crumb quilt will give some comfort to someone. 

I quilted it on my DSM with some swirls.  You never know if you can do something until you try. I tried and I guess the swirls don't look too bad as done by an old lady with shaky hands and bad eyesight.

There's all kids of whimsy in the quilt and for a bit of fun I actually put some pusses in the corners of the Puss in Corner blocks. See them? 

I'm not sure how the chocolate chip got into the quilt. Doesn't look purple to me! 

This quilt will go to Quilts Beyond Borders.   It is also a charity sponsored by H2H Charity Quilt Challenge but I don't think I'm going to get this one mailed off by the H2H deadline because I will probably have 3 ready to mail before long and also Sunshine Online Quilt Guild also sponsors Quilts Beyond Borders and Wrap a Smile so I will be sending to both charities the rest of the year. 

This quilt used my green scraps that I made into Bear Track blocks with muslin background.  

Again I quilted it on my DSM but this time just did some loop-de-loops which was a little easier for me to do it seems. 

But, aaargggghhhh...this was my first time doing machine binding. I don't really like the looks of machine binding and actually like to do hand binding.   I'm not really proud of my first attempt. I sewed to the back first and pulled to the front.   One thing I forgot to do was to cut front,back and batting evenly. I'm used to leaving about 1/4 inch of batting and backing all around when I attach the binding to the front of the quilt....Doesn't work very well when you sew to back of quilt and pull to front!!!!!   Anyway, I zigzagged around twice and put through the washer and dryer and it all held together just fine so I guess it will be okay. I think that binding fabric has been around here since the 70s so it finally got put to good use. 

So, do you think I can get a Whoop, Whoop???   Others are whooping it up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Go check out why. 

And, I've finished things up just in time for Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

Are You Special?

Way down deep in the ocean depths dwells the Sapphire Crumb Fish that only special people can see. What do you see?


Fish inspired by a Flickr photo. A link to the photo was posted at the Sunshine Online Quilt Guild Yahoo Group in response to ideas for using floral fabrics to make "kid-friendly" quilts.  I decided it would look cute in crumbs too.  I've challenged myself to use my scraps this year for donation quilts. I'm anxious to see how many I get made and donated.

And, talk about challenges...the color of the month is Sapphire Blue  for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2013.      (Pastel blue and teal/aqua/turquoise will be later). Do check out what everyone is doing with scraps now that they are feeling a little blue at the RSC 2013 linky party at SoScrappy.