Greyson's Gift

My sweet friend, Meryn, had a tragedy in her life a few months back, and true to her form, she has turned it into a blessing for other people. She lost her baby boy prematurely, but out of that sad event she has started a charity to help other families who might be in her situation. Her blog explains much better than I can. I feel like I'm stumbling over my words.

She is looking for double-sided flannel blankets, sizes 12"x12" and 24"x24". She has more details on her blog about that as well as the crocheted or knitted blankets she has found a home for. So Joann's had flannel on sale last week, and I stocked up. The smaller prints will be for Greyson's Gift. The larger ones will go to some of the large number of babies being born in my ward and family right now.

I even had some small scraps that I pieced together. These blankets are so small that it doesn't take much fabric to fill the need. I hope you will help if you can. Meryn's contact info is on her blog with all the details of where to send your gift. Thanks in advance to all those who can help!

Applique Sunflowers

I was on a huge applique kick (and sunflower kick, for that matter) a few years back. I started many projects (shocker!) that took a long time. I have been working on this one for about 6 years. There are 64 hand-appliqued sunflowers -- all from scraps. I finally finished the applique on the very last one last week. Hee hee, I'm so excited about this! Now I just have to put the blocks together. I hope I still like this quilt when it's done. I also went through a phase where I did a bunch of yellow, red, and green quilts. Here's to finishing REALLY old UFOs. I'm so proud. It's only a milestone, but it was the biggest portion of it.

Tie-dyed fabric

Back when I was tie-dying those onesies for baby gifts, I didn't want to waste the dye that was left, and also, I was in the midst of a serious fabric-buying moratorium, so I took about 7 yards of bleached muslin and tie-dyed it too. I have some of it on the back of two quilts -- one pinned, one almost finished being quilted. This is all that's left of it. It's perfect for me since I have all those patriotic quilts. Hopefully, I'll have one of them finished this week for you to see.

Next I want to try some of that overdying or the bleaching technique -- where you put leaves or pebbles or whatever on top of your fabric and then spray bleach water on them and let the sun bleach out the areas not covered. I'll let you know if I have any success.

Lunch plans?

Greek salad anyone? I have just been loving Greek salad lately. I swear I could eat it every day. This one has romaine lettuce, tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and feta in it. You could also add artichoke hearts, cucumbers, green peppers, or red onions if you so desire. I also cooked a chicken breast and seasoned it with black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. You could use just whatever leftover piece of grilled chicken you have -- or do without. It's delicious alone too.

The dressing is balsamic vinegar, olive oil, one small garlic clove, and a little Italian seasoning. I'm inexact, I know, but ladies, that's how I roll. I only made enough just for my one salad, so not more than a Tablespoon of each of the liquids (I'm guessing). Oh, yeah, and you can't do without the pepperoncinis on the side. Enjoy!

Raspberry Mod Quilt

My quilting group is doing the Mod Sampler Quilt, and this is my next version. I just pulled scraps from my stash. I did use some FQs, but mostly scraps.

Everyone has quite a variety of colors and fabrics, so none of them will look the same. It's going to be so fun to see how they all turn out.

I did eight sets instead of six, so this will be a slightly bigger quilt. I plan to sash it with white again. I had thought about black, but I don't know that I really love that look. I just have to stick with what I know and love. Have a great day!

Paris Flea Market

I finished this one during the blackout. It is one that I made quite a few years ago and then just sat in the queue. It's on my girls' bed. It doesn't match, but I'm still working on the one that goes on their bed (hand applique, oi!). And, yes, I did have to make the bed before I could take any photos. = ) And I carefully made sure you couldn't see the rest of the room.

This was really one of my first "quilt shop" fabric lines that I purchased, so I was loathe to cut up the fabrics into little tiny pieces. I loved the prints so much (and they are SO soft, BTW) that I just decided to do large squares.

I just did a loopy meander all over the quilt.

Soft stripe on the back.

I love this quilt because of its softness and because it represents a turning point in my quilting -- from "whatever" fabric to quilt shop fabric. I still use "lesser quality" fabrics as well, but that's because of budgetary constraints. If I could buy all my stuff at quilt shops, I probably would. Well, except for my batting, because that goes on sale at Joann's. And my muslin. Same reason.

Quilting Gallery Summertime Swap

I ended up being in two swaps at once, and I have to say that I kept getting a little muddled about who was getting which quilt. This is for the Quilting Gallery's Summertime Mini Swap. This is the quilt I got.

As you know, I love patriotic quilts, and I thought it was so sweet that my swap partner, Tena, looked at my blog and discovered that. She made it especially for me, and I love it. Thank you, Tena!

Here is the one I sent to my partner. Again, I don't know if she has gotten it yet, so I didn't take pictures of it with label on the back. I did label both of my quilts, though. This person said she did NOT like the bright, funky fabrics. So I made this quilt the opposite of the other. I'm pretty sure I sent them to the correct people, but I swear I had to double-check several times. I didn't want to send the wrong quilt to the wrong person.

This was based on a Fig Tree pattern called Petite Fleurs. I would love to make a larger quilt of this pattern, but I have so many detailed quilts already, that I can't allow myself to start it. It's still on my mind, though.

I used most of what was left of my Seaside Rose and a little bit of something else -- I can't remember what, though. Provincial Garden? Maybe Simplicity. I can't remember. I just have little pieces. Oh, I'll just go check, for goodness' sake! Okay. It's Tickled Pink by Robyn Pandolph for Moda.

Quilting detail -- crosshatch in the center with stippling around the border.

Block detail -- those are one-inch finished squares. It's a great quilt for honeybuns, although I just used my scraps. That was the very last of the blue floral from Seaside Rose. I think if I had like a Patisserie or Mill House Inn honeybun or two, it would go pretty quickly. I think I would HAVE to strip-piece it. Okay. You see how I'm dwelling on this? Didn't I just say I couldn't start it. Oh, this is not looking good on the finishing front. Every new start prevents a finish, right? Oh, but it's so fun. And I made three backs and pinned two quilts yesterday, so I'm making progress. Right? (Rationalization.)

By the way, have I mentioned how much I LOVE Fig Tree fabrics and patterns? They are just so soft and comforting. Anyway, enough rhapsodizing. Hope you have a fun day and get lots done!