Hands 2 Help

Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict hosts a quilt drive called Hands 2 Help.  Each year she offers the opportunity to make and donate quilts to specific, well chosen charities. For 2018 the chosen recipients are Little Lambs Foundation for Kids, Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo through Em's Scrapbag, and Victoria's Quilts Canada.

In March I completed two quilts which I made from Tom & Jerry fabric I had cut out to make pajamas for my grandsons -- about TEN years ago!  

The blue one .....

..... the orange one. 

Both quilts are going to The Little Lambs Foundation for Kids. They provide a little comfort in a backpack for children aged newborn to 17 who are transitioning into foster care or emergency shelters, or who have been hospitalized.

It makes my heart happy to think about the little lambs who will be receiving these truly special gifts. 


I'm Linking with Hands 2 Help.

May Goals and a Stash Report

Keeping up with goals this year is turning out to be a bigger challenge than I expected it to be.   I normally only set one goal a month so this year with the Scrap Attack challenge and the 6 & 6 in 2018 goals it's been a struggle to keep on track.  Even so, I have completed all eight of the goals I've set so far.  I'm just always scrambling around at the end of the month to get it all done.  What can I say?  Life just keeps getting in the way of my fun.  

The slip I pulled from my Scrap Attack bag for May's goal says to make something from the strings basket.  The basket was pretty full at the beginning of the year, but in January I made a small dent in it by making seventeen blocks for Kat and Cat's Covered in Love block drive.  

In April I had to spend a few days alone in a hotel room so I took my strings basket along and set up a personal sewing space there.  It was like a mini private retreat!

I was only able to sew in the evenings after I got back to my room.  The first night I got all this done .....

..... and the next night a bunch more.  Imagine what I might get done in May in my "real" sewing room!

My 6 & 6 in 2018 goal for May is to make a throw sized quilt from batiks.  I'm using a pattern called "Hypnotic" from Brenda Henning's "Strip Therapy 2."  These two blocks will make an interesting secondary pattern when the rows are put together.

Here's hoping that life will settle down a bit, I'll stay on track with my goals, and May will be productive.  Especially since June is already shaping up to be a real mess!

Fabric Added in April  -   11.0 yards

Fabric Used in April  -    36 yards 

Fabric Added Year to Date  -   19.5 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date  -   72.6 yards

Net Fabric Used in 2018  -  53.1 yards

April Goal Met - Sort Of

My goal for April was to "make something with" the fat quarters my friend, Leigh, had recently given to me.   I didn't realize just how many there were in that deceivingly small gift bag until I set the goal and then counted them.  I knew I couldn't use all 47 in one month, but I knew I could make "something".  I chose the green batiks and started cutting squares for my first Disappearing Nine-Patch.  A search through my stash resulted in some purple that looked good with the print, and I found three different cream prints for a neutral. 

The fabrics played well together, I thought.

To make that nine-patch "disappear" you cut it into four pieces .....

..... and sew them back together in a different configuration.

I felt like a small inner border was needed and found the perfect eggplant that was a close match for the dark lines in the purple print.  Stash to the rescue again!  I hadn't planned to use the purple stripes in the border at all, but I had used every last bit of green so I ended up using it on the corners. 

This is all that was left of the purple!

I may not have used up all the fat quarters, but I did "make something with" a portion of them.  Eight to be precise.  That's something!

It's just a flimsie for now, not a finished quilt, but it will have a home.  How could it not, right?  It's too cute.  

This was my 6 & 6 in 2018 goal for April.  Linking up with pomegranate and chintz.

Goal Met - T-Shirt Quilt Update

It took a while, but I met my February goal.  The t-shirts are officially a flimsie, and it's ready to be basted and quilted.  

I'm pretty excited about this one.  I really laid out a challenge for myself when I decided to be creative with it.  I was able to incorporate all the elements I had hoped to.  I was able to use the fabric from Hawaiian shirts Josh's Gramma Lopez had made for him .....

..... and Grampa Lopez's sweatshirt from Josh's University.

I used several t-shirt necklines .....

..... some mildew stained, raggedy sleeve edges .....

..... even a sleeve cuff!

I set out to make it interesting, but I didn't have anything to do with this detail. Josh's name is spelled wrong on this shirt!

I want to use green for the backing because it's Josh's favorite color, so I gave him some options and he chose this batik.  I love it.  Green is my favorite color, too.  Luckily, there's some left for me!

Tomorrow this gets dropped off with my long-arm quilting friend Shirley Jackson  (Custom Quilting by Shirley Jackson) so she can work her magic on it.  I can hardly wait to get it finished and deliver it.  It's really a special finish.

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

Doll Quilts

Small quilt projects that can be completed quickly are such fun especially when they're cute, little doll quilts.  Last week when I shared about sewing for A Doll Like Me, I still needed to stitch down the binding on the turquoise quilt. That went together so quickly I couldn't wait to make another one.



















Today was a cold, rainy day here, a good time to make a second doll quilt.  Pink this time.

I'm a Boy Mom (and a Boy Gramma, too, actually) so there aren't any dolls around here to use for staging a cute photo. I do have stuffed animals, though, so I pulled one out of the toy closet.  Gotta have some kind of doll on a doll quilt, right?  

How about that?  Two finishes in one week.  I've decided that a finish feels good no matter what size quilt it is. 

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework,  and Tish's Adventures in Wonderland. 

April Goals and Whatnot

I may have bitten off more than I can chew.  That is to say, "I may have set more goals than I can accomplish." Actually, so far this year of the 6 goals I set I'm only behind by one, and I'm making great progress with that one.  Josh's T-Shirt quilt top (which was my February 6 & 6 in 2018 goal) is almost finished.  I had to order more fusible interfacing in order to prep the last two shirts that need to be added.  In the mean time, here's a little preview.

But, I digress.  My April 6 & 6 in 2018 goal is .....  

..... to make something using the fat quarters my friend, Leigh, gave me. That didn't sound too bad.  Not until I pulled them out of the cabinet, that is.  

Can I work my way through forty-seven fat quarters this month?  We shall see.  

I really didn't want to think about it until tomorrow.  Today, I decided to make a doll quilt.  This morning I used squares from my stash to put it together then basted and quilted it. All I need to do now is stitch down the binding.

Because every child deserves to see his or her own face in the face of a doll, Amy Jandrisevits, owner and creator of A Doll Like Me, has made it her mission to create custom dolls for children with limb differences, albinism, birth marks, burns, scars, even cochlear implants.  Here are just a few of the dolls she's made.

And, since every doll needs a quilt, Bernie at Needle & Foot Fine Fabrics, recently hosted a doll quilt drive.  You can find more information about it here.  If you check here you can see photos and videos of these little ones receiving their dolls.  

Maybe after reading more about it you will be motivated to make a doll quilt, too.  I'm hoping the one I made today will be the first of many.