Stockings for Kids!

Over at the Purple Panda Quilts blog, there's a drive on for stockings for foster kids, and I wanted to help. So I hauled out my Christmas fabrics and made a crazy quilt stocking!

I stitched all of the seams in a decorative stitch, for a real crazy quilt look:

If you would like to join the effort, be sure to check out the link to get all the instructions, and check out the flickr group, too! Here's a linkie for that!

It's sure to get you ho-ho-ho-ing in no time at all!

Love,

Bloggers' Quilt Festival! I'm In!!

I'm joining in on the Bloggers' Quilt Festival, organized by Amy's Creative Side. Thanks so much, Amy, for hosting this event!

I'm excited to be part of this, and if you haven't heard about it, or would like to join in, just click on that button, and you can find out all about it!

My entry is a quilt that I made, as a participant in the Hands to Help project. This was a group of quilters who swapped fabrics and then made quilts for the Green Fairy Quilt Ministry. Judi and Clint take a trip each year to Romania, and distribute quilts and school supplies there.

These are the fabrics that my partner sent to me:

And here is my quilt; I named it Stars over Romania:

Here is how I put it together and tried out different colors for the lattice.... I tried bright red, then a nice dark teal, like in some of the blocks, and then I settled on the brown. It was just a few clicks of the mouse to make the changes and audition the colors on Ole Frog Eyes!

I love pieced backs, so this is what I put together for the back of this quilt:

Thanks for stopping by -- I hope you enjoyed this stop on the Festival tour, and I hope that you'll join us and show off one of your quilts, too!

Love,

I won't tell if you won't . . .

I found these pictures the other day, and thought I would show them to you. 

(Looks over shoulder) But you hafta promise not to laugh.

(Looks to the right, then the left) And you hafta not tell anybody else, OK?

(Whispering) Because the quilt police will get me!!!

This is the story of one of the first quilts I ever made -- and I broke some rules, doing it! I know a lot of you have made disappearing nine-patch quilts before, right? Right. You start with a block like this:

Then you cut it into four pieces, and sew it back together! You get a block that looks like this now, right?

Right.

Now, at the time, Elby hadn't even decided on a major of applied computer science, much less put together a cool cyber space design wall, so I had no idea what it was going to look like.

But, when you put them all together, you get a pattern like this:

OK. So I got that done, and I was pretty tickled about it. But I didn't have anything to use for the back. I needed something that would look nice for a child, since this was a quilt for a baby, or a younger child.

This is the part you have to be really quiet about, OK? Here is a picture of the pieced back of the quilt:

Now that I think about it, I kinda like that back better than the front! Anybody been there before? If you look closely, you'll see why I might get in trouble with the quilt police . . . there are squares there that are not cotton! (Gasp!) They are flannel! (Double gasp!) Seriously, I used what I had, and some of them are vintage flannel scraps, and look like they might have been pajamas! Cowboys and horsies and fun stuff like that!

We can go back to the front to show how I hand-quilted it:

Since I was what Madame Samm would call a "wantobe" quilter at the time, I guess it's alright! 

Hope you've enjoyed seeing my trip down Quilting Memory Lane!

Love,

Success! I got it quilted and the binding is done!

I'm linking up with Katherine's "Thursday Favorites Blog Hop"!! This quilt that I just finished is one of my favorite things....you can read about some of the blocks by clicking on the Tutorials page, and then on the stitcheries links......

And just in time, too! The birthday girl turns 89 today!

I was really scrambling to find time to complete the memory quilt, but I'm happy to say it is done! Most of the quilting is "stitch in the ditch" on the blocks, and I outline quilted around the embroidered sections. I thought some of you might like to see some of it . . .

I stitched music notes in strategic places . . .

And I stitched bubbles for the fishies, too . . .

Kinda hard to see them, but they're there!!

The backing was a nice dark pink tone-on-tone that my sis gave to me (thank you sweetie!) and I think that she will like it, since pink is one of her fav colors!

I really love scrappy bindings, and I found a tutorial that I really liked, so I want to pass the word along to you. I have had troubles with bindings in the past, but this worked wonderfully for me. AmandaJean at CrazyMomQuilts, posted this tutorial and I followed it pretty closely.  I did change the width of the strips that I cut --- AmandaJean suggests 2.25 inches, but I cut mine at 2.0. I really like how that narrow binding looks on a quilt that is trying to resemble an antique!

I had a lovely picture of the roll of binding, ready to go on the quilt, but I find now that I deleted it accidentally.  :(  Just one of the perils of this digital world!

So here is my finished memory quilt, ready to go in the bag, and be presented tomorrow! Hope she is happy with it!

And I hope you enjoyed seeing this finish!

Love,

Yep, I'm one of them !

Y'all may have noticed that there's an Accuquilt badge on the left-hand sidebar of this blog. It's just one part of an ongoing effort by Accuquilt, to get more quilters to check out their web site and their Facebook page. They've partnered with bloggers all over the quilting community, and designed these badges for us to use.

Yep, I'm one of 'em. In fact, a couple of weeks ago a package arrived here at the Lilypad, and I started singing an old song that Desi Arnaz sang on the I Love Lucy Show once . . . Check it out:

Isn't that fun? Now, I haven't had a baby, and I've been talking about Accuquilt, so what do you think was in the package? Hmmmm, how many guesses do you need? Just one?

A Go! Baby was in the package!!!  Yay!!

So, I'm working on a tutorial for y'all to check out . . . I hope to have it ready (and have a giveaway) for you soon. In the meantime, if you are a Facebook enthusiast, this message from Accuquilt will be just your cup of tea: 

The Quilted Pumpkin Patch Scavenger Hunt

 

If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit a pumpkin patch this season, now’s your chance with The Quilted Pumpkin Patch Scavenger Hunt hosted by AccuQuilt, Bernina, and The Quilting Club.  Enter your chance to win one of three fabulous prizes valuing $1500.  These amazing prizes include an iPad2, a Bernette Sewing Machine, and an AccuQuilt GO! Baby Fabric Cutter and 10 corresponding dies!  It’s easy to enter – simply “Like” each of these Facebook pages and capture the three pieces of code.  To start, click on the link below!

http://on.fb.me/nmkk1D

 

Those are some nice prizes listed there! Be sure to click on the link and check it out, OK? 

Oh, and by the way --- please do click on the badge over on the left, and leave your email addy with them.

You see, it is a win-win situation: you get 22 great patterns to try, and I get a point for your signing up. If I get enough points, I can get some discounts on Accuquilt goodies, and if I get goodies, that means more tutorials and fun things for you, my special Lilypad friends! (OK, I'm on my knees, now, begging. Please go sign up?) From what I understand, it's OK if you have done it before - just click please!

Love,

Ole Frog Eyes is for more than just quilts!

Do you think that our virtual design wall is for quilts? Yep, it is. There are some beauties in progress over there!

But didya know that you can design other things there, too?  Ole Frog Eyes is a cool tool for small projects, too!

Check this out . . .

A couple of years ago, I made a quilt from the Yellow Brick Road pattern, and hand-quilted it with baptist fans. In a show of shameless self promotion I will add a photo here for you to look at!

Isn't that cool? I can make my quilts stand up on their own! Well, OK, actually Elby is standing back there on her tippy toes, holding it up!

Here is a close up of the quilting . . . aren't I shameless?

Well, I had some orphan pieces left over from the project, and was thinking about making a table topper for autumn. I got these out and made them into some blocks, and was so happy that the sun was shining! I took them outside to make pictures for you, and was immediately greeted by Elby's dog, who wanted to investigate.

 "Who, me? I didn't step on your stuff there. See? I'm not even interested."  

  (Sly dog.)

                       "I'll look innocent and bide my time. Then I can grab one and play hide-n-seek!"

Well, I managed to get some pictures done, and used my fav program, Paint.net to get them ready for Ole Frog Eyes. I even managed to learn something new, which will be a new tutorial coming soon!

You can see that the colors are just right for an autumn table topper!

I was trying to decide what color to use for lattice and border --- OFE is awesome for that. Here is my first try at it:

Nice, but I'm not contented with this... I'll try again! I think the green needs to be a darker shade . . . that first one is positively spring-y! (Is that a word? Of course it is.)

It takes just moments to choose new colors and save the image . . . here is my second take on the project:

Hmmm. Getting closer. Let's try one more time. (This is actually fun --- no crawling on the floor, placing fabric samples between blocks, no wishing for a nice, big design wall. No worries about pet hair on your blocks, or critters stepping on them. Just click and update!)

 

Whoo hooo! Now that's what I'm talking about! Now those fall colors really pop! With Ole Frog Eyes, you can audition to your heart's content . . . if I wanted, I could try gold, or burgundy, or some other autumn-y color.  But I kinda knew where I was headed, so now I'm ready to cut some lattice strips and get 'er done! 

I hope that y'all will check out some of the projects over at Ole Frog Eyes, and consider joining our happy band of subscribers! 

Love,

Are You Sitting Down? This is so Amazing . . .

I want to make sure that all of you special peeps are sitting down, because what I am about to say is going to amaze you! Go ahead, get comfy.

Would you like to know just how many yards of fabric all of you wonderful quilters donated to the Destash for Malawi?

(Clearing throat) OK. Here goes . . .

over 750 yards of fabric

and more than 125 spools of thread!! 

I. Am. In. Shock.    Anita provided me with the incredible totals.  You guys are absolutely awesome.  Usually I inject some humor into my posts, and I know I say this at the risk of sounding sappy, but I was misty-eyed when I realized our community had pulled together for these kids in such a big way.

I've said before that I only expected one or two yards in each box, and just a few quilters to contribute.   In actuality, there were boxes with 1, and 2, and 3 yards of fabric, and then there were boxes with 15, and 25, and 35 yards!  I think the largest one had over 47 yards in it!

In my other posts, I showed you some photos of the two huge suitcases of fabric and thread that have already made the journey to Africa, and some snapshots of  Lois opening the suitcase and assembling clothes for the children. If you would like to see photos of all of the donations, please be sure to click here, and take a peek at Anita's Flickr set.  One picture there shows the fabric that (some of it) will be going to Malawi in January, when the Kropfs' son goes back again.

I really think that all of us who helped in this effort are winners --- I can't wait for y'all to see the photo that Anita is sending to you; you'll see some of the kids posing in their new clothes!  (There was one box from Springfield, IL that had no name on it....if you could let me know who you are, Anita can send you your note and photo.)  I wish that I had prizes for each and every one of you!! My heart is so full --- I'd better start getting Mr. Random Number in gear, before I can't see my keyboard again!!

Alrighty! We have lots of prizes to give away, so I am going to name the prize and then note the winner; there are too many to post pictures of the number generator and the comment for each one! You'll just have to trust me . . . I'll let Mr. Random do the choosing.  That OK with you? Great! Here we go!

Jacquelynne Steves of The Noble Wife will be sending an autographed copy of her book,

Fruitful Hands, to Diane (no blog)!

Dewberry Lane online store

will be providing two patterns of her choice to Joanne (no blog)!!


One-year subscriptions to Ole Frog Eyes, the virtual design wall for quilters,

were won by  CraftyNewbie and Staci at Confused Quilter !!

Quilt Sue will be sending an autographed copy of her book,

Pick Four, to Stray Stitches!! Here's her blog, too!


Amanda Murphy, of Amanda Murphy Design,

 will be sending a complete set (6) of her patterns to Quiltzyx at zzyzx and sue !

Our special friend, Julie, at the Intrepid Thread, will be sending fabric bundles to eight lucky peeps! Take a look at some of these yummy packages! Julie is so generous to offer several prizes . . . I better choose some winners before my post gets too picture heavy!!

                          

Norece (no blog), Tonya, Happy Cottage Quilter, Elizabeth at PiecefulLife, Amorette of SewWhileHeSleeps,   PattiAnn at Bouncy Poodle,  MollyP (no blog), and PCFlamingo (no blog) are all winners of our bundles from the Intrepid Thread!

Thank you, thank you, to all of you who were so generous and helped us to help the kids in Malawi. I had a few no-reply folks, so if you tried to reach me and I didn't reply, please check your settings -- I tried mightily to reply to each and every comment!!

All of our winners need to get in touch with me and let me know your shipping information; the prize providers will be shipping directly to you! I'll be emailing to ask you for the address, too. If anyone has not gotten in touch with me in 72 hours, I'll pick another name.

Love,

This one doesn't count!

When you're on a fabric diet, giveaway winnings don't count!!  At least that is what I always say!

It's time for us to pick a winner! Here's the dramatic drum roll to add to the suspense:

The fabulous Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring our giveaway, and someone is going to receive a luscious jelly roll that will add ZERO calories to your booty or to your stash!

Here is another glimpse of the Northcote Range yumminess . . .

So if you don't win today, head on over to Fat Quarter Shop and fall off the wagon. Go ahead. You know you love those colors, and the FQS has FFS (Fantastic Fast Shipping)!

Okie dokie --- Mr. Random Number Generator finished his morning cuppa and picked . . .

It's Kelli! And she said:

Congratulations, Kelli! Be sure to show us on your blog what you create with this beautiful fabric! We'll be emailing you for your shipping information. By the way, go and check out Kelli's blog --- you'll enjoy your visit there!

Here's wishing everyone a pleasant weekend!!

Love,