Remembrance Quilt

Hi!  After finding this great blog to display our charity quilts, I asked to be included.  I have a ministry to widows and those who have lost loved ones.  I will make them a quilt from their loved one's shirts at no cost.  I think I get the bigger blessing from it.  Below are a few pictures of ones I've made. The first was for a surviving twin, made from her sister's nurse scrubs. I used a free pattern called Bricks and Stepping Stones found on the Quiltville blog

The next one was for a widow married for 73 years. I made up the pattern after seeing many similar quilt patterns.

 This one was made for a widow whose husband died of cancer.  This pattern is called Strip Twist and also is free from the Quiltville blog.

I hope these have inspired you to get busy using your creative abilities to do something kind for someone else!  You can visit me sometime at my blog Around The Blocks.

Happy Quilting!  - Rachel H.

A Tisket a Tasket

A Tisket a Tasket
January 2015

While this is a basket weave pattern, the color choice and placement makes it look more like a maze to me! Making quilts from predominately scraps can be a challenge. I might start with a handful of fabrics I want to use, do my calculations, but somewhere along the way in the process, I sometimes run short and need to move to plan B. As with life, it’s always good to have a plan B, and it doesn’t hurt to have a plan C and D too!

My "handful of fabric" that I started with was the plaid fabric in the basket part of the pattern, which was a donation fabric. My "plan A" was that it would be 2.5" wide like everything else, but I didn't have enough. So, I moved to "plan B" and tried putting it as the center band in the weave where the green is, but it changed the dynamics of the colors too much. So, I settled with "plan C", and cut the plaid strips in half, finishing them at 1" sewn strips, which gave me enough. The fabric I used for the  border and edge binding were also scrap fabrics, while the yellow was new.

I donated this quilt and my Red Sky at Night quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in January 2015.

Red Sky at Night

Red Sky at Night
January 2015

The colors of this quilt reminded me of sailing, and every sailor’s delight – a red sky at night! The picture below was taken on one of my (many) days out sailing.

The fabric I used for the sashing, border and edge binding were from my never-ending collection of scraps, while the rest were new fabrics.
I am finishing up one more quilt, and then this one and it will be off to the the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services for foster kids.

Love Hugs | by Pieces of the Past

All for Give-Away

I made and quilted five of these.
One was made by a friend, and I quilted it.
Two were made and quilted by another friend.

These are going to a variety of places, both locally and globally. I had a lot of fun photographing them on this fence in a historical part of my neighborhood.

--Carol E.

One for the Neonatal Department

Here's a one block quilt I designed for our guild to make neonatal quilts (one of our community service projects):

The pattern calls for 3 fabrics, but the first raid of my stash only found enough with 4.  You can go here to see the pattern.  Took me only 4 hours to make.

Pelé’s Bandeira

Pelé’s Bandeira
January 12, 2015

I appreciate all my followers in Brazil, who make up almost half of those that follow my blog! Their support inspired me to make this quilt that I am calling Pelé’s Bandeira. For my followers that are English speakers, bandeira means flag in Portuguese. If you are familiar with the Flag of Brazil, you might notice some resemblances.

This is a bordered diamonds quilt pattern. The fabrics used for the diamonds were all donations and leftovers from my past projects. The dark blue border fabric was a remnant piece that I purchased, before I had any plans of making this particular quilt. When I began conceptualizing this design, the remnant piece was the ideal fabric for the border, as the design on the fabric is of constellations – a perfect addition to this quilt!

I donated this quilt to the County of Ventura, Children & Family Services, via the Children’s Services Auxiliary of Ventura County, in January 2015.

See the other 38 quilts I have donated to foster kids at my personal blog, Love Hugs by Pieces of the Past.

Three Baby Quilts

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