This year I’ve volunteered to be the liaison with one of the organizations suggested by fellow PHXMQG (Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild) guild members: One*n*Ten. They serve LGBTQ youth in a variety of ways to “enhance their lives by providing empowering social and service programs that promote self‐expression, self‐acceptance, leadership development and healthy life choices.” This includes providing assistance through their housing program. You can learn more about them at their website (link here: http://onenten.org/about-one-n-ten/). One*n*Ten has requested twin sized quilts that would go to LGBTQ youth in need.
As part of this need for twin sized quilts, I’ve been sharing some easy to do twin sized quilts throughout the year. (Thanks again for the idea Bonnie!) I’m hoping this will gently nudge a few of my fellow members to make a quilt on their own! In April's meeting, I shared a quilt made using Jeni Baker’s Scrappy Star tutorial (see link here: http://www.incolororder.com/2013/04/scrappy-star-quilt-tutorial.html). Once I got the fabric cut, it only took me a few hours to put together! I will be adding about 10” of the grey solid to the top and bottom to lengthen it to be a true twin sized quilt.
I am putting together twin sized quilts for one of our local charities (One*n*ten). I provided kits for the 14.5" log cabin blocks at the last several meetings. The center is a 2.5” solid. Then I added 2.5" wide low volume white or off white fabrics with a variety of solids (pastels, jewel tones, whatever I have on hand). Below are pictures of in progress quilts. These are currently with guild members who are generously donating their quilting skills. Hope to have finished quilts next month!
Today I'm sharing my Arkansas Travelers quilt. I seriously LOVED how this one finished!
For the quilt I used Arkansas Travelers block tutorial from Lee Heinrich blog Freshly Pieced. You can find the tutorial following the link (HERE).
It is a block that is constructed using a combination of traditional and foundation paper piecing techniques. I first featured the block as part of my PHXMQG 2015 block of the month. As part of my demonstration I created a few extra blocks in a different colorway. I'm so grateful I did!
I have a small (or, ahem, rather large) tradition of making quilts for each of my nieces and nephews. So far I've made 18 quilts! I love creating these baby quilts and the joy of having something tangible to show my love for them individually. When I heard this little girl would be joining my extended family soon, I just knew this would be the best use of those extra blocks! I fussy cut some dogs into the quilts from some OOP fabric I hoarded (designer Heather Ross). My sister in law loves dogs and I hope to help pass that love onto her daughter, my niece.
For the borders I grabbed a large floral print I picked up while vacationing in England. Isn't it wonderful? I wish I had bought at least two more yards! Isn't that the way it always goes?
Julie Hirt quilted it for me using some lovely loops (see her website HERE). I'll post a picture of the finished quilt, once I can find the photo! And some extra pictures in case you were interested!
So it's been quiet over here since about April of 2016... Then in June 2016 I had my first son who, had an undiagnosed birth defect called Congenic Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). He basically had a hole in his diaphragm which allowed his "guts" to enter into rib cage and impede his left lung. We subsequently spent 6 weeks in the NICU, where he had surgery and was described as a phenomenon. My husband and I take "phenomenon" and equate it as a miracle. We were so blessed and fortunate. After the NICU, we went through several months of recovery. We were able to take him off supplemental oxygen which is great and have an NG tube removed.
Then in April 2017 I found out I was pregnant with baby no. 2. We went through several additional scans and determined that baby girl did NOT have the same condition as her older brother. Then in September 2017 we learned that our son had re-herniated and needed surgery. After what felt like an eternity, he had surgery end of November 2017. Then in December 2017 our healthy daughter was born (the kids officially being 17 months apart in age) and thus began the craziness of two kids under the age of two.
Long story short, it's been quite a crazy two years.
All of this meant that my quilting hobby slowed. Thankfully, I had a husband and support team who knew that quilting would help me cope. I'll share some highlights over the next several weeks.
I'm now back at work and know that my quilting will continue to be slow. And I'm ok with that :)
