The Quilt Nobody Wanted

Once, in 2014, during my first attempt at blogging, I made this quilt.

It was fun and easy to make.  It used up a lot of odds and ends that had been sitting in my stash for a while.  I didn't have a purpose for this quilt.  It was made just for the joy of making it.  I was happy piecing it, quilting it, binding it, and adding some big stitch hand quilting.  I just knew there would be an occasion to gift this quilt to someone.

So, I tried to give this quilt away.  Twice.  Sad state of affairs when you can't give a quilt away.  The first time, I had offered it to a friend who had an acquaintence going through cancer treatments.  My friend commented that she wished she had something to give, so I suggested the quilt I had just finished.  She was supposed to pick it up, but never did, and later said she didn't think her friend would like a quilt.  OK.  To each her own, I guess.

A year or so later, another acquaintence was looking for donations for a chairity silent auction.  I offered this cute (I think!) quilt.  She looked at it, but shook her head and said, "No thanks.  It's not right for our event."   Hmmmm.

So, I briefly worried that there was something wrong with this generously lap-sized/toddler sized, pink and brown cheveron, somewhat scrappy but mostly cohesive quilt.  Why didn't anyone love it as much as I loved making it???

I folded it up and shoved it under a pile of stuff in my sewing room.  There it sat.  Poor quilt.

Until its little sister quilt whispered to me as I was putting her together.

A little while ago, I shared Emma's Owls the quilt I made for my niece's sweet new baby.  As I pieced Emma's pink and brown quilt, one of the fabrics felt happily familiar to me.  The longer I sewed, the more I thought about that scrappy chevron that was languishing in a pile.

Well, it just so happens that Emma has a big  sister.  Her daddy has a sweet daughter, Aubrey, who is 5 and lives with them some of the time.  Aubrey has come to several of our family functions, and both my girls enjoy her smart, spunky personality.  She is a joy, and a blessing to my niece, who loves her as a daughter.

Suddenly, it became clear that this quilt had not been lonely, abandoned at the bottom of the pile.  Instead, it had just been waiting patiently there, until its little sister came about, and whispered in my ear.

Now, both quilts live with two little girls who share a room part of the time.  I hope they are all happy together.  I've asked Emma's mom for a picture.  I will share it with you when I get it!

Have you ever made a quilt with no intended recipient, only to find later that it was perfect for someone or some situation?  I'd love to hear your story!

Here are a few more pictures of these two quilts playing together, before they went to live with their sweet girls.

                                                           Linking up this week to:

                                           Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts
                                            Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story
                                           Lets's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts
                                           Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
                                           Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday

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!!

Q is for Quilt

And F is for Finished!!!!!  Yay!  Finally a finish to share.  This is "AJ's Letters", a quilt for my great-nephew.

Now, I am far too young to be a Great -Aunt, but, my niece and her husband had a darling little baby boy four months ago.  His name is Alexander Jeffery, but his Mama and Daddy call him AJ.

I had started these Little Letters from Temecula Quilt Company during the summer of 2014, long before we knew there would be a sweet little boy who would need a quilt.  I just thought they looked like a fun challenge.  I pieced them, and a sister set, slowly and when I had time.  They got set aside frequently, but were a ton of fun to work on when I did find time.

When my niece told us she was expecting, I knew right away that one of the sets of letters would become a quilt for her new arrival.  She has always been an avid reader, she is a certified teacher,  and before becoming Mommy, she was managing a bookstore.  So, letters seemed appropriate!  She's also pretty special to me.  When my youngest daughter was born and diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, Jen was a college student.  She went to school about half an hour from where we lived, but for an entire school year, she came to our house on days she didn't have class, and took care of my newborn when I had to go back to work.  She learned all about administering medicine and doing breathing treatments and chest physiotherapy.   She took notes and  was the BEST of the small army of caregivers we relied on.  And she was just 19 or 20!   I will forever be grateful for her.

So, a quilt for her first baby needed to be pretty special, and I think this fits the bill.

I was so excited to learn that they were going to call him AJ!  How perfect is a letter quilt for a little boy with two letters for his name?

I machine quilted in the ditch,  and then on the diagomals, but I also did just a bit of accent hand quilting around the A and the J.  Just enough to make them stand out a bit.

I am so happy to have this quilt finished.  Its been a long process.  I had really wanted to have it done before the little man was born, but he is already 4 months old.  I have a lot of other sewing projects going on right now, or needing to be started soon.  So, I've  put extra effort into just getting it done so I can move on.   I've taken this quilt to karate class, the orthodontist and 4-H meetings to get it done.  Which has led to some interesting conversations!

The back is pieced from two flannels, so it's going to be a very snuggly quilt for the little guy.  I went with a scrappy binding, which just makes me happy.  I love everything about this quilt.  Well, except for the fact that being called a "great aunt" makes me feel really old.  Hmmm.  Maybe I will be "awesome" instead.

A W.I.P.

It's not Wednesday but I have a W.I.P to share.  It's "kinda" a finish too, because the first step of the quilting is done.  And, I had to finish the basting step to get to the quilting step, so, ummm, yeah, it's a finish, too!
O.K.  That's a stretch, but truthfully, I am pleased with the progress and just want to link up to share!

Once my Pink Chevron quilt top got done, it sat around for a few days while I was off watching SingAndDance sing (and dance) in High School Musical, Jr.  It was a fabulous production, but WOW! does the theater life put a damper on the quilting (and cleaning) life.  There was a LOT of time put into getting her to the show, watching the show, baking HSM themed cookies to sell at the concession booth at intermission, selling raffle tickets before and after the show, attending the cast party, striking the set.  A LOT of time.

But, I finally found time to piece a back for this pretty little quilt.  The backing fabric is a pretty pink and brown dotted design that I picked up in a remnant bin and JoAnn's.  It was very reasonably priced, and there was a LOT of it, for a remnant, but still needed a little help.  I've ever pieced a back before.  I am surprised by how stressful that was.  It took a long time to decide what to do, and even to just do the math to make sure that it would come out big enough.  I am not sure I love it, but it works.

Not the best picture, but you get the idea,  I hope.

This was my first time using 505 Spray Baste.  I *Think* I love it, but the jury's still out.   It was a learning process for sure!  I am glad this was a small-ish quilt, and next time I will need to recruit a helper to get the layers rolled out smoothly.    And maybe find something else to lay the quilt on, on the garage floor, rather than a bulky blanket. But I have to say, I did manage to get a nice, smooth "quilt sandwich" that quilted up beautifully!  No major puckers or wrinkles.  And I did NOT miss removing pins!  I was pleasantly surprised that the needle didn't get "gummed" up, too.  In fact, my machine seemed to really enjoy quilting this one, and cooperated for the WHOLE quilt!  That rarely happens.

I quilted along both sides of the seems of each chevron.  It was fun, and quick, and I really like the way it looks.  It's minimal, as far as quilting goes, but I think it's enough.  I hope I feel that way after it's washed.  I am kind of afraid that it will not hold together very well with so little quilting.

I purposely left the neutral chevrons unquilted.  I am going to hand quilt (big stitch, with pearl cotton!) with pink in those areas.  That's the plan for any down time I happen to find this weekend.

Then, to decide on a binding color.  Hmmmm.  Any ideas?

Happy Sewing!

Tami