Prayer quilts

A few weeks ago, I needed two very quick quilts, for friends who were in the hospital for one reason or another. I chose a couple of very bright fabrics, bordered each of them in a bright coordinating color, and was able to create these quilts in no time:

I was so glad to be able to do this. I have always wanted to be able to give quilts to sick friends. I have done literally dozens of charity quilts (I blogged about some of them), but they are different; I don't know, and never meet, the recipients of those quilts. But I could pray specifically for the recipients of these two quilts. Yes, they are very simple, but as I don't keep these types of quilts (prayer quilts, I guess?) on hand, I needed something that I could complete in literally a couple of days, for two different friends who were unexpectedly hospitalized. I will try to somehow keep a gift quilt or two on hand; maybe a prayer quilt, maybe a baby quilt.

At any rate, I really hope they like them.

Tie One (apron) On Tuesday - Donut Apron

Look at what I got for Christmas!

My younger daughter made this fun donut apron for me for Christmas! She used my apron book

to make it.

This fabric is part of the Timeless Treasures line, called Got the Munchies?

I think this is just the most fun fabric! We are listing this donut fabric, along with other fabrics from this line

in our Etsy shop. And there are other great food fabrics, as well:

Yum!

Picture This quilt from the Happy Hour book is done!

I never showed you my completed Picture This quilt, from the Happy Hour book, did I?

You might remember me showing you this picture below, in which I rented time on a long arm quilting machine at a local quilt shop, and I did the quilting myself. It is virtually impossible to see, but it is a meandering pattern; it is probably a bit too large to be called stippling.

The quilt is huge; it can just about fit our king size bed. The pictures don't really show just how lovely this quilt is.
I think I'll be trying this out with other fabrics and colors. I really like this pattern.

Since I am determined not to be on this computer tomorrow, I want to take the time today to wish you a Merry Christmas! Now, you, too, get off the 'puter, and go spend time with those you love. :)

Tie One (apron) On Tuesday - Turkey Apron

As we approach Christmas, let's talk about a...turkey apron??!!

It just occurred to me, I forgot to show you the aprons we made for Thanksgiving! We found some apron panels reduced at our local fabric superstore, so we bought three (one for each of us girls). The panels are nice; they make it easy to cut out the pieces and assemble them.

Hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving, um, Christmas season. :)

Scraps

A little earlier this month, I received a gift of scraps from a new quilting friend, E. She has been quilting for decades, so she has several large bins full of nothing but scraps. She brought one out to me, and I filled an entire tote bag, without even making a noticeable dent in the contents of her bin.

Once I sorted the scraps, I counted over 137 different fabrics. It took three shots to get all of the fabric in; it filled up my entire dining room table!

Now, here's the thing: All of these "scraps" were not exactly what I would call scraps. They were sizeable pieces; some were as large as a fat quarter. I asked E what she defined as a "scrap." She said anything up to the size of a fat quarter, and that she throws away anything smaller than 2 inches. Wow. I think my definition of "scrap"

may need to be redefined.

Tie One (apron) On Tuesday - Sweets Apron

We love the gathered half apron style around here.

Can you see the two little pink strawberries on the pocket?

Deliciousness.

Yellow Brick Road quilt: Finished!

By the way, I never showed you pix of the Yellow Brick Road quilt that I finished:

For this view, tilt your head 90 degrees to the left. :)

It came out really bright and cheery. I have gotten SO many compliments on this quilt.

I won a fabric bundle!

Guess what? I won a bundle of fabric!

photo source: Hawthorne Threads

I never win anything, but I won this!

It all started when I was looking at some pictures of Houston 2009 Quilt Market, and drooling over some of the new fabric lines. Among many beautiful ones, this one caught my eye:

What a stunning quilt!

So, now that I am coveting the Paula Prass Woodland fabrics, I am visiting all sorts of blogs that make mention of this line. One of the places, Hawthorne Threads, is having a giveaway for a bundle of the fabric. So, not really expecting anything, I entered.

And I won!

Go run over to the nice people at Hawthorne Threads to see it for yourself; there are three great colorways for this line of fabric. Woot!

Tie One (apron) On Tuesday - Peppermint Candy Apron

Here is my Peppermint Candy apron! What do you think?

Angry Chicken had an open invitation for anyone who might be interested to join her in creating a Peppermint Candy apron. Here are photos of all of the aprons that were created for this. They are just adorable!

Mini Quilt Monday: A red heart applique quilt

In my early quilting days, I attempted a mini quilt for my husband for Valentine's Day. It was appropriately red, and had four hearts. This was a lesson for me in may ways, in a variety of different techniques and issues.

I learned about applique. I did not do it the traditional way, but I have seen this method used in quilting books stressing quick applique techniques. I sewed a heart to fusible interfacing, cut a slit in the interfacing, and turned the heart right side out. I fused it to the backing fabric, and then I used a zigzag stitch with coordinating thread to sew it down. Slightly unorthodox, but it works.

I also learned about sashing and the window effect. I sewed strips to the tops/bottoms of the heart squares, and then sewed these columns to more strips.

I discovered the visual appeal of multiple borders. Even though these are rather narrow, this mini quilt has two borders, in addition to the sashing.

Instead of binding the edge, I turned the backing fabric forward, then turned it again and sewed it down. I mitered the corners.

I discovered the fun of choosing coordinating fabrics, and I learned about color values and contrast.

Now, if I had only put a label on the back to date it (it was created sometime between 1997 and 2001)…