Covered In Love, 9/26

Last week I finished two Project Linus quilts.

The first one is a Mile a Minute quilt, with a fleece backing.

The other one is a row quilt for a girl, in pink and purple, also with a,fleece backing.

I'm linking up with Covered In Love at 

katandcatquilts.blogspot.comCovered In Love

RSC week 35

WORKING BACKWARDS

This week was another profitable scrappy quilting time for me.  It began when I found two fleece blankets to use as backing for Project Linus quilts.  They had hidden behind piles of fabric for a couple of years.  Last week I made a Mile a Minute top to be used with the silly one.  Purple penguins go with anything, so it is pinned and ready to quilt.

That left the other fleece and I determined to use it right away.  Here it is with a few of the fabrics I chose for the top. 

I think the easiest top to make is a row quilt with no seams to match.  The pieces I chose had to be, for the most part, the full width of fabric.  I also joined a chain of charms for one row and in another I used some orphan 4-patch blocks.  It's a girl quilt which will have the nice rosy fleece for backing.  

I was delayed a bit due to some dental work  but got it finished in a day.   I paired up two strips at a time and then measured the length.  I just did that until it was long enough, about 52 inches.  So this is my girl's pink, blue and purple top ready to be pinned.  

I did not have a chance to even sort through and locate my orange bits for September's challenge.  That will officially begin tomorrow and I'll be back to making my usual monthly rainbow blocks.

The weather has definitely cooled off here, such a delight.  I do pray especially for the folks in Texas who survived Katrina only to have this second devastation.  So much loss!  And so many kind people doing what they can to help.  

I'm linking up with 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge at

   soscrappy  and

Oh, Scrap! at 

Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

AHIQ, 12/27

Ann and Kaya - I came across your blog from Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts tonight.  I posted a comment about my improv blocks.  When I read your post, Ann, I realized that I have been doing improv quilting all along.  Here is one I'd like to share.

I like to do Project Linus quilts for kids at our local Chidrens Hospital.  I found a discount store that had a sale on fleece blankets, edged at 50 X 60 inches.  At less than $3.00 each I bought a bunch of kid themed ones to use instead of batting and backing.  All I had to do was make a top within those size limits.

Here's the fleece backing, which evolved into my Dog Park quilt.

I had bought this really cute dog fabric  all kinds together on green backing.  But the piece was not long enough.  So I decided,to make a row quilt.  I found the assorted brown strips that looked like paths or fences.  To add more length I broke them up with ball/balloon strips, making the length right.  I still had no name for it.  Then I found this whole Jellyroll of cars running along.  This became the streets  where the owners parked to get out and let the dogs play.  Voila!  A dog park.

It was amazing how all the colors went together and matched the fleece backing.  So here it was:

DOG PARK QUILT

I did give it to our quilt group's charity collection day held twice a year.  This year we collected about 300 quilts of all types and sizes, for veterans, halfway houses, nursing homes, NIQUs and Project Linus.  It is not only creative but satisfying being able to give it to a child who will love it.

.
I'm linking this with AHIQ, Ad Hoc Imrpov Quilter at Fret Not Yourself  

RSC15 week 39

This is the last week of orange and I'm looking forward to next month.  But I have another orange option for my row quilt.

I really like the orange bordered by the little pinwheels.  I only have about six pinwheel strips so I will have to be careful where I use them.  That is one of the reasons I have been going slowly with these rows, so I won't end up having to do any ripping and replacing.  The floor is only temporary, but I do make good use of the iPad by taking photos of all my ideas to look back at.

The other reason I have put this aside was to finish this Project Linus quilt, a WIP since last winter.  I machine tacked each block, which is lo-o-ts easier than pushing a needle through fleece.

Hooray, today i finished the binding, so here it is!  There are little bits of orange in it also.

The flimsy came very close to the 50 x 60 inch size of the fleece blanket backing, but with a little fudging I managed to get the binding on, not the neatest job, but the happy little girl who gets it will not care.

You can see how well the front goes with the fleece, which is how I design them, from a given back to a coordinating front.  I think this limitation makes them more challenging, which I love.

    This quilt will be collected in mid-October at our Monona Quilt group.

I link up with RSC15 at superscrappy.blogspot.com, Sew Cute Tuesday at blossomheartquilts.com and Throwback Thursday at kristaquilts.blogspot.com.  Come and join us, it's good fun.

RSC15, week 37

A COLOR SHOW

This week I have had orange on the brain.  My pinwheel quilt has been taking all my sewing time.  I constructed two more new rows.  The first was simple, just a row of charm blocks from my stash to complement the pinwheel rows.  The second was a bear to construct.  I wanted to challenge myself by doing a chevron design.  I chose a MSQC technique, using a binding tool to make a Friendship Braid.  I cut down on the length of the pieces so the row would be about six inches wide.  There was a lot of ripping after attaching some pieces in the wrong direction.  Here are the two new rows with some white spacer strips.

This is just a trial placement.  When I laid more of it out on my kitchen floor I realized it will be bigger than I thought, because I laid out only two of the four pinwheel strips.  I took these photos of some of the rows and I was thrilled.  It's too bad these pics cannot convey the brilliant colors.

 Rather than picking it all up off the floor to make dinner, I called a couple of friends in my building to come quickly and see it.  Both of them said, "Wow" and as we all crowded in the hallway they were happy they came.  One had just gotten home from a day at Quilt Expo, fighting the crowds, and she bragged about the buys she had made, which made it worthwhile going.  I was just as happy that I had stayed home and had my own little show.

I link up with RSC15 at superscrappy.blogspot.com, Sew Cute Tuesday at blossomheartquilts.com and Throwback Thursday at kristaquilts.blogspot.com. Please stop by and enjoy what others have done.