The last several days have been awfully challenging to be a citizen of this world, let alone a citizen in Florida. Like so many of you, the recent Orlando tragedy has both shocked and saddened me, but I am proud to see that the quilters of the Orlando MQG are banding together to try to bring comfort to those affected by this tragedy, the best way we know how: quilts.

The Orlando MQG is collecting heart blocks and quilts of heart blocks for the victims, victims' families and first responders. There's a very simple heart block tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew you can use right here, or if you're not a fan of stitching and flipping you can download my new free heart paper piecing templates right here. There's no cutting instructions on these templates, they are strictly templates, but they're extremely simple and easy to use.



While you may say, who needs quilts in Florida, you'd be surprised how many my family piles on in the wintertime, not to mention how much joy a quilt draped across a couch can bring. There's loads of ways to get involved if you don't want to make blocks or quilts, and you can check out all of the details right here: The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild.

Have you heard about the 100 Quilts for Kids program, co-hosted by  Katie Blakesley of Swim, Bike, Quilt and the DC Modern Quilt Guild? This charity drive has a super simple premise: Make a quilt or two and donate it to a child in need.


I'm working on a twist to my Sliced Coins quilt-along this year to donate, using some Urban Chiks' Hullabaloo charms that I've had sitting on my shelf for a while. It's so relaxing to do some simple patchwork for once! I was pleasantly surprised that I could manage to put together a cute little quilt top using just a charm pack and a little over a yard of sashing.



Last year, I made what is quite possibly my favorite charity quilt to date, for a young woman's 18th birthday, my Drunk Love quilt, featuring some of my favorite pink and green fabrics.



100 Quilts Blog Hop Participants

There are no words to tell you how much this quilt excites me.  For starters, one of the first modern quilts I ever saw and loved was a drunk love quilt by Denyse Schmidt that I saw in a Martha Stewart Living magazine.  Secondly, this quilt is going to a wonderful home.  I'm donating this quilt via Margaret's Hope Chest's Wrapped in Hope program to a young woman turning 18 next month.  Her name is Kayla and her father is currently in prison.  A part of me hopes that this quilt will be with her through her adventures in young adulthood and that it brings her not only some hope, but some warmth and love.



I used a bunch of different fabric lines for this project - there's some Park Slope by Erin McMorris, lots of June Bug by Alexander Henry, some Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler, a little bit of Wild Garden by Dan Bennett, a Dandelion fabric from Flora & Fauna by Patty Young , my favorite pink stripe from Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey, and some Weekends by Erin McMorris as well.  I really enjoy sewing this way, putting a bunch of random, disparate fabrics together and making them work harmoniously.



I quilted this quilt using a meandering stipple, my go-to quilting style, especially for large quilts like this one.  I contemplated straight line quilting this one with random, slightly wonky lines, but I wasn't sure how it would look so I stuck with my old standby.  I'm pleased with how the quilting really lets the fabrics and the block design shine.


I bound this quilt with a solid Kona Peony pink, opting to stay as simple as possible for the binding.  I machine-bound this quilt, both front and back, and it came together quite beautifully.


Quilt Stats:
Size: 60" x 75"
Fabrics: Park Slope by Erin McMorris, June Bug by Alexander Henry, Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler, Wild Garden by Dan Bennett, Flora & Fauna by Patty Young, Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey, Weekends by Erin McMorris, and Kona Peony for binding
Quilting: All-over meandering stipple in white thread

Thank you guys for all the awesome encouragement you shared on this quilt, it was so amazing to hear what you all had to say.  I'm so glad I kept going with this quilt because I am just in love with how it turned out.


This is going to be a hard one to give away, but I'm really excited to ship it off to Kayla.  After I quilt and bind it, that is.  The quilt top is totally finished, and I have all of the fabric for the backing and the binding.  I think that I'll be spending my first official FNSI quilting this quilt.  I am totally undecided on how I'm going to quilt this one, though, and I'm open to suggestion!


I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself making another drunk love quilt someday for my house - my husband  gave this quilt a pretty high compliment..."It would be really awesome if it weren't for all of the pink."  This quilt was really fun to put together, I loved the freedom of putting the pieces together in such a random and completely different kind of way.  I wasn't sure if my usually organized, rule-following self could enjoy a whole quilt like this, but I really did.  It was a perfect relief from my Single Girl quilt (which happens to be moving moving along again, btw).


I'm sharing this quilt top over at Sew Modern Monday hosted at Canoe Ridge Creations.  Hop on over to see some other modern fabric finishes and have an awesome day!

Part of me wonders if the improv nature of these drunk love blocks would be easier for me if I were drunk...

The more I work on my hope chest quilt for Kayla, the more it feels like I'm not improv-ing enough.  I'm about 20 blocks into this quilt now, it's overtaking my design wall, and while I do definitely love it, I worry that it's too modern for someone I don't even know.  I'm trying not to be too wonky, for fear that someone outside of our little quilting world wouldn't necessarily understand that - I know my mother, for instance, doesn't get the whole wonky thing, she thinks it makes things look a bit shoddy and poorly made.  I disagree, but then again, I disagree with my mother about a lot of things.  ;)


Anyway, so this quilt is moving right along, which makes me happy.  I'm hoping to wrap the blocks up soon so I can get back to wrapping up the blocks for my Single Girl quilt.  I'm feeling pretty recharged and ready to climb that last mountain of curves for those blocks, before it becomes a total UFO.

Sidebar...have you ever been hesitant to cut into the last pieces of fabric for a quilt?  I always like to have extra fabric lying about for a quilt, and with this quilt,I'm using a couple of fabrics I've been hoarding for a while...namely one of my favorite prints from Erin McMorris's Park Slope.  That dark pink swirly print is the one I'm talking about.  I cut up the last of it this morning for this quilt, and it was awfully sad.  It took all I had in me to not hop online and order another half-yard of it from some place.  Are you like that,too, when you use up your favorite fabrics?  Do you rush out to replace them in your stash?

Have an awesome Friday everyone!  And don't forget, Friday Night Sew In is coming up on 3/18, the day before National Quilting Day, and I'm going to participate (officially) for the first time.  Come join in the fun, feed the family and then sew the night away!