A "Call Out" to Quilters: Project Linus is there for us, too.

This is my precious little angel, Lucy Ann, who was born on December 8th. She is our second grandchild, and the little sister of our first granddaughter, Madelyn. Many of you know Madelyn since I have managed to shamelessly work her into as many posts as possible throughout her two and a half years. Last week Little Lucy became ill with a virus called RSV. RSV, or Respiratory Syncytial Virus, commonly causes an infection in small children and babies. RSV is very contagious and almost all babies get it before the age of 2. Many babies get only a cold from RSV. Some babies with RSV develop potentially serious lower respiratory infections such as bronchiolitis, an infection of the small breathing tubes in the lungs, or pneumonia. Luckily, she didn't get pneumonia.

She did, however, end up in the hospital with bronchiolitis. It was very frightening to all of us as she is only seven weeks old and thinking about a little peanut like her struggling to breathe was terrifying and heart wrenching. My husband and I had just returned to Florida from New York, where they live, so we weren't even there to help. When my daughter called to say our Little Lucy was in the hospital and in an oxygen tent, I knew I had to be strong and reassure my daughter that her daughter would be just fine and that the hospital was the best place for her.

Nik then went on to tell me that there was a quilt waiting for Lucy in her oxygen tent when they arrived. It was a Project Linus quilt and was made by a woman named Ruth in Pennsylvania. It touched my daughter so and made her think of me, her own mother, and also a quilter. I hung up the phone and couldn't hold down that lump in my throat any longer. My precious little granddaughter was wrapped and warm in a quilt that someone had lovingly taken the time to create for sweet, sick little babies. How touched I was, especially since I wasn't there, to know that she was cocooned in quilter's love while she was getting better. We quilters are an amazing bunch, aren't we? Warming the hearts of so many.

(Lucy getting a breathing treatment from her mom)

Lucy is doing much better now and is home with her family. We are so thankful! I realized that I have to "repay" that very special quilt, and throw in a few extra for good measure. That quilt meant so much to our family last week. My hope is that this post will inspire a few quilters to also create a Project Linus quilt to donate. After all, sometimes even we quilters and our families are recipients of this kindness and love. What a wonderful organization.

And Ruth from Pennsylvania, I can't thank you enough. Your loving gesture kept my granddaughter warm in that big oxygen tent and warmed the heart of her mommy at a time when they needed it most. What a gift!

Oh, The People I Have Met!

Teaching and taking quilting classes allows all of us the opportunity to meet wonderful new people. At a few of my most recent classes I have met some "standout students." Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater, Florida is where I met Alison, a fun and energetic lady, to say the least! What a lark she is. Alison took my class because she has a new grandbaby coming soon and she thought it would be fun to make the Quilted Toddler Jacket. She is literally a master seamstress, but had never quilted. I think Alison was surprised to find that she already had all the skills she needed to make this jacket and hat. She did a beautiful job!

Above and below are Alison's finished products. They are gorgeous, aren't they?

Below is Sue. She came to the class to learn how to make TWO Quilted Toddler Jackets for twin grandchildren. She did one in class then went home and sewed the second one. Sue was such a joy to have in class. She didn't have a great deal of sewing experience and also had a new sewing machine, but let me tell you, she plugged along and mastered the entire process. She didn't even whine when I forgot to take a lunch break! I was so proud of her. What a joy she was to have in class!

Below is Sue proudly showing off her finished product! Isn't it gorgeous?

Dora is below. Dora was also a complete joy to have in my class. She had minimal sewing experience (but had been a longarm quilter!) and she left the shop a pro. Dora rolled up her sleeves and dove into the project head first and literally never looked up! She pieced the entire project and because that wasn't enough work, she then appliqued Mickey and Pluto onto the jacket back. I liked the finished jacket so much, I bought the same fabric so I could duplicate it!

Here is the front of Dora's jacket laying across one of the many stuffed bears at Country Quilts and Bears.

Below is Dora's hat. She completed the hat at home. I love that she sent me a photo of the hat actually on the head of the recipient. Is that not the cutest, ever? Dora even appliqued Mickey and Pluto onto the brim of the hat! I love it!

Sewing Out Samples

I have been very busy sewing up a Quilted Toddler Jacket and Hat pattern and a new Quilted Toddler Bib pattern for this wonderful quilting and embroidery site, Ann The Gran. They are going to sell my patterns and asked if I would sew up a few items using their machine embroidery designs. So that's what I have been doing. The bib pattern was a tremendous amount of fun to create. I used their Jacobean Style embroidery designs and let me tell you, they sew out beautifully! It was especially fun for me to make that bib since I have a new granddaughter named Lucy. She was born on December 8th and we just got back from spending nearly two weeks up in New York with Lucy, her big sister, Madelyn, and their parents.

Here is the jacket I made for a little boy using Ann The Grans Zoom Zoom design pack. I was nearly knocked out of my chair at the detail and precision that these designs sew out with. They are amazing and I couldn't have been more pleased to put these on a finished jacket.

The font is Arabesque from Ann The Grans web site as well. It happens to be my favorite embroidery font and I use it all the time. I actually bought this font months ago, long before we were in talks about them selling my patterns on their site. It is fabulous!

I would also like to point out the condition of my lawn. I am sure that if you have read this far down the blog, you are saying, "What is wrong with these people. Their lawn looks like a hay field." Well, let me tell you what's wrong with "these people." My husband decided to "go green" and buy an electric lawn mower that you plug in and charge, then you unplug it and mow. Well, you can see by the height of our lawn just how reliable this "green" lawn mower is. Since day one it hasn't had enough charge to mow all of our incredibly small yard. Our lot is only 50 feet wide and 100 feet deep. On that is our house, a shed, a double driveway and flower beds. That doesn't leave much lawn space. So, suffice it to say that when you "go green" and buy an electric lawn mower, you literally "go green" because in no time at all you have a hay field!

"Dreams of Santa" Pillowcases

I found this fabulously fun fabric and had to think of something to make using it! Being that I live in Florida, and my grandchildren and nieces live up north, is seemed especially appropriate for me to make something showing the southern side of Santa. I made these pillow cases and sent them up north for the girls to open on Thanksgiving. Doesn't every little girl need a special pillow case to lay her head on as she dreams of Santa and all the magic of Christmas? They take little more than a yard of fabric, much of which you can pull from your stash, and less than 30 minutes to make! I found several free pillowcase patterns online. Here are links to a few pillowcase patterns from the Ohio LongArm Quilters, The Mother Lode Quilters Guild, and Quiltmaker Magazine .

And here is my Granddaughter, Madelyn, holding her own pillowcase and standing on her baby sister's! It is amazing how I am able to work a photo of her into nearly every post! I do so love being a Grandmother!

Christmas Apron for an Angel!

The night before Thanksgiving, I truly had something to be thankful for. My sister-in-law and darling niece came down from Chicago to spend the holiday with us. Prior to Lily (she's the niece!) arriving, I had spoken to her on the phone regarding the Thanksgiving menu. She informed me that she really didn't like pie, but she sure did like Chocolate Chip Cookies.... Well, that meant that when she arrived we had to make chocolate chip cookies!

Lily is now four and a half, so I got to thinking that she was probably old enough to start to learn to sew. I knew it had to be a fast project, what with 4 year old attention spans being what they are and all, so I came up with a special apron for cookie baking. Lily sat right on my knee as we sewed the apron, she handed me all the pins, and helped guide the fabric through the machine. She even helped choose the fancy stitches for the pocket! The best part for me was that she was very proud of the apron she "sewed!" I am shamelessly cultivating future quilting and sewing buddies. Success and pride in beginning sewing projects will help. It is a wonderfully simple project and can be made from scraps. I made my pattern up as I went along, but at the bottom of my post is a list of great links to free apron patterns for the wee ones in your life!

This is Lily and her wonderful Mom showing off their great Pilgrim Hats for holiday.

Quilt Block Apron Pattern

Reversible half apron

Better Yet! Here is a site that has an amazing list of 54 free apron patterns!

Happy Sewing Everyone!

Penny Pinching Patchwork Post ~ Re-Purposing Clothes!

The house dress you see above has been hanging in my closet for more than a year. It was a gift from my wonderful mother-in-law and well, I just never wore it. She bought it for me at Neiman Marcus and it was a fabulously soft cotton fabric and even she said when she gave it to me, "I don't know what I was thinking..." It seemed such a shame to never use it so my creative quilter's brain got busy. You will not believe how many useful items and gifts I made from this one article of clothing!

First off, I made the Quilted Toddler Jacket and Hat that is shown above.

Then I made TWO Quilted Toddler Bibs!

And this photo shows you the the entire clothes line full of booty that I got out of ONE unused article of clothing! I was able to make ELEVEN quilted, and very useful, articles of clothing for babies and toddlers. The baby bibs would make darling baby shower gifts and no one would ever know you made them out of re-purposed clothing! A good movie on the TV, a seam ripper in one hand and a hot cup of tea in the other, and before long you have fabric just waiting for a new career! I pieced together the batting from scraps and used old yardage for the backing before I quilted the pieces, and made my own bias binding from stash fabrics. The entire clothes line was made from fabrics that literally were just laying around my house!

If you don't have anything laying about your house that you are not wearing, one trip to the SA Boutique (Salvation Army Thrift Store) and you could have for less than $3.00 enough fabric to outfit a baby's layette. I went there this past week and found several BRAND NEW floor length flannel nightgowns for $1.50 each that would make perfect burp cloths, bibs, changing pads, and jackets. During these difficult financial times it seems to make incredibly good sense to use our creative brains to re-purpose that which isn't being used. Buying from the Salvation Army is also giving to a good cause!

Penny Pinching Patchwork Post - Burp Cloths

I understand very well the current need for all of us to become more thrifty in our quilting endeavors in this financially difficult time. I have decided to start writing occasional posts with thriftiness in mind and do my part. I am going to call them Penny-Pinching Patchwork Posts. This past week as I was staring at my meager flannel stash (don't use much flannel down here in sunny Florida), and loving the softness of the fabric, I came up with a project that turned out a wonderful and functional gift, used up some flannel stash, and used a great deal of the cotton batting scraps that I save for projects such as this one. The project? Burp Cloths!

All of us, after having sandwiched and quilted our quilts, trim off the minimum of three extra inches of batting from all the way around the quilt. What do you do with those long strips of batting? I save mine! Those pieces can be made into a larger piece very easily and they then can work wonderfully for projects such as burp cloths, tote bags, pot holders, etc. You just straighten up and trim one long edge on each piece with a rotary cutter and then butt the two edges together (do not overlap them) and zig zag the pieces together. Keep (frugally) trimming and adding pieces until you have the desired size. Normally I use natural colored or white cotton thread, but for the purpose of illustration, I used purple cotton thread. I made eight burp cloths for my soon to be born granddaughter, Olivia, using nothing but scrap flannel and cotton batting. Next time you have a baby shower or a new loved one about to be born, whip up these ever so soft and necessary gifts!

After I pieced five "all one cloth" burp cloths (they measure about 10 x 2o inches finished) I found I still had some scraps of the fabric left over. None of the pieces were large enough to make one burp cloth, so I pieced four small pieces together four times (four pieces to a side) to get two more burp cloths!

Below you see the entire set, minus the Christmas one I made after I took the photos. Olivia is due December 9th, so when I found a piece of Christmas flannel, I knew immediately what I was going to do with it. Every Christmas baby should have a special burp cloth for that day.

Below you can see some of the fun edge stitching I did on each burp cloth. Prior to cutting the flannel, I washed and dried it to get the shrinking out of the way. Then I ironed each piece of flannel, cut out the shape I wanted from the flannel and batting, and layered with flannel right sides together and batting on top of that. I then sewed the seams leaving a small opening to turn it right side out. Once turned right side out, I ironed it nicely and then topped stitched it with a straight stitch. Inside of that top stitch row I sewed a fancy row of stitching. I found that this keeps the cloth nice after washing and drying it - it keeps the cloths from getting all wonky. Then as a final step I sew one straight row of stitches from side to side across the middle where the cloth would lay across your shoulder. It is a wonderful gift for a new parent!

To finish off my Penny Pinching Patchwork Post, I am including one of my favorite quotes regarding thriftiness:

Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character. ~Calvin Coolidge