A Quilt for Joan

I met Joan when I joined my first guild, The Flower Valley Quilting Guild, about twenty years ago.  More than fifteen years ago we both joined a small daytime group started by a mutual friend we fondly dubbed "Day-Quilters".  So I've been to many meetings, lunches, field trips, and retreats with her, and she is a dear friend.  Here she is with a paper doll of herself; we were each asked to make one for a 50th Birthday Party/Quilt retreat we were graciously invited to a while back.

Sadly, Joan is losing her vision which means she has to give up quilting.  When I saw her a few months ago at Day Quilters she asked each of us to take what we wanted of her fabrics and UFOs.   I came home with this scrappy little 35" top.  

She thought I could make it into a doll quilt, but I decided to turn it into a "Joan Quilt".  Scrappy it began so scrappier it would become.  I just grabbed some scraps .....

..... and black & white prints, then kept making borders until I thought it was done.

Of course, it definitely needed Scottie dog fabric on the back because Joan really, really loves Scottie dogs.

It finished up about 53" square and pretty cute, I think.

Now it's washed and dried and has that comfy, crinkly look every quilt looks better with .....

..... which means it's ready to mail.  I hope it brings up a lot of sweet memories for Joan when she uses it.  I know it did that for me while I worked on it.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict,

and Quilting is More Fun than Housework, 

and Tish's Adventures in Wonderland.

Another Doll Quilt

I shared with you in this post the doll quilts I was making for A Doll Like Me.  I recently needed a quick project to work on ( I just had to spend some time in my sewing room) so I decided to make another one - yellow this time! These little quilts are so fun to work on.  

I gathered some squares from my oh-so-organized pre cuts, found a sashing and backing in my stash, and got busy.  I was surprised these two fabrics went together so well considering two different people "donated" them to my "collection".  One was perfect for the border, and the other was destined for the backing.
























It didn't take any time at all to put the blocks together, quilt it with a simple meander, and attach the binding.

How cute is this!?!

Even cuter with a baby leopard on it.

I think he's distantly related to the baby lion that served as the model for the last two doll quilts.

Maybe I need to make enough quilts to show off all the stuffed animals my boys left behind when they grew up!

Dotty About Nora

I wrote this blog in July of 2017 and apparently never published it.  I just found it in the "Drafts" section of my dashboard.  Enjoy!

Nora Kate was born a few weeks ago and made our friends grandparents - again.  Her big brother (Grampa's Little Genius) is two years old, so he was probably ready for a baby sister.  And, naturally, she needs a quilt. 

I had a "Just A Speck" layer cake by Moda that I thought would be fun to work with.   I used all the squares with white dots to make a disappearing four-patch.  The Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial was all the pattern I needed!

I started by cutting the 10" squares into 4 pieces each and making four-patches with Kona white.  

Once I cut up each of the blocks .....

..... and put them back together in a different arrangement they looked like this.

Nothing in my stash worked for a border, so I had to make a trip to my Local Quilt Shop (poor me!)  I found a great dotted print in a dark pink. 

At least I thought it was dark pink until I got it home in a different light.  Now I'm thinking it might be red.

Either way, it works.  

Last but not least, some clip art and hand embroidery, and a label is made!

Two-Step Baby Quilt

I'm working on a quilt right now that is way outside my comfort zone.  When a lot of quilters say that they mean they're working on something bright, and artsy, and fun. When I say it I mean pastel, and simple, and sweet.   

A group of online quilty friends had a challenge quilt-along in July.  We were to make a quilt using the Two-Step pattern by Missouri Star Company's Jenny Doan.  You can see her video tutorial here.  I thought this would be a good opportunity to make a "put back for the great-grands" quilt, and I had a fat-quarter tower I had bought just for that purpose.  It's the Love & Friendship line by Verna Mosquera for Free Spirit Fabrics. 

See what I mean?  Not the sort of fabrics I normally work with.

The Two-Step block is simple and goes together fast .....

..... but, you do need to pay attention when you put them together.  All the blocks were supposed to look like the one on the left.  Thankfully only two of them had to be ripped out and remade because they were like the block on the right.  Whew!

Not too much arranging and rearranging before it was a flimsy .....
























..... and now it's basted and ready to hand quilt.  

The final step will be setting it aside for some special someone to love and treasure some day.  I know I've fallen in love with it.  Who would've thought?

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict