Now I have to wait for the snow to melt, and start sewing garments for summer, and meanwhile look at my cute pattern weights on the rhubarb leaf tray!
I started quilting in 2001 and made my first charity quilt in spring of 2012. My quilt guild is donating quilts to the children's ward at my local hospital, to long-term ill kids. My very first charity quilt is shown here: Walk in the Woods.
During all these years I have kept count on how many quilts I have donated to the hospital, and lately I was getting close to a round number. Here it is: My charity quilt number one hundred to the children's ward at the hospital!
Finished size of the quilt is 44" x 52".
It is always great to take pictures of quilts in natural light. Lately we have had very cold weather down to -13.4 °C ( 8 °F) at night, and just barely over freezing point during the warmest part of the day. This has led to a sparkling blue sky, bright sun and gorgeous weather to take a walk in, just remember to stay out of shaded areas.
The backing fabric is a blue solid that I bought at Ikea some time ago. It's a shame that they seem to discontinue selling fabric :(
The quilting was done by myself using the walking foot, with dark green thread in a crosshatch design. Binding is a soft flannel in blue and purple.
This was a very fun quilt to make. I've come a long way since my first charity quilt was made 11 years ago. This quilt took three days from start to finish. Chain piecing blocks is a great technique!
I enjoy making these charity quilts, and it gives me a great feeling that they give comfort to children during difficult times. I will not stop making charity quilts, but I will probably take a few months break from them to focus on other projects.
This is my eighth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 100 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.
Keep on quilting!
I had the quilt professionally quilted by a new longarmer in town, she did a great job!
Finished quilt size is 42" x 54".
Here's a detailed picture of the quilting. The star pattern is perfect for the quilt.
I also gathered my leftover binding pieces and made a scrappy binding, which makes the quilt more interesting.
This is my seventh charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 99 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.
Keep on quilting!
There are so many free patterns out there one the internet, and one that really caught my eye was the Wild Star by Plains&Pine.What a great way to use some of my treasured scraps! I chose to make the baby sized version, they also provide a throw sized pattern.
I dug into my scrap bins and picked mainly kid-friendly fabrics with lots of colors.
This little quilt begged to get some experimental quilting. I did some FMQ with lines and circles, walking foot quilting with cross hatch, wavy lines and a band of dense quilting. Good practice and I had lots of fun.
The background is a cream/grey colored fabric with subtle numbers and letters.
I found a very child friendly backing for the quilt, this will truly be a double-sided quilt!
The finished size of the quilt is 38" square. I used frankenbatting and scrappy binding to complete the quilt.
A detailed picture of the scrappy diamonds that forms the quilt. The quilting is clearly visible.
This is my sixth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 98 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.
Keep on quilting!
The challenge for PQ 14.6 was "Conquer a Fear". I have never tried out reverse applique before, I don't know why! Have I been afraid of it? This was the time to get over my fear.
I used freezer paper , traced the letters on the dark green fabric, added the bright green fabric on the back and started zig-zaging.
The SCARY part was cutting out the top fabric layer of the letters, maybe I made the project a little bit on the small side. Using my seam ripper and a sharp pair of scissors it worked out OK.
I conquered my fear and made a grafitti-like embroidery so my statement is: FEAR NO MORE !
A great new mug rug of approx. 5" x 6" to my selection!
February 1st the 'What is Love' Collab event was released on Instagram. Fifteen designers released one modern quilt block each. During the month I managed to sew all the blocks, it was a great skill builder with curves, applique, foundation paper piecing, HRTs and inset circles.
Fifteen blocks were not enough for a decent sized quilt, in my mind. One of the blocks, Grow Wild by Brooke of Eudaimonia Studio, is a HRT block where you actually make two blocks at a time. Then I had sixteen.
I found a multicolored print in my stash and that gave me three 12.5" blocks and a few leftover pieces. From the remnants I pieced the background of the block, added the circle that was cut out from another block when making an inset circle, and put in inset narrow strips after a tutorial from Hillary of @entropyalwayswins. My improvised block looks like a planet in space! You can see it in the bottom row of the quilt.
I love taking pictures in natural light, so when there was a pause between the snow showers I got a photo shoot on my snow covered deck. (When is winter going to end?)
The backing is a fun Ikea print from 2016 that I had in my stash.
The finished quilt measures 48" x 60".
I challenged myself to free motion quilt it on my domestic sewing machine. I chose a design with hearts and loops, perfect for a quilt with lots of hearts in the blocks.
Here's a close up picture of my own designed "planet" block. I don't like to throw away useful pieces, whether it is blocks, strips or scraps. My scrap bins tend to overflow.
The binding of the quilt is a candy striped one in pink, perfect for the quilt. A totally sweet one!
This is my fifth charity quilt for the year 2023, and number 97 all time for the children's ward at the hospital.
Keep on quilting!