Two New Baby Gifts

 Hi Everyone,

Happy Thursday!!

As you know I signed on to the Hands2Help challenge and in my last post, I talked about a baby quilt, you can read about it here.   I checked all of the organizations in the program and decided on the Little Lambs Foundation For Kids.   In short, they provide comfort kits in a backpack for children entering foster care from their home due to neglect and other dangerous situations.  You can read more about them here.  

The quilt they receive should fit in a backpack, along with other stuff, that will be given to the children. I felt that the first quilt, 42" x 44", with batting inside will be too bulky for the backpack. So, two days ago, I decided that the first baby quilt will be donated to a different organization and that I would make another quilt for the Little Lambs Foundation and it has to be done fast!

For that reason, I used the technique in my book called 'Faux Rag Quilting'. You can read about the book here. Faux Rag Quilting is a new way of making Rag quilts, fast, without batting and without cutting up the fabric into squares. Here is the new baby quilt.  

Hands2Help quilt - front

Hands2Help quilt - front+back

I finished this one in less than 2 days. This baby quilt is not too bulky at all. At the same time it will provide warmth and comfort to a child.

One of my friends is having a baby girl.  I continue to use the charm pack combined with scraps that I have.  Here is the new top.

 

Hopefully I will be able to start the quilting on this one in a day or two.


Keep calm and quilt on........ 

Disappearing 9-patch My Way

Hi Quilty Friends,

I hope you all are well and healthy.  I'm enjoying summer-like weather here in Southern California.  Cherries are in season and I made some Sweet Cherry Freezer Jam today.  It's really easy and I can enjoy the taste of summer from the freezer all year long.  I got the recipe from this website.  One recipe makes 5 half pint jars.

I started working on a quilt for the Hands2Help challenge since last week using the charm pack that I bought from a fundraising event at my local guild.  It's been sitting in my stash pile for sometime now.  I brought it out to see if I could make anything out of it.  Here they are sorted by value; dark, medium and light.  I'm challenging myself to make something.

I started to play with the pieces and came up with this top.

  
I like 9-patch block very much.  As a matter of fact, my very first quilt was a 9-patch.  I learned real quick that 4 1/2" 9-patch blocks are not for beginner quilters.  Anyway, I'll tell you that story another time.

Then I remembered a pattern called Disappearing 9-Patch which I like very much.  A mischievous thought came to mind; I would make my own disappearing 9-patch quilt.  I cut up the top above with a 6 1/2" square ruler and came up with this quilt top below.  I stared at it for 2 full days and realized that a circular quilting is for this one too.  I used flannel for the back.  I love to back child size quilt with flannel.  It makes the quilt so warm and cuddly.
 

Hands2Help quilt front

 

Hands2Help quilt back

When I started making it, I didn't know what to expect.  Even when I pieced the new top together, I still didn't know if I would like it.  Only when I finished quilting it that I realized that I really like it.  It's different and the whole quilt came together in a really smooth way, no difficulty or hiccup in any way.  I quilted it with my good old Juki TL-98E.  This machine is 16 years old!!  It still runs like a champ.

It has been almost 3 months now that we have had the lock down.  We are trying to look at it in a positive way.  I have more time to sew and be productive.  We walk more even when we need more groceries; we walked instead of driving.  I'm getting to know my neighborhood better.  Flowers are blooming everywhere.  There are many ducks and geese in the park near our house.  Here are some of the pictures.

I'm so grateful for many blessings in my life, my husband, my children and friends.  And I'm very grateful for all of my quilty friends out there.  You are wonderful.

Still many charm squares left, I can see that there will be more charm quilts in my future.  

Keep calm and quilt on....... 


Link up to:
 
Scrap Happy Saturday 
Peacock Party @ Wendy’s Quilts and More 
Michelle @ From Bolt to Beauty

Candy Box, May OMG finish

I started this project with a box full of scraps.  I didn't have any pattern in mind, but I knew I wanted to do curved piecing.  I worked with one piece of scrap at a time.  If it was too small, I would sew several pieces together to make a new fabric and worked with that.  Each block was uniquely constructed.  When finished, I put it on the design wall and went on to the next block.  

There are some prints in there too.  Some modern quilter purists might not agree, but I didn't want to limit myself, on this quilt at least, to just solid.  Now that I make mostly modern quilts, I want to be able to bring these fabrics that I love into the modern projects too.

This is what I started with.

Then it grew into this.

Then it came to this.

I absolutely loved making this quilt.  I had so much fun just like playing with a giant jigsaw puzzle pieces.  Next will be quilting it and I think I have an idea how I want to do it. This is my May OMG project.  I'm glad I finished it.

I continued to make more face masks for family and elderly friends.   I'll be making them until this pandemic is over.



Stay calm and sew on....