100 Quilts for Kids

I've been thinking about joining in on this project for a while now.  I love homemade gifts and there is just something about wrapping up in a quilt that is like wrapping an extra hug around yourself.  Last night as I snuggled down under two quilts I thought about all the time and effort that went into creating them and how much I hope that the few individuals I've made quilts for could feel that love in their quilts even if they are seldom (never) used.  So today I went digging through my sewing room looking for materials I could use to make a child size quilt.

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I've had this tin of Summer in the City for a while now and haven't attempted to make the project inside yet.  I read through the instructions and realized that it only uses about 1/2 of the charms and only makes a 16 1/2 by 16 1/2 inch quilt.  What would you even do with that?  I thought I could expand it and make it bigger but my brain is still recovering from a migraine and I couldn't think that hard.  The tin includes a full charm pack plus extra squares of this dark brown fabric.  Of course I have no idea what color brown it is so buying more is probably not an option.  I do have a few ideas floating around in my head and so I still may end up making a quilt from this to donate.

Next up I found this pack of 6 fat quarters.  When I found this pack at a quilt show it had been made into the cutest bag but of course they were out of the bag patterns by the time I decided I had to make it.  So I picked up the fat quarters anyway thinking I could go online and purchase the pattern.  That was almost 4 years ago and I've never found the purse pattern (I probably wouldn't remember what it looked like now) and I haven't used the fabric so I thought it would work.

The DC Modern Quilt Guild did a Quilt Along based on this pattern.  Once I saw that I figured I could turn this tomato red/orange fat quarter set into a children's quilt pretty easily.  I had some Moda Champagne that I bought to make my Greek Cross quilt with.  I didn't like the way it looked with the Joel Dewberry Heirloom so it was sitting in my sewing room on the table.  I thought it looked pretty good at first with the Wonderland.

Now that the quilt top is together I'm second guessing it.  I don't think the palette is exactly what I would think of for a child's quilt.  I'm hoping the dark colors will make it usable to some mother out there and that the whimsical flowers and polka dots will win over the child.  I haven't found a place here to donate too so I'm hoping to do some research tomorrow to find a local charity that accepts quilts that I know will put them to good use.

WIP Wednesday #10

I haven't been spending much time in the sewing room lately.  It just seems as though there are a million things competing for my time and attention.  This weekend I got to experience what it was like to have a hot water heater dump itself in my laundry room/pantry floor.  Luckily there was no damage other than the tank that had to be replaced.  Which was a two day very expensive venture but in the end it turned out just fine but left little time for sewing.  Here's a look at what's going on in my sewing space.

I'm working on this quilt still for my mother's Christmas present.  She knows I am making it so that's not a surprise but unfortunately I can't share more details because I really don't want her to know much more than that.  Luckily for me I previously gave her a few options for the layout but she doesn't remember which one she picked so that should amp up the surprise factor just a little bit.

I'm still married, to the farmer that is.  We haven't been spending a lot of time together lately but I'm hoping to make up for my neglect in farm wife duties this week by making a few extra blocks.  Last week I only made one new block and then I took Whirlwind apart for the umpteenth time because my mom pointed out one of the squares was turned the wrong way.  I still can't believe no one else here or on flickr pointed it out to me.

Do you see it now?

I wish I would have used fabrics with more contrast here.

And then of course I am still debating joining in on the dead simple quilt along.  I thought I knew what palette I was leaning towards until I saw another picture on Corey's blog today of her fabrics and her palette.  I'm going to try and only work with materials from my stash and since that is incredibly lacking in solids and diversity at the moment I may need to rethink the palettes all together and go with what I know.

After seeing this bag this week I have ideas to make one of my own.  I have a Fossil Bag that I LOVE that my brother and sister in law gave me last year for Christmas.  I'm thinking a mix of the quilted solid and corduroy for the top and straps will be just dreamy.  Do any of you have a bag pattern that you just love?  I'd like to avoid zippers because well I'm lazy and I don't know how they work.  Someday maybe I'll tackle them.  And I need a large size bag because I'm always carrying around a ton of stuff.

 Check out what everyone else is up to by stopping by Lee's.

Quandary?

Lynn is hosting a new quilt along called the Dead Simple Quilt Along.  The purpose is to explore colors outside of your normal palette while sewing a very simple quilt.  In other words the challenge is in the fabric selections and not the concept of the quilt.  I've been avoiding this quilt along because honestly I just don't need another project right now.  I'm already feeling more than a little overwhelmed with all the things in my sewing room already and adding something else just doesn't feel like a good idea.  But today my good friend Corey posted about the quilt along and I was struck by her choices of inspiration and the solids she pulled to go with them.  I could see some of my favorite prints playing nicely in that palette as well.  And of course her inspiration made me go start looking at colors and inspiration.  I was immediately drawn to this photo with the cool blues and warm browns.

Source

But then I started thinking about the fact that if I was going to commit to making another project that while this is lovely it would be just another project.  BUT Rachel is also hosting Celebrate Color right now and I've been toying with the idea of making something which incorporates purples for this.  I rarely ever use purple in anything.  It's just not a color I am very comfortable with.  But since Rachel posted such a great set of inspiration photos for Celebrate Color in eggplants, figs, and rich purples I though it must be okay to use purple as a fall color and why not mix the two things together into one project and knock out two personal goals in one.  I can always donate the quilt to a worthy cause when I'm done.  Kate is hosting 100 Quilts for Kids so maybe if I make something in purple hues it will be like checking three things off the quilting goal list.  I saw this inspiration photo and I really dig it.  I'm not sold on the tan and green in the photo but after all it is just inspiration so I could go with something a little richer if I wanted, right?

Source

 But when I think of fall colors I don't really think of the cooler colors of fall like the silvers and purples.  I think of the rich warm colors.  I was telling Corey about my ideas and she sent me this inspiration photo which I love!  So my quandary is really this, do I go with something I'm comfortable with and make something I know I will love?  Do I go with inspiration that I like that just because I like it?  Or do I go with something that will push my normal limits and allow me to check a few things off the quilting list?

These last two are just some inspiration that I love and are really just for fun.  Although I have to be honest the more I look at the oranges, peaches, and grays in this one the more I am drawn to it.  Can't you just see that as an amazing little quilt.  I'm thinking some nice solids with a little Fresh Cuts thrown in, Dreamy!

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But then again this last one does work well as a inspired palette for boys.  And of course if I'm going to be donating it we all know there aren't that many quilts for boys out there.  It's just so easy and fun to make something pink and frilly.

One Block

The farmer and I aren't fighting much lately.  In fact we haven't really seen that much of each other.  Between a storm that was a brewing (Irene) a vacation with my real hubs and all the preparation that went into those two things I haven't been making much time for the farmer.  I gave myself a pass for the last two weeks because I knew I had made extra blocks early on and that I wouldn't really fall behind if I allowed myself a break from the Farmer for a little while.  I must admit I didn't plan to take two weeks off or that now approaching the third week I would have still only made one block within the last three weeks.  And actually I made this block while Irene was gusting outside of my sewing room window before the power started to surge and I was afraid something awful would happen to Bertha.

Block # 103 Whirlwind

This block was simple enough to make but I'm still unhappy with the way a few of my points line up.  You know that feeling when you think that could be a little better but you take it apart and do it again and it's almost worse.  Well every time I took this one apart (I lost track after the third time) it got a little more off than the time before so finally I decided to leave well enough alone for now.  I still may go back and remake this one before putting the final quilt together.  I'm not sure what blocks I want to work on next so I am hoping a little inspiration will strike me this week.

Central Rails

I finally finished something.  It feels like it has been a long time since I actually sat down and finished something.  I like some of the long term projects that I have going right now like my hexagon quilt and my Farmer's Wife Quilt but sometimes it's nice to just finish something too.  I've been a member of the Old Red Barn Quilt Along Group for a long time but this is the first quilt from that group I have actually finished.  Ironically enough it is also the first quilt that the group made.  I used two Jelly Rolls of Central Park by Kate Spain for the front and yardage of a piece for the back.  I had originally planed to use the left over fabric from the back for the binding but in the end I had enough strips from the jelly roll left to make a scrappy binding.  This is the first time I used that technique and I actually like it a lot.  So I see more scrappy bindings in the future.

Front of Central Rails

Scrappy Binding

Back of Quilt.  I kept it simple with one main fabric and just an inset of left over pieces from the front.  Easier than trying to match up the pattern repeat.

Close up of the quilting.

This quilt was quilted by a long arm quilter in a variegated yellow/orange thread in an open scroll pattern.  Fresh from the dryer and I think it has just the right amount of crinkly goodness.  I love the simpleness of the pattern but the fact that it still is visually interesting.  The fabric is great but then again Kate Spain is one of my favorite designers ever.  Hence the fact that I have WIPs in Fandango, Verna, and I'm sure something else I'm failing to remember at the moment.

Me, Myself, and Irene

That movie has been playing on TV all day for the last two days now.  I think it is the cable companies attempt at a little humor.  Living on the east coast of Virginia and growing up on the east coast of North Carolina hurricanes aren't really a new thing for me.  Now that earthquake we had last week, that made me nervous.  I know people in California were laughing at us because we all freaked out over something that most veteran earthquake dwellers would have laughed off and said you call that an earthquake but it was the first time I ever experienced that and hopefully it will be the last.  My hats off to you guys who find it to be no big deal.  We made it through Irene pretty much without a scratch here at my house, in fact we never even lost our power.  Now my brother who lives about 4 blocks away is still without power but I imagine they will get it back pretty soon.

Hurricane prep

The damage from Irene.  Nothing major just a pile of downed limbs.

Trimmings from the blocks for my current quilt.

The good thing about bad weather on the weekend is not feeling guilty about sitting inside sewing.  I didn't actually sew much because our power was surging a little and I was afraid something bad would happen to Bertha but I did manage to get a bunch of blocks trimmed up for a quilt I am currently working on.

4 Months 9 Days and Counting

That's right, we only have 4 months and 9 days until Christmas. Did you just realize it will be here before we know it too? I had a little bit of a moment this weekend where I realized just how close it is. I use to be really good about slowly buying things through out the year and typically I would have all of my holiday shopping wrapped up by the end of October. Now that Homemade Gifts are a priority I find that I procrastant more and end up with a last minute rush.

I've been toying with the idea of making little bottles of Homemade Vanilla Extract for several years now. The trouble is that it takes at least 3 months to steep and I usually remember I wanted to do that about a month before Christmas. Not this time. This time I am going to do it. I thought little baskets with some gussied up kitchen towels, homemade extract, and a few other kitchen yummies would be the perfect gift for my sister in law, mother in law, and father in laws girlfriend this year. And so today I ordered my vanilla beans and I'm excited to put this little project into motion.

For those of you who might want to give this a try I found my vanilla beans here. I recommend doing this with a friend because the cost of beans goes down the more you buy. I'm also going to try my hand at making these carmels with some of the left over beans. I am pretty sure I will be getting my bottles here because it's the best value I have found so far but if any of you have a good lead on some pretty bottles let me know. If you have any great homemade gifts that you think would be a good addition to my baskets please share your recipes, tutorials, or links. I'd love to check them out. And as always I'm at a loss as to what to buy or make for the men in my life so any ideas you have about that are welcome as well.