Friday Finish - Give it away now!

If you've been reading my WiP Wednesday posts, you know that I've been sewing up a storm. I'm super excited to be getting a number of projects finished - some have been hanging around for far too long!

That's definitely the case with this lovely...

It's my Cool Stash Strip quilt! I've blogged about it already here in my Confessions of a Stripper post. I'm proud to say that the entire quilt top came from my stash - much of it from my cool scrap bin!

For the quilting, I wanted to soften the hard lines of the pieced strips. I opted to quilt from side edge to side edge, wiggling the lines. This involves a lot of pushing and pulling, since I was fighting the inclinations of my built in walking foot. It occurs to me at this very moment that perhaps it would have been better to disengage it for this task. Oh well... there's always next time!

You can see it better on the back. Because I used my regular foot instead of FMQ, there are spots where the quilting is not as fluid as it could be. That said, I like the way it turned out. I'm also pretty proud of the steal of a deal that this backing was - in the 4.99$ flat fold section of my LQS AND 30% off! ☺

Even my binding is made of scraps! When I bind a quilt and there's a chunk of binding left, I save it. When it's time for something scrappy (or I'm searching for one last scrap of a particular fabric), there's a treasure trove waiting!

Though I really do like it, this quilt was always meant to be given away. It meets a few of my New Year's Resolutions for 2014. I resolved to make at least two large quits from my stash... I only purchased backing and batting for this one. It's also headed to the IWK - designated for their Adolescent Mental Health and Addictions Program, Choices. This stack made it's way to the IWK this week.

The total? Three baby quilts and three large quilts (one donated by a kind quilter from Mariner's Quilt Guild). The ladies in the Volunteer office are always super appreciative of these quilts. The little ones often head to the NICU to offer comfort and warmth to sick babies and their families. The bigger ones are in demand  all over the hospital. Whenever a child is transferred from the IWK to another hospital, they send a quilt with them, but I ask for mine to go to the teens of Choices. If you've got finished quilts or tops hanging out in your stash and you just don't know what to do with them, why not look into donating them? We're so lucky as quilters to have these comforting items in our lives  - sharing the comfort and warmth of a quilt is something we can offer our communities. I'll hop down off my soapbox now! ☺

One of the quilts I opted to donate was a little tough to part with - my first Thousand Pyramids quilt.

It was made AGES before blogging.  It's been in my life for a while now, but has never really been used properly. It was meant to be a quilt for my bed, but by some freak of quilt mathematics (and likely a beginner's inaccurate quarter inch seam allowance), it was never wide enough. The bed it resided on in my studio is soon to be replaced with a queen sized murphy bed. It really needed a new home. I hope it will find someone to love it at the IWK!

So that's my Friday Finish! If you were waiting on my Michael Miller MQG Challenge, you'll have to hang on for just a little longer. It deserves a better photo shoot than my backyard ☺I'm linking up today with TGIFF at Quokka Quilts.

Hope you had a great week and an even better week-end. I'm looking forward to a MMQG Sew In tomorrow!

J

Finish up Friday - Give it away now!

Hey all!

There's lots of finishing up going on around here these days, though it seems like very little of it is quilting related. Wrapping presents, buying a tree, baking cookies. It's holiday prep at it's finest. With my machine in for service, it seems like I've started more quilting projects than I've finished this week. I hesitate to quilt anything on my dear old Kenmore. She's just a little unpredictable sometimes!

Anyway, back in the spring (as you can tell from the pics), I finished a quilt that had been hanging around for a long time.... and I forgot to share it with you. It's called Child's Play and was taken from a quilting magazine so long ago that I no longer know which one! The print from which the other colours are selected is actually leftover from Miss K's baby quilt. You know Miss K - she got this quilt back in July for her 13th birthday!

 It wanted to go to the playground, so off we went!

I think part of the reason this quilt went unfinished for so long was that I wasn't 100% satisfied with how the sashing stars turned out.  My piecing wasn't very exact back in the day. I loathe, and I do mean loathe, taking things apart, so it was either accept it or not work on it. It took embracing modern wonkiness to feel like these were okay. Thank goodness for wonkiness! I quilted it on the diagonal... my old stand-by!

The backing is a little something I picked up on a Marden's trip. Very bright, but it suits the top! And with those little teal stars in the sashing, the binding just had to be teal.

  

So why am I sharing this so long after it's completion? Well, today, it (and a few others) are going on a little trip. I've got a this quilt, the Double Irish Chain Redux, and a lunch box challenge quilt that are headed over to the IWK. Q-A also contributed some baby quilts and a snuggle sized quilt. When I dropped off quilts last spring, the Volunteer co-ordinator said that they really love getting bigger quilts. The teens that come for the Choices (Mental Health & Addictions program) with next to nothing. I can only imagine that a quilt would give them some comfort. I know quilts make a big difference to me when I'm having a rough day.

So, quilt-y people, here's hoping you can have a look in your UFO pile and find a quilt that deserves a new home. Or even dive into that stash or those scrap bins and make a little something special when you've got the time.'Tis the season, right?

J
P.S. And I'm linking up with Thank Goodness it's Finished Friday! I can see this linking up business being fun!

Finish Up Friday! - Double Irish Chain Redux

Hey all! It's Finish Up Friday again!

Sometimes you need just the right spot for a quilt-y photo shoot. My friend and I had already snapped some pics at another location when I drove by this spot. I won't say I haven't been eyeing it ever since the gigantic pink and blue aluminum school desk appeared on the lawn of a certain former-school-turned-swanky-condos.  It's a BIG statue... there was jumping and throwing involved here! But the colours were just so right!

This quilt is an hommage to the very first quilt I ever made... hence the "redux" in the name. It was a queen sized, forest green monstrosity and is no longer in my possession. The best I can offer you is this page from my quilt record/scrap book. Yes, I really did make something so...well, forest green.

 

I'm pleased to say that I was little more frugal in my quilting this go round. The original is quilted every 2 inches, vertically and horizontally. What was I thinking?! This time, I followed the purple "chains" and quilted on the diagonal.

 

I do love a stripe-y binding, don't you? I swear, part of me is considering planning quilts around available stripe fabric. Clearly, I am not well.

 

The back is my first real attempt at a modern pieced backing. I like the fabric from the top, but I really wanted to use it up... it doesn't fit so well in my stash. I'm pretty pleased at how it turned out... I like the asymetry! ☺

I also blogged about this quilt here, here, and  here. It is destined to be donated to the IWK Choices (Youth Mental Health and Addictions) Program. As quilters, we all know that quilts give comfort. I can think of so many individuals who could use this comfort... perhaps you've got a quilt or two with no home in your stash... please consider giving it to someone who needs a warm quilt-y hug.

Love is something if you give it away, you end up having more.

J