Winter Stitching Wrap Up

I missed you guys!  I fell of the face of the planet for a week there, but I am hoping life gets back to normal this week.  How better to re-join blogging than by checking projects off the ever growing to-do list?  As you know, I was yet another list maker joining in with FairyFace Design’s Winter Stitching Goals List.  I find things like this to be completely helpful in giving me direction when I am overwhelmed.  To keep the list moving along, I also just joining in with Rhonda's Finish Along....and so far it's working!

Birdie Stitches: Finish the Quilt Top

Done!  I finished my Birdie Stitches top and sent it over to Elisa so she can layer, quilt and bind it for use in her house.  You can hear the whole story here, but in the end I'm super happy to have expanded my embroidery skills and thrilled that Elisa has a quilt she likes.  Win-win.

Brother’s Mixer Cover: Finish it as a Christmas Gift
Done!  I was lucky enough to visit this little mixer cover in my brother's pantry this past march and it's lookin' pretty cute there next to the ice cream maker!  

Sister-In-Law’s Bag: Finish it as a Christmas Gift
Well, I finished a bag, not THE bag.  This 241 Tote was her Christmas gift that was delayed until 2012 as the fabric took nearly 8 weeks to arrive from the states!  Eek!  So, I had to giver her an IOU under the tree.  Anyway, we're both thrilled with this finish.  My mom has already asked for one for herself!  

Blankets of Love: Finish Two Tops, Two Backs, Two Bindings

Done. I really like what Kat is doing with her local organization, so I tried to chip in.  I wanted to make two quilts for her, but the shipping would be nuts given the weight of the batting.  So, I made two tops, two backs and two bindings and Kat assembled and quilted our quilts.  It was my first time doing a DP, which then included a huge learning curve, but I got there eventually!

There was even a third quilt top made as part of our Do. Good Stitches CARE circle!

Bees: Contribute On Time

Done.  I'm in four bees now, a list that is quickly growing to six. I am still completely in love with them.  Let's be honest, though.  I think I've hit the maximum number of bees I can contribute to in any given month.  I won't bore you with all of the photos, of the blocks made, but if you hop over to my flickr page you can see them all!

Swaps: Finish Two Swaps

Done.  I finished my Modern Christmas Table Runner swap with Susan of Canadian Abroad.  Doing just this one project has kicked me off on the table runner path and there have been several more since: one for my Mom, one as a PIF, and one for my SIL!  Oh, Susan, the slippery slope you've put me on!

I also co-organized the Mouthy Stitches swap with Susan and Hadley, which was great fun.  It was my first pouch, first zip, first time organizing a HUGE number of lovely ladies.  We had a great time!  I made this pouch for my partner...and again several more since! 

Quilts: Finish Mod Logs, the Community Quilt and Start Chaos and Scrappy Stars

I fell down a bit in this category.  Mod logs is finished and used every day in our house.

The Community Quilt and Chaos are going no where fast.  They're now officially UFOs...I have to do something about that ASAP.

Scrappy Stars has morphed into Stargazing.  The top and back are finished and off with the lovely Trudi to get quilted.  I can't wait to see what she creates!

International Quilt Festival of Ireland: Finish Cúchulainn 

Done! I am quite happy to have Cúchulainn  finished it and handed it to the festival organizers.

Guest Post: Write One

Done!  I was super excited to contribute to Sarah's tutorial series by submitting a notebook tutorial.  It was my first tutorial...and it took WAY longer than I thought it would.  Still, I love these little cuties!

Off to link up with Sarah.  Hop on over and see what everyone else created this past winter!

Do.Good Stitches March Block

I am in love with this block.  Love it, love it, love it!

This was our CARE circle's Do.Good Stitches block.  It was requested by Kat of Diary of a Flutter Kat to be donated to her local charity, Blankets of Love.  I really like what Kat does with this group, so this is not my first contribution.

We used Kat's tutorial, but modified it to use 5 inch blocks instead of 4 inch.  This made each block nearly large enough to be a baby quilt of its own.

I tried to use blues, greens, purples; all boy-ish colors.  I always feel bad for the little guys as we girly quilters tend to flock to reds, pinks, yellows in our scrap piles and create feminine quilts.  So, this one is for the little men out there who need a little help keeping warm.

Thanks for organizing this month, Kat!  I really enjoyed this one.

Blankets of Love: Finished (Kind-Of)

Yippee!  This weekend I finished two tops (27x27 inches) and two backs (32x32 inches) for Blankets of Love, organized by Diary of a Flutter Kat's lovely Kat.  With any luck, they will be on their way to Kat in today's post.  She generously offered to add in the wadding and quilt them before sending them off to the local hospital.

This top is for a little girl and it has a matching pieced back. The binding will be Kona coral.

And then I used colors that were a bit darker for a little boy's quilt top and pieced back.  The binding will be a matching denim blue.

I hope they bring a bit of happiness and comfort to their new families. 

I am sorry for the really stinky photos!  With the low winter sun, the short daylight hours and the wind it Galway I am not doing that well this week!

Blankets of Love Beginnings

Over on Diary of a Flutter Kat, Kat is hosting a charity quilting bee called Blankets of Love where she is asking quilters to create a quilt block, a top or donate fabric, wadding, backs, etc to create small quilt for ill children and their families struggling at hospitals.  Just to give a little bit of handmade comfort.

I am really excited about this project.  My plan is to create two quilt tops, backs and binding to send them to Kat for wadding and quilting.  I would like for them both to be finished by March at the absolute latest.  So, I started in today.

I had a charm pack given to me by a kind reader, so what better use than to pass that generosity onto someone else?  I split the pack into two to make a quilt for a little girl and a little guy.  They went to Susan, from Canadian Abroad, to be cut into Drunkard's Path blocks with her super duper Go!Baby.  I am a bit of a Go! cynic, Susan was kind enough to let me have a distant test run.  Much to my surprise, there was very little wastage from the charms, which was my first concern.  Indeed the pieces were beautifully cut!

Using tutorials from Susan and Kerry, I gave the DP block a go.  These are my first, so the early blocks were a gazillion times more difficult than the later, but the entire way through I struggled with the curve.  The stitching was fine, but I never felt like the block was flat. They were always a little bubbly even after ironing. 

I am not entirely sure how to lay out fabric in a DP quilt.  With the girly quilt, I just tried to evenly distribute the fabric prints and colors and they look OK.  I think with the little man quilt I'll try for more contrast, so a dark circle with light prints on the outside or something like that.  One more DP block to go with the little girly quilt, then I'm onto sashing.  Maybe I'll have this finished by the weekend!  Hope you like it, Kat!