Category: Charitable Works

Spring Sewing Season

Spring Intensives are coming up in May. What are Intensives? At the school where I teach, the week before Christmas and the last week of school in the Spring, students don’t attend regular classes. (Honestly, what really gets done in classes at that time?)

Rather, each student selects from a menu of classes and attends that one course for the entire week. I am offering SEWING (AKA Non-Fiction Reading Comprehension) once again.

The students really seem to enjoy making a series of small projects, building skills along the way. We spend time on sewing machine basics, seam allowance, pressing and ironing, turning, etc. Four days doesn’t sound like a lot, but it does add up to around 20 hours of actual instruction and practice. One can learn a lot in that amount of time.

Again, an appeal: If you have leftover precut squares (5″ or 10″), or fat quarters, that you would like to be rid of, we would use them for these student projects. I am not asking for free, but would pay for them and shipping if we can make a deal. The students LOVE the variety! You can leave a comment or email me. Thank you so much for considering us.

Good Idea. Poor Execution.

I had seen something similar (without a pattern I could identify) on Pinterest . It turned out to be a good idea that didn’t work.

I am very pleased with the solid flying geese blocks. But, the background…If it had all been the flowers, or the other bright print. But, mixing the two with some leftover scraps…Not successful.

That said, I am going to try again with a single print. The idea deserves a second chance.

ps–I have been calling it the Ugly Geese Quilt, which isn’t fair, because the geese aren’t ugly at all.

COMPLETE Black and White Framed Charity Blocks

They are so much fun, you can’t make just one.

So, I made 27. I pulled an assortment of cool color 2-1/2″ squares and warm color 2-1/2″ squares from my precut scraps bin. The black and white borders came from the black print scraps bin. (Yes, I have a lot of bins).

Ta-dah, before I knew it there were blocks ready to mail off to  Many Hands and Many Hearts. You still have time to join in. They are accepting blocks until the end of February.

Cutting For Charity

I learned about Many Hands and Many Hearts from Quilting JetGirl. She recently featured their current project: Black and White Framed Charity Blocks.

Yep, I’m on board. And cutting scraps. And gathering squares. I hope to have a good number (maybe between 20-30) to send in by the deadline (end of February).

If you have scraps, why don’t you join us? It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how…

Chicken Baby COMPLETE

In a scrap bag were small pieces of some super cute farm fabric–chickens, sunflowers and text. They aren’t the kind of prints where cutting them smaller would be a good solution. But they could be combined with something else.

I added the gold geometric print in the 4-1/2″ squares and built 4-patchesout of 2-1/2″ squares using coordinating fabrics.

I even had some matching sunflower fabric for the back.

It is even cuter in person, but this at least gives you an idea. Cheap and cheerful, but it will go in the donation pile for next year. YAY! Off to a good start.

Sewing Intensive: Note From A Previous Student

Imagine my delight and surprise when I opened an email last week:

Greetings,

I took your quilting intensive about three or four years ago and, at the time, didn’t finish my project. A few months ago, I found it tucked away in my closet—and I’m happy to say I’ve finally completed it.

I’m not sure if this is something you’d be interested in, but I thought you might enjoy seeing the finished quilt.

That year a project option was to build a Potato Chip Block for a donation quilt, and additional ones (as many as their heart desired) to keep if the student wanted to. This student did want to. And now we know the rest of the story…

ps–And the student even used scrappy binding!

COMPLETE: Coin Quilt (courtesy of Susan)

When the call went out for donations to support my youth sewing class, Susan sent, not only fabric, but a quilt top that needed to be finished.

And now it is. Finishes at 45″ x 60″ Great use of stripy scraps. You can even see where some of the coins were pieced. Whimsy!

The back is a little wild, and I used scrappy binding from my stash.

It will bless the life of someone soon. Thanks to all of you for the generosity you offer the world. I am fortunate to be part of such a community.

Second Chance Quilt: Little Bits

In a hand-me-down bag there were these little bits. A 1-1/2″ strip with 6 1-1/2″ squares attached. Twenty of them. Such cute little bits. They wanted to be a quilt.

Adding 6″ stars in matching colors and some sashing fit the bill. I like the way it makes the stars shimmer with movement.

The polka dot binding was an unexpected decision, and the backing is a little odd, too. But they do work, and it all came from stash, so that’s a win.

Second Chance projects can make one dig deep to find a solution. I do love how this one turned out.

The quilt finished at 34″ x 36″. A small baby quilt, but sometimes babies are small, too.

Spring Intensive: Sewing Again!

Spring Intensives are coming up in May. What are Intensives? At the school where I teach, the week before Christmas and the last week of school in the Spring, students don’t attend regular classes. (Honestly, what really gets done in classes at that time?) Rather, each student selects from a menu of classes and attends that one course for the entire week. After the success of last year, I am offering SEWING once again. How does an English Teacher get to teach sewing. Well, it is officially “Non-Fiction Reading Comprehension.” Doesn’t that sound like sewing to you?!

If you want to see some of what happened last year, you can check in HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

This year we will only have three days, so I am modifying the projects some. On schedule this time are…

coasters

bookmarks

hot pad

basket

tote bag

notebook cover.

That should keep us busy.

Again, an appeal: If you have leftover precut squares (5″ or 10″), or fat quarters, that you would like to be rid of, we would use them for these student projects. I am not asking for free, but would pay for them and shipping if we can make a deal. You can leave a comment or email me. Thank you so much for considering us.

Another Quick Quilt

This is becoming a go-to pattern for baby quilts. (It just occurred to me that it could be done with two charm packs. I may have to try that soon.)

I found the yellow floral print during my cleaning just before the new year. There was only a little, but it seemed a shame to throw it away. 

I love the bright and happy results.

The plan is to donate it to the local children’s hospital. Ta-dah!