May Goal for A Lovely Finish

I joined the Northern New Mexico Quilt Guild last weekend ... just in time to participate in their charity kids quilts event later this month.   This month, my goal for a Lovely Finish has been made for me.

I have a few ideas for something a little different ... maybe I'll even manage to contribute a couple of quilts.

I'll start here, in the crate of collected novelty fabrics: some yardage, some 10-inch squares (from long ago swaps), some charms.

There's a little bit of everything there ... it will be fun to sort through them all and come up with something interesting (and finished!) before the May 19 guild meeting.

What's your favorite I-spy or other kid patten for charity quilts?   I'm not sure that I actually I NEED another more ideas floating around in my head, but I'd love to hear about your favorites.

Found Objects

I must have dreamed about it, because I woke up knowing where to find the lost walking foot. Hurray!

I don't think I have ever really adapted to life without a sewing room and I keep changing my ideas about the best place for my machine and sewing things to live ... I am already looking forward to my next move and dreaming of having studio space again.

In the meantime, the I-spy quilt has been washed and labeled and given it's final inspection by Grace Hopper.

I also finished the other found object-the long lost doll quilt . . . which you can almost see in the background behind Grace.

I'm going to wait until after the holiday to take it to the post office and send it on it's way ... and avoid all the express mail shoppers hoping to get their gifts where they are going on time for Christmas.

Lost and Found

My plan for quilting this I-Spy quilt was a simple cross-hatch over the squares, with something figurative in the borders. But when I was ready to quilt it last weekend, I realized I haven't seen my walking foot since the move from Dallas to Austin in July and had NO IDEA where it could be. Ugh ... could really have been lost in the move?

As I double checked in some storage boxes that contained some miscellaneous sewing and quilting related stuff, I didn't find the walking foot, but I did find something else ... that I had given up as lost in my move from Michigan to Dallas. An almost finished doll quilt that I carefully packed away 2 years ago was found. (No photos yet as two years later, I still want it to be a surprise for the friend who was told long ago that it was gone, gone, completely lost.)

I modified my quilting plan for the I-Spy quilt and free-motioned the whole thing with an unmarked pattern on the squares and a marked flowers and leaves pattern in the borders. I also finished the last of the quilting on the doll quilt. And last night, when I couldn't sleep--for some reason I can never sleep when there's a full moon--I finished sewing down the binding on both quilts.

Why do I think that as soon as I go buy another pricey Bernina walking foot, the old one will be found? Maybe, in the meantime, I'll just practice more free-motion quilting.

Robots Have Invaded My Loft

These charming robots came from the main fabric in my Downy Touch of Comfort quilt kit.

When I heard, in a Downy TV commercial, that they contributed to comfort quilts for kids, I was curious to  find out exactly what they meant by that.  It turns out that they have signed on as a sponsor for the organization Quilts for Kids which began a few years ago, trying to use up fabric that was ending up in landfills. With Downy as a new sponsor, they have set a big goal for this project: 10,000 quilts!

The kits come with pre-cut fabrics, directions and even a label.  You add the batting and thread, some of your time, a little of your love and it's a quilt.

You can check out the program on their website, linked above. If you already know you want to help or request a kit of your own, head straight to the Volunteer page.

The organization asks that you consider making a second quilt from your own fabrics, too . . . and that is my plan. Someone shared some leftover novelty fabrics for boys a while ago and they'll become my second quilt.

Speaking of robots . . . if you haven't yet been introduced to Amy Flynn's fobots, they're definitely worth a click.  The name Fobots comes from found object robots. They've completely charmed me and are on my "after I have disposable income again" list.  Tonight, some of them are making an appearance on Ugly Betty, on the shelves in the hallway between the reception desk and the rest of the office. (I guess their art director was charmed by them, too ;-)