Naomi's #1 Quilt for Refugees

When I mentioned on one of my quilting facebook groups that I had offered to quilt tops my friends made for free to give to the refugees, I had several people offer to send me tops. Naomi was quick to send me 6 tops! This is the first one quilted from her stack.

I quilted it with light yellow So Fine and Bottom Line thread using the Kindling pantograph by Urban Elementz.

 

Turning Twenty Just Got Better Quilt for Refugees

Here is another quilt I made for the refugees. This pattern (I believe) is called Turning Twenty Just Got Better and made with fabric from my stash. 

 

I quilted it with the Zest (Urban Elementz) pantograph in light yellow So Fine and Bottom Line threads. It is finished with a scrappy binding.

Lisa P's Turning Twenty quilt for the refugees

 I sent out a plea to my friends on Facebook and some of my quilting Facebook groups to help make quilt tops for the surge of refugees arriving in the next few months. I would, of course quilt and bind them for free. I had an overwhelming response. Within the first week I had several offers, plus a dozen or so back to me by the week's end with more promised. I bought a nice big roll of batting and got started on the ones that sent backs with them. For the others I would piece the rest of the backs. However, another friend saw some new sheets at an estate sale and purchased them for backs, so I will have fewer backs to come up with myself. There are so many good people in this world!

The first to offer to help was Lisa P.  I had offered to give the fabric if anyone wanted it, and she took me up on the offer.  I gave her the Turning Twenty pattern and the 20 fat quarters of fabric and she brought me back the top.

I used a free pantograph pattern from Urban Elementz called Plumeria. The thread I used was light yellow So Fine for the top and Bottom Line for the bottom.

Cathy's Stars and Squares Quilt

Beautiful quilt made by Cathy which she asked me to quilt. It is quilted with white So Fine and Bottom Line threads in a simple all over meander pattern. 

 

The batting used is Pellon Cotton and has a lovely drape.

Turning Twenty Quilts #2 and #3 for Refugees in Country Colors

A neighbor of mine asked me if I wanted to contribute supplies for the incoming refugees with their church. What else would a quilter want to do, but to help them with their "blankets" need. I made 3 quilts. One of which I posted here. I then posted on Facebook asking if anyone else wanted to make tops which I would quilt for the refugees. Within a week, I had received 18 tops with a promise of around 8 more. Looks like I have my work cut out for me. Aren't quilters the best!? Over the next several weeks you will get to see all those quilts.

 

Here's quilt #2. This is quilted using the pantograph Petal Flambé from Urban Elementz and using light pink thread from So Fine on the top and Bottom line on the bottom.

The back was pieced using fabric that was given to me and I pieced together to make it work. I like the effect.

Quilt #3 below has some brighter colors, but still many with the muted country feel.

This pantograph is called Cardamom Wave by Urban Elementz using the same light pink threads as in the quilt above.

The back is again pieced using donated fabric and leftovers from the top with a scrappy binding.

Pillow Sham Tops to Match Cathy's Falling Charms Quilt

 Using the leftovers from her Falling Charm's Quilt (posted here), Cathy made 3 pillow shams, or what will be pillow shams, and asked me to quilt those tops exactly as I did the quilt. I had them back to her the next day. Pantograph is Modern Twist by Urban Elementz, using white So Fine thread on the top and white Bottom Line thread on the back.

With a humility block to boot. ;-)

The Rabies Quilt from "The Office"

In the show "The Office" Season 4, episode 1, Phyllis makes a quilt, or rather, she starts a quilt to aid the quest to raise money for rabies awareness. Her three squares are shown for a second or two, but from that, I was commissioned to make a quilt - to finish what Phyllis started.

Now, as I examined that screenshot, I wondered how it was that a person talented enough to make the appliqués look so good sewed the squares together with crude "X" stitches with the batting sticking out, but it is obviously a prop and very unrealistic. But, regardless, I made the quilt, adding the name of their race, and a couple other squares to fill it out.

Here are close ups on some of the squares and the "X's" in the sashing and borders where I attempted to make it look like the uneven stitches Phyllis did. Of course, right after finishing sewing all the "X's" (3 times each to make them more visible), it occurred to me that instead of having the "X's" touch on the top, I should have deliberately extended them from time to time to make it more wonky. Oh, well. What's done is done.

Some small loops around the words brought the extra fulness, caused by all the appliquéd letters, back under control. All in all, it looks like we wanted it to, the client was happy, so it's a success. If I'm ever asked to make another one, I now know how long it would take 50+ hours, plus quilting.

Reversible Butterfly/Cinderella Charity Baby/Toddler Quilt in Pink, Purple, Blue

Another charity quilt made from pre-cut squares my sister bought and then passed on to me.

 

Since there were butterflies all over the top, I changed my plans for quilting it in some abstract, free-motion way, and did some free-motion, very organic butterflies for the quilting.

The batting is that overly puffy poly batting that was given to me and because of its loft, was extremely hard to work with.  It required free-motion quilting from the front of the machine so I could help guide the fabric (keep it from shifting as I sewed). Even with all my efforts to the contrary, it was impossible to entirely prevent some tucks while quilting, thanks to the batting. I'm glad this is my last quilt with this stuff. I'm grateful for the gift of the batting, but I would never buy it, and I learned a lot using it.

The back is like a whole different quilt with Cinderella fabric. I guess which is the front and which is the back of the quilt is purely up to the recipient of this quilt.

Turning Twenty Charity Quilt #1 in Country Colors, Quilted with Free-Motion Bubbles

A neighbor told me his church was collecting supplies for refugees. One of the items on the list was blankets. I thought I'd just whip out some quilts using some of the fabric given to me. I went through the fat quarter bins, pulling out all the fabrics that would be hard for me to use. I then divided them up into 3 piles that seemed to coordinate best. Using the same pattern (Turning Twenty), I pieced 3 tops. This is the first of them. It is twin sized. 

After putting together the tops, I went through the bins with larger sized pieces to make backs for the quilts. This was the easiest (thus the reason it was finished first), since the fabric was big enough to simply sew two large pieces together to make it.

The batting I used in this was a very fluffy poly batting that was given to me. It looks great, but it is a pain in the buttootie to work with! It's too poofy to use rulers, or even sew from the back with a pantograph. I had to be in the front to hold things in place, so I went with a simple wavy lines design with what one of my sisters calls "Bubbles." The idea (called "Effervescent") came from Christina Cameli's book, "Step by step Free-motion Quilting."

The scrappy binding is made from pieces leftover from the back and front.

Annie's Double Irish Chain Quilt for Jamie

This quilt has such a beautiful story, that it demanded custom quilting. The pattern is Double Irish Chain. The quilting is done with Cream Glide and Glide 60 thread. The quilting pattern is made up of orange peels, feathers, swirls, pebbles, and straight and curved ruler work.

The story is made up of little snippets seem unrelated until that epiphany moment where they all suddenly fit together and you're left in a daze where you wonder you didn't see it all before. 

 

Annie lived a few miles from me. We went to church together, possibly since I was in High School, though since she was a few years my senior, we were worlds apart and she was not an active part of my short-sided world. In other words, she (as an adult) was more aware of my existence than I (as a teenager) was of hers for many years. 'Tis a shame because she and I had many interests in common - scrapbooking and sewing/quilting being two of them.  

Though not blessed with children, Annie and her husband both loved them. Annie poured out her heart and soul teaching the children at church. She loved them and went out of her way to serve them. Her husband took to my youngest two sons and would hand them money and candy at church. I tried to get him to stop (why do your chores at home for pennies when you get way more just by showing up to church and smiling at a friendly man?), but finally I gave up trying. Annie would shake her head and point to his culture being different from ours. 

Jamie came into the picture some 15-20 year ago. Though an acquaintance, our paths did not become very entwined right at first, but has grown little by little, more in the last 5 years with the common interest in American Sign Language. However, we both had a mutual friend in Annie before her death.

Annie became very sick with cancer which spread and the disease finally took her from us. Jamie took it upon herself to be Annie's caregiver and poured her love into her daily ministrations. Five years ago in May, Annie passed on to live with God, and not a day has passed that Jamie hasn't felt that loss. As Annie's husband had to move, he asked me to clean out her sewing room, so among other things, all her fabric came to my house.

 Fast forward to this year. On May 2, through tears, Jamie mentioned it had been 5 years to the day from Annie's passing and not a day went by that she didn't miss her friend. As she spoke, I thought about me having Annie's fabric. I could whip out a quilt for Jamie to remember Annie by, something simple. 

Two weeks later my phone died. Why is that significant? Well, after buying a new phone, my husband restored my settings based on the last back up which was in December. (oops) With that back up, one of the last texts I got was from Jamie asking about me making a quilt for her which I knew would be out of her price range. I had forgotten she wanted one, but it gave me some necessary info without asking.

The next Saturday I was cleaning in the basement and moved a basket with fabric from Annie. I stopped short. The quilt for Jamie with Annie's fabric. What were Jamie's favorite colors? How big was her bed? Wait, didn't it say that in her text? The thoughts kept coming. I detoured on my cleaning and began pawing through the fabric to see what would make a good quilt. And low and behold a partially made quilt was right there! 

At church the next day I asked Jamie her colors which she told me. Hmmm, that partial quilt was not Jamie's colors. "Why?" she asked. I then told Jamie I had Annie's fabric..."You have Annie's fabric!" she interrupted. Yes. And I told her about my findings, but they were not her color scheme. She jumped in again with tears in her eyes, "I'd love it! I don't care if it's my colors or not! It's from Annie. I'd love it!" Well, alright-y then. I don't know when I'd get it done, but I would set it aside for her.

But then, the quilt would not leave me alone. It stared at me and begged me to work on it. It was about 2/3 complete from what it is now. It was probably meant to be a twin, but Jamie needed a full size. There was a 4 block area in one of the corners that needed to be made and put in. There were also safety pins in various area (probably pointing out areas that Annie wanted to fix). I debated fixing them. Annie was a perfectionist and I knew she would have redone areas so they were right, but at the same time, I wanted it to be Annie's work, so I simply sewed up any unpicked areas and left the imperfections there. I also increased the size. I figured it needed another row or two to make it the planned size. Then thinking about the size of Jamie's bed, I thought maybe I could add a little more, plus some borders and make it a full size. It might be cutting it close on the green. Would there be enough?

Whew! Just right, but then as I sewed them on, I realized I had miscounted and I needed 4 more squares and didn't have any more green! Oh, no! What to do? Well, maybe I have something in my vast accumulated fabric that would work. There are two large bins in my bedroom with greens and browns (given to me by someone totally unrelated to this quilt or anyone involved). Maybe, just maybe... I went through both. Nothing. Oh, no. Please, oh, please let me find something that would work! Even if it's not the same fabric, something that is the same color that would blend well enough. I went through the bins again. And at the bottom of the second bin, second time through, was a fat quarter of that green fabric. Obviously, to me, from a different run of the fabric, but you have to know what to look for to see the difference. Oh, thank you, thank you! Then it hit me, Annie wanted Jamie to have this quilt. I was getting some help here and I better get busy on it. I finished the top and went looking for a back. There, in Annie's fabric was perfect backing fabric for this quilt. Maybe she had bought it for this quilt, who knows, but it was still perfect. Was there other help that I'm not aware of or can't remember? At this point, I'd say, "probably."  Too many coincidences to call them such.

Then came the quilting. As you can see in the picture above, there's a lot of fulness in places when keeping the edges square. Possibly this was the kind of stuff that Annie would have been trying to fix, but I did my best to solve it with the quilting.

You can see there is still a bit of fullness still visible between the feathers, but considering what it looked like before the quilting, I think it's pretty OK now.

Below is a little video I took while quilting the feathers. I don't have a good way to record video while quilting, so I'm holding it in my hand while moving the machine. Makes for some wobbly filming and stitching. 

The quilting design I took from a picture I found on Pinterest (I think), but didn't pin it, so when I went looking for it again, I couldn't find it. I had jotted down some ideas from the picture and would love to give credit where credit is due, but I can't find it. My apologies to the one who came up with a design like this. It was by far the best idea out there for this quilt that needed something to show the love of a friend from the other side to one on this side. Proud and humbled to be a part of Annie's gift to Jamie.