Donation Quilts - what a Joy!

I am a member of the quilt group at our church.  It is always more fun to quilt with a group of friends then by yourself.  We work on our personal projects but we are also a ministry based group.  One of your major ministries is to make baby quilts for a local pregnancy crisis center.  A quilt is given to each mother for her new baby.  Each time I make a baby quilt for donation it is a joy.  I really have fun picking out the fabrics and pattern.  It has pushed me to try some new patterns and fabric combinations.  Here are some picture of a few I recently finished.

Log Cabin - This quilt was the second log cabin pattern I made. 

 It is bordered with a wide print of bears in the woods. 

Fence Rail - This is the first Fence Rail I have ever done. 

This was a fast and easy quilt especially since I used a

portion of a jelly roll. ( Coming soon the other quilts I made

with the other portions of the jelly roll)

Orange Strip Quilt - This was the leftover scraps from a Log Cabin

Quilt Kit.  The wide orange has fish in the print.  It is a really

bright quilt which I thought might be good for a baby boy.



Challenge quilt - Every month or two someone in the group puts forth a challenge. 

Sometimes the challenge is to use a particular fabric (like this one), or sometimes it is

to use a certain pattern.  It is always exciting to see what each member creates during

the challenge.  We always have some really neat ideas sparked.

 

Bright Blocks quilt - A quick and simple pattern to highlight the black and bright

patterned fabric in the center of each block.  We only had a small

piece of this fabric, it has chili peppers in wild colors.  I love to

do bright colors especially for baby quilts.

 

 



1.

Time flies when your having fun! Is that what I have been doing?

Where has the time gone?  It has been over a year since my last post, sorry for the long delay.  The time has flown by and alot has happened around our house.  I am not sure all of it has been fun, but most of it has.

But the time has come to get serious about this blog.  For over eight years I managed a blog at work and had a bundle of fun.  We even won an award for that blog.  Now that my job has changed I can devote that dedication to "my" blog.  I don't expect to win awards but maybe I can pass along some of my creative ideas and inspire some creative thoughts in you.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will check back often, leave comments and share your creative "pink lemonade" ideas. 

Remember, when life gives you lemons don't just make lemonade - make PINK LEMONADE!

See you soon!
Danna

Items 27 - 30 (No Scraps Left Behind)

The last four items in I created in this great experiment were the Bag Tags and Pacifer Strap. 

For the pacifer strap I pieced a patchwork strip and sewed it together to make a tube.  Then I stiched around the outside edge turning in the ends for a finshed look.  Lastly I added a snap at one end and a keyring with clip to the other. 

The bag tags were larger pieces stacked with quilt batting sandwiched in between and cut with pinking sheers to give an edge that would not ravel.  I also stitched 1/4 inch in from  the outside edge all the way around.   I stitched a piece of muslin to the center with the baby's name stamped in Staz-On Permanent Ink.  A gromet was inset into the top of each tag so a clip could be attached.



Bag Tags and Pacifer Strap

Items 4 - 26 (No Scraps Left Behind )

 Thank You Notes, Small Note Cards, Gift Tags, Bookmarks and Mats

Thank You Note Cards

On the quilt I appliqued the name and flowers to the solid white section.  I used fusible webbing to apply the appliques.  After cutting out the letters and flowers I had a pile of scraps that had the fusible webbing on the back.  The note cards, tags and bookmarks were the easiest items I made in this great experiment.

 

I used the same process to make all of these items.  I gathered the fabric scraps with the fusible webbing on the back and let the shape of the scraps dictate each piece.  I fused the pieces onto white cardstock with an iron set to the cotton setting.  I then stamped the greeting on the front.  The inside of the cards were left blank. 

I was trying to attempt a modern "less is more" type feel for the Thank You Cards using the larger scraps and fewer shapes.  The note cards, tags and bookmarks were more from the "Confetti" more playful approach.  For the mats my approach was to have something for Mom and Dad.  In the future I might add some type of edging to give the fused pieces a more finished look on the mats.

Since making these I can see limtless possibilities for using up my rather large scrap pile from previous applique projects. This is a great way to use up every little piece from a project and create something that anyone can use.  The best part is it will coordinate with the original project.  So remember this trick the next time you use fusible webbing to create a project.  Save the scraps!

I would love to hear your ideas and comments.


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No Scraps Left Behind - Items 2 & 3

BURP CLOTHS -- What baby doesn't need more burp cloths, and why not make them beautiful.  I used the larger leftover strips from the quilt to embelish the burp cloths.  To give the edges a more finished look I added ribbon to the top and bottom of the pieced strips.  On one cloth I added a pleated ruffle using the coordinating fabric from the back of the quilt.  Embellishing burp cloths with ribbon, fabric or applique makes a great gift for a new baby.  

Burp Cloth with pleated ruffled edge

Patchword Pieced strip added to very edge

Finished and ready to add to the basket!

The Gift

In the previous post "No Scraps Left Behind" I talked about all of the items I created using just one jelly roll as the main fabric.  This post is about the main item I started with, a baby quilt.  Future posts will tell about the other 29 items I made from that one jelly roll.

Our friend’s daughter is having her first baby so I wanted to make something special.  Her baby has an uncommon name – Tinley.  I grow up with an uncommon name, Danna, and always wanted the items from vacation hot spots that were personalized.  But, I could never find my name spelled correctly.  So I felt it was vital that Tinley have something with her name big and bold. 

I scoured the internet for new and fun pattern ideas using a jelly roll or fat quarters, and came across this tutorial here from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I loved the idea of not having to cut all of the pieces of fabric.  She does this pattern in the tutorial with  honey bun strips but I made mine with jelly roll strips.

I purchased a Jellies roll from the local fabric store in perfect colors for her nursery.  My jelly roll had 10 fabrics with two strips of each fabric.  The strips in a jelly roll are 2 ½ “ wide x 44” long.  I have looked on the internet at other jelly rolls and most seem to have 40 strips of 15 – 20 different fabrics.  If you had the larger jelly roll you could get a larger quilt or possibly two quilts out of the one roll. 

Here are the pictures of the finished quilt.

Finished Quilt: I used the Key Hole pattern with a solid insert of 6 inches.  The finished quilt was 36" wide by 44" long.

Name and flowers were machine appliqued.

Back of Quilt: I inserted 3 pieces from the leftover jelly roll strips to give a more modern look to the back.  The other backing fabric I purchased from the bolt, it is one of the fabrics from the jelly roll line.

This pattern was fun and quick.  I really enjoyed how easily the blocks and the whole top came together.  The longest part of making the quilt top was cutting and doing the applique of the name and flowers. 

The tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company gave clear directions.  I really like her tutorials and her excitement is contagious.  Give this pattern a try to find out how easy and fun it really is. 

Remember; make pink lemonade with all of life's lemons!

Danna

No scraps left behind – An Experiment in Quilting/Crafting Frugalness

All 30 projects created from one jelly roll!

I have been crafting, quilting and sewing for years. I recently moved my sewing/crafting area to a new space in our home. During the move I began to notice that my fabric stash was taking over my house. It was in two closets, four drawers and a cabinet.

It was at this point my husband suggested it was time to clean out and cut back. Oh, what a horrible thought! How could I possibly survive without all of my fabric. But, after many hours of digging out fabric and going through stacks and stacks I began to see his point of view. Since the move I have begun to sort my scrap fabric by workable sizes for quilting and other projects. (I will post some of these ideas at a later time)

When it was time to make a quilt for a friends baby shower I began scouring the internet for fun new pattern ideas that would use a jelly roll or fat quarters. I found one at Missouri Star Quilting. (Tutorial link coming later) But, how could I justify buying new “fun”fabrics if I still had an abundance of my stash fabric. That’s when the idea of the great “No Scraps Left Behind” experiment was formed. The experiment was to attempt to use up every last piece of fabric from the jelly roll I bought so there would be nothing left behind. To my amazement I was able to create 30 items from that one jelly roll. It really got my creative juices flowing when I would finish one project and still have a piece of fabric left. Over the next few posts I will reveal the items I created using ONEjelly roll as my main fabric.

I hope you will find these ideas useful and you will begin your own experiment in “No Scraps Left Behind”. I would love to see your comments and ideas.

As my blog name says – Make More Pink Lemonade, from scraps that is. -- Danna