Handbags for Hope

The county Sheriff's Department is sponsoring a drive to collect new or "gently used" purses. 

The purses will be cleaned if needed and a tag with  the domestic abuse hotline number will be sewn to the lining.   Local children who might be  in difficult situations will be given a chance to choose one to give to their moms on Mother's Day. 

My daughter and I thought this was a great idea and easily found nine to add to their collection.   I've invited the ladies in my quilt class to bring theirs to class next Friday and I'll go deliver them.

Valentine Table Runner

Whooops - forgot to show the Valentine Table Runner that I made this year to fit my coffee table.  The centers of several of the blocks are leftovers from Kaycee's PJs.  The other centers are chocolates and flowers.  I used leftovers from Ari's PJs, too.

The fun thing on this one is the edge - instead of binding it, I twisted several yarns together and zigzagged them on.  One was an eyelash yarn.  I didn't have any left, so I ripped out a few inches from a scarf I had made; I rarely wore it, anyway.

It looks good.  Next time I'll zigzag the edges shut first.
And maybe I'll spell out "love" with the lighter fabrics.

Or maybe not.

Quilt for Buddy

Buddy is one of my first husband's brothers.  The summer after he graduated from high school, he stayed with us.  It was nice to get to know him better.  He and Dick had lots of fun.   He had a hollow leg and could eat almost anything.  Which was good, because I wasn't a good cook.   He was always good-natured and easy going.
Somewhere along the way, Bud became a preacher.  He is happily married to his second wife and has four kids.  He's in his mid to late fifties, I guess.

Somewhere later along the way, Bud developed lung cancer from second-hand smoke.  It spread to his spine and caused a lot of pain, which he attributed to being older and overweight.  But in January, he had an accident and broke his back.  The MRI showed a number of tumors in his spine.  He's now undergoing radiation and will do chemotherapy.

So.  Where does "Everyday Art" come into play?   With a quilt of course.  I had a huge pile of flannel dumped  donated to me by a friend who moved to Arkansas.  So I cut squares and made a fuzzy-edged quilt for Bud to take into chemo with him.  I hope that it will keep him warm and remind him that he is loved.

Beginning Brady

My middle grandson, Brady, will graduate from high school this May (the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.....).

Last weekend, I started making blocks for a quilt for his graduation present.   I now have sixteen blocks made.  Only 54 to go.

Note - these are just smoothed up on the design wall, they're not sewn together yet.  Some of the brown intersections look too dark to me. And that's easy to fix.  So I will.

Vanilla Quilt

I've been working on a quilt using Gyleen Fitzgerald's pineapple ruler.  If I remember right, I decided to do this when our Lifetime Learning group made some Bed Runners.  I decided that a white/cream/ecru base would look good.  So I started.  There are countless fabrics in this one, adding to the variety and texture.  But it's been more than a little boring to do a quilt with no color to speak of . 

So, at last weekend's retreat in Stonewall, I finished the 100th block.  Now they're waiting to be assembled into a quilt top and finished into a quilt.

It's really a pretty quilt, and fun to look at all the fabrics.  I love neutrals and collect different ones when I just have to have a fabric fix.  They play well with all the other fabrics.  And with one another.

If you look closely, you'll find blue, green, and pink sneaking in.  (I told you I was bored, didn't I?)

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is coming up.  I made some PJ pants for my older GGCs.




And I'm working on a sweater for the new one.  But in white.

UPDATE:  Olivia's here - but the sweater is not going well.  

This picture was taken in the delivery room.

UPDATE:  That sweater is history - it just didn't do right at all.  Here's Olivia in the newer one:

Looks like it will be awhile before she grows into it!

 

Mystery Quilt

Last Fall's Lifetime Learning class, Advanced Quilting, featured a mystery quilt.  I chose a piece of fabric from my stash (it was a possible border for my nieces Happy 50th quilt but didn't make the cut)  and selected a number of lights and darks that were found in that pattern.  We made blocks, which had a lot of bias and odd numbers. 
I wasn't particularly pleased with the blocks, so I assembled the finished ones into a baby quilt.  It's all done except the binding.  I used the original feature fabric as a backing, instead of the borders that I had originally intended.
Then I took the leftover pieces (including some squares of the feature fabric) and put them into a second top.  It has somewhat of a modern vibe, as I used wide white sashing.  It waits in the closet for a time when I feel like practicing my free-motion quilting again.  It's good to have a finished top or two in the wings.