100 Quilts for Kids - #1

I am so glad today is Friday.  The weather is going to be cool this weekend and I'm hoping to stay in my pajamas as much as I can.  Yeah!

My first quilt for the 100 Quilts for Kids is complete and I just love it!  This quilt is going to Coweta Pregnancy Services and will be part of a basket that is given to newborn babies.  I pray this quilt will provide some hope and comfort to the family it goes to.  The local pregnancy services center also runs a boutique called The Hope Boutique and the mother's can earn "mommy dollars" by attending pregnancy and parenting classes.  The moms can use these dollars at the boutique to buy new and gently used baby and maternity items.  What a great way to provide help to these women in their moment of need.

I'm really happy with the way this quilt turned out.  I won the charm pack of Neptune from Kate (thanks, Kate!) who is sponsoring the 100 Quilts for Kids so I knew I wanted to pay it forward and make the quilt to donate to a child.  I mixed the Neptune with some Kona solids and a polka dot I already had in my stash.  The back is mainly the polka dot with a stripe of the navy and some of the leftovers from the charm pack.

Hope you have a great weekend!

WiP Wednesday - #17

Hello Wednesday!  I'm happy to see you.  As usual, I'm linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced.  Linking up to WiP Wednesday is about the only way I can keep all my quilting ducks in a row.  It may not be a straight row, but it's a row at least.

Finished:
I don't have any completely finished projects this week.

In Progress:
I started working on my Kitchen Windows quilt using Heirloom in the sapphire colorway.  I have it cut out and on the design wall.

Bottled Rainbows - no new progress except that I collected some blue scraps at my quilt guild meeting.  That was a lot of fun.

New Projects:
-I haven't admitted it to myself but I think I'm secretly participating in Lily's QAL for the Dead Simple Quilt.  I have the palette chosen, the layout all finished and the fabrics all purchased.  Time to get out of denial, huh?

-My second new project is going to take me a while to finish.  Here's a peek at what it will be.  I'll tell you more about it later.

Waiting for Binding:
The Grandmomma was good to me this week.  She finished the long arm quilting on 3 of my quilts and now they are ready for binding.  That will be my weekend project! yeah!

Hope you all have a great day!

Eager

So my 8 year old was in the mood to sew yesterday.  She wanted to make a stuffed doll and that sounded like a great idea to me.  Here she goes...

and little sister will be 6 in two short weeks and will be getting her very own sewing machine.  Does she look ready?

Quilter in the making (I hope!) but I'll be happy with anything she wants to sew.  Actually, if she learns to make clothes or window treatments or bags, yes bags, that would be great!

Little sister is watching every move her big sister makes.  Love it!

What a nice way to spend some time in the afternoon.  Waaaaay better than playing video games or watching TV - and they didn't even fight.

WiP Wednesday - #16

Hi there!  Hope you are all having a great day today.  I didn't post last Wednesday so I'm anxious to go over to Lee's and see what everyone is up to this week.

Finished:
I made this Circle of Geese block.  That took a little time but it was worth it.

I finished my Summer Sampler top and now I'm waiting for fabric to arrive for the backing and then I will send it off to be quilted.

I also finished my second 100 Quilts for Kids top and sent it off to be quilted.  I mixed my Neptune charm pack (Thanks, Kate!) with some solids and I just love how it turned out.  I'll show the whole quilt once it's totally complete.

In Progress:
Bottled Rainbows - have all the blocks sewn together just need to attach to the batting.
Heirloom - I'm cutting the fabric for this quilt today!  That makes me so happy!

New Projects:
Have you seen this QAL that is starting up over at Lily's Quilts?

I really want to participate in this QAL but I have no business starting something else new right now.  I'm not sure if I can resist it though.  I'm just so enamored with solids right now and I already have enough solids that I wouldn't have to buy anything, so why not?  What's one more little project?

I should really start the applique quilt that I am going to make for my oldest daughter.  I'll tell you what's holding me back besides the 100 little pieces that have to be cut out and appliqued to it.  It's one of those projects that just take up precious work space.  You know what I mean?  The designer of the pattern suggests that when you start the pattern you make a space where it can be spread out and left there until it's complete and even ironed there.  I don't really have that kind of space.  I'm going to figure something out though because this quilt will be totally worth it.

Hope you have a Happy Wednesday!

Embroidered Family Quilt

Look what I found at the top of my closet!  It's an embroidered family quilt that I didn't know I had.

I didn't even know this quilt existed.  I was in my closet looking for the first quilt I ever made and this quilt fell off the top shelf and what a great find it was!  It was pieced and embroidered by my Grandma who I have blogged about before here.  My Mom says that Grandma made one for each of her grandchildren.  The two squares on the top left are my Grandma and Grandpa.

I don't know who added the blue embroidery in the pink sashing that has the date of  March 11, 1970 with the arrow pointing to my Grandma's block but that totally cracks me up and makes me love whoever added that little tidbit of information in there that way.  That arrow just tickles me.  At least there's no question about who made the quilt or when it was made!  The muslin blocks almost look like the letter "F" to me but that has no meaning in our family so I guess it is some other autograph or signature block. The top date is the birth date of the person and the bottom space is to record the date of death.  Someone wrote a date in my Grandma's bottom space but that is not when she died.  My Mom and I cannot figure out what that date might have meant.

Here's my block.

These two squares are my Dad and Mom.

You can see by the handwriting in that block that 32 years ago today my Dad died.  That's a long time to be without a father but I thank God everyday for my Mom and the great job she did raising me and my siblings.

On a lighter note, looked who ranked a square on the quilt.   Sorry Christy the cat, I have no memory of you.

But I do remember Brownie the dog, he was my brother's golden retriever.

I did find the very first quilt I ever made and one day I will show that one to you.  It's great.  Anyone want to take a guess at how old I was when I made it?

Dead Simple Quilt

I'm seriously looking at color palettes since I'm considering my next all solids quilt.  I have been a follower of Design-Seeds for a while and always drool over the color palettes.  Seriously.  It's easy to lose track of time and everything else when I get on there because of all the inspiring colors and photographs on that site.

Lynne at Lily's Quilts is hosting a Dead Simple QAL.  It's not something I can start on right away but I had a lot of fun going through and choosing a palette anyway.  The focus of the QAL is not the quilt pattern but the color palette.  It's going to be a very simple, easy pattern made interesting by the awesome solid colors.  This is right up my alley.  I want to hurry up and finish all my other WiPs so I can start this!

I'm so in love with this palette from Design-Seeds.

What do you think?  Like it? Love it? 

Friday Flickr Favs

I am so in love with Diamond quilts these days.  One day I will make one.  Aren't these gorgeous?

1. Diamonds full of Flowers, 2. Aqua diamonds, 3. Innocent Crush Diamonds Front, 4. nicey jane diamonds, 5. CIMG7439, 6. Tufted Tweets quilt

Have a good weekend everyone!  This is my only blog post of the week.  I may not have been blogging but I have been sewing!