Catching Up: Quilt for Layla

Layla is a very young lady battling a form of cancer normally found in retirees.  She moved to Texas from a land far, far away, then moved out of the country.  She and her family fell in love with Texas and its western, laid back lifestyle.  She loves horses.

My friends L and M purchased Texas and western fabric last Christmas, well just because they are really nice people, and added it to my stash.  It was perfect for Layla's horse quilt.  

My second quilt from start to finish in 3 days, interspersed with work.

Quilt Finished

Fav Fabric 1

Fav Fabric 2

I hope Layla finds comfort with her horses.

Catching Up: On hold for an emergency

Good morning,

I know, I know, I promised there would be postings of my projects, but after lunch with friends we were informed that another friend's daughter has cancer.  This is a young girl, about 12, who has cancer.  She's lost part of her lung, and the cancer is throughout her chest area.  Please pray for this young girl.  Her dad and I worked together years ago.

It's back to the stash and sewing room to make a lap quilt just for her.

Thank you all for your prayers.

Catching Up: Quilts

Quilting is new to me.  Rag Edge quilts are not nearly as challenging, so those don't qualify for this post.

My first quilt was a t-shirt memorial quilt for my long time friend Jim, well that would be his wife and family.  Jim is responsible for my involvement with robotics.  This quilt was made of shirts donated by teams (quilt front) and volunteers (quilt back).  Needless to say, but the time we added the stabilizer for the front and back pieces and the batting, this quilt weighed about 35 pounds.   In addition to the quilt, we found Marine Corps fabric for a throw pillow.  

I wish I had better pictures available, but as a last minute project, I don't have any of my own.

A year later a second memorial quilt was in the making, this time with Gerald's shirts.  The front side of the quilt is the most decorative, the back side of the quilt is the other side of the shirt.  The widow requested her quilt by her husband's birthday.  I think she likes it.

Last but not least is my first attempt at a pieced quilt - and I decided to make this one on-point.  My quilting friends called me crazy.  What was I thinking?  Oh yes, I wasn't and the pattern was adorable.  How could I resist?  This quilt uses textured fabrics and the cotton motifs contain granddaughter's favorite things, such as monkeys, trees, chickens, etc. and colors.  And as scuba divers, we tried to capture some of the fish colors and markings.  

Today the top is at the quilter's, with a request to delay the quilting until Thanksgiving.  I'm too tempted to give the quilt and pillow to her before Christmas.

Quilt Top

Pillow front

Pillow back

Catching Up: Toys for Tots

So!  I have been formally chastised for not posting pictures of my projects.  And not just the recent projects either.  Readers, I beg your support (and forgiveness), you know how it is - daily activities, family, and WIP often takes precedence over blogging.

Here goes Round 1...
Toys for Tots is one of my favorite Christmas charities, based on the fact that our US Marines sponsor this program.  They volunteer their lives for our freedoms and have a spare hand to help children at Christmas.  And - I love their commercial where the little girl asks the Marine if he's Santa, but haven't seen it in a couple of years.  It makes me tear-up thinking about it.

Purchasing a gift doesn't seem adequate, so I sew.  Normally I make rag edge quilts, one for a boy, one for a girl, but this year I ventured into something new:  Pillow Pets!  These little guys are so cute, so easy, so soft and cuddly.  The idea came from this site:  http://www.allfreesewing.com/Sewn-Toys/Sewing-Pattern-for-Pillow-Pet with written and video instructions. 

I followed most of their instructions making a quick mod suggested by granddaughter.  We replaced the step to sew the head to the pillow cover by sewing Velcro (loop side) to the cover and (hook side) to the back of the head.  I used two strips about 4" long, spacing them 1" apart.  Granddaughter loves that she can yank off the head, cuddle with it at nap time and still use the pillow.  Two gifts for the price of one.  I love it because I can wash the pillow cover, dry it easily, AND the loops on the Velcro don't attach to other items in the dryer.  Multi-tasking?  OK, that's a stretch.

Sigh, life is good.

Zebra

Pink Puppy - TFT

Cat - TFT