A small riot of color

 Hello everyone! Guess what? It isn't raining, for the first time in days, literally. Holy cow, it has been gray here. But I'm looking out the window right now and it looks like the sun is out and nothing is falling from the sky. And wonder of wonders, the grass got cut yesterday. I'd say it was knee-high, which would be an exaggeration, but it certainly felt that way.

This is our last week of class, so I haven't had a lot of time, but I did put together a small quilt top from some leftover blocks, and all the rain we've had gave me a couple of really good pictures:

Okay, I don't know whether to look at the flowers or the quilt top! I so wanted to take a picture of last week's purple quilt with these azaleas, but it just didn't happen because of the rain. But just look at them now!

I had these churn dash blocks made, but I never really figured out what to do with them. Do you ever just make something because they're fun to make, but you don't have a plan? That's what happened with these blocks.They're so colorful, and I have been in a "use it up" mode, so I stuck them together into a little top. It's actually about 40 by 45, so it's a decent size and will make a nice donation quilt.

I had no idea I had this very cute border fabric until I started looking through things for a border. When did I get this? Who knows, but it worked out really well with all the bright colors in this quilt top.

I so, so wanted to quilt this up, too, and I have a backing all ready for it, but alas! I had things to grade. With all of the tops that I have piled up, it looks like it's time to have a quilting marathon, too. Just as soon as I finish reading these research papers. . .

I'll leave you with another picture of those beautiful purple azaleas. They're as big as my hand! If you look carefully near the top, you'll find one very happy honeybee, too.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, Finished or not Friday, and the Quilting, Patchwork, Applique linkup.

Brown bear walks to Grandma's

 Hello everyone, and happy spring! We are in full bloom here, and the weather has been really nice. It feels so great! Of course, it also feels kind of sneezy and scratchy, but who even cares? It's like waking up from a very, very long sleep. I have been sewing quite a bit lately, so you know I'm feeling quite a bit better. I think getting the vaccine helped me a lot, and so does the sunshine. Not to mention that this nightmare semester is almost over! Pandemic teaching has been the worst, but at last we are coming to the end. Hurray for that!

I have yet another small quilt top to show off today. I actually already basted it and it's ready for quilting up, but this top has to wait its turn in line. Here's this fun top:

 

If you have children, or know any children, you might recognize Brown Bear of Eric Carle fame and the book of the same name. Long ago (the selvage says 2008) I started collecting kits and fabrics and putting them aside in what I called a "grandma box." In case I ever had grandchildren, you know. A couple of years ago I pulled out this kit and found a poorly-cut panel:

 

Yeah. Always check as soon as your fabric arrives! Or check it in the store before you purchase a kit of any kind. Once I saw this, I took the kit apart and have used some of the fabrics for other things. I kept the panel in case I had another idea, but it just made me upset so I didn't do anything with it.

And then my almost-youngest granddaughter fell in love with the Brown Bear book and pretty much memorized it. What's a grandma to do but find a way to make it work? So, of course, I did, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

 I can't wait to quilt this one up, because it's going to live here at Grandma's house. With all of us having gotten vaccines, I expect that my granddaughter will actually get to visit again pretty soon, and it just makes me happy to think about having this one ready so she can tell me all about Brown Bear. That's some pretty strong incentive to quilt up the others ahead of it in line, too!

 

 

Before I made this quilt top, I also completed another project-- a new ironing board! My husband cut the plywood for me, then I covered it with a layer of 1/2- inch foam and two layers of (the cheapest possible big box store) batting, then a final layer of cotton duck. I'm still going back and forth about covering it in the silver reflective cloth, but so far it's working great for me. And it's 54 inches wide, so pressing yardage is soooo much easier.

Finally, last Wednesday this little blog turned 7 years old! I have no idea how this happened. I think next week I'll have some kind of a giveaway or something to celebrate, but for now, thanks for hanging around for so long, and special thanks for bearing with me through the really hard times we've been having. Quilty friends are the best!

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! My plan for the weekend is to haul out the patio furniture. Lunch on the patio, everyone! Hurray!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Brag About Your Beauties, and Finished or Not Friday.

Nine patches for Paula

Hello all, and welcome to my stop on the blog hop honoring Paula Budinger. Paula was a good and gentle spirit who blogged about the quilts she made at Paula B Quilts. She made a lot of scrappy quilts for kids, and donated almost all of them. I got to know her through Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, where Paula often linked up her creations. She and I sometimes chatted back and forth, like ya do, about her quilts, especially the antique quilts she collected. And she was a Wisconsinite as well, so we had a small connection there, too.

On February 8th, Paula passed away after a short illness. Her obituary is HERE, where you can read about how very awesome she was, from electron microscopes to art and design, all across the country. Paula would have been 79 yesterday, and a bunch of us are honoring her quilting legacy through this blog hop.  Because Paula's life and work made us happy, there are also some "presents" for her birthday, in the form of prizes for you! That information is at the bottom of this post.

Here is what I made in honor of Paula:

Yes, two tops! Both bright and happy and intended for children. Since Paula loved scrappy quilting and bright colors, I thought a quilt made in her honor should be the same. It happens that I had a bit of the animal fabric that I had intended to use for a quilt for my grandson. I didn't like how it looked with the alternate blocks, so I used something else, but I had already cut the animal fabric, so there it was, leftover in a strange size. It worked great for this project, though!

The larger quilt is a giant double 9-patch that measures about 45 by 45. The blocks I had cut from the animal fabric were 15 inches square, perfect for using 5 inch squares to make 9-patches as alternate blocks. It worked great! I chose the yellow and green to coordinate with the animal print, and somehow I managed to use them all up. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that some of those yellow and green squares are actually pieced together. Shhh! This quilt will be donated through Sarah's Hands to Help project.

The smaller quilt top was made with the scraps from the first one. Why not? It needed to be used!  This one used a different green and yellow, both polka dots. It happens that I made this in 9-patch form as well. I made four 9-patches with 6-1/2 inch squares and then combined them to make this 36-inch square top. This little quilt will go to Jack's Basket, an organization that celebrates babies with Down Syndrome.

I am very happy with how these two tops turned out, and they will be among the first things I quilt up when this crazy semester is over. I feel like Paula would understand! I have a few small scraps left of this fabric, but otherwise I am thrilled that it is used up and will help comfort some small people.




And now for the presents for you all!  Here are the prizes being offered:

Lorna, Sew Fresh Quilts, $50 gift certificate for her pattern shop.

Yvonne Quilting Jetgirl, 2 PDF patterns of choice.

Bernie Needle and Foot, $25 certificate for her shop.

A fat quarter bundle from Figo Fabrics

A set of quilty gift cards from Initial Thought by DMF  Note cards set 1

A pattern of choice from Karen, Sugar Free Quilts

A $30 gift certificate for Doris, Cactus Queen Quilt Co

A PDF pattern of choice from Joanne, www.etsy.com/shop/CanuckQuilterDesigns

$25 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop

(donated by Janice Holton)

"How do I get one of these prizes"? you ask. Here's how it works-- below is a list of bloggers honoring Paula through this hop. Every comment entered on one of the posts in the hop by Friday, May 15, will count as one entry. Winners will be chosen that day from all possible comments by Janice at Color, Creating, and Quilting. Then the winners get a happy package in the mail! International readers, you can enter, too, as many of the prizes are digital. So you get happy email instead of happy mail.

Thanks, all, for stopping by to honor Paula's life and legacy. Be sure to give thanks for all your quilty friends, too. As we've all sadly learned, life is sometimes too short, and it looks a little less colorful without all of us in it. 

Wednesday, May 6

Karen @ KaHolly
Kate @ Smiles From Kate

Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of my Quilting Life
Bernie @ Needle and Foot

Linda @ My Sew-Called Quilts
Cathy @ Crazy By Design

Sue @ From the Magpie’s Nest

Thursday, May 7

Kate @ Smiles From Kate
Diann @ Little Penguin Quilts
Rose @ Something Rose Made
Nann @ With Strings Attached
Mari @ The Academic Quilter
Louise @ My Quilt Odyssey
Susan @ Desert Sky Quilts

Friday, May 8

Janice @ Color, Creating and Quilting
Kate @ Smiles From Kate
Joy @ The Joyful Quilter
Susan @ Quilt Fabrication
Edi @ Edi’s Crafting Life
Carol @ Quilt Schmilt
Preeti @ Sew Preeti Qilts
Emily @ The Darling Dogwood

 

Soft signs of love

Hi everyone, and welcome to August! It feels like it's been August for weeks, at least temperature-wise, and certainly the grass looks like it's been as hot as August for a while.  Yep, brown and brittle. For anyone out there in the rest of the country who wonders why Congress goes on recess every August, I can now tell you in detail why that is!

We are very busy around here right now, and there's not a lot of stitching getting done.  I have just one small thing that I finished up this week, and I am super happy to show you this:

This is the cutest little fabric book that is nice and soft and squishy and just perfect for tiny humans.  My friend Bernie sent me this panel to make for my newest grandchild, and I know that she's going to love it and chew on it and maybe even learn a few baby signs from it. Many thanks, Bernie! The panel is still available in her shop, and you can find it HERE so you can make your own. (And hey-- free shipping! You could even look around at a few other things while you're there, too.)

If you haven't made one of these book panels before, I'm here to tell you that they are super easy.  Directions are printed right on the panel, but it's a fairly intuitive process.  You cut out the pages, layer them with some batting, and then stitch around them envelope-style. Turn, press, and stitch the opening closed, then stack the pages and sew through all the layers.  Presto, a soft fabric book!

For my book, I used two layers of batting for each set of pages, just because my batting (which was leftover scraps) was pretty thin.  This made the pages nice and beefy, easier for tiny hands to grab.  One tip I have is to pin the page numbers to your pages so that you can keep track of which page goes where.  This book has no plot, so a mixup wouldn't matter much, but you know how I like things to be where they're supposed to be.

One other thing I did with this little book is to use a narrow zigzag for the "spine" of the book.  Even the gentlest little person can be awfully rough on things and I didn't want it to come apart, especially if she has it in her mouth or something, so this was just a little insurance.  It was a pretty thick stack, so it didn't move very well through the machine, but I did manage to get the job done.

This was a fun little project and I can't wait to give it to my granddaughter and teach her a few signs.  (There is a hard cover version of this book that is very similar, also by Joy Allen, and several other books on teaching signs to your child. THIS one is very good.)  Since it's so easy and doesn't require a lot of precision, I think this would be a great project to make with a child who is learning to sew, or even a younger child who could help cut and stack the pages.  Then they could have a hand-made gift for a new baby, too.

This was a fun little project, and a great one to end on. At least in this house!  This was my last little project here, and right after I finished I packed up the remainder of the sewing notions and thread to get it ready to move. (I marked that box "sewing room box 1" so I know to unpack that one first!) We are moving this coming week, so I won't be sewing for a little while. I'm sad to leave, but I know that new adventures and much happiness await us in our new home in Baltimore.  I have a throwback post scheduled for next week while we move, and then I'll be playing it by ear while we get settled and I start working at the new school.

Best wishes to all of you in your quilty endeavors the next couple of weeks, and I'll see you on the other side of the moving van!

Sharing at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finished or Not Friday, and TGIFF