Fabric donations for a worthy cause

Hello, lovely and generous blog friends.

:o) ♥

My cousin, Mary Ann, has battled breast cancer over the past year. She has seen her way through a mastectomy and chemo treatments, and she has reconstructive surgery looming in her near future.

After her mastectomy, the hospital gifted Mary Ann with a small heart-shaped pillow to use under her arm where lymph nodes had been removed. A little confused about the value of the pillow initially, she learned first hand what a comfort it was and how much it helped her through such a painful time of healing.

The hearts that the hospital hands out are donated by the generosity of women like my cousin. And now Mary Ann is doing her part to give back to her community by sewing and stuffing heart-shaped pillows. She donates them to the breast cancer center where she received treatment herself.

Several months ago I sent some of my fabric scraps to her and she was able to make more hearts to donate. I love looking at the photo above and seeing some of my mom's fabric in the mix. ♥ Once in a while Mary Ann posts on Facebook, asking for fabric scrap donations and I think she has just about tapped out all her local resources.




So I thought it would be a good idea to reach out to my lovely blog friends and see if any of you might have extra fabric scraps you'd be willing to donate to this worthy cause.

Cotton fabrics are good, and we'll avoid anything that would have a rough or scratchy texture... obviously. The fabric scraps need to measure at least 11" x 11" to be able to be used for Mary Ann's hearts. 

If you are interested in donating some fabric scraps for Mary Ann's community service effort, you can email me at djturtle@cox.net (or send a private message to PaperTurtle on Facebook) and I'll share Mary Ann's mailing information with you.

And if you don't have fabric to donate, maybe you'll lift a sweet little prayer for Mary Ann. We pray for her strength, grace and continued healing, and we give thanks for her unselfish service to her community.

♥

Mandala Zipper Pouch

Hey, guess what!

I made something!
Big surprise: it includes a mandala.

:o) ♥

I needed a little zipper bag for my colored pencils and other mandala drawing supplies, so I made this bag back in April. I am finally getting around to sharing it here on my blog!

I have some decent sized scraps of canvas fabric, so I cut a piece to size for the bag I was making. For the mandala, I cut a large circle template from a piece of cardstock and folded it a few times to make my grid lines. Then I traced it onto a piece of canvas fabric already cut to size for the bag I was making.

I used Sharpie markers to draw directly onto the fabric. I found that it was best to keep the pen moving, otherwise the ink would soak in and bleed into the fabric.

Then I stitched it up. {There are all kinds of online tutorials for making zipper pouches. I found this one for you in case you'd like to try.} My bag is lined with muslin - here's what the inside looks like...

And the back side of the bag...

And the bag in use...

Have you discovered the beauty of drawing mandalas?

You can see my simple mandala tutorial here.

♥

A quilt for my niece

I have been wanting to try my hand at sewing triangles for the longest time, and was inspired by a quilt I saw on Pinterest last year. I loved the herringbone pattern as opposed to the more common chevron designs, so I pinned it and then started the process. I bought the fabric, cut all the squares, cut them into triangles, sewed half of the rows, and then set it aside. Once I'd started my yoga teacher training last summer the whole quilt making gig was moved to the back burner for a while.

This quilt is for my niece, Britny, and I knew we'd be seeing her when Carrie and I traveled to California last week. I really wanted to give her the quilt in person, so after Christmas I got back to it with sheer determination to finish it before our trip.

Oh my gosh I loved making this quilt for Britny! I loved thinking of her as I sewed, remembering what a sweet little girl she had been, and feeling so proud of the amazing young woman she's grown into. All those gray and white triangles came together nicely in a true labor of love.

It was so cool to give the quilt to Britny in person last week. She stayed in our hotel room with Carrie and me for the first two nights of our California trip, so I actually got to spend a couple of days seeing her wrapped in her quilt. It was so awesome to see it finished, off of my sewing table, and wrapped around the sweet girl it was meant for.

Next quilting project?
Well, I have a friendship quilt to assemble...

♥
Inspiration for this quilt was found here.
I used this tutorial for a quick and easy way to make half-square triangles.

Just a Quote for Friday

"Perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages."

~ George Washington

A quilt for baby Carter

Today I'm sharing a few photos of the quilt I made recently for my nephew and his wife. They're expecting a baby boy after the first of the year - my first official great-nephew (I'm already a great-aunt on Doug's side of the family) and also my mom's first great-grandchild. Oh my gosh, she would be beyond excited for the birth of this little one!!! ♥



Don't you just love these colors? The baby's room is painted gray and is decorated with animals in this color scheme. I was so excited when I found this fabric!

I used a strip of washi tape as a marker so I could sew a straight line from corner to corner.

I can't wait to hold that little man next year, hopefully with this blanket wrapped snuggly around him.

♥ 

A Quilt Square for Denise

Oh how bittersweet it is to post the final month's installment of Fiona's Friendship Quilt exchange. For the month of October, we each made a quilt square for Denise.

♥

With every quilt square I've made for this project, I knew right away what design I wanted to use for that month's recipient. And when I found out that Denise was joining the exchange, my mind instantly went in one direction: Donny Osmond. You see, Denise and I share a fascination with Donny Osmond - a common ground we realized early in our sweet blog friendship.

(Here's the part where you can click on this link and it will open a separate page. Then you can listen to Donny's "Puppy Love" and come back and read the rest of this post while it plays in the background. I'll wait...)

But how would I make a quilt square with our beloved Donny Osmond on it? I tried my best to come up with another idea and kept coming back to Donny. Denise has sons close to Carrie's age...she loves Himself...and her dogs...puppies... PUPPY LOVE. Done.

I used my Cricut to cut letters to use as templates, then traced around them on the back of fabric after I'd ironed on some fusible webbing. The solid background fabric is from my mom's fabric scraps, and so is that little pink heart in the middle of LOVE. :o) ♥

And they called it...

~dreamy sigh~

I loved stitching this Donny Osmond inspired quilt square for Denise. :o)
♥

And I have loved participating in Fiona's Friendship Quilt Block Exchange. I have plans to join all my blocks into a fun quilt top after the first of the year, and you can bet I'll be sharing my progress here on my blog when that happens. Many thanks to Fiona for organizing such a sweet and meaningful project!

You can see the other squares I've created for this project by clicking here.

A Quilt Square for Sian

Hello, dear friends!

♥

It's time for this month's installment of Fiona's Friendship Quilt exchange. For the month of September, we each made a quilt square for Sian. If you know Sian you'll understand the choice of design for this square - Sian blogs at From High in the Sky and her blog emblem is a house.

Sian's color choice was whites/creams/linens so I went digging through my scraps. I also pulled some scraps from my mom's stash and was happy to find a few that worked well together.

I designed a simple house shape and constructed the quilt square using a paper piecing technique. The door, window, and flowerbox were all adhered with a fusible iron-on product then zigzag stitched around the edges. And the flowers and other stitching were done by hand with embroidery floss.

The woven fabric I used for the roof is from my mom's collection and it kind of makes me smile when I see it. When I first inherited my mom's scraps, I saw that fabric and was so excited to make something from it. It's a long narrow piece, and I wondered what my mom intended to use it for originally. Almost two years later, I still haven't come up with something in particular to make, but I did love using a small piece of it on Sian's square.

Sian was such a sweet member of Team Teal. Knowing that, and using my mom's fabrics, I'll admit to thinking about my mom the entire time I was constructing this house block. I just couldn't resist adding a small touch of teal to Sian's square in honor of my mom.

Eleven blocks down and one to go as October will be the final month of Fiona's Friendship Quilt exchange. The end of this project will be bittersweet, indeed.

I loved stitching this house square for Sian. :o)
♥

You can see the other squares I've created for this project by clicking here.

A Quilt Square for Jo C.

It's time for another installment of Fiona's Friendship Quilt Square Exchange.

This month, we all made squares to send to Jo C.

♥

I wanted to make Jo's quilt square with a traditional pieced design and I have always wanted to try my hand at stitching hexagons. These hexagons were the perfect stitching project for a road trip we took back in July.

I'm making two of every square so I can have one to keep for myself, and the photo of the square in progress is the one I actually kept for myself. I made that one first so I could practice, and by the time I got to stitching Jo's (on the road trip back home) I forgot to take photos.

A while back my friend, Becky, shared this scrapbook page she'd made with hexagons and I was instantly inspired when she mentioned that she had cut the shapes with her Cricut. I emailed her right away to ask what cartridge she'd used and kept my fingers crossed that it was one I already owned. I knew that stitching hexagons required precision, so having the shapes all cut from the same source would be to my benefit.

Becky's reply made me happy, as the cartridge she'd used was one I had in my collection (Accent Essentials) and she also told me about this this website she uses for searching for shapes. It's cool - you type in the shape/item in the search field and it brings up a list of cartridges that contain that shape. Very handy!

I cut 2" hexagons from some scrap cardstock I had and they worked perfectly for my templates, and I used this tutorial for stitching my pieces. I have to say that I really loved sewing these hexagon squares. A bit time consuming, it gave me a real appreciation for quilters who have the dedication to stitch enough hexagons together to make a full quilt top!

I loved stitching this hexagon quilt square for Jo. :o)
♥

You can see the other squares I've created for this project by clicking here.

 

A craft from the past ~ Carrie's Quiet Book

A few weeks ago I was digging through our cedar chest looking for my angel baby quilt, and I came across this fabric activity book I made for little Carrie, fondly known as "The Quiet Book." Oh, flipping through the soft pages really took me back in time - back to a time when Carrie was just a toddler. Things were simpler in some ways back then, and more complicated in others!

♥

I made this when Carrie was not even two years old - gosh, over 24 years ago now! Looking through the book, I was reminded of how much love went into every detail. I loved making this book for Carrie, and I remember feeling so excited to finish it so she could play with it.

All of the little pieces are attached to the book so they wouldn't get lost. The little doll is about 3" tall and can be used throughout the book in one way or another. I remember that Carrie played with this book for hours, and it was great to have for road trips or airplane trips to Grandma Marti's house.

Those sweet little paw prints were traced from Carrie's hands...makes me all kinds of sentimental just looking at them!

There's a car for Little Miss Dolly to ride in...

And a house to come home to...

The door has a snap to hold it closed, and for Carrie to practice her snapping skills.

There's also a pocket holding colored shapes to match up. Little Miss Dolly used to spend time in this pocket too.

There's a bathtub, complete with a towel and rubber ducky...

And a pocket to practice buttoning and zipping. Dolly spent time in this pocket too... You could say she really got around!

There's a wagon she can ride in the park, and the little blue bird pulls out of her nest but can't fly far because she's anchored as well.

And when the day is done, there's a cozy little bed for Miss Dolly to rest in.

And at the very end is my handprint. I am SO glad that I took the time to stitch the date in this book. I have several other projects that aren't dated and I do regret not taking the time to do that. Note to selves: date our stuff!

I wouldn't even be able to tell you how I assembled this book. I know that I made it up as I went along, and I remember feeling just a little sad when the book was complete. It was such a fun project! ♥

And that, my friends, is The Quiet Book. A labor of love for my sweet little Carrie.

♥

A Sunflower Quilt Block for Jacky

Hello, dear friends!

♥

It's time for this month's installment of Fiona's Friendship Quilt exchange. For the month of July, we each made a quilt square for Jacky. Now, there's one person I know on this planet who loves sunflowers as much as me, and it's Jacky. So when I read that her chosen quilt colors were rust/terracotta and green, I knew right away those would work well with a sunflower design.

Before I started cutting fabric I made a mock-up of my design with paper. The petals were cut randomly by hand and I placed them here and there until I liked what I saw.

 

Then I cut the pieces from fabric and used an iron-on fusible webbing to adhere the fabric to my base square. A zigzag stitch finished the edges.

The original center circle I'd cut just didn't look right when it came down to using that piece, so I cut a larger circle out of a lighter colored fabric and used that instead. I also put a piece of thin batting under that center piece to give it a little more dimension.

 

Oh, and the solid background fabric came from my mom's fabric stash. :o) ♥

It is bittersweet that this project is going to end in two months. I'm excited to show you my last two creations, but need to wait until the recipients have them first. :o)

You can see the other squares I've created for this project by clicking here.

♥