Minis and Friends

I am really missing my blog so I am will be making as good effort to come back here and be a regular poster and reader again. I love Instagram, where I spend most of my time with quick photos, etc. (you can find me at @sarcasticquilter there also) but I like posting about my finishes and seeing what is up with all of you, too. 

So here I am, looking back a little to 2014 to share a couple more things I worked on.  Since 2014 seemed to be the year of mini quilt swaps and meetings/sew dates with friends, I couldn't let a post go by without showing you two ladies who played a big part in my sewing adventures last year.

Here we have Amy who occasionally blogs over at amylouwho. I met her first at Sewing Summit a few years ago and told her then she was my first "celebrity" meeting. This is because she was blogging regularly, had a good following and was a person I was hoping to meet.   Of course, she has no recollection of the meeting at all. ;-)

We kept in touch and got to know each other on line fairly well.  When I attended the first Stash Bash event, she was in NC and half-heartedly asked if I could swing by and pick her up on my way down. I said "sure" and a real life friendship was born.  6 hours in a car together will cement a friendship or teach each person it's not meant to be.  Amy, ya'll, is a gem.   On our way home we were discussing fabric likes and dislikes. I am not a fan of big florals and Amy is. It lead to her handing me a fabric scrap and challenging me to make something with it.

I sat on this thing for about a year and a half. In that time, Amy moved nearer to where I live and we started getting together to sew whenever schedules permitted. She convinced me to join a local quilt guild and we co-chair newsletter duties.  

And still, I sat on this fabric. I really wanted to make something to give back to Amy but just couldn't figure out a design which highlighted the floral until one day the light went on. I made this for her. 

She loved it. :)

This next lady, I met on Instagram sometime within the last year. She is hysterically funny and we just "get" each other. As it turned out, she was coming up to VA from NC and was planning to stay with Amy. I caught this on IG and told her I was closer to where she was going and she should stay with me. She agreed without having ever met me before.  All this was done in the space of an hour or so with Amy returning to Instagram to see I stole her house guest.  (All is good, she's forgiven me.) 

Karie is a pattern designer (TwoKwikQuilters) and she sells her patterns, has trunk shows and teaches. While she was here for one visit, she gave me one of her newer patterns, Kwik Trio of Stars and true to its name, I whipped it up over the weekend. It probably would have gone faster except I had kids soccer games to attend and such.

I am donating this puppy to charity, since I have no home for it. I think it is bright and happy that a child somewhere will like it, don't you?

The other one I whipped up of Karie's is PERFECT for a winter throw. I backed it with flannel, added batting and quilted it up loosely. So cozy and perfect.  Super quick and her patterns read so well, if you've been considering one, take the plunge and get it.  (No, she didn't pay me to tell you that but I might ask her for some chocolate now that I have!)  Here I have Kwik Geese.

I'm blessed to have these two ladies in my life and know, without a doubt, they will not only keep it real for me but laugh with me (or at me, and that's okay), too. 

Cheers!

Beck

Another Pinwheel Quilt and more Mug Rugs?

Yes, yes I did. I love the pinwheel block. The many variations, all of it and Rachel Griffith's Pinwheel Sampler pattern just sings to me.

I decided to take a class from Rachel at the Fredricksburg Sewing Expo this past October where she taught how to make this sampler.  Yes, I've made it 3 or 4 times before, but I was using this class as a good cause. I REALLY wanted to make a Christmas quilt with all my holiday fabric and I always put it off. I figured this pattern would be a great way to get that done. Of course, as I pulled the fabrics, I realized that I had plenty of Christmas prints but of two distinct styles. Half were fun and funky and of non-traditional colors. The other half were the traditional prints and colors. After checking, they do not blend well. Well shit.

I thought and thought and then realized that I had plenty of pinks and Oct. was breast cancer awareness month so why not make a pink quilt and donate it?

This one came together pretty quickly because when you love a block like this like I do, you want to see it together ASAP.

I did quilt this baby but do not have photos (I forgot, I'm sorry). I asked my Instagram friends where I could donate it and received a message from someone who had a close relative going through the fight and asked if I would be willing to pass it to her to give.  I immediately agreed, the best use of a quilt is to comfort someone who needs it and let them know they are thought of and loved. The requester offered to bind the quilt and I'm sure it is now providing a good hug for the person who needs it.   Whether you know who is receiving your quilts or not, the feeling of peace for doing something kind lives within you for a long time after the gift has been given.

Speaking of Christmas and gifts, I will leave you with some Christmas mug rug creations.

This first is a very simple but effective little something to add color to the dessert counter.

Next, double sided Mug rugs for niece and nephew who have been all about hot cocoa this year. Mike and I also got them custom mugs and the kids bought them a variety pack of hot cocoas to try.

Another gift to a friend just to send a little Christmas hello.

Cheers!
Beck

Fleece Charity Quilts

I have been trying to clean out space in my sewing room but at the same time I have only managed to curb my fabric hoarding a teeny tiny bit.  Needless to say, I needed to make more space.

My mom gave me several fleece panels and solid fleece yardage with the instructions to "do something with them" since she wouldn't be using them. I opted to quilt them together for donation blankets.

I loaded a solid and a panel on the frame and quilted them together.

Then I took them over to the serger and serged up the edges.  Worked like a charm and was a relatively  simple overall.

These are the fleece quilts.

I hope to donate these very soon and I hope they make some kids very happy. On Instagram, someone suggested My Very Own Blanket so I'm going to reach out to them and see if they would like them. Fingers crossed.

With these, I've cleared up a lot of space in my sewing room (fleece takes up a ton!) and I am able to meet my goal for charity quilts completed that I set in Jan.  I'm really happy.

Cheers!
Becky

Charity Quilts from one tragedy to another

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I had volunteered to be a team leader through The Quilting Gallery.  What that meant was I would collect blocks, piece them together, quilt and bind. The blocks started trickling in at the end of Dec. By the end of February, I still hadn't received quite a few even though I sent a reminder out.   I decided to make the remaining blocks myself to get these quilts completed.

Eventually, I reached out to the eQuilter Initiative (the group collecting and distributing the quilts) and asked if I should still send the quilts along once I finish them.  I think my email must have been overlooked and then I'll be honest, time ran away with me and I didn't follow up. I saw the quilts sitting there a few short weeks ago and decided I'd send them along should another need arise.  I knew that, unfortunately, there would be another natural disaster or the like. It's the sad constant of our lives, isn't it.  

I suspect these quilts will come in handy sooner rather than later now and in anticipation of a drive being organized in our quilting community, I wanted to show you these quilts.   It's amazing to me how scrappy fabrics and colors can all, eventually work together.

Quilt 1, one solid binding choice.

Quilt 2, scrappy binding.

May God bless, heal and provide strength to those who need it in Oklahoma, today. If you have a top that's in the WiP pile & without a purpose, maybe you will be able to complete it & donate when the call comes?

Becky

QOV Scrappy Trip Around the World

It started on New Year's weekend.  A few people on Instagram decided to sew a scrappy trip around the world using the tutorial from Quiltville.com.  It spread like wildfire along the IG community and became a hashtag monster of its own, #scrappytripalong. Many drank the kool-aid, so to speak, including me. I made two tops total!   The truly scrappy one is waiting to be quilted but here's a sneak peak.

The second one was made for a donation to Quilts of Valor.  These came together pretty quick and I love how you can get different top looks out of the quilt.  Just check out the Flickr page set up to show all the photos (that's how many popped in to join this unofficial sew along).

So, I created strip sets, sewed them together per the tutorial and then finally ended up with a block. Then I had two blocks, three, and four.

 The quilt was starting to grow.

I'm excited, I'll be attending a local sew-in for QOV this upcoming weekend and I'll be able to hand in my quilt then but before I was to do that, I needed to take photos for you. The thing is, I had a dog interfere. He wanted to model, I think. He was actually posing so, I figured I'd let him have his day and publish his handsome mug.  I hope you enjoy.

And now some quilt details!

Cheers!
Beck

FTF - Donation Quilts

I was looking at my quilt tops the other day and I had a bit of a talking to with myself.  I have a goal this year to create 6 charity quilts, start to finish. It's ambitious for me b/c I also have a goal this year to reduce the WIPs drastically.  So far, the charity quilts have been the motivation to finish the WIPs so I don't have tons of tops hanging about.

Now that I've said that, I've got one charity quilt completed

and one additional top completed.

I have been thinking of donating this next top to a local ACTS Shelter to have on hand when a young one comes in. It's a design I tried but wasn't in love with and has no home. I thought a child who needs comfort and a little fun in his/her life might like it.  What do you think?

So, that would be three.  I also have squares cut for a fourth top but haven't put them together yet.

I think I'm doing okay but at the same time I'm still dissatisfied and think I need to do more.  I actually feel like I'm being called to do more. I've felt that way for awhile, now but again, I've been putting it off so I am not taking on more than I can chew with family and work added to the mix.  This makes me feel guilty.

I need to get my house in order, and do it now, because my 'waiting' for the right time is pretty much over. I don't know when I will officially reach out to the group I'd like to be a part of but I know it's going to be this year at some point and probably sooner rather than later. It's not as big a deal as I'm making it sound, it's just a bigger time commitment than I'm used to being able to give.

Anyway, it brings me to my FTF today. My favorite thing is creating and donating quilts to charity.  I love knowing that each stitch is carrying prayers, love, blessings, good will, healing and comfort to someone in the world.  I love hearing the stories others tell when they give a quilt away and I enjoy hearing about the good feelings the givers get in the process.  It's such a wonderful circle of love.

In the last couple of years, I've made and donated 3 quilts and 2 blocks for a quilt.

As I readied this post today, I paused in uploading my photos to read another's post.  Please have a read, it's a great example of how one donation, can have a great impact.

Alycia Quilts: The Start of Healing

That said, if you don't have time to make a whole quilt, perhaps make a top and partner with a quilter who will quilt it. Send it off to your favorite charity.  Children's Hospitals often have need for comfort quilts... go small.  All I'm asking is, if you haven't yet, please consider donating.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Check out Shay's blog for other FTFs this week!

Cheers!
Becky

Another finish!

This is one of the charity quilts. I made it intending to send to Japan after the earthquake but was unable to finish it. So, it's been sitting here.  At this point, I am not sure where it will be donated but it will be donated.

I used the QAL pattern from Old Red Barn's QAL in 2009. It's quick to put together but looks oh, so pretty, in calico fabrics. The binding was made from leftover strips of the fabric so it's got a nice scrappy look.

I practiced the leaf and cabbage rose continuous line quilting pattern again on this one because it fit the roses on the fabrics so well.  You can see the striped backing here and a screen shot of the quilting.

Yeah for another finish! 

Cheers!
Beck