Charity Comforter

The Sunday I picked up the 4 comforters for binding, I noticed the comforter that was in the frame for knotting was one I had pieced.

 Last Sunday I took the 4 comforters back to church and placed them in the cupboard. I noticed there was a knotted comforter ready to be bound in there. I opened it to look at it and saw it was the one that had been in the frame the Sunday before. I brought it home to bind.

Normally we just turn the backing fabric over and use that for binding but I had used some blah striped pink fabric from my mother's stash for the backing. I thought it needed prettier binding than that. 

I have a basket where I put the leftover binding from projects. I pulled them out of there, sewed them together and made a scrappy binding for this comforter. 

This comforter will end up with MCC.

The sixteen pieced blocks in this quilt were made with the RSC color of the month. I have no memory though of piecing the puss in the corner blocks! 

I think I'll sew along in the RSC next year and make 16 pieced blocks again. They're such an easy block to piece for charity quilts.

When I posted about the comforters I bound last week, someone asked how they hang together since they're not quilted? A comforter is NOT quilted, it's knotted. My church uses crochet thread to knot, some places use yarn. If you look at the comforter I wrote about today, you can see the knots. If you look at the 3rd one in the prior post, you can see the strings which have been sewn onto the comforter. Those strings will be snipped then it will be  knotted. Those strings held the layers together while I sewed the binding.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, Scrap Happy Saturday

Comforters for MCC

There are a group of ladies who meet Wednesday evenings at my church. They take the summer off but have now resumed. I don't attend Wednesday nights but I volunteer to bind the comforters after they have been knotted or strung.

I was recently given four comforters to bind. The first two, the lovely blue ones, are completely finished.

The other two have been stringed?, strung? strunged?, what is the proper word?

The strings will be snipped then knotted at a mini comforter bash at my church in October which is different from the BIG comforter bash in November.

I'm not naive. I know world peace isn't going to happen because my church is making comforters for MCC who sends them to refugees or disaster victims but it gives hope to the recipients and let them know they're not alone.

Here is a link to MCC where you can read about where these comforters are going.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

More Summer Garden Blocks

You guys all knew that I wouldn't be content running the Summer Garden blocks through the machine as leaders & enders while piecing Christmas Star blocks!

I finished 2 small quilts! My intention had been to make one larger quilt but the blocks didn't work. I needed more than two color ways. Each little quilt measures 38" by 46". I did need to piece four more blocks to make the small quilts. 

This quilt holder has a better attitude than his grandfather did about holding quilts, especially since he got to stand at the top of the slide! He took his responsibility very seriously.

Notice that even though both quilts are made from the same fabrics, one quilt has blue 4 patches while the other one has pink 4 patches.

Each 10" square makes two blocks.. The white background fabric was cut from yardage.

I bought the floral fabrics off the resale table at the Jane Stickle retreat several years ago. They make me smile! I had enough of each fat quarter left to make binding which has been sewn, bagged and is hanging with the flimsies.

These quilts will be quilted this coming winter then donated to the cancer center at Goshen Hospital for use by cancer patients. 

The pattern for these blocks was originally called Ground Cover and was designed by Me and My Sister. I don't like the name ground cover and renamed my blocks Summer Garden since I'm using these beautiful floral fabrics.

These quilt were fun and fast to make. I'll be using this pattern again for charity quilts.

Linking to Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Scrappy Log Cabin Charity Quilt

Last fall I posted about some scrappy log cabin blocks I had found while moving. There were 54 completed blocks and I needed 26 more blocks. I finished piecing the blocks last fall then sewed them into a flimsy in late winter.

I had originally planned for this flimsy to be donated as a comforter top but I liked this flimsy and decided I was going to quilt it myself. He's been hanging around my sewing space guilting ever since. 

I finally decided that last week was long enough and got him quilted. I do fine when stitching the little charity quilts I make, as long as I remember to use the walking foot but quilting a larger quilt is a very different story. 

I didn't get it pinned quite tight enough and there are some puckers. However after washing, the whole quilt is puckered so they don't show as much.

I used light gray thread for quilting the serpentine design. After quilting and washing, this quilt measures 62" by 77".

For backing I used this older fabric from the 90's. At that time, I loved this floral and bought enough to make a shower curtain for our tub & shower in the farmhouse. It made it too dark in the shower so it wasn't in use very long. I took the seams out and have saved it all these years to be used as a quilt backing. It worked nicely for this quilt.

I had planned to use the leftovers of bindings from other quilts to bind this quilt but when I went to the basket, I found this floral binding. I had made it years ago for another quilt then put it in a safe place until needed. I put it in a really safe place and couldn't find it when I needed it! Time to get it used!

Larger pieces of leftover batting were used. My supply of batting pieces is depleted for now but I have 3 quilt tops at Lori's in the process being long armed quilted. There will be more charity quilts in the future.

I used every kind of genre and color of cotton fabric in this quilt. I recently read on another blog where the quilter called quilts that use every color 'scrap vomit' quilts. I don't agree with her, scrappy quilts that incorporate every color can be pretty.

This quilt will probably end up at the chemo center of Goshen Hospital. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

Little Charity Quilts

I use leftover batting pieces in small quilts. Lori recently finished long arm quilting two of my large quilts so now the stash of batting pieces has been replenished. 

I used those pieces to quilt 3 small charity quilts which will be donated to the cancer center at Goshen Hospital.

First is Indian Hatchet which measures 33" square. 

I couldn't figure out what was wrong while I was quilting it. It just wasn't quilting smoothly. I know I'm not the best machine quilter but this was so much worse than normal.

It hit me while we were eating dinner, I forgot to use the walking foot, DUH!

I quilted the green & white broken dishes quilt after I attached the walking foot. This little sweetie measures 22" by 30" and used flippy corners from the trees in Peppermint Pines.

The third quilt is also a broken dishes quilt made from flippy corners leftover from Sunny Lanes. This quilt measures 28.5" by 33.5".

The borders on all three quilts was fabric that was gifted to me to be used for charity quilts. There was enough fabric to be used on the backside of each quilt also.

I wouldn't have purchased this bird fabric but it was perfect for this quilt!

The fish fabric was so cute but I wouldn't have purchased it either.

I would have purchased this floral fabric, it's beautiful!

I hope they bring some comfort and warmth.

I had signed up to participate in Sarah's Hands 2 Help challenge but my quilts weren't finished in time to be counted. That's ok, they're finished now!

Here is a link to an Indian Hatchet tutorial.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

Broken Dishes

The HST's sewn from flippy corners are accumulating so I took a bag along to the retreat and sewed them into broken dishes blocks.

After I returned home from retreat, I sewed them into two small quilts. 

The yellow/orange HST's were flippy corners from the Sunny Lanes quilt. This little quilt measures 29.5" by 33.5".

The green HST's were flippy corners from the Peppermint Pines quilt, this quilt measures 22.5" by 30.5".

The borders of both quilts is fabric that was donated to me to be used for charity quilts. These little quilts will end up at Goshen Hospital to be used by chemo patients.

They won't be quilted right away. I use pieced batting in small quilts and I don't have any pieces on hand right now. I sent several quilts to be long arm quilted last month, I'll have plenty of pieces to use in these little quilts when the quilted quilts return home.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Small Indian Hatchet Quilt

After I finished the Let's Pop Some Corn table runner, I trimmed the  Indian Hatchet blocks that were pieced over the winter. This quilt isn't going to be a large quilt like the one I pieced last summer.

I added the borders after I was home from retreat, she measures 32.5" square.

The blocks were pieced using this tutorial.

The outside border was fabric given to me to be used in charity quilts.

I pieced several other small quilts since I was home also. Backing and binding have been prepared for them, but since I miter my binding, those triangles keep accumulating.

I've started a new project to use the triangles. Pineapple blocks are definitely not a Leader/Ender project. 

For Leaders/Enders I'm sewing 1.5" squares together to eventually make foursies.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

Charity Comforters

It's that time of year and Sarah has her Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge in progress. There are several agencies listed that need quilts. One of those groups is MCC (Mennonite Central Committee).

There are many different ways to support MCC including making comforter tops. Here is a link to the comforter page.

Comforter Bashes are held in various areas around the states. My local 'bash' is held in November. Here is a video from facebook for you to watch.

My church also has a church comforter bash coming up this month. Volunteers put the comforters in frame and 'string' them. The string hold the layers together then other volunteers sew the binding and return them to church to be finished

They will be knotted at the church bash then sent to MCC for distribution.

I am one of the volunteers who sews bindings. I recently bound 4 comforters and took pictures to show you.

Simple patterns are really the best designs for comforters.

Sometimes small quilts are donated and fabric borders are added to bring the comforter tops to size. The tops need to be at least 60" by 80".

This is a close up of what the 'stringing' looks like. The strings will be snipped then knotted.

I didn't piece any of these comforter tops. I sewed the bindings using this tutorial.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, 

Tulip Charity Quilt

In February Elaine, Lynn and I participated in a shop hop because we hadn't done anything together all winter. None of us needed anymore fabric but, you know, it was there!

I tried to focus my attention on the clearance shelves and came across this lovely panel . . . and it had matching fabric available! I bought one panel and several yards of fabric. 

I quilted the panel with my sewing machine using the X design and an iridescent variegated thread. After washing and drying, the quilt measures 34.5" by 41". I had originally planned to donate this quilt as a crib quilt but since it looks more mature, I'll donate it to the cancer center at Goshen hospital. 

Some of the matching yardage was used for backing.

I said I bought several yards of this fabric, I also made twelve 18" square napkins. I really like this fabric!

Linking to Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

Orange Sorbet

I'm on a mission to use the orphan blocks in the orphan box. After finishing Orange Sherbet, I pulled the flippy corners and pieced a small quilt with them, Orange Sorbet.

The HST's were already sewn but needed to be sliver trimmed to 2.75". It took me all day to trim all these blocks!

Then I sewed the HST's into broken dishes blocks, at least I think that's what this block is called. If not, I'm sure someone will comment and let me know.

The broken dishes were arranged and sewn into a crib quilt which measures 35". 

The narrow gray border is the same gray fabric used in orange sherbet. I didn't have enough of any one peach colored fabrics for an outside border so I mitered strips and made scrappy outside borders.

Obviously we had snow when I took the above picture. March has been a crazy weather month.

The colors in the bottom picture are more true to color. After looking closely at this photo, I see the bottom right block is turned the wrong direction. I am NOT going to change it!

I used leftover blocks in the backing.

I originally posted about Orange Sorbet here.

Since I wrote all the above, orange sorbet has been quilted. I used the curvy line idea I see in Preeti's blog. I used white Guterman polyester thread for quilt but it doesn't show very well on the fabrics.

While quilting, I noticed there are several blocks turned incorrectly. Oh well.

Blogger decided this picture needed to go next. It looks like the bottom part of the backing is a different color, more brownish. It's not, it's the same fabric as the rest of the backing. On the left edge, there is a strip of a different gray fabric that also looks brownish at the bottom.

This is the first that was supposed to have been the first of this group. 

I had originally planned to donate the little quilt to The Center for their B.A.B.E. program but I sent this quilt and the sunny lanes quilt along with my SIL to be used by cancer patients during their chemo treatments.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, Oh Scrap

Little Lap Quilts

When I was cleaning up the bits and pieces after finishing the SAHRR flimsy, I left out some of the orphan blocks to use for lap quilts.

This first little quilt is 24" square. And yes the top left corner block is set incorrectly. I didn't notice that until after the little top was pieced It didn't bother me enough to change it.

Again it snowed overnight and some blew up onto the porch. I didn't feel like pulling on my boots and tromping in the snow for a snowy background picture. This will have to suffice.

The cherry border fabric was used in the patchwork comforter top and was donated to me to be used for charity quilts. All of it has been used except for some bits and pieces.

The backing fabric was also donated to be used for charity quilts. Either side can be used in this quilt, both are interesting.

Preeti quilts her quilts with a curvy stitch and stitches over the seam lines. I decided to try that for these quilts. I usually straight stitch but unfortunately my straight lines aren't straight! The stitching shows best on the backing fabric.

This next little quilt is 28" square. 

This gray does look darker again the snowy background.

I had the gray border fabric in my stash but the backing fabric is the same fish fabric I used in the top quilt. I also used the curvy line stitching in this quilt. Both quilts were quilted with white Guterman polyester thread and both quilts have scrappy polyester batting. These little quilts are perfect to use small batting scraps.

I had originally planned to donate these little quilts to the nursing home in Wakarusa but my SIL was here on Sunday and I showed her the little quilts I've made. She's a volunteer at Goshen General Hospital in the cancer center. She said they are getting low on quilts for the patients to use during chemo treatments. I would have thought these were too small to use but she said they need all sizes and these would be fine. So I sent them home with her to take to the hospital the next time she's there.

I don't normally make small quilts but it has been fun to make small for a change.

Linking to Monday This N That, To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Oh Scrap

Sunny Lanes

Last summer I pieced a Sunny Lanes crib quilt then hung her in the to be quilted closet.

I'm trying to finish projects this month so I pulled her out of the closet. Since she is only 48" square, I decided to quilt her myself. 

The quilt is very simple and basic, mainly just outlining the design and cross hatching in the squares.

The backing fabric was gifted to me to be used for charity quilts.

After washing, Sunny Lanes is 45" square. She'll be donated to The Center for their B.A.B.E. program.

Here is a link to the Sunny Lanes pattern from the Quilter's Cache.

Last December, Michele from Pennsylvania Piecemaker had a post displaying Christmas quilts. One of them was made using the Sunny Lanes pattern, very pretty! Maybe I'll make one for myself!

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts