Blue & Yellow Bliss Finish

 This quilt my mom pieced on our retreat as part of her charity quilt drive. I am not sure what the pattern is called, but I machine quilted it on the longarm and machine bound it. I am calling it Blue & Yellow Bliss. It measures 60 inches square after washing.

 My mom asked me to machine quilt it with the five petal flowers and loops I have been doing lately. I put the five petal flowers all over the quilt, but also centered one in each of the royal blue center squares and they show up fairly well since I quilted it with yellow thread.

I looks so sweet and cheerful which is why I think Blue & Yellow Bliss is the perfect name. I am in love with the precious daisies in the border.

Here is an up close picture of the perfect backing and one of my quilted flowers.

I pieced this Fun Flower Nine-Patch yesterday and today. It is my next donation to the charity quilt drive. It was featured in the McCall's Quilting magazine in January/February 2011. My sister had sent me a kit for it from the Fat Quarter Shop years ago. It is much brighter than it appears in the magazine! It was supposed to measure 57 inches square, but I added in the three inch lime green border so it will be bigger than 60 inches square. I think there is enough of the black striped fabric that is the first border to use as binding.

So far for the charity quilt drive we have about a dozen quilts completed with another dozen in progress. Four quilters from the online community have contacted me and are donating too. We are trying to make 62 quilts in time for this Christmas for every resident in a nursing home in our town. Please leave me a comment if you would like more information about our charity quilt drive or want to donate a quilt or top to the cause! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

I am off to dig into my scrap bins for another scrappy quilt to piece and donate...

Boxy Stars Tops

 So summer has been slipping away and we have had very mild weather which is very rare for July and has even delayed the sweet corn harvest. I am not complaining--it is lovely quilting weather and much more pleasant for cooking.

If you read my last post, we are working frantically on a charity quilt drive. With overflowing scrap bins, I decided to make use of them. I wanted to make a Bonnie Hunter design--she has so many free designs here http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/free-patterns.html
I settled on her Boxy Stars pattern because it uses 2.5 inch pieces. I was planning on making 25 blocks, but then decided to make 7 more for a total of 32 blocks and use 16 in two quilts. I set them with sashing and need to pick borders. I am thinking of a blue or green for the salmon sashed one above

and green or yellow for this lilac sashed one. I am going over to see some of the ladies working on this charity quilt drive this morning and will get their opinions and see what we have in our fabric donations. If you would like to help us with this charity quilt drive, information can be found here

http://tanyaquiltsinco.blogspot.com/2015/07/charity-quilt-drive.html

Most of the sunflowers my hubby planted are huge, but there are a few plants that have some smaller ones. I cut some and put them in my scarlet Fiestaware pitcher--they make me smile.

In the evenings while watching movies with my family, I am working on my Cottage Garden wool felt appliqué.

Charity Quilt Drive

 Hi quilty friends! I long arm quilted this lap quilt on Monday and machine bound it too. It is Shangri-La Four Squared. My mother is organizing a charity quilt drive for one of our local nursing homes http://www.voa.org/senior_living_and_care_facilities/valley-manor-care-center 

She is trying to get 62 quilts--12 for the males and 50 for the females. These are long term and memory care patients, many of whom do not have family who visit them. The goal is to give them as Christmas gifts this year. 

This quilt was made using a free pattern designed by Polly Monica found here http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/02/

I used a bunch of Moda Shangri-La scraps. I quilted a five petal flower in each large square and loops all over. For those of you who have followed my blog for the past two years, you know I struggle with my long arm quilting skills!!! But, I have to say this is my best effort yet.

 I tried to quilt it pretty thoroughly as it will probably be washed often.

 After washing. this one shrank down to 58 inches square darn it! But, it will work fine and hopefully provide a quilty hug to a nursing home resident.

I had so many Shangri-La scraps left that I added a few more fabrics in and made this top. It is just 16 patch blocks with alternating pinwheel blocks. The taupe color I used was a buy at the local fabric store and makes it soothing. I have not quilted this one yet, but it is on my to do list. Practice make perfect!

 Monday after I finished quilting Shangri-La Four Squared, my mom was showing me some 2.5 strips of fabric that had been donated. I grabbed one of each and cut some more from my stash and her stash to make this top.

 It is this pattern--Wistful. It uses 40 2.5 inch strips and 1.5 yards of a background fabric. This pattern was very inexpensive $2 and is a quick and easy lap quilt design that finishes 57 x 72 inches. I even have a good backing that will work with it from my stash.

Believe it or not, I have never made a Bonnie Hunter quilt. After looking at her free patterns you can find here http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/free-patterns.html, I settled on this design Boxy Stars. I am digging into my over flowing scrap bins and cutting some happy fabrics to make one for this charity quilt drive. I also need to get out in my garage and dig for some unfinished tops to contribute. This is a great way to purge some scraps and UFO projects.

If you are interested in donating a top or a completed lap quilt please leave me a comment with your email if you are a no reply blogger or email me directly at mcsdces19(at)gmail(dot)com Ideally, these lap quilts would be 60 inches square or larger. Please help us if you can! Thanks!

Misc. Makings

This is a VERY old UFO! The pattern is called Wild Rose Trellis and can be found in the book, Spring Cleaning by Terry Atkinson. The book is from 2003 and I think I made the top when I still lived in California--so that means it is a 10 year old UFO. Yikes! I have no idea why I was making it...

 I dug through one of my plastic tubs and found it. I decided to donate it to my mom's charity quilt drive--lap quilts for an entire nursing home. I actually quilted it up yesterday on her long arm.

 It was good practice, but very difficult to see the white thread on the top. I used loops and loopy flowers. We have decided to machine bind all these charity quilts since they will be washed often.

 After washing, it is 50 x 60 inches a little on the small side, but for the right person will be a lovely lap quilt.

 Here are some of my FGV blocks--Haystack Block, Grandma's Quilt Block, Furrows Block, and the Gingham Block. I still have not made this Friday's blocks--but will make them this week.

 I finished up all my S Is for Stitch girl blocks this week. I am trimming them down and piecing them today. There are more embroidery blocks that you stitch once the top is pieced, so I plan on working on those for Slow Sunday Stitching this evening while we watch The Giver. http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

 The tiara block was fun to make and every little girl needs a magic wand.

 The zinnia block came out very cute and I don't know why I put off the ballerina block because it was easy.

 We don't have zinnias growing in our garden, but plenty of sunflowers and zucchini.

I also finished the border in my Apple-Licious quilt top and got a backing for it. Time to set up my pinning tables to quilt it. 

Gifts

This is a Sunflower Harvest Door Banner I made. I bought the pattern and cut out two kits--one for Lindsey as part of her birthday gift and one for me.

Lindsey had been so generous for my birthday in June with a sweet cake decorated with notions (what a great idea!) and

this! It is a Fiestaware colander filled with some Daysail fabrics, a candle, and lotion. I absolutely loved it, but it raised the bar for her birthday present.

For her birthday present, I got an antique sewing machine cabinet drawer,

put together the Sunflower Harvest Door Banner kit,

I also did a Halloween door banner kit for her, and made two Watcha Got? large project bags--one sewing themed,

and the other with bumblebees--her favorite. They went perfectly into the wooden drawer! She loved her birthday present and even started working on the Halloween door banner on our retreat.

We went to the Golden Quilt Company on our retreat and were kind of disappointed in their selection. They pretty much only had three things--batiks, black and white fabrics, and Kaffe Fassett. I only bought a half yard of a pink with white polka dots and a light green fat eighth to use with for my Down in the Garden pattern I bought and this $2 pattern that uses a jelly roll. I spent less than $10--which is good for my budget!

I organized our retreat and we decided to have a goodie bag. I made 10 Watcha Got? large bags (I have made 19 of these bags so far!)

and everyone brought a little goodie to put in. Some people made something and others just bought something. It was so much fun to get some lovely items to commemorate our retreat.

 Next door to the quilt shop in Golden was an antique store, and of course I ventured in. I found this small sewing box for $14, but I did not get to buy because the girls bought it for me as a thank you for organizing our retreat.

The finish is good and it is nicely lined inside.

This sewing box is much smaller than the one I got for my birthday. It is 7 x 7 x 12 inches--much more portable. I think I must start a new collection of vintage sewing boxes.

My mom made me this sweet stitching girl embroidered mini quilt with my favorite Bonnie and Camille fabrics. I need to hang it up ASAP.

Retreat Day 2

 Retreat Day 2 was much more productive than Day 1--no field trip meant more time at the sewing machine. I got my whole Strawberry Social top pieced with borders on! This is a Pattern Basket pattern http://thepatternbasket.blogspot.com but I chose to use a navy Kona background. Each strawberry is a different fabric with no repeats.

Mary finished this sweet orange peel top. She bought the fabric on Friday on our field trip to the Golden Quilt Company and completed it this morning.

I am working on my girl alphabet embroidery blocks before we head for home...Slow Sunday Stitching

http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com

Yesterday, we had incredible homemade cinnamon rolls. We split the meals and ate amazing food all weekend. Time to head back to reality!

Retreat Day 1

 We are retreating at the Pineberry Lodge in Black Hawk, Colorado about 30 minutes west from Denver in the mountains. http://www.pineberrylodge.com It is an amazing set up, designed for scrapbooking or quilting retreats. The house will accommodate up to 12 people, but we have 10 people. 

 Each of us have our own table, comfy chair, Ott Lite , beverage holder, power strip, and trashcan. The light is exceptional with the big windows.

 The kitchen is well appointed for easy meal preparation and serving.

 Downstairs has a great sectional, wood stove, big screen TV, DVD player, and cuddly throws.

There are also two bedrooms downstairs, two bedrooms upstairs, and the master is on the main level. Each level has a full bathroom.

 Debbie had this gorgeous quilting themed birthday cake made for a few birthday girls. Unfortunately, it did not travel that well, but was delicious.

 Here is everyone hard at work on various projects.

 Mary and Sharon were enjoying the set up especially listening to the rain we had fall through the trees.

 It is easy to interact and be productive.

 This is the front deck and the house is surrounded by trees.

 There are other houses nearby, but it feels private.

 The lodge was stocked with candy and chips.

I pieced part of my Apple-licious top and got a good start of piecing the borders. I ran out of scraps for the borders and will have to finish it at home. I am now working on piecing strawberries--this will go down as my "Fruit Retreat."  More details to come...