Stacked Coins Quilt - 100 Quilts for Kids

I finished up my stacked coins quilt the other day all in one evening after work - basted, quilted and bound.  I was pretty excited that I was able to get it done in time to link up to 100 Quilts for Kids over at Swim, Bike, Quilt.  Since this charity quilt drive is being hosted by the DC Modern Quilt Guild, which is was my guild before I moved, I really wanted to participate - and it seemed like a great way to get back into the quilting groove after moving.  Once I got the top done at Sewing Summit (with lots of help from Natalie!), I figured I should try to finish it up in time.

It was also a great chance to practice my free motion quilting, which was fresh in my mind after the class I took at Sewing Summit.  I had fun playing around with this loopy pattern, it was easier for me than stippling since I didn't have to worry about quilting myself into a corner.  I definitely need to work on keeping my pattern at a larger scale, though - I was working pretty small and it took a while to do it.  For the binding, I decided to try doing it entirely by machine, which I have done on smaller projects before but never on a whole quilt - partly because it would be faster, and partly because I figured it would be more durable for this quilt which will hopefully get lots of use!  It actually turned out better than I expected, and I would definitely do it again.  One thing that I found helped was that I quickly basted the mitered corners before I sewed the binding down the final time - that helped to keep them more neat and even.

I'm donating this quilt to a group at my mother's church which gives baby items to mothers in need.  I hope that it brings joy and love to the baby that receives it!

July Bee Block

In between frantically packing for our move, I fit in a bit of sewing time yesterday to finish up a few projects and make my July bee block.  For the Love circle for the do.good stitches bee, this month Rachel asked us to make a single large block rather than two regular-sized ones, inspired by the polka dot block in the new Block Party book.  The color scheme was meant to evoke and ocean, with shades of saturated blue, green and then greys as well - it was actually pretty similar to a lot of the fabrics I used in my Kaleidoscope quilt top so I had kept those fabrics out and used a number of the same ones.  Like Rachel, I made mine using fusible web to secure the circles to the background fabric, and then zig-zagging around the edges of each to secure them.  While I really like the overlapping circles that many folks in our bee have done with this block, when I was laying out mine I was just more drawn to a design where they were all separate. 

Since I am going to be largely MIA this month, Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy was kind enough to agree to sub for me and make my bee blocks this month!  Thanks so much Elizabeth :)

I have a few more finished projects to show you - hopefully I can take another break from packing soon and find time to write a post or two.

June Bee Blocks and WIP Wednesday

I don't have a lot of progress to show on my current quilting WIP, my drunkard's path quilt - I haven't touched it since my last WIP wednesday update two weeks ago!  I have been traveling a bit, spent time with Lawson and enjoyed the beautiful weather over the weekend, and just haven't had a lot of time for quilting.  The quilting time I have had has gone to my more time-sensitive projects... I just finished up my "hexing around the block" do. Good Stitches blocks for June (for Lee - you probably saw her fun tutorial for these blocks).  I love the bright summery color palette she chose and these blocks are so fun to highlight a fussy-cut center!

And since I can't resist posting another photo, I also made these fun patchwork placemats for the Spicing Up the Kitchen Swap.  I'll be getting the placemats and the bee blocks in the mail today.  I also made my Knit Peasant Dress and wrote up the tutorial... so I guess it's not like I haven't had any time to sew, it's just that other things have jumped ahead of my quilt.  I am really hoping to make some serious progress on the drunkard's path today and tomorrow, especially since I would like to finish the top for this quilt before I start cutting for the Kaleidoscope QAL (hopefully next week!).

But then again, I just saw this call for boy's t-shirts from Fishsticks Designs (her blog was down when I checked but hopefully that link will work soon).  I looked in my goodwill donations bag and found these too-small/too-short tank tops that I think will be great to refashion into little boys t-shirts (and I'm hoping to do some freezer paper stenciling again, too!).   So hopefully I will have time to both work on my quilt and on this new fun distracting project in the coming week... 

I'm linking up again to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced:

Do. Good Stitches April Bee Blocks

I am super excited to have joined the Love circle of the do. Good stitches charity quilting bee!  I had been thinking about joining a quilting bee because it seems like a great way to meet other quilters and to try out new techniques and color schemes that I might not otherwise try... but I was not sure I wanted to join a full-on bee where I would have responsibility for designing and quilting one month.  So I am thrilled to have joined this bee as a stitcher, where I get to sew fun new blocks each month and don't have to worry about being the designer/quilter at any point (at least not yet, maybe later I will be ready to be a quilter in this bee!).  I also love that the quilts are all made for charity, and are given to kids in need of a special quilt.  Plus, the quilts that the different circles in this bee have been making are just gorgeous - check out the Flickr pool if you are looking for some inspiration!

I was also excited to see that Natalie from Greenleaf Goods was the quilter designing the blocks for my first month with the bee!  I have enjoyed reading Natalie's blog and getting to know her a bit online, so it was wonderful to be starting with someone who is already a friend.  She has a great sense of color and design so I wasn't surprised that the block design and colors she picked were just beautiful.  Someone in the group described them as sherbet colors with all the greens, yellows, oranges and pinks and I agree.

I had fun sorting through my scraps and fabrics in my stash to find ones that fit the bill.  I can't wait to see how the whole quilt looks together and what the blocks are for next month!

Winners of Japan Relief Raffle

 

Thanks to everyone who entered the raffle for Japan relief!  There were a total of 30 entries for the two bundles of baby goods, and the randomly selected winners are:

Numbers 8 and 30, so Lauren and Jocelyn.  Lauren will get bundle #2 and Jocelyn will get bundle #1.  Congratulations, I will email both of you to arrange having your items sent to you!

Thanks again to everyone who donated items and to everyone who entered!

Raffle for Japan Relief - Bundle of Handmade Baby Items

 

Like everyone, I have been shocked and saddened to see the devastation in Japan.  When I saw that Jojo of A Bit of This and A Bit of That was organizing an appeal for craft auctions/raffles to raise funds for relief in Japan, I knew I wanted to participate.  However, I was concerned that since I didn't have a large item like a big quilt to donate, it wouldn't have much impact.  I reached out to friends, both online and "real-life" and was so happy that a number of folks were interested in donating items so we could put together a bundle of adorable baby items to raffle off together.  Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed!  If other folks want to donate items as well I would love to add more things over the next few days to make the prize bundles even more awesome, so send me an email if you would like to donate something.

I know that many folks have already donated money to the relief effort or are planning to donate - I'm hoping this type of appeal can help serve as a reminder to do so, or a nudge to give again.

There will be two bundles of baby items for raffle (or possibly more if more items are donated) - keep the goodies for yourself or give them as gifts!

BUNDLE ONE

Elizabeth from Sew Chatty donated this ruffley baby blanket from her Etsy shop, featuring her signature shabby ruffles and fun kid fabrics.  For more details and photos, check out the full listing.

Heather from Olive and Ollie donated this bib and burp cloth set from her Etsy shop, backed in cuddly soft and absorbent chenille.  For more details and photos, check out the full listing.

Jaclyn from Urban Crunch donated a pair of cute truck and car booties and two contoured burp cloths, designed to fit snugly right on your shoulder.  For more info on the burp cloths, check out this listing in her Etsy shop.

Mandy from Fabric Paper Glue donated two sets of four burp cloths - one set will be in this bundle and the other will be in the second bundle.  Three of the cloths feature adorable woodland scenes with Jay McCarroll fabric and the last one has a floral design from Anna Maria Horner.  Mandy has an Etsy shop, too.

BUNDLE TWO

Marci from Marci Girl Designs donated this one of a kind bib and burp cloth set in a cute kitty print; the bib has a wipeable vinyl front and an absorbent terrycloth back.  For more details check out this similar listing in her Etsy shop.

I made two pairs of baby pants using Made by Rae's big butt baby pants pattern and accented with adorable sock-monkey themed fabric.  The pants are made in a 3-6 month size but with extra length and a fold-up cuff so they should fit the baby a bit longer.

 I also made a pair of matching sock monkey booties/shoes, using my favorite pattern.  I made them a bit larger than newborn size so they should also fit a 3-6 month old baby.

This bundle will also include the second set of four burp cloths that Mandy donated.

After seeing all that baby goodness I'm sure you psyched to enter the raffle!  Here are all the details on how to enter:

• Go to the American Red Cross or Global Giving and donate at least $10, which is the minimum donation at each site (note - I like that the Red Cross notes that if funds received exceed the need in Japan, they will be used elsewhere - so you can be sure that your donation will go where it is needed most).
• Please do not use the same donation to enter any of the other raffles/contests online, thanks!
• Raffle is open to international entries and there will be no shipping charges.
• Each $5 increment will count as one entry - so if you contribute the minimum of $10, that will be two entries, but for instance if you contribute $25 that would be 5 entries.
• After you have made your donation, come back to this post and leave a comment with:
• The amount you donated
• Your receipt number - you can just leave the last 7 numbers
• Your email address (you can write it like needleandspatula (at) gmail (dot) com if you prefer)
• If you have a preference between the two bundles, feel free to note it - I will give the first winner drawn their choice, and the other bundle to the second winner drawn
• Winners will be picked on March 26th, and will be asked to forward the electronic receipt from their donation, so make sure you don't delete it :)

Thanks so much!

RAFFLE CLOSED!  Thanks to all who entered.

Bunnies for Craft Hope Project

Today I finally finished making all the bunnies for the Craft Hope project to make safe birthing kits for Haiti, hooray!  It's a good thing, too, since they asked for kits to be mailed by March 1st... I am planning to take the completed kits to the post office tomorrow, so I am getting in just under the wire.  As I mentioned in my last post about this project, I may have slightly overcommitted myself by deciding to make 12 kits, each of which needed a receiving blanket, tote bag, stuffed toy, and the various other supplies.  Luckily I had some nice friends help me out, especially with the supplies and the bunnies.

I used the wee wonderfuls free bunny pattern, and while I am loath to complain about a free pattern I will say this wasn't my favorite pattern ever.  Note to self: don't commit to making 12 of something in the future if you have never tried the pattern before.  I wasn't super thrilled with how some of the bunny faces turned out kind of pointy, although I did find that clipping the curves extensively helped, and I also found that the pattern circle for the bottom of the bunny was a bit larger than ideal so I cut them a bit smaller.  I was trying to sew these pretty fast so you may notice that not all of the ears point up or that there are other minor sewing errors... but I am sure the babies will love them nonetheless.  My friends were nice enough to help out with embroidering the faces (and I love how they each seem to have a different personality as a result), and with cutting out the pieces.  I used a variety of fabrics that I had in my stash (and honestly, older ones that I wanted to use up, not my favorites), but I think they turned out cute!

I ended up trying a few different approaches for the ears... one pair I sewed and turned inside out, which I liked the look of but should have added a seam allowance for and I didn't want to go back and recut all the pieces.  I made a number with zigzag edges as the pattern suggests and then also hand-sewed some with a buttonhole embroidery stitch (like the bunny on the left above).  I also used the overcasting stitch and foot on my machine for some which made it a bit easier to keep the stitching right at the edge and catch the raw edges well.

I bundled each bunny up in the ziploc bag with the other supplies (and actually, all the other blankets fit in the ziploc too, this one was just a bit bulkier), put them in their respective totes, and packed the box up to ship tomorrow.  I felt a little sorry for the bunnies getting all squished in the bags...

I am still planning to do a tutorial for the tote bags, it has just taken me a bit longer than I expected - it should be up this week.


I'd love to hear if you have a favorite knitting or sewing pattern for a stuffed toy (since it seems I haven't found a favorite yet).

Baby Blankets for Craft Hope Project

 

I spent a good chunk of last weekend sewing baby blankets and tote bags for the Craft Hope project to make safe birthing kits for Haiti.  I had a few friends over the previous week to help me get going on the project, and we got all the supplies assembled into ziploc bags and cut out the pattern pieces and embroidered faces for stuffed rabbits from the Wee Wonderfuls pattern.  I had gotten a bunch of fabric to make the receiving blankets and tote bags earlier but hadn't gotten motivated to start the project, but after my friends helped me get the ball rolling (and I got all the supplies out), I was excited to keep going!

Originally I had planned to make 6 or 8 kits but after my mom sent me a flannel sheet to use for more blankets, in a fit of enthusiasm (and without entirely calculating how many blankets I could make with the fabric I had), I decided to make 12.  I ended up not having as much fabric as I thought but it forced me to dig into my stash and use up some things that I had been holding on to.  It was a good challenge for me to focus on getting the blankets made and trying out different techniques without worrying too much about whether I loved the fabrics for each one or whether it was sewn perfectly.

I made the most blankets using the same basic quick baby blanket technique that I used here.  Most of these blankets I used pillowcases for one or both sides, which worked really well - I just cut open the pillowcase at the top and one side seam (most were only sewn on one side anyways), and then used that rectangle as one side of the blanket.  For some I cut off the hem or ripped it out to get a larger piece of fabric, but one I even just left it on there an it made kind of a nice decorative border on one side of the blanket.  When I was using a larger piece of fabric as the other side I used the cut-open pillow-case as a guide to cut the other fabric to the same size.  I also had fun with the topstitching on the blankets, using a bunch of the decorative stitches on my machine which I think is a really cute touch!

I think my favorite blanket I made was this one with mitered corners - I almost wanted to keep it!  I had seen a few tutorials online for how to make an easy mitered blanket (here is one for instance) and I did something similar but really quick and dirty, just eyeballing it without measuring either piece of fabric or the miters.  I often sew pretty intuitively without a lot of measuring, and it was fun to really not worry about it and just see how it turned out.  I was excited that it worked so well and will definitely make this kind of blanket again (maybe with just a smidge more measuring).

I used the waffle knit fabric that I had bought to make two blankets - one using basically the same easy baby blanket technique as above and one just attaching bias binding around the edge.  I had never really sewn with knits before so it was good to try out.  The one with the lining worked out pretty well and didn't have any problems with the knit layer stretching out as a sewed which I had been concerned about.  The other one worked out OK too, although the binding edge is a bit stiff, partly because it is a 1" wide binding (which I had on hand).

I also used the interlock fabric I had bought to make a blanket with simple hemmed edges and using a decorative stitch.  I had some more issues with the fabric stretching on this one but I think it still turned out well in the end.

By then I was running low on fabric to make into blankets, so I made some quick pieced blankets out of fabric from my stash, mostly stuff that really isn't my taste anymore that I had been thinking of giving away.  Since they were looking for receiving blankets not quilts, these don't have any batting or quilting, so they really aren't quilts.

Its been a while since I have made a real quilt though and I have been spending a lot of time thinking about patterns for quilts I want to make but not actually making any lately.  So it was nice just to have a low stress, freeform piecing project to play around with and get my creative juices flowing a bit!

I love the look of wonky squares and this made me more motivated to do a quilt with some kind of improvisational/wonky squares pattern.

I also made all 12 tote bags using the fish sheet that I had bought and an easy french seams tote bag pattern I came up with.  I am planning to make a tutorial for it next week so come back and check it out!

Also did you see that I am having a giveaway?  It's open until this Wednesday (2/23) - check it out and enter here.

Thrifty Finds and a Charity Craft Project

Last weekend I hit up a few local thrift shops to try to find some sheets that I could repurpose.  The buttons above are actually from a trip a few weeks ago to a flea market in Brooklyn when we were up visiting friends... but they are super cute so I wanted to share them with you too.  I decided that I will collect buttons so it was totally justified to buy them with no particular project in mind, right?

Anyways, back to the sheets.  I am really excited to be participating in Craft Hope's project to make safe birthing kits for Haiti - where you provide practical supplies to assist in the birth, like hand sanitizer and a plastic sheet, but also a receiving blanket, tote bag, and small stuffed animal.  I wanted to make sure that I had enough materials to make a good number (hopefully 7 or 8 kits), and I figured sheets or pillowcases would give good material to reuse in making the receiving blankets in particular.

The sheet selection at both places I went wasn't that great, but I found some really good pillowcases (and very affordable, too)!  I am figuring that I can use two pillowcases cut open to make a good sized receiving blanket.  I was hoping to find some flannel ones to make one side nice and snuggly, but no luck, so I may make some blankets with just the pillowcases and others using other fabrics and see what works best.  I don't want them to be too insubstantial but also not so heavy, so you could still swaddle a baby in it.

The one large sheet that I liked that I did find was this fun ocean print.  It is actually a pretty heavy weight and kind of stiff so I am thinking I will use that to make the tote bags for this project.  The tablecloth on the left I just picked up because I thought it was cute, and it is for me to keep not for this project (at least for now)... I will probably just use it as a tablecloth but may use it as fabric at some time in the future.

What projects are you up to?  Have you ever done a charity craft project?  This is my first and I am very excited!