Quilts for Kids Kit

Received my first Quilts for Kids kit in the mail yesterday. Linda sent it out the same day maybe since I signed up on Monday. The kit is really cute.

Its a four-patch quilt and the plain blocks, strips and borders are already cut for me. I think I could knock the top out in a couple of hours one evening. Its so exciting to think of preparing a quilt so quickly and for a good cause! I'll ask Margaret if she's got any batting scraps I can piece together for these quilts. For the moment I'm sure I have something I can use. I want to get two of these pieced and quilted in the next month. Maybe I can do a couple in an x-blocks pattern.

Yellow Submarine Top & Back Complete!

Whew! It took me all day Sunday to finish it up. The top was complete for the quilt meeting and Maria very kindly said it was the best thing I'd ever done.

I was upset by the rippling between the top border and the center panel. I ended up ripping it out and resewing it after extensive measuring and trimming. I have a feeling that Margaret will be able to tell me why its slightly off....but I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter.

The back was exhausting but fun and unique to see finished.

The quilt is certainly not perfect, but I have to admit, I'm proud of it. It is so inspiring to meet with other people and discuss our work and challenges. I get a lot of forward momentum from it.

The challenge for next month is to have the Cotton Boll basted....maybe accepting the challenge will be what it takes to get the ball rolling on that one at last!

Quilt Plans and Hosting Bee Saturday

Had a very productive meeting with Margaret last Friday. Pretty much scrapped my all-over current lines over the submarine. She had some really cool patterns to use and thinks she can even out the slight lumpiness caused by the fusible. Tonight I'll trim and sew the borders on and try to finish the backing and take a photo.

She's also pretty adamant that she doesn't want to tackle the bunny quilt. I'll either have to hand quilt it or have Sarah do it. Very bummed. I love the way Margaret goes around applique.

I'd like to try to do a reproduction of a battered Baltimore Album Quilt. I wonder if there are people out there who are looking for someone to recreate a battered beauty?

I'm hosting Maria and Cathy on Saturday. We had a mini-challenge to each battle our current design/execution humps with a project. Maria has to get past the tree design issues in her mountain lake photo, Cathy has to put the leaves on her 11th bunny block and I've got to finish the sub top. Since I'm still working on mine, I've got lots of sewing to do tonight!

Visit to Three Bears

I am planning a visit to 3Bears tomorrow to talk about my Yellow Sub quilt. Margaret & Johnny have just finished a weekend of training up in Virginia that specifically addresses applique quilts. I can't drop off the quilt for quilting because my back's not ready and because I'm not ready :) I also want to look at the bunny quilt one more time and prepare that backing.

Blooming Nine Patch Border

Finished the border sections for the Yellow Submarine over the weekend. Working under the influence of pain pill was a real challenge - made huge errors and had a rip out a bunch. We laid the middle section and the two borders out on the bed and I got Connie to climb up on the chest of drawers to take a photo. I want to add a few more bubbles...but this is essentially it.

Yellow Sub Progress

Exciting seeing it come together. After piecing the whole bottom blooming nine patch, I realized it would only be 84 inches long. I decided to open the piece up in two places and put in 2 more strips....each with purple batik substitute squares for the frog print. This will hopefully extend the border to 95 inches or so.

Yellow Submarine Quilt

Major progress on this quilt last night. Pieced the strips for the blooming nine patch dark side. It was actually easier than I thought it would be. Tonight I plan to sew the strips together and then to the center section. Maybe I'll piece what I can on the the light side blooming nine patches too. It makes me crazy that I can't see or get my hands on that yard of fabric Judy is giving me for my birthday! I need to know if its going to work as is or if I need to buy something else.

I'm getting truly excited about this one coming together. I'm already thinking of putting the back together with a long strip of Beatles portraits off center. I want to make a pillow case to store it in. I'm at the momentum point in a quilt plan where everything is pretty much decided and little lagniappe ideas start creeping in.....like doing the sides wavy or what colors to bind the sides (dark green, jade batik and medium ocean blue? all three!!). I'd like to add one more row and I have everything but a block of the dark blue-green dark....but maybe I can just throw in something similar or slightly off . It would still look good - only quirky -- maybe even a specially pieced Beatle. The possibilities are endless - to quote a famous quilter :)