The Fundraiser Quilt

The quilt for the Purdy Elementary Fundraiser is finished. And delivered!

It measures 83 x 67 inches, give or take a tug or 2.

Click the picture to enlarge. [The fundraiser isn't until March]

I thought I would take a photo of me hand quilting...on the very last square!  

Not easy to take a picture of your right hand when the button on the camera is on the right side...

This picture was easier...

My quilting companion...

When sewing the label on, I discovered that I had loaded the bobbin wrong on the machine....so I had to remove thread that wasn't right.  The lint roller came to the rescue.

And finally....a bit of embroidery now that the quilt is done and delivered!

Little Girls Trees

Rhiley and Avery got to make their trees yesterday.  

{granddaughters #3 and 4}

Rhiley, like Lily went with the big white buttons. Interesting.

And this is the back of the Purdy School Quilt. To show the quilting. 

Not much to see, but just to show that I have been working on it.  I have a deadline on this!!

Quilt Labels

I was cruising around Etsy recently and came across a label maker....a maker of labels.

ananemone makes labels of all sorts, so with a few pointers from them, I redid the 'drawing' Ashley had done when she was 3 {??} that I have been using as a blog header for a couple of years now.  They, Matthew and Sara, advised me to discard the blue background as that would be costly to print. 

They have many fonts to choose from, so I picked 'love somebody' for the words. I thought that would be a good start for a quilt that I 'love' making will go to 'somebody' next year.  Matthew and Sara were able to fit 4 4 inch labels to a sheet of fabric, which is organic cotton BTW. 

So I have 4 labels to add to 4 different 'things' I will make.  There is room for me to add the year too, which I didn't want to have printed on the labels. Maybe I should have had them print this fellow up too.....

Needed a Bandaid

The Quilt Top is done,

The layers all pinned,

Let the hand quilting commence...   

...quick as a wink, a hole it was snipped.

quick, grab a scrap and cover with patch.

{my inner Seuss is away for the holly-day}

The Purdy Quilt top!  It's all done.  Wow...that's kind of crazy!  The black polka dot in the middle-ish is where I started the quilting.  I haven't stitched a quilt this size in years!  Good thing it's winter, because I will be covered up for quite a while.

The back.  The fabrics are the same 'print' just different colorways. 

The patch is right there in the middle.  I had just finished the very first of the stitching and was snipping the thread tail....I admit to being slightly distracted by the food network....

Ben is making Cran-Raspberry booze.  

It must be a popular thing....

I thought the raspberries looked good in the jars.

This was my project...

I used this can of oranges for the liquid...and the oranges...and a few raspberries were tossed in.

Purdy Quilt episode 4

click to enlarge

The center area is all assembled.  It measures 36 inches wide and 66 inches long, my son is holding it up at arms length?? With his arms over his head??  This is not your usual I Spy Quilt layout. Google images reminded me that these used to be called "Jar Quilts" and the prints were made up into canning jar shapes. For my next trick I will pull a rabbit outta my stash....

I have 8 inch and 5 inch blocks to assemble to go around this center area to make it larger, of course, but this was the fussy cut / piece together area, which took longer.

I  have this sitting next to my chair...hasn't been picked up in weeks. {It's the pillow cover I am embroidering.} Thought I would show you the "scattered seed" stitch I am adding to this scrap of fabric.

I love how it's looking.  Sadly I won't be able to do the whole area with the same thread.  What I have is would on that wooden person shape I found.  The thread is a hand dye I got on Etsy , size 12 Perle.

 It came in a sampler pack, so the yardage is smaller.

this is Megan's menu for the upcoming holiday.

Good call sweetie!

The Purdy Quilt

Is coming along rapidly!  With many fabric donations from online friends, I have A LOT of prints to choose from, so I won't need to repeat many any!  I do have some repeats in the 2.5 inch squares where I am including "color wheel" strips....

this is the bottom half pinned over the top half

that you can see better in this shot.  The blue, yellow, red {primary colors} are in the same fabrics in this strip....just a little hint of 'pattern repeat' like the kids get in school.  The strip of secondary colors, green, orange and purple, are in the same 'pattern' but I used different prints in spots. 

this is actually the top half

Scroll to the bottom to see a triptych of  this in full length as seen on my 'design wall'.

The design wall is just a simple chunk of batt tossed up for this use.  I have to pin everything up out of the way of the plug, but it works. Below the wall is now a stack of drawers to help keep some of the chaos contained...but with the ironing board set up, it's a little squished in there.

Click pix to enlarge.

F.A.B.R.I.C

F~~fantastic
A~~additions
B~~by
R~~random
I~~internet
C~~cohorts

I just made that up.  But I mean it, I have received a lot of fabric from fellow fabric hoarders for this Fun-Raiser Quilt I am working on for Purdy Elementary.  I am also going to be sharing with a fellow quilter who wants to make an I Spy quilt for a grandson, and I am going to be able to make another quilt in the not distant future for my other granddaughters when they are in school!  This has been a win-win all around!

Thank You Ladies!!

Pictures....

I have never had a dedicated room just for sewing, otherwise called a studio. I have been on dining room tables in different homes, in  part of the kitchen, in the bedroom....We finally have a room I could make into "my" room....but...I have a feeling that once I get a good layer of dust set up, one of the girls is going to want a room of her own {girls being Megan and Lily}.   AND the room is currently used for storage, mostly. 

BESIDES...I have this awesome area in our bathroom where the garden tub used to reside. that we made into a daylight space for me in the first place, and have not been able to take advantage of.

So I decided I would set up a cutting table in here and I hung a chunk of batt on the opposite wall for a 'design wall'.  LITTLE did I know how much I would love it!

It is a small space, but it works!  AND it has lots of daylight...

...not much of a view, but I am looking at fabric, not out the window.

That black fluffy thing is Meg's tutu for her costume...it becomes a messy nest once its worn, so I hung it up and out of the way for the day of candy-ness.

This is an idea for the Purdy Quilt.  A few large blocks among many small ones...

AND I was able to find a map fabric....I love maps!  and the blue to the right has all the states!

Below...a small sample of what I have gotten in the mail....

There is always a piece that I fall in love with, and this insect print is one of those.

So I am auditioning it with other prints because it will need to become at least an 8 inch sq. 

Again....thank you ladies!

Purdy Quilt ~ The 2003 Version

I found a picture of the very first fund raiser quilt I made, also for Purdy Elementary...10 years ago!!!

These are lousy pictures, I had printed them out, and digital cameras have come a long way since then.

I have a start on the new quilt....gathering of fabrics...of course!