Friday, December 28, 2012

Off Centered Quilt

I saw this quilt on Alycia's Blog and knew that I had to make one. So when I woke up Friday morning at 5am I got started on it.
Large blocks and easy to piece. Got it quilted and bound on Friday. The orange is actually red. It is about 52 inches square, this one will also go to Sarah's Ministry.

Pattern can be found here. 

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Scrappy Charm Star

I save all my extra charms in a shoebox. When I have extra from quilt backs or pieces left over from the top I make charms. When there is  enough variety of charms I make a star quilt. Another easy to piece quilt. This one is about 72 x 89 before washing.

This will be put in the pile for Sarah's Ministry. Someday I will be over on her side of town and will drop them off.

TOPS "Elves" at Work

TOPS stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly. They are a non profit organization that provides a network of low cost weight loss support groups.  And we are lucky to have two in Molalla Oregon. I belong to the evening group.

Recently the evening group, known as TOPS OR0322, committed itself to doing more to support the needs of the community.

We completed a community service project that was very fun. In fact so much fun that we now plan on having a sew-in once every quarter. We made lap robes for a local non profit. In one evening we finished eleven tied lap robes with an additional four being provided, already completed, by one member. 

Here are some photo’s of our work session.


 




I hope this inspires you!
Cheers!
Toni

Sunday, December 23, 2012

2 charm pack quilt

This quilt is going to Sarah's quilt ministry. I used two charm packs and some yardage to make it.
The quilt is 72 x 63 before washing. It was a fun quilt to put together.

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

a HAPPY quilt

I'm having a little blogland party this month.
Some of the participants have been sending me
EXTRA house blocks
and
ORPHAN blocks
so that...
I could make some charity quilts!!!
 
This is the first one!
Isn't it a HAPPY quilt??
 
 

Friday, December 14, 2012

Admitting to my Addiction


There is a great charity here in Oregon that will take quilts, quilt tops or quilt blocks that have lost your favor. It is: http://www.quiltsfromcaringhands.com/.  We quilters, always being in search of new challenges, new creativity, and just loving new (or new to us fabric), often go on to these NEW projects, leaving discarded, but not unloved, UFO's behind.  I’m thankful that there are charities to take these projects.  

I have to stand and say: “Hello, my name is Toni, and I’m addicted to quilting”. This addiction has led me to be in a position of having 50 (for sure) or more, UFO’s in my cabinets and closets. Don’t get me wrong! I do finish quilts. Last year the number was 11 and I’ve not yet counted this years finishes but it will be a similar number. But I love trying new patterns and combinations of fabrics. And don’t forget those sometimes addictive, block swaps, block lotto’s, and your on line quilting bees. And free patterns! And so much inspiration!  And sadly, so little time.





So today these UFO’s are off to "Quilts from Caring Hands."

The rainbow scrap quilt now layered and basted and ready to quilt. It is 50x60.
The Zig Zag, is a top that is 40x50. And the last quilt was part of a BOM, although I changed the center, that I never finished. It is 60x72. I'm sure they will all go on to loving homes.

Cheers!
Toni

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Rememberence Quilt for Teacher

My 2nd granddaughter is in the 7th grade this year. Her math teacher, Mr Benton,  just adopted a baby from Ethiopia. While flying to his parents for Thanksgiving he had a heart attack and died on the plane. He was only 34.

My granddaughter called me and said we needed to make a quilt for his family. I cut out some 5.5 inch squares, drew the 1/4 inch seam on them and she took them to school, with fabric pens, so everyone could sign them.

Good thing some got lost as this is one huge quilt.
As you can tell he was a NY Mets fan. She insisted that the quilt be blue and orange and used many different fabrics of each. Then she thought we should make the baby a quilt. NY Met fabric is not readily available - I found some on ebay and it was $14 and up for a fat quarter. I purchased some fleece and we tied a lap quilt so the mom and baby could snuggle together.

I am very proud of my grandgirl for thinking of honoring her teacher with a quilt. This grandgirl has enter quilts in her county fair and won best of show for the 18 and under group. She has gone with me to Ronald's House when I dropped off quilts.

She did the quilting on it, using a Circle Lord template - swirls.

The pattern we picked to use is "Puzzle Box" by Tracey Brookshier. We picked it because there weren't any seams that had to match up.

We took the quilt and throw to the school to have it on display so everyone could see. Our hope is that this quilt shows how loved Mr Benton was by his students and his colleagues.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

For a Sandy survivor




I made this quilt this week for Aunt Kat.  Kat is not a true aunt but one of those people who were around as we were growing up and were just part of the family.  Kat is actually my aunt Gert's little sister and a wonderful person.




She pretty much lost everything to Sandy. She is currently living with her daughters family. As she starts to rebuild her life I hope she feels all of the love that comes with this quilt. 

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Last QOV of 2012

Here is my last Quilt of Valor for the year.

My granddaughter was home from school for a few days. So she decided she wanted to help me make a quilt. I let her pick the pattern and fabrics. I did the cutting and tried to show her how to sew a 1/4 inch seam - wasn't very successful at it. She was here for three days and when she went home each night I took out her seams and resewed them.  She came back today and with her mother's help, quilted it. I did the binding. It measures 71 inches square before washing.

Does anyone else think it looks like a giant Swoon block?

Monday, December 3, 2012

Calling ALL orphans

I'm taking up a collection....
Orphan quilt blocks
to be made into CHARITY quilts.
 
More details on my blog.
 
I'm hoping to make a few quilts
this month and next.
 
I bet you know of some orphans
NEEDING a good HOME!!
right?
 

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Lull before Frenzy - Part Two

Now that the Frenzy of November is over, there is a short lull before the frenzy of December starts.  I'm using the time to make a couple of more charity quilts in the interim.
Here's two St. Anne's quilts - I make tops for the our parish organization - St. Anne's Sewdality.  We make baby blankets for first time mothers.
A tube quilt top
and another rag quilt. All I do is make the top and others finish it for St. Anne's.

This is the back.  The front has that cute leaf fabric everywhere you see the solid beige flannel here.  I only assemble, others clip and wash. Next step is to quilt an "x"in each pair and then sew the rows.  When we get together we pray over them and send them on to the babies and their moms.

What are you working on?