December 2021, cribsize quilt for a girl.

I found  this pattern in my file folders, saved for a special project.  I made this by request for the grandchild for one of Vere's friend.  Actually, my neighbor, Barbara had loved one of my earlier quilts and I gave it to her to give to this family, it was bright greens and they loved it for their baby boy.  Now they have a baby girl we agreed they needed a wildly colorful quilt for her.  Close up of some of my favorite fabrics that I pulled out.  As I was cutting, I cut some strips of the same fabric for another smaller quilt, ready to go when I get to it.    

 

December 2021, Cutting down the tree

 This tree in the front of our house was nice looking, about as tall as the house when we moved here 20 years ago.  It's been getting uglier and uglier, dead in the middle with some green branches in the front.  I've been nagging Vere to cut it down, even offering to call someone to cut it down.  He wanted to do the cutting, and he started on it.  I knew it would take some time, a few branches and then a rest.  Vere loads the cut branches into the pickup and drives it out  to drop them off in the vast dessert around Moab.  

2021, Christmas cookies

 I make Christmas cookies and candy every  year to send to the children.  These are the sugar cookies which is a standard, and their favorite.  I thought this year I'd keep from breathing on them by wearing the ever present masks.  Vere surprised me by snapping this picture.  If I'd known that was going to happen, I'd at least have combed my hair.  Also, I'd have worn something other than my ugly house dress.

October 2021, full size, fifty states with state flowers embroidered

Finally finished this quilt.  It  was a lot of work and time.  An earlier post describes the origin of this quilt and showed the stack of blocks ready to be joined.  I didn't have Laura's plan for arranging these blocks, she might have planned  to put them on "point" with a turquoise block between.  I decided to make them straight, alphabetically, seven across and seven up/down.  But  that left "Wyoming" all alone on the bottom row.  Had to pull a couple blocks apart and rearrange them like this.  It worked out well.  One picture  here shows the back with a thin strip of the turquoise sashing that join the blocks.  Vere has said several times he really likes  this quilt and Sonya's eyes lit  up when she saw it.  So eventually it will go to Sonya.  I spent many wonderful, restful hours sitting out on my deck, doing hand embroidery. In the summer I was out there early in the morning in the shade.  As it got cooler I sat out there in 55 degree weather in the sun, watching the blue sky and green around me.  Did I say this quilt took a lot of time.

 

September 2021 Two 40" X 60" quilts for Linus Project

I know, it might seem that I just repost pictures of this quilt.  It's just that I like this pattern and it's easy to do when I have boxes full of 2" squares or 2 1/2" squares.  This is the last of these squares for awhile, but I can see the supply building, as it does when I make quilts.  These two will go to the Linus Project, an organization that gives quilts to children in hospitals and foster care.  The fabric for the backing came from the fabric shop in town, the owner donated about 9 partial bolts of fabric for this project.  The black/gray one doesn't picture well, but the words say, "security is a thumb and a blanket" with splashes of color, it's very charming fabric.  The other backing shows pictures of Snoopy dancing and the words "Hugs for Heroes".

 

 

September 2021, 40" X 60" quilt for "Project Linus"

I had a box full of 2" squares and started sewing them together for this quilt.  Then I found another bag with more of the same.  I spent two months sewing squares together and will post 2 more quilts when they are done.  These are for "Project Linus" which is a national charity organization that gives quilts to children in crisis.  Project Linus - from the Snoopy cartoon with a character named "Linus" who walks around with a quilt over his shoulder and his thumb in his mouth.   A woman in our quilt guild who also owns the fabric store had several bolts of fabric produced specifically for "Project Linus"  and she donated them to me to use for backings.  This backing is cute with pictures from the Snoopy cartoon.  A national representative for the project lives in Gr.Junction and I can get my quilts to her by calling, her husband works in the area and is often in Moab.  Handy, I don't have to mail them.  

 

September 2021, T-Shirt quilt

Bruce showed a coworker one of the quilts I had made for him from T-shirts.  He expressed an interest in having a quilt made for himself, paying me, of course.  He sent me these 10 large pieces, with direction on how he wanted them joined.  He did not want the usual square or rectangle quilt.  He wanted more like a bed-runner, one to display on the end of the bed.  I did not add sashing as I usually do because the pieces were so large.  I sewed them together and added a distinctive top stitch  on either side of the seams.  I was able to quilt it easily enough around the logo pictures.  I like the way it turned out, the fabric, smooth and flat.

 

Augus 2021, makings of a quilt with state flowers embroidered

 My friend Laura in the quilt guild had started the elements of this quilt, she cut batting and backing for 50 blocks and had imprinted the pattern for 50 states on 50 squares.  She had started to embroider the blocks and done about 10 of them and had also started to hand quilt some to show her intent on finishing each block,  then she gave the huge container to me, filled with all this plus lots of embroidery thread, some needles, the patterns and instructions.,  I've been working on this project for a little more than 2 years and just finished the embroidery and quilting on the 50th block.,  There is still so much to do, to join the blocks with sashing.  There are some dark turquoise blocks to go between there somehow (my daughter Val did some quilting on those blue squares).  It will be a huge quilt and I do wonder what will become of it.  I could give it to Laura's family, auction it off for charity, or save it for one of my kids.  For now it will stay with me.

July 2021, Two 40" x 60" quilts for charity, one for a friend

I saw this idea in a magazine, half square triangles, one side black/white fabric and one side bright fabric.  Of course I was hooked.  Sometimes I sew the blocks together randomly, or like this, together in a bunch.  The back is 12" squares using fabric from the front.  

I had a stack of squares left from another project, so I put them together  for this quilt.  I rather like simple quilts like this.  The back is a pretty pink flowers.  I quilted in straight line on either side of the seam line, vertically and horizontal.  Takes a lot of thread but not as much time as  you would think.  These two quilts will go to the charity, The Linus Project.  They take quilts for children in distress, either ill, or in foster care.  

A friend from church had made this quilt for a new grandbaby.  She asked me to quilt it for her her.  As a reward, I got the left over fabric from the backing and the cotton batting which will be useful for the pot holders I'm making for Christmas presents.  I love this backing material, it'll take me some time to find the best use for it.

 

Closet/ carrying case for doll clothes July 2021

Jill's father in law found a book with this pattern in it, a carrying case, kind of closet for doll clothes. It's made with PVC pipes that needed the cloth inserts to cover the sides and bottom.  Each side and bottom has the bright color outside and a black/white fabric lining.  The linings had the tube attached, bottom and top for the insertion of the pvc pipe.  Luckily, the book had clear, step by step directions for sewing the case.  Very clear, but still needed careful study to get it right.  Jill then took it home and the father in law put it together.  I pulled out my fabric and our little girl's eyes lit up when she saw this piece, bright and just what she wanted.
 

June 2021 Large Size Throw in blue and gold

 This is a large throw size we put together amazingly in 10 days.  Deanna, my friend, pictured on the left proposed the project to me.  One of the sisters at church has been diagnosed with cancer and will be having treatments and eventually surgery.  This sister is devoted to Relief Society, has taught classes for years, and whenever there was a special dinner or a visiting General Authority, she was called on to plan and provide dinners.  Deanna texted and emailed every sister at church, asking them to find a scripture, a saying, or drawing for a white square we'd provide.  A lot of good response.  Deanna crafted a pattern using gold and blue and the white squares.  She was the one who made sure everyone was contacted, she collected many, but most sisters brought their squares to me.  I sewed them together in 2 days, then quilted in another day and a half,.  Deanna came over on Saturday and we sat knee to knee, stitching the binding.  I never would have finished it in time alone.  It was ready to give to our sister on Sunday at her house.  She was crying, very touched.  She will use it to comfort her as she has her treatments.  We pray she'll be okay.  

May 2021, Small Throw Single Irish Chain

Verleen has two grandsons living at their house, Vere and decided they needed quilts.  I already had a small one ready, and I made another for the older boy from 9-patch blocks.  I usually have a stack of these blocks sewn and ready to go.   

April 2021 Two quilts 40" x 60" for charity

Can you pick out the 20 differences between these two quilts.  Just kidding.  I made the two quilts from stacks of 5 " squares I cut from my novelty fabric.  You sew these squares together into 9-patch blocks.  Then you cut the blocks once horizontally and once vertically, then you turn each quarter a different direction, sew them back together and it makes a complicated looking quilt.  I used 12" squares also from my novelty fabric for the back.  These quilts were sent to my charity, Wrap - a - Smile, for children in third world countries who have surgery to correct facial birth defects.  They like colorful quilts with little or no white.

 

May 2021 Small throw

 This little quilt doesn't look as pretty here as it is in real life.  I picked up the fabric from a UFO exchange we had at the guild.  Someone had made several of the blocks and material for the rest was in the bag.  I finished the blocks and put them together with black sashing.  It is such a pretty quilt.  I'll save it until an opportunity comes up to give it away

May 2021, pariotic throw size, for Memorial Day Show

I had a stack of these 9-patch blocks already made and I had this huge piece of flag material perfect for backing.  So it make sense to make the quilt for the Memorial Day Show at our local fabric store.  It will be send off to the Quilts of Valor charity, for a Service man or woman.

 

Panel quilt about 45" x 60"

My friend, Cherryl owns the fabric store south of town.  She asked me to put this kit together.  The center with the alphabet is a big panel.  The biggest amount of sewing was to make the green, blue, and red squares in the next border.  The outside border, which looks like several border strips is actually a 12" strip with letters and pictures.  I get to keep the leftover scraps, of course, which I will use on my scrappy quilts.  Cherryl also said she'd give me a $50 store credit.  Good for me.

 

February 2021, One is 40" X 60" and one is 8' square

This quilt I made very quickly.  Jill said she'd been thinking it would be nice to have a quilt for a yoga mat in neutral colors, with maybe a splash of green and blue.  I had a bunch of this very pale blue, though it doesn't show in the picture, it looks white.  I also have a lot of these neutrals, gray and beige.  I love making half Square Triangles, so this quilt was fun.  Two weeks.

This quilt took a lot longer.  For years I've cut off the selvedge from my fabric pieces.   Each strip is about an inch wide.   I rolled the strips into balls.  I had 4 balls about the size of softballs.  I thought I'd have enough for a quilt and maybe a tote bag.   Turns out I had just enough for this small quilt.,  The top picture is the stack of blocks, the second picture as I was putting blocks together, and then the quilt, showing a bit of the plain white back.  

For Each block you use a square of fabric for the back, a matching square of batting and then sew the selvedge strips, one by one onto the batting.  This makes a nice quilted back.  I happened to have Huge piece of light blue pin strip fabric which I cut into 1" strips to join the blocks.  It sure used a lot of that.  It was perfect, I did not want to use anything too noticeable for the joining strip.  I've seen these selvedge pieced quilts and wanted to try one.  It was LOT of thread and a LOT of time.  I probably won't ever make another, though it might be fun to make a tote bag someday.