Tag Archives: project linus

The Best Laid Plans

A few months ago my nephew and his wife bought flights to come up for a visit from Colorado. They were to stay at my parents’ house. We were all so excited because we don’t often see them. In the last 10 years, I may have seen him twice and met his wife only once. Anyway, I was pretty excited. Mom and Dad planned a brunch. My sisters and I planned to take them on the ferry over to Seattle to visit some of the touristy area around Pike’s Market.

Well, none of that was to happen for me. I got sick about 10 days ago and by the time the weekend rolled around, I felt awful. I missed every bit of the weekend. How disappointing! I am sure they had a lovely visit and the brunch seemed to go well. My kids were there and my husband too. I spent the afternoon dog-sitting my grand dog and binge-watching the Apple TV show, Trying. (By the way, if you haven’t seen this show and are an Apple TV subscriber, I think it is really cute).

Just before getting sick, I did manage to finish this little strip quilt for Project Linus. Above you can see the backing which is a green batik my sister gave me. I machine stitched the binding with a zig-zag and it looks great.

This quilt was such a good use of these random strips. Most from a scrap bag donated to Project Linus and some from my bin of strips. I tried to alternate the widths to keep things balanced. Other than straightening up some of the strips, this was a breeze. Unfortunately, the monthly Project Linus meeting was yesterday and I was not feeling up to going. So this quilt will sit and wait until the May meeting for donation.

When I was feeling lousy, I went poking around in the sewing room. I wanted to make something and decided to use some fabric given to me by a friend of mine in California. It is an older line designed by Kim Diehl – so very traditional reproduction fabrics. The main reason I was drawn to these this particular week was included in the fabric Stephanie gave me were stacks of pieces already cut into squares and rectangles. I looked through a book, Homestyle Quilts, and chose a pattern that could be easily modified to use the squares that I had.

Even though I sewed just between naps; a little here and some more there, this sure did come together quickly. This was mainly because I had very little I had to cut. Cutting pieces can be very time consuming!!

At this point, all sashing strips are done and I am on the hunt for some darker green yardage for the setting and corner triangles.

Just in case I get lucky here, the above picture is the fabric I would like to use for the setting triangles. It is the same as what I used for the block centers. I don’t suppose any of you have a piece of this sitting on a shelf, collecting dust? It is an older line so I am unable to find any on-line (though I have tried mightily)! If you do happen to have about a yard or maybe 1 1/2 yards, I would love to buy it from you. Leave a comment!! I’ll cross my fingers. 🙂

Recently finishing up the hand quilted mini I posted about earlier, I wanted another hand work project for the evenings. Changing things up, I have been working on a crochet project. This afghan is so soft – I can’t remember where I picked up the first few skeins of yarn. Having only three skeins, I somehow decided to start an afghan. What was I thinking??? Never having made one before I wasn’t clear as to how much yarn I really needed. Let’s just say it is a whole lot more than three skeins! Luckily I found some on Etsy and a bit more on Ebay. So, I will be able to make this a good size to snuggle under on the couch. But jeez – yarn adds up and a project that takes 10 or so skeins is expensive! Crocheting in the evening feels meditative. Especially now that I have the rhythm of this pattern solidly memorized and don’t have to pay too much attention to it. As with quilting, I am not precise when it comes to crochet. Sure, every now and then there might be four double crochets where there should be three but in this sort of pattern, I don’t think it matters a whole lot. Plus, it’s how I do things…..

Hopefully this virus will end sooner than later. I am bored and want my energy back. Plus, my husband is probably tiring of listening to me cough! Hope you are all healthy and enjoying the spring time. Our skies are blue today after a very rainy night. Hurray!

Hands 2 Help 2018

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Hands 2 Help is a very popular on-line quilting event hosted by Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict. This event was first held in 2011 and seems to grow in popularity each year. The “rules of the game” are simple. Make a quilt and donate it. Sarah always rounds up several worthy organizations who love receiving handmade quilts. The quilter is also free to choose to donate to an organization close to her heart. I participated in 2016 but not 2017. This year I signed up again. My plan was to donate the Postage Plus quilt I made for the Modern Plus Quilt blog hop a few months back. One thing after another has gotten in the way of any attempt I made to get the quilt top finished up. At this point, it is clearly apparent it won’t be done by the end of the week (when the event concludes.). This doesn’t mean I can’t finish it and donate it still, it just means I need another way to fulfill this particular commitment.

I thought about it and decided to donate two baby quilts I made last year. Both of these were made as samples for fabric I carried in my shop. I think they are adorable and will be loved by a child somewhere. Rather than send them both out of the area, I want to donate one to Little Lambs in Utah and the other to my local chapter of Project Linus.

This is the quilt I will send to Little Lambs Foundation. It was made with a panel from a fabric line called Shine.

If you want to read more about this project, click here. I think this one is really sweet. I had a lot of fun quilting it and used it as a display in my booth at several quilt shows. The fabric is so sweet with the cats and owls, sunshine and clouds.

The second quilt will be donated to Project Linus, Featuring bold colors in black, white and rainbow, the quilt was made with a panel from Sweet Tweets.

For more details on this quilt, click here. This line was really fun and sold out incredibly fast. While I had it, I used the quilt as a sample in my booth. I think the birds and critters are so much fun for children of any age. It is a bright, cheerful quilt. This fabric is, unfortunately, not printed any longer or I would still stock it. I just love it.

It is such a challenge to get everything done that one wants to. I can’t kick myself for not finishing things as I had planned. It is a constant battle fto figure out the best way to stay organized and do as much as I can. The Postage Plus quilt will get finished and it will also go off to a good cause, just not this week! Thank you Sarah for your wonderful work organizing this huge event. I know it takes so much of your time and you reach many people as a result. You are such a generous soul. There are so many gorgeous quilts being donated this year. If you want to see some, click here and be inspired!

Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

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Circus Stash!

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My sister Patti came up for the weekend from the Bay Area. What a treat. Her youngest son (of five children) went off to college this fall so for the first time in 38 years, she has some time for herself.

She brought me a box of treasures. As she brought the box into the house, she said, “This is a weird pile of fabric. If you don’t want it, that’s fine.” Someone explain what those last seven words even mean??

A couple of years ago, Patti held a circus themed birthday party for the nieces and nephews and her grandchildren. My sister throws amazing parties – she goes all out with decorations, themes, games, and food. It is a lot of fun. For the circus party she used lots of red and white with a splash of turquoise.

These are large pieces of yardage. The blue and red dots are a Michael Miller and each piece is about 2.5 yards long. The small red dot is only a 1/2 yard cut.

The stripes, wide and narrow are at least 2.5 yards each (and I think there are two pieces of each). The red dots on white are from the Dr. Seuss collection and is also about 2 yards. Lots and lots of red and white. There is easily over ten yards of fabric that wants to be used.

Ok – here is the part where you all chime in. I think I should use some of this for a few Project Linus quilts. Throw out some fun ideas. Combining the blue and red piece with the narrower red stripe would be fun. They would all be perfect for quilt backs. But I think some simply pieced projects would be perfect for Project Linus. What would you all do? The really wide stripe will probably be best on the back of a quilt due to its size. The tiny polka dot is a win for binding. If I add just a color or two, I could do something fun. How would you build from here?

“If you don’t want it”… I thought she knew me better than that. 🙂 Thank you Patti!!

REMINDER – Handmade Halloween begins in two more days, on Tuesday, October 4th!! See you then.