The 4th boat quilt

Back in October, I showed 3 quilts of sailboats, all from blocks sent by the Bee Inspired group or friends of the group who sent me blocks for children's charity quilts.  People were so generous that I had enough for 4 quilts.  When I posted, the fourth was not yet completed.  Here it is!

When I put the quilts together, I was one boat short.  It was during a time when I was very limited in sewing time and was trying to finish my Island Batik Octopus's Garden quilt.  So instead of piecing another boat, I traced a coloring book page for embroidery--just in time to take to a work conference!  A friend even caught a picture of me stitching during the keynote address. 

photo by K Melnik

We just got back from a 2-day trip to Charleston with my brother-in-law and mother-in-law.  We stayed a place on the water that had a marina, so this morning we took the quilt out to get some pictures with the boats.

The sashing is Kona Black and the quilting is the wave stitch on my sewing machine, meant to simulate the water.  Since my local Project Linus chapter shut down earlier this year, I will be taking these to a local children's hospital--one of the places our chapter donated to regularly.  I need to get in contact with someone there and find out how to drop off the quilts--I've got a bit of a pile building up!

And here's a rare whole-family shot!  It was a beautiful morning.  I'm glad I was able to take boat picture with the boats!  Thanks so much to all the folks who sent me sailboat blocks in the early part of 2019!

Come Sail Away With Me

My Bee Inspired online bee went in a different direction this year.  One of our projects was optional charity blocks--hosts picked a block, then whoever wanted to contribute sent one or more blocks by a deadline.  I hosted the first quilt and picked a fairly simple sailboat block.  I got many boats back, including from some folks not originally in the Bee Inspired Bee.  I got so many blocks I decided to make four quilts! I took the first three to a local park with a pond for an on-location photo shoot.

I have three of the four quilts finished.  As I was piecing tops, I decided to do a few smaller tops.  These quilts will go to the local children's hospital and I know that they can use a variety of sizes.  The four-boat quilts measure about 28" square.  All three of these are backed with fleece.

I used different sashing fabric for each.  The larger quilt has  bubble patterned that was donated to Project Linus when our chapter was still in existence.  I thought the bubbles would look great as water.

This one is a cloud patterned fabric I pulled out of a scrap bin at a quilt show last spring.  I knew I would do something fun with it. I like the idea of sailing among happy clouds.

And this one is Kona Emerald, left from my Postage Plus quilt.   All of these were quilted with a wavy line stitch to simulate waves. 

I chose finishing the boat quilts as my One Monthly Goal with Patty of Elm Street quilts. Thing is, at the time I was planning just two quilts; I didn't decide to break them into four until later.  So I don't know if I missed the mark with these or overshot!  I'll let Patty decide.  Quilt number 4 is partially assembled at the moment and will have 9 boats. 



These quilts are projects #13, 14, & 15 on my Q4 list of goals for the Finish Along and is on my list of projects needed for my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Quilting Gail.  I'm also linking up with Tish of Tish in Wonderland for her UFO party and will use this as a completed UFO for the UFO & WIP challenge hosted by Julie of The Crafty Quilter.  

Doggone Cute

Back in August of 2017, Ann of Brown Paws Quilting was Queen of Bee Inspired and picked the Doggone Cute block by Lorna of Sew Fresh Quilts.  Ann asked us to pick a dog who is important to us and choose the doggone cute block closest to that dog.  I made a block representing my dog, Ivy.  I liked it so much that I made a second identical block to keep, planning to make more dogs and put them all together.

Now, nearly two years later, it's finally done!  I made three other dogs shortly after making the Ivy block and had always planned to make at least two more.  But since I hadn't made the other dogs yet, I decided finished was better than bigger and put it together.  These are the large size blocks and each finishes at 12 x 18, so together they make a perfectly acceptable size for a small child. 

And here's Ivy with the finished quilt!  I think she approves.  I picked the color palette of yellow, orange, and red tones so it would be gender neutral--my Project Linus chapter frequently needs quilts that aren't too girly and I try to keep that in mind when I'm making something that I know will go to them. The binding is a mottled fabric with shades of yellow, orange, and rust that fit the colors.  The original block was orange because Ivy is kind of orange.  See the likeness?

The timing of finishing my Doggone Cute was actually great, because Ann recently submitted her finished dog quilt to the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Fiesta in the group category.  And she won second place!

photo and quilt by Ann of Brown Paws Quilting

I took Doggone Cute to my local Project Linus chapter at our June meeting.  It was bittersweet because it was our last meeting; my local chapter is closing.  Doggone Cute is my last finish to be donated to Project Linus.  I've been a regular member since 2015 and by my records have donated 63 quilts.  I'll continue to make and donate quilts for kids who need a quilty smile, probably directly to one of the dozens of organizations my Project Linus chapter supported.

An unsuccessful attempt at getting Ivy to pose with the quilt

This had been a UFO for almost two years, so it's fitting to my project for the UFO & WIP challenge hosted by Julie of The Crafty Quilter.  I'll also link with Tish of Tish in Wonderland for her next UFO party.  Doggone Cute is on my list of projects needed for my PhD (Projects Half Done) with Quilting Gail and was #11 on my list of Q2 finish along goals.

April Bee Blocks and an Adventure

I'm pleased to have my bee blocks done before the halfway point of April.  I like having a little breathing room!

In Bee Inspired, we aren't a traditional bee this year but a few of us are taking turns asking for blocks that will be made into charity quilts.  Ann of Brown Paws Quilting asked for chicken blocks.  Aren't they cute?!  The original tutorial is from Sew Inspired.  The comb is a bit fiddly but overall I'm happy with this flock.

Queen Karen of Stash Bee asked for red and pink heart blocks that she will make into a quilt for a child in foster care. This is such a fun quick block that I made three.

I love know blocks I made end up in quilts all over the world but I am especially pleased that many of them end up donated to people who need something to brighten their day.  I hope these hearts and chickens find great homes and put a smile on someone's face.

As for the adventure, yesterday I met Carole of From My Carolina Home in person!  It's always great to meet online quilty friends in real life!  Carole is the organizer behind Carolina Hurricane Quilts for those impacted by Hurricane Florence in 2018.  For folks in North Carolina, Carole has made arrangements with 5 quilts shops across the state to be drop-off points.  I'm her runner for the Charlotte area/southern Piedmont shop.  So yesterday morning I loaded up the 10 quilts that have been dropped off at Quilt Patch Fabrics as well as one I made and drove to meet Carole about halfway between our homes.

Eleven quilts for the Carolina Hurricane project, and you can see where we had lunch through my trunk window

Carole has all the pictures of the two of us (plus our delicious sushi lunch) on her camera, so we'll have to wait until after Easter for those.  Here are the eleven quilts in the trunk of my car and the restaurant sign can be seen through my open trunk window.  We'll get together again in July or August to transfer any other donations.  The quilt drive is open for several more months and she is able to match completed tops to willing long-armers, so if you are looking for a place to donate quilts or tops, check out all the info here. 

February and March Bee Blocks

This is my fourth year in Stash Bee and I still love the excitement of finding out what block I'll be making on the first of each month. Queen Anna (February) asked for a bookshelf block to make her son, age 4, a quilt for his big-boy bed.  She asked that each block have a theme and an object.  I picked trains/transportation/vehicles.  I used my Accuquilt train die to cut out the engine.

Queen Marie (March) asked for "X and +" blocks in white, gray, and spring greens.  I hadn't made this block before and was surprised at how quickly they came together.

Bee Inspired, the online group that formed from some of us in the New Bloggers Blog Hop group (2016), is not doing a traditional bee this year.  Instead, there are a few different projects and each of us can choose which ones to do.  Some of them are charity quilts where the hostess picks a block and anyone who wants (including those not originally in Bee Inspired!) can send a block or more to be made into a charity quilt.

Irene designed a block for a quilt that will be donated to the Carolina Hurricane Quilts project.  Irene loves paper piecing so of course, her block is paper pieced.  But I don’t love paper piecing, so she said the strips could be pieced traditionally.  So I made some strip sets and then just paper pieced the last step.  Here are the blocks I sent her:

I was the hostess for the first charity quilt of the year and I asked for boat blocks.  I made a few extra to get to a nice round number and it was only after I finished this one that I realized I had used checks, stripes, and polka dots in the same block.  It's like the scrappy block trifecta!

September Bee Blocks

I made my September bee blocks early in the month, but I didn't get them mailed until October 1st and I don't like to post before I've dropped them in the mail.

Bee Inspired had two Queens in September.  Queen Janice wanted a house block with a sawtooth star.  She likes bright colors and wanted each block to be in a single color way.  My favorite color is purple, so of course I had to make a purple house.

Queen Irene asked for a log cabin with red centers and white and off-white logs.

In Stash Bee, Queen Pam designed her own block.  She asked for bright, scrappy star points.

As always, I loved the variety of blocks I was asked to make!

June Bee Blocks

I was super on the ball with May's bee blocks, so I guess I felt I needed to compensate by being down-to-the-wire for June.

Queen Jen from Bee Inspired left us open to make pretty much whatever we wanted. She loves tertiary colors and while she gave us free range, she did highlight some of her favorites from the Quilter's Cache website.  One of the blocks in her collage really spoke to me, Galaxy Star.  It's paper pieced and makes a 9" block.  I changed it a little bit to make the long spikes all one color and the short spikes all one color, rather than the alternating pairs of the original.

Queen Diane in Stash Bee asked for a basket block.  It's a very traditional looking block.

One of our hive members is having some health problems, so I volunteered to make her block for her this month, called an Angel Block.  So here is that block:

I'm still loving both bees and trying new blocks every month!

Patriotic Stars

I have slowly been making small quilts to hang on the front door during certain times of year.  I've been wanting a red, white, and blue quilt for a while.  I decided to use one of my turns as Queen in one of my online bees so I would get a nice, scrappy look.

I knew I wanted a star so I started looking at all the many, many beautiful star blocks out there. The minute I saw the Starry Night block by Cath of Wombat Quilts, I knew it was the one.  It's a free block but I did still get permission from Cath to use it with Bee Inspired.

I knew that I would get more blocks from my bee than I needed for this project, especially with the test blocks I had already made.  So there are some stars that didn't make it in this project.  Those will go into another quilt that will either be donated to Project Linus or Quilts of Valor, depending on how big it ends up being. So, Bee Inspired friends, if you don't see your block here, don't fret!  It will get its moment to shine!

I had a kind of wavey flag fabric that I thought would be good for the back.  I created a label that lists each person whose block is in this quilt, plus their state and country.  I like knowing that I've listed everyone, and it also works as a key to identify who made which block.  I quilted with straight lines following the diagonals of the stars.  The binding is Kona Blueprint. 

I gave people the choice between making a red star with blue accents or a blue star with red accents.  Interestingly, of the eleven blocks I received, only 2 were red stars with blue accents.  I chose one for the center and placed the blue stars with red accents around it, trying to balance darker stars with lighter stars.

I admit, once I made it I struggled with whether to display it on my door.  I'm having a lot of problems feeling patriotic these days, as there is a lot going on in the United States that I am deeply, deeply at odds with.  I worry that being outwardly patriotic somehow means I endorse my current governmental leadership, which is not the case.  But ultimately I decided that I can love the ideals and spirit in my country and feel pride and patriotism in those ideals and in the people, while still being frustrated by decisions made and priorities set by elected and appointed officials.  So it is indeed on the door.

This was #10 on my list of Q2 goals for the Finish Along.