Project Night Night finish

My first quilt for Project Night Night is finished and ready for donation! Earlier in the summer I found three charm packs of Moda's Fresh line by Deb Strain and two orphan blocks made from those same fabrics in my stash.

Thing 2 laid out all the squares with the blocks to arrive at a 49.5" x 58.5" size. I pieced the top and then delivered it to my long-arm quilter Carol who quilted an all-over pattern of swirls, dragonflies, and flowers in an orange thread.

The two large blocks finished at 13.5", so you can get an idea of the scale of the flowers and dragonflies from this picture. I'm hoping some little girl will have fun looking for and counting them across the surface of this quilt.

For the backing I used two larger pieces of fabric from the same line that I had on hand. I wonder what my original intent was for these fabrics?

I also had the batting on hand, so I'm proud to say that this project was created entirely from my stash. The binding was machine sewn on both the front and back sides so the quilt can stand up to lots of love and washings :)

The Crystal Lake Modern Quilt Guild's first donation to Project Night Night was delivered in August - 12 bags each containing a quilt, book, and stuffed animal. We're on target to donate over 20 more bags in October! I'm so proud of the way the ladies from our new little guild have responded to this worthwhile cause!

You can read more about Project Night Night here.

three on two

It's a bit crowded in the sewing room this summer. Three girls using two machines (and a serger) working on 10+ projects = stuff everywhere!!

Thing 1 is currently apprenticing/interning with a local custom seamstress/tailor while she is home on summer break from college. She works at the woman's home a couple of days a week doing a variety of alterations there and also brings work home with her. Her "home work" these days is constructing five custom fitted men's dress shirts - that's one hanging on the back of the chair. She's got three down, and two to go.

Thing 2 and I are working jointly on two quilts for Project Night-Night, the charity that my quilt guild has chosen to support this year. It's a wonderful organization that distributes comfort packages containing a quilt/security blanket, an age-appropriate book, and a stuffed animal to children ages 0-10 in homeless shelters across the country. You can read more about their program here.

She's working on the layout for our second quilt here. I had three packages of these charm squares in my stash, as well as the two already-pieced blocks. The finished top should measure about 50" x 60", and I'll post photos of our progress as we work toward our finish goal of August 11. She prefers to quilt and I prefer to piece so we make a great team!

If you've been counting, that leaves 3+ projects that I haven't accounted for... Last week Thing 2 finished a new soft cover for her laptop computer (so cute!!), and in June she made a messenger bag for our vacation. I'll get her to pose for photos with those items for another post with pattern details.

That leaves my projects. I'm still working on my Border Challenge quilt - the final border background fabric choice is stumping me, and without a looming deadline, it's slipped downward on the priority list. I've also started sewing a queen-sized bed quilt for my mom - Amish With a Twist (the first version) in the lighter colorway on a cream background. And my Tree of Life is back from the quilter(!) so I'm stitching the binding to the back one or two lengths of thread at a time.

So yes, it's a tad crowded in that little room (and sometimes very hot!), but we are all making progress with our projects and having a grand time being together :) Even though (at least) one of us is usually crabbing about somebody else leaving their "stuff" in our spot!

Halloween Confetti

Happy Halloween!! I finished my Halloween table runner just in time last Friday, so it will actually be used for a grand total of four days before it's packed away for next year ;-) Oh well, that's generally how I roll when it comes to holiday decorations - haha!

The pattern I used is "Confetti" by Lazy Girl Designs. I highly recommend the Lazy Angle ruler/template for this project - it made the cutting go soooo much faster. (See this post if you'd like more details about the ruler/pattern/construction.) I used 40 Halloween-themed charm squares cut from my stash and 1.33 yards of Moda Grunge in black for the table runner front.

I free-motion quilted an all-over large meander in King Tut variegated thread #925 Obsidian, and finished the binding by machine. I like machine-finished binding for things that will get lots of washing - like table runners, placemats, and baby quilts. The finished size is 16" x 80".

And since I just realized this morning that I managed to buy every kind of chocolate Halloween candy BUT fun-size M&M's, I'm off on a treasure hunt to find what I'm certain are the only three remaining bags for sale in my area. M&M's really are the best fun-size candy... in my opinion!

I hope all your little ghosts and goblins have a fun and safe Halloween!!

why do I keep making baby girl quilts?

You'd think I'm expecting a sudden deluge of baby girls, when in fact the opposite is true. Well, not exactly a "deluge", but two baby boys this summer! Yet all the baby quilts I have been churning out are most definitely "girly".

Last week I posted about this super-quick pattern here, and yesterday I got the binding on and some photos snapped before the latest round of April showers...

The backing is pieced with all of the leftover charms and a Moda Marble Dot in Lemon. The straight line quilting I did really shows up in this photo. Easy and quick is the theme of this pattern, and straight line quilting fits that description.

But I couldn't resist putting some flowers in the cornerstones. I machine-stitched the binding down in the back since it is for a baby and will likely see lots of time in the wash.

I'm still not thrilled with that wide yellow first border :( I reworked the pattern last week to include a much narrower first border, while still maintaining a good size piece in the center to show off a focus fabric. The new pattern also yields a slightly smaller quilt - around 40" square. Perfect size for a baby quilt, but I'll only need one width of backing fabric - even quicker and easier!!

Check in next week and I'll (hopefully) show you the revised pattern and give you all the details.

Only three more days till the big wedding! Who is getting up early to watch? We are already up very early at my house, so I'll only be setting my alarm about 30 minutes earlier than normal. And yes, I am being a complete geek about this, but I remember watching Charles and Lady Di get married when I was a teenager. Seems only fitting to watch this one too. Will you be watching?