Quick and Easy Sweatshirt Blanket

I spent a few hours last week making a surprise for the recipient of the t-shirt quilt I shared recently.  When she gave me her t-shirts, she included several items I couldn't use due to their weight or the type of fabric.  I knew I wanted to do something with them, though.  I decided I'd use the  sweatpants, hoodie and flannel pajama bottoms to make a lap sized blanket.

Shhh!  My assistant wanted me to crop her out.  But she's just too cute! 

It came together really easily!  I just cut the largest sized rectangle that I could get out of each item of clothing, centering the logos.  I cut rectangles from spots with no logo, too .  Then, I laid them out, trimming and rearranging until I had something that worked.

When the blocks were together, I spray basted the top to a yard of snuggle fleece.  A little bit of stitching in the ditch holds the front and back together, permanently.   I finished it off by bringing the edge of the fleece around to the front, turning it under once, then stitching with a running stitch.

Binding clips = no pins in the carpet!!

  I am so pleased with the way the binding looks!

My favorite feature, though, is the pocket from the front of a Hoodie that I included at the top.  It's placed in exactly the right spot for the user of the blanket to tuck her hands into in chilly weather.

This is NOT the recipient of the quilt.  Just my cute assistant, again.

If Hailey  decides not to take this blanket to school with her this fall, I know her mom will put it to good use.  It's perfect for snuggling under by the fire, watching football games on chilly Friday nights, or just to cuddle with while reading  (and, I'm sure, missing her oldest child).  

I'm going to link this post up, but I'm not sure where.  What are your favorite link up parties?

So far, I'm linked at Monday Making at Love, Laugh, Quilt, and Let's Bee Social at Sew Fesh Quilts

Have a fantastic week, quilty friends!

Five Things To Be Happy About - A Day Late

I am not at all surprised that I'm a day late posting my Five Things to be Happy About post this week.  It's just the kind of week that it was!  All week I felt like I was in some kind of a mental fog.  I had the tension in my shoulders and pressure in my ears that usually signal the start of a migraine...but the headache never fully materialized.  It was just a crappy, tired, can't quite do what I need to get done kind of week.  Honestly, the thing that made me happiest this week was the moment when the ibuprofen and peppermint oil started to work  I love that feeling of the pain and pressure and anxiety floating away.

All that being said, there were still beautiful and happy moments.  I might have had to look a little harder for them, but thank goodness I had a reason to!  I might have missed them, otherwise!  Here's a peek at some smiles from the week.

I LOVE binding all rolled up!  I use old ribbon spools to wind the folded binding.  Then, the spool goes in a box on the floor, and it unrolls easily as I sew the binding on the quilt.  I had my bonus happy moment this week when I got the joining of the ends right ON THE FIRST TRY!!!  (That usually doesn't happen.)  The blade of my scissors is reflecting a piece of Mexican embroidery that hangs on the wall.  I love that!

And, of course, a roll of binding means THIS is coming next.  I debated machine stitching the binding on both the front and the back, because the quilt had a deadline.  But, I also knew that some time on the couch, with a cup of tea (not pictured) and Gilmore Girls on the TV might be just what I needed this week.  It felt really good to slow down and hand stitch.

We had some severe thunder storms on Thursday.  We were fortunate to not have any damage close by, but we sure got some amazing skies as the sun went down that evening!  My camera didn't do a great job of capturing it, but we all agreed we'd never seen skies quite like them!

Next week is fair week.  If you grew up in 4-H or have kid in 4-H, you know that THIS week, then, is finish fair project week!  These adorable Christmas light cupcakes were made by Emily for her cake decorating project.  They were a trial run so she could perfect her technique and figure out how it all goes together.  She will make the real ones on Sunday night.  She has done an awesome job with her projects this year.  This is the same kiddo who made the jello cup and the cheesecake in previous Friday Happy lists.  I think she had a future in the culinary arts!!  (By the way, seconds after this picture was taken, the "wires" fell off the yellow bulb.  Back to the drawing board!

And this.  This is the junior chef herself.  She has taken to wearing these big bows in her pony tail lately, and it makes me smile every time.  She's growing into such a beautiful young lady.  She is my heart.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.  We have a weekend full of performances for my oldest daughter, a graduation party (and T-shirt quilt gifting!),a sleepover,  and of course, final, final touches to put on fair projects on the agenda.  I hope there's also time to clean up the sewing room and prep the next project.  Oh!  And a post about the finished quilt will be coming soon.

Even though I missed the Friday party, I'm going to share my post over at Gypsy Moon Quilt Co. Amanda has some beautiful pictures of her week, and some others have linked up to share their happy lists, too.  Be sure to check out the comments on her post to find out who to visit!

Rainbow Baby Quilt

Recently I stumbled across a Facebook post about a fundraiser for a local girl who has a very rare medical condition.  She is one of just a handful of people in the world, and only two in the US with this condition. She's just 5 years old.  The fundraiser was being held to help her family purchase a specialized wheelchair so that she can continue to go to school as long as she is able, and to help them with travel expenses, as she needs to be seen frequently at a clinic out of state. I was struck by the enormity of the challenges that this little one and her parents face every day.  As it turns out, we had some personal connections to this family, as well.  They had recently joined our 4-H Club, and I have some mutual friends with the mom.

I knew we wouldn't be able to attend the fundraiser, but I wanted to help.  I've planned more than a few fundraisers and have always felt blessed to receive auction and raffle items from crafters, especially those that came unexpectedly and with no strings attached.

 I  decided that this bright and cheery baby quilt that I made last summer would be my contribution to the auction.  I had made it with no particular purpose in mind, and it's just been sitting around the sewing room since then.  This seemed like a good use for it!

I don't remember where the idea for this quilt came from.  I think I was just inspired by the fun fabrics that had been accumulating in my stash.  I simply cut squares and rectangles and pieced them into strips, alternating the strips with white.  Simple and bright!

I backed it in a pretry green print and a rainbow stripe.  The rainbow bars were qiilted with a wavy stitch set  on maximum width and length, and the white areas were quilted with non marked "straight" lines.  Straight is being a bit generous, as the lines and spacing were very wonky. Very.  But, it gave a nice casual feel to the quilt, and a really great texture.

I love the way the polka dot binding turned out, and have been on the look out for dots I can use for binding ever since!

I actually entered this in our County Fair last summer.  My girls were entering for the first time (we just joined a club last year), and I was feeling nostalgic for all of the 4-H fair entries of my youth.  I knew this quilt wasn't perfect and probably wouldn't "fare" well, but it sure was fun to go and see it displayed!  It ended up earning a red ribbon.  No matter,  I loved participating in the Fair alongside my girls.

And now it has a new home with some (hopefully) generous person who, like me, wanted to do something to help little Maggie.  I hope it brings a smile no matter where it lands!

My quilt holder for these pictures needed to give it a hug good-bye

I'm linking up!!

Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story

Michelle's Let's Make Baby Quilts

Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts

Lets's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Visit these lovely ladies and enjoy all the great quilty projects!!

Almost Done

Here's my  Saturday morning view.

Binding...binding...binding

So excited to be so close to finishing!  Hoping to get some good snowy pictures of the finished quilt this afternoon (if I can stay focused on binding that long) and then get it warmed up with a nice wash and dry.  Fingers crossed!  Just can't wait to see it done!