GO, Cardinals!

When my sister told me she was involved in organizing a fundraiser to help with her BFF's medical bills I (naturally!) offered to make a quilt to be raffled.  I wanted to make something that would appeal to a large audience so I decided to make a gender neutral baby quilt. Then, I got to thinking about the fact that this fundraiser is being held in Cardinals country.  St. Louis Baseball Cardinals to be exact.   A lot more money could be raised from a Cardinals quilt, right? 

Really simple blocks came together fast .....

..... AFTER washing that red batik seven (yes, seven!) times to remove excess dye.  

Gotta love those color catchers, but it wasn't until the last wash cycle when I added Synthropal that I saw the results I wanted.  Next time I work with red fabric I think I'll use it the first time.  :-(

Once it was basted I wasn't sure what thread to use.   My quilting is decent, but I don't really want it to show up that much!

It's hard to tell when you look at it on the spool, but this variegated thread is blue, red, and yellow so I thought it would work well.  The quilting shows more than I wanted it to.  I just had to work slowly and do the best I could.  Well.  I always do the best I can, but, you know....

Not too shabby!

It ended up about 60" x 70", the perfect size for a snuggle quilt.

Of course, I had to add a little fun to the back .....

..... and get a few semi-creative shots!

So, off it goes in the mail this week to my sister.  Fingers crossed!

Making a Dent - Another Finish

One of my goals this year has been to use up some of the 2.5" batik strips I cut last year.  In May I completed "Hypnotic", a 72" x 72" beauty (if I do say so myself!) for Stephen and Kailey's wedding.  I blogged about it here.  Then in November I finished piecing a gorgeous 98" x 98" top (if I do say so again!) for my sister, Debbie.  I blogged about Debbie's quilt here.  This top is currently with a friend waiting to be quilted so it won't make it off the UFO list this year.  

As the year is winding down I have a third batik quilt finish to share.

"Gemini" by Janine Burke for Blue Underground Studios has been on my "to do" list for a while, and I had fun working on it.  

The actual construction of the blocks didn't take long at all.  I made two-color rectangular blocks, and cut them in half .....

.....then mixed them up and sewed them back together.

You can't really make a mistake putting blocks like these into rows.

Shirley, did another great job quilting this one for me.  

Don't you love the Grunge fabric I found for the back?

I didn't make as big a dent in the box of strips as I'd hoped I would, but I definitely did make a dent.  Here's the box of strips "before".

Here's the box "after".

"Gemini" will be gifted soon, and I'm excited that I'll be able to do that in person in just a couple of weeks.  Now to decide what the next batik quilt will be.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
Linking up with Tish's Adventures in Wonderland.