Throwback Thursday (on Tuesday)

Only six weeks into the year, and I've blown two of my goals -- sewing every day and blogging more often.   I have, however, done a lot of coughing, moaning and groaning, and sleeping.  Can you say, "I think this might be the flu"?

Rather than keeping my tens of followers hanging, I decided to dig into the depths of Excel and do a little show and tell from days gone by.  Included in my Excel spreadsheet is information on each quilt I've made including whether I've posted pics of it on Flickr or blogged about it. So, I chose a few quilts I haven't yet written about and here goes.

In 2007 and 2008 my designated charity was CASA, a national association that supports and promotes court appointed advocates for abused or neglected children. People love making baby quilts for charity, but teenagers are often overlooked, so my heart goes out to them.   I love teenagers.  They can be real stinkers sometimes, but most of them are good kids.  

I made this quilt using a lot of brights. (Surprised?) A basic square-in-a-square block with black sashing and colorful cornerstones make it a fun quilt.  At 68" x 82" it's a nice size even for a pretty tall teen.  My friend, Angela (Quilted Joy) quilted this for me.  

  















This one is a smaller twin (60" x 72").  I did very simple straight-line machine quilting .....

..... and pieced the backing with leftovers from the front.

The third quilt for CASA is fun, too.  I used batiks this time and a pattern called "Spice Market" from the April 2007 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  It's 68" x 83", another large twin.  Angela quilted this one as well.  

That's my Show and Tell for today.  Hopefully I'll have something more current to share real soon.  

Snow Day = Sewing Day!

There's nothing better on a snowy day than staying in your jammies all day and sewing up a storm!  Since we woke up to about 9 or 10 inches of snow yesterday morning, I spent some time working on my January project.  The pattern, Sunrise Sunset, was designed by Joy Hoffman and appeared in the December 2002 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.  


So yesterday I sewed for a while.....

.....then cut and pressed and trimmed my half-square-triangles for a while.

This is one of my favorite quilting notions.  It's a lot easier and much faster to separate chain-piecing using this tool instead of scissors.  I want to get another one for my "packed and ready to go to retreat" sewing basket, but I can't remember who makes it or what it's called.  If you know where I can find one, leave a comment......Please!


Then I made blocks for a while.  I'm using all batiks in this quilt so I'm enjoying watching it come together.  I have almost half the blocks made and most of the sashing cut.

It took a good snow storm to get me to sit down long enough to make this much progress, but hopefully, now that I've made a good start on it, I can finish it without the threat of being housebound! I think I'll stay motivated since I have a deadline, and because it's for a good cause.  I'm donating it as a silent auction item to the St. Baldrick's Event which benefits childhood cancer research.