Three Baby Quilts

I belong to a church group where we make baby quilts for newborns. Here are the three latest.

Quilty Hugs

Got together with friends to sew quilts for Happy Chemo today.  We were able to finish three tops.

 Orphan blocks in yellow and aqua found a home in this quilt.

 Giant Christmas four patches sewn together to create a little Christmas cheer.  Got to look through the stash to see if I can find something to border it with.

We are calling this one the picnic quilt.  It looks like ketchup, mustard, grass and sky.
It was fun to chat with friends while we created quilty hugs for those fighting cancer.

An Even Easier QAYG

I'm always looking for a quick way to make a charity quilt. I think I've found the easiest after making an envelope quilt from a panel. This one is similar to the last one I posted, but is faster, has no sashing, and has a solid back.
Here's the one I made in 4 hours:

As this was the neonatal quilt I made as I taught the class, I only did a cross in the middle of the plain blocks and quilted around the motifs in the others. The batting allows up to 10' apart for quilting lines, so that simple quilting is enough for these 8 1/2" blocks. Measures 32"square.

What you need to make one:
Sixteen 8 1/" blocks (orphan, embroidered, cut from stash - whatever you have)
Sixteen 8 1/2"blocks of batting (thin flocked works better).  I used warm and natural.

One 36" square of fabric for batting. If making bigger, backing must be 2 inches bigger all around the unfinished quilt top to bring the back to the front for binding.
Neutral thread,
Walking Foot

Now take one of each top block and batting and make a two layer sandwich.  Do this for all the blocks.  You will have 16 blocks.

Pin each block at the center of each edge; not the corners.
Quilt each of the blocks with the batting down, block on tip.  I used a simple cross hatch  for the simple blocks.  See photo above.

Once all the blocks are done layout your blocks in the otder you want them in the flimsy.  Mark them with masking tape in the upper left corner so you'll be able to keep them in order. I did A1, A2, A3, A4, etc.  Sew the rows together horizontally. Iron the seam allowances the opposite of the one that follows - ie:  A left, B right, C left, D right.  Now sew them in pairs  row A +row B, then Row C +rowD.  Now sew the the two sections together and you top is done.

Lay out your backing and tape to your table so that it is taut, but not tight.  Lay the quilt top on top and pins in place.  Stitch in the ditch at the row seams horizontal and vertical or a square in the middle.  Trim the back to one inch on all 4 sides. Iron in half and used this extra fabric as your binding that has been folded twice.  Two vertical sides first ; then the two vertical sides.  You're done!  You can make this any size you want.  Tell me how long it took to make yours.

A QAYG CQ

Here was an easy quilt doing it Quilt as You Go.  Each block is:

1. backing is cut 11" square
2. front is cut  9" square
3. batting is cut 9" square
4. Sandwich the blocks: backing wrong side up; batting centered on back; front right side up. Both batting and top will be 1" all around the back.
5. Pin and with your walking foot make an "x"in the center of the blocks - go from edge to edge along a diagonal of the top block (start at the corner of the backing). I do wiggly lines sometimes.
6. Make another one.  Now with the two backs of the blocks together, sew 1" from the edge (or along the batting) from edge to edge.  You now have the seam allowance on the front of the two sewn blocks.  
7. Fold one seam allowance in half and lay on top of the right side of the block( pin or iron),  and machine stitch(again with your walking foot) 1/8" from the folded edge.  
8. You now have two blocks that quilted and sashed. Make more blocks and complete a row. Line up the rows and pin at intersections. Sew as before. Leave the outside seams til last. Then do the same to those sides and you're done.

Good for scraps of fabric and batting.  This charity quilt is for our St. Anne's Sewdality.  

Whittling Away My Stash Towards Project Linus

I've been busy making the odds and ends in my stash into quilts for Project Linus.  These are two of the latest.

Now onto some more.  This working towards a goal gets addictive!

Latest charity quilt

When I attended our Guild's retreat last February, I knew we were going to do a mystery. Now these always make me nervous.  Am I going to like it?  What will I do with it?  Since I usually do like them, I decided even before I got there that I would make it as a charity quilt for a baby. That settled the size and made it less stressful to me.  I didn't want to add to my UFO pile - lol.  It is now finished and soon to be gifted to a mom for her new baby through our St Anne's Sewdality at our church.

Debbie Caffrey designed the mystery pattern.  It was a lot of fun, despite my anxiety.

Another for "Quilts from the Heart"

You would think, from my lack of postings, that I had quit quilting. Not so! I have definitely slowed down but it's a temporary lapse. The causes are many including a difficult sale of a house, the final days of getting things moved after living on a small acreage (17 plus acres) for twenty years and then just lack of inertia to get started again.

Anyway, even tho' I've not had quilts to share I continue to work with Quilts from the Heart. I only post pictures here of quilts that I personally have made  from start to finish.. The nice thing about QFTH is that you can do as I do, which is create a quilt from start to finish, or you can take on other parts of the quilting process for partially finished quilts. Many people are "toppers" meaning they like to cut and sew the tops only and then move on. You would think I was a "topper" if you looked at all my flimsys!

So while I've not shared quilts, I have helped pin baste many and have sewn bindings on several. Now that I have pretty much mastered sewing machine bindings, I don't mind binding at all. Next I need to work more on FMQ then I will offer to quilt more charity quilts that others have started rather than just pin baste or do borders.

Here is my latest finish for QFTH. I call this one "Chaia". I'm naming them alphabetically in order to easily track how many charity quilts I have done. Somehow I work better with letters than numbers!

Enjoy!  Toni

Quilts from the Heart

I have to say "sorry" in advance. This is rather a long post with only two pictures at the end. But I need to share.

I have long wanted to belong to a charity quilt group. Don’t get me wrong! There are lots of them and I’ve been offered opportunities but I hadn’t found one that suited me! I wanted one that had local ties. I admire everyone who does charity quilts, no matter their destination, but I wanted to support local needs. There are many wonderful church groups and although I know I would be welcome there, I just am not a person that regularly attends church and I wasn’t sure that was a good match for me.

I had been motivated and inspired by Sarah of http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/ and had thought that if I couldn’t find a group that was what I wanted I would review her helpful blog for help on creating a group.  I believe Sarah is even writing a book on that topic.  And then there is Beth, if you read her blog   http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/   you will immediately love her. Beth also hosts this blog.  She does many, many wonderful donation quilts. I’ve helped by sending her orphan blocks and bits of fabric.  I’ve contributed money, blocks, fabric to other groups and calls for help. Quilts of Valor, Katrina victims, and others.  Any time one of the bloggers I followed called for help, I helped where I could. Now tho’, although not forsaking all others. I’m thrilled to be a part of a close knit, hands on local group.

When I moved to Ocean Park, WA I knew there was a quilt guild but I wasn’t aware of the charity group “Quilts from the Heart”  http://www.quiltsfromtheheart.org/ It is wonderful! The people are great! We are fortunate in that we are able to use the Senior Center for our activities. Each person can do a whole quilt, or part of a quilt. We have many who we call “toppers” people who like to piece but never get around to quilting those tops…but never fear! There are people in the group that will do it for you!  Dixie is one of the fastest FMQ quilters I’ve ever seen but there is also Marge and Brooke. And many of use, me included, are happy to do quilting with our walking foot.

Yesterday was a day designated to layer quilts.  This is my least favorite thing to do. But when I got there, the parking lot was full! Everyone was there to help. I have no idea how many tops got layered yesterday but as they say “many hands make light work.”  We had fun! We laughed, we got to know each other and it was like being at camp. We even had a woman who played the piano and we sang old songs as we worked.  Aren’t you jealous?  I came home thrilled to be living where I live and fortunate to have met a group of people that are “my people.”

So am I happy? I sure am! And I'm taking a lesson from Michelle of Michelle’s Romantic Tangle http://mychellem.blogspot.com/ and giving my donation quilts human names. Just as she does. You will be amazed how many baby quilts Michelle does. She is my idol! So, finally, I present Abby, or Abigail, my first start to finish quilt for Quilts from the Heart.

  

Enjoy!

Toni

A Quick Quilt

 Here's the lap quilt I made using Jenny Doan's Self Binding Receiving Blanket tutorial.  Go here to read about it.  This one is going to a local Kaiser Permanente Breast Cancer Center. I was wondering if it would work as a rectangle - Jenny made a square one - and yes, it does work as long as you mark those centers. It measures around 38" by 46".  I'll be making more like this one.

I only had about a 5" square of waste using this method.

Here's the back.

It took me about 20 minutes to make not counting washing the flannel so that it would shrink.

Quilts for babies in Papua New Guinea.

Hi Sarah and Beth, it has been a while since I posted anything here, but there has been a lot happening Down Under with quilts for charity!  Aussie Heroes are still going strong, and received a fabulous write up in one of our Aussie patchwork magazines last year.
I have created a blog for quilts that are being made for native babies in Papua New Guinea.  A cousin by marriage (actually my husband's cousin's wife) works in third world countries with displaced people, and a year or so ago, she was telling me about the work she does with natives of PNG.  I was so touched by what she told me I offered to make some quilts for the babies, and that is how this project was born.  You can read about it on my blog Patea PNG Quilt Collective, and I would be happy for you to add it to the sidebar on this blog!

QOV

Deanna, Fern and I worked on a QOV(Quilt of Valor) quilt Feb 1st during a National Service Day sponsored by The QOV Foundation. There were 29 of us working away to start 15 quilt tops. We were the first done - took about 3 hours.  Deanna made the embroidered blocks , Fern did the lay-out. I measured and cut out the borders, and all three of us sewed.  It will be given to a local wounded soldier.  Measures 62 x 69. Oh and the Natl org called and Deanna won one of the prizes for the day. We've got a second one being assembled now.

Quilt Top For a Fire Fighter

I sent in a quilt top for the collection named in the post below.. Deb's Smokin' Hot Quilt challenge. I was so glad she was willing to accept tops! Here is what I sent:

Carol E.
Giraffe Dreams

An opportunity to GIVE

Happy New Year!

Hope this is a year FULL of giving quilts AWAY!

 

Debra posted today about a GREAT opportunity.

 

She is hosting

THE Smokin' Hot QUILT Challenge.

 

Stop by her blog and find out what it's all about.

She is making and collecting quilts

to cover ALL the beds in a FIREHOUSE.

 

She would like masculine quilts.

She'll even take quilt tops.

;)