Quilty Adoption Event - 5 projects up for adoption

Edited 9/21/16 - this event is now closed.

Honestly, getting these projects out of my sewing room isn't going to free up a lot of physical space in my room, but it will free up some mental space - I'll feel better knowing that someone else is will work on these projects rather than just let them linger in a cabinet like I have.

I have no requirements for adoption - make it for yourself, as a gift, for charity, whatever.  I will ask that you send a photo of your finished project if you think of it; it does my heart good to see what has become of my orphans.  In fact, here is a  link for one my orphans from the spring that was beautifully transformed into a charity quilt by Lisa.

For this event, I have 5 projects, A thru E.  Let me know in the comments which orphan you would like to adopt.  If you'd like more than one, that's fine, list all that you'd like.  I'll keep this open until Wednesday, September 21, 6 PM EST.  I'll do a drawing if more than one person is interested in an orphan, and I'll ship them out to the winners at my expense, hopefully no later than September 24.  I am located in the US, and will only ship within the US - so sorry, international friends!

Be sure to check out the other items up for adoption at the link up on Cynthia's blog.  Ready?  OK, here goes:

A. TROPICAL FISH by Cindi Edgerton paper pieced mini
I was visiting my mother-in-law many years ago and didn't have any stitching with me, so I walked over to her local quilt shop and picked up this pattern.  I made those first 4 fish by hand, and decided, not only do I not enjoy paper piecing, I also don't enjoy hand piecing.  Back into the tiny package it went.  Whoever adopts this project will get 4.25 pieced fish, and unused foundations for 25 more tiny fish.

B. SCRAP HAPPY SPOOLS by Cindi Edgerton paper pieced mini
If you read my comments about the fish project, you know I have no patience for this spools project.  I inherited this from somebody, complete with precut batik scraps.  It looks like only 2 of the tiny blocks have been attempted, but I didn't really inventory the whole thing.  I know there are more than enough unused paper foundations to make the pattern and there seems to be enough fabric, too.  Any batik loving paper piecing mini makers out there?

C. SNAILS TRAILS PLACEMATS muslin foundation pieces and pattern
Uh, how did I end up with so many foundation piecing patterns?  Not my cup of tea.  This orphan consists of 24 stamped muslin foundations for Snails Trails blocks that finish at 5.75".  The accompanying pattern tells you how to make 4 placemats with the blocks, but you could just as easily make a small quilt.

D. CHRISTMAS STARS mini quilt
Here's another one for you mini makers out there.  I'm not sure how this made it into my possession, but this was started as a hand pieced mini quilt.  3 stars are already pieced, another one is partially pieced.  The seam allowances are already marked for any of you who do hand piecing, but you could just as easily finish this one on a machine.  There is an accompanying photo, but there is also a note on the photo saying "not exactly like photo."  I'm guessing she was planning on using setting squares between the stars, rather than the sashing in the photo.  Any takers?

E. FLANNEL 9-PATCH
OK, this one was mine, but I'll be honest, I have NO IDEA where I was going with this.  There are four 9.5" double 9-patches, eight 3.5" 4-patches, ten 3.5" colorful squares, seven 3.5" white squares, twelve 3.5" x 9.5" white rectangles and eight 3.5" x 12.5" rectangles.

Please don't let these orphans languish in my cabinet.  Won't you take one home with you?

Lots of little things

This week was eaten up by lots of little projects, mostly for other people.

• I transferred 11 patches from one boy scout shirt to another.  Pure tedium.  I hate using invisible thread almost as much as I hate sewing things onto sleeves.  Put the two together and  - UGH!
• I hand embroidered a recipient's name onto a quilt her grandmother made her.  Fun, but fiddly.  I prefer to do hand embroidery BEFORE a project is finished, sandwiched and quilted.  I had to be careful to make sure I only went through the top layer of the quilt, not all the way to the back.  I turned out really nice, but, of course, I forgot to take a photo.
• I made some tooth fairy pillows for my nephew since he has his first ever loose tooth.  They chose the brown one, so I guess I'll sell the green one since all my other tooth fairy pillows have sold out.

Tooth Fairy Pillow

Back of Tooth Fairy Pillow where tooth/money goes

They chose this one for my nephew

I wonder how much teeth will cost in their household.

However, some of my finishes were for ME!  I finally wove in the ends of my Isadora Cowl - I've worn it twice already this week; it is so warm and cozy!

We all know by now that my favorite color is orange, right?

I sewed together these orphan pinwheel blocks that were in a bag of donated fabric.  Now what to do with them?

It currently measures 16" x 22".

Do they want to be a mini/doll quilt?  This is about the right size for an American Girl doll, right?  Or are they the start of an Orphan Quilt since I somehow lost the Orphan quilt I finished in July 2010.  I don't even have photos of it anymore.  :(

I have some other little things to get done before heading back to work on Tuesday.

• The person I knit the Little Avery Sweater for, along with a matching hat, has now asked for another hat for a friend.  I'll try to get that done today and in the mail tomorrow.
• Next week's project with the after school program kids is an apron.  We've done some full aprons in the past, so part of me wants to make half aprons.  Anyone have a half apron pattern that they love?  I hope to whip up a sample on Monday.
• And just because no weekend is complete for me without some quality reading time, I want to finish my current cozy (A Novel Time To Die - A Black Cat Bookshop mystery) and spend some more time with Claire and Jamie in Dragonfly in Amber (the second of the Outlander series).  Last weekend I read The Cat, The Sneak and The Secret, the latest of the Cats in Trouble mysteries.  If you like cozies and you haven't read those, the protagonist is a quilter - BONUS!

Well, and then there's that holiday sneaking up on me, the one for which I have done NO creating, NO decorating and NO shopping.  I need to get on the ball!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, y'all!

One hundred and fifty-three

153 - That's how many quilt blocks arrived in the mail yesterday.  112 were the disappearing 4 patch, and 41 more were donated 16-patches.  I also received backing material and additional money for batting.  You guys are amazing!  We are going to make so many people warmer this winter!

Donald was excited to help with all the packages that were left outside our mailbox in this plastic bag . Even more blocks were in envelopes INSIDE my mailbox.  Wow!  I'm sure the mail carrier is curious about what is going on!

112 12.5" disappearing 4-patches covers A LOT of floor space! I use this spot in the basement to sandwich large quilts. 

I'm excited to make some other donation quilts with these donated blocks. 

Thank you, Nancy B, Patricia C, Becki W, Carol J, Sharon V, Barbara H, Robin B, Carol C, (unknown first name) Reiner, Barbara A, Charmaine T, (unknown first name) Thomsen, Terri J, Pat M, Susan L, Barbara W, Beth S, and Marilyn P!  You are on my ever-growing list of HEROES!

I managed to sew together most of one top last night.  I had hoped to do more, but my husband's team had a scrimmage and we went out to support him.  Of course, I went to THE WRONG UNIVERSITY!  What a bonehead!  Luckily, the two universities are only about 20 minutes apart.  While watching the game , I made some progress embroidering my mini.  For a tiny quilt, it sure is taking me longer than expected!

I wonder what today's mail call will look like?

Proud!

I know that pride is a sin, but gosh, sometimes I just can't help it!

I received a number of packages in the mail yesterday with quilt blocks for the Hurricane Sandy Relief quilts, plus received PayPal donations for batting.  In one of the packages was a little note on this paper:

Yup, I'm PROUD to be a quilter, too!  You guys are awesome!  Look at the 28 beautiful blocks that came in just yesterday from NC, SC (2), DC, AZ, CA, and CT!

28 blocks received 11/5 - thanks, Sheila, Liz, Linda, Nancy, Debbie, Lisa, and Elaine! 

I was tempted to add them to the 17 I've made and start sewing them into a quilt (just 42 blocks  needed for a 72" x 84" twin sized quilt), but I decided to wait until I get the mail today so I'll have more variety and options.

I've added a new element to my blog - see over there on the top right?  MY HEROES!  I doubt I'll have a chance to email everyone who sends donated blocks and fabrics and whatnot, but I am going to take a group photo of all blocks received in a given day and give a shout out in that post, plus I am going to keep a running list over there under My Heroes.  I know you guys don't do it for recognition, but you deserve recognition nonetheless.  You are my heroes!  A reader who is sending blocks shared with me this quote that seemed so appropriate for what we are doing together:

"When we cast our bread upon the waters, we can presume that someone downstream whose face we will never know will benefit from our action, as we who are downstream from another will profit from that grantor's gift." ~ Maya Angelou~

I hope to get one top assembled tonight before I hunker down in front of the TV to see who wins the election.  I know that is going to stress me out, so I have my hand sewing project picked out and ready to work on to soothe my nerves.  Remember this little cutie that I started a while back before my Quilter's ADD kicked in again?

My version of a mini I saw on Julie's blog last month 

I hope to finish the embroidery and buttons so I can sandwich it and start the hand quilting the next time I am sitting somewhere with nothing for my hands to do.  What do YOU do to keep yourself sane and calm during times of stress?

Can you tell I'm done traveling?

Three posts in three consecutive days?  It is a lot easier to do when I sleep in my own bed at night and actually have time to sit and stitch.  I'm not caught up READING blogs yet, but I'll get there.  If you haven't heard from me in a while, just wait - I just haven't gotten to you yet.

I was asked to come in to teach a karate class yesterday afternoon, and while I was glad to help out, Tuesday is usually my "go straight home after work and don't leave until Wednesday" day.  I was determined to sit outside and stitch on my mini for an hour or so, enjoying the autumn sun and warmth, before heading back to town.  But when I got ready to sew, I discovered that I hadn't brought my mini home with me!  I had taken it to work, thinking I'd stitch a bit at lunch time, but of course, I didn't have the time.  I came back in this morning to find it sitting in my window waiting for me.

Yeah, lots of my kids' handiwork in my office

Not to be thwarted, I pulled out my new border stencil that I just bought in West Virginia last week, and marked the borders of my Orange Creamsicle Quilt.  I'll be honest, I've never marked a border with a stencil before, and I was dreading it.  I usually just do something simple that doesn't require marking, like stitching in the ditch or echo quilting, but this quilt has enough straight lines, I wanted some curves.  I was nervous about making it all fit neatly, but I decided to leave a space in the middle of the top and bottom borders for a butterfly stencil that I got from a friend, and on the long sides, I was able to shrink one of the curves to make the stencil fit, and now that I've marked it, I have to really look to see which one is different.  Not so bad, after all.

Then, as I watched the debate (with my boys, who asked if they could stay up late to watch...not sure where that came from, but OK), I quilted.  I try to always quilt when I am watching politics.  I need something to help relax me because the spin and the half-truths and the accusations and the pandering really stress me out.  Bah!

No political talk on here today.  Instead, I'll leave you with a photo I took yesterday afternoon.  I was looking for Jason to remind him to get started on his homework, but he had already started.  In a tree.  I LOVE MY KIDS!

Home sick :(

My throat is killing me and my head is pounding. I stayed home today to try to get well, but so far, I'm not having much success. I may need to head to the doctor in the morning to see if I have strep throat since everyone else seems to have it.

Here's a photo of my mini karate quilt that I made for my karate instructor for his birthday.

And on Sunday, when I wasn't feeling so miserable, I finished the top that I made with the the stencil looking panels - it finishes about 51" square (although it sure doesn't look square, does it - funny how fabric placement can make a piece look bigger or smaller or longer or wider than it actually is).

After working with just 3 fabrics, I had to pull out some scraps to stimulate my mind, so I worked on my Virginia Bound a bit more. I think I'll leave this up on my design wall for a while; I've been working on this quilt off and on for quite some time and I'd like to make significant progress.

OK, that's it, back to bed for me.

Loser

I am a loser. Literally. I lose things. Here's the latest...

Last night, we had a surprise birthday party for my karate teacher. His birthday is actually March 30, so I thought I had more time to make his gift, and I procrastinated. Then, word of the surprise party came along, and I had to get my butt in gear. I wanted to print a sillouette of a side kick from the computer, applique it onto a background, border it with the colors of the different belt levels, quilt in some of the key words like "Honor" and "Respect", making a small wallhanging for the dojo. Wednesday night I finally decided to get started, but my printer wouldn't print so I had to wait another day until my (wonderful) husband got that working again. So, on Thursday night at 8:30 PM, I finally started working on his gift to give him Friday night at 6:00 PM. Luckily, I had the day off from work on Friday, so I should be able to get it done.

Things were going swimmingly and I was digging how things were looking. I got everything I needed done on the machine done by about 11 PM on Thursday. I had fused on the sillouette, but I wanted to blanket stitch around it to ensure that it stayed on. By hand. Of course, I don't do this very often, so I had forgotten HOW to blanket stitch. I went looking for my handy-dandy printed out guide to various hand stitches that I printed out last time I was doing blanket stitch. Hmmm, now where did I put that? LOST. I finally gave up and looked up Blanket Stitch on my Blackberry (which I guess I should have done initially) and at 11:30 PM, I was ready to begin. I turned on the TV to watch a movie while I did it. Big mistake - I watched something I've never seen before, which means I worked more slowly that I would have liked because I was watching TV more than anything else. I remembered that I hadn't eaten dinner yet. (Did I feed the kids? Sure hope so, 'cause they are already in bed. I think, unless I misplaced them, too. Take a quick trip upstairs to check on them - fast asleep and not looking malnourished. Back downstairs to cut some cheese to eat with some crackers while I watch the end of this movie. What!?! The end of the movie? But I'm not done sewing yet!)

At 2:45 AM, I stagger off to bed, loving the look of the appliqued piece, but that could be because I'm cross-eyed from lack of sleep.

My darling Donald slept in until 8 AM (meanwhile, I had to wake Jason up at 10 AM - I swear there is a teenager trapped in that 8-year-old body). The quilt top still looked good in the morning light, so I went down to sandwich it and get started with the hand quilting. I had other things to do that day - pop in to work for a few minutes to finalize some letters to scholarship winners and non-winners, take the kids and dog for a walk on the Chessie Trail, prepare the movie theater for furniture delivery, wash our karate uniforms to be ready for our Pre-Black Belt test later this morning. But at 5:30 PM, the quilting was done, and I had sewn on both a label and a sleeve. I had to abandon some of my quilting plans because of time restraints, but I still really like the way the little quilt (approx 12.5"x14.5") turned out. I wrapped it in wrapping paper, and we were off and arrived ON TIME. I grabbed my gift and my camera, and we went in.

Here's where the details get a bit fuzzy. There were tons of people in the restaurant (I feel for the few people who WEREN'T there for the birthday party because there was a large, loud lot of us) and getting a table was tricky and after he arrived I still had his gift to give him, but my camera was nowhere in sight. I went back out to the car. Nope, not there. I looked around at our table; nope, not there. In my brain, I just assumed I had left it home, and I asked someone else to take a photo of the little quilt for me. Hopefully, she'll get the photo to me sooner rather than later. I hate having a whole post about a project, start to finish, but having no photo so show for it! (and before you ask, because EVERYONE does - no, I do not have a camera on my phone. I am the only person on EARTH apparently, who does not have a camera on her phone)

I went home and tore the house apart looking for the camera, but no luck. I called the restaurant twice, but again, no luck. I have no idea where that stinking camera is! Hopefully, if someone finds it, they will recognize my kids and get it back to me (the benefits of living in a small town and having beautiful, outgoing children).

Already feeling down about the camera, I got the clothes out of the dryer to lay out our uniforms for the karate test this morning. Everything is there except my top. I take everything out of our karate bags, I scour the car, I do the rest of the laundry in the house thinking maybe I mixed it up with another load. Nada. I can't test today without my uniform top, so I called all three instructors and left messages, even though it is 9:30 at night and I don't like to call anyone that late. Nada. But if I come early in the AM, maybe it will have turned up or they'll have a loaner for me. Either way, however, I know I have 50 pushups ahead of me - if you leave any piece of your uniform or equipment at the dojo, it is 50 pushups per piece.

I went to bed feeling like a loser, and woke up feeling the same way. I'm hopeful that writing about my boneheaded-ness will make me feel better about myself. In the grand scheme of things, these aren't big problems, I know.

But I'm also starting to wonder - this is the second instance in only 7 days of me not having a shirt. Perhaps there are some latent, exhibitionist tendencies stirring to life in my (exposed) chest...

May your days be better than mine have been lately!

For and about Minis

I'm still considering my options for my Great-Great-Grandmother's quilt (GGG). So, instead of working on that last night, I spent some time making some more bibs. They aren't done yet - I still need to do the top stitching and add velcro closures, but aren't they CUTE! When Christmas rolls around this year, I'm going to be ready with some gifties!


Most of this fabric came from Becky at As the Quilt Turns last November when she was looking to unload some scraps. Thanks again, Becky!

Oh, and I entered another quilt in the weekly themed contest at the Quilting Gallery. I had forgotten until I got an email from someone I've never met who voted for mine. How cool - thank you Joe Tulips! This week's theme is Minatures, and I entered this little shirts and ties quilt titled Haberdashery that won me an Honorable Mention ribbon in the County Fair a couple years ago.

I took at peek at the other entries and WOW! Yet again, I am in awe of what others have done. It is a good thing I can't see everyone else's submissions before I submit my own, because I would be too humbled to put my quilt out there. I saw that Em put her House that Love Built quilt in there - love it! I encourage you to get a fresh cup of coffee or tea, and spend 10 minutes checking out the little lovelies!