Circle 7: Courtney

Time for another Circle 7 update!  This one is Courtney's quilt, and her theme was "Favorites. "   I absolutely love what everyone has made for her! 

                    

This is the panel I added:

I started with the coffee pot - I happened to have the same black dot print she used around her mugs in her starter panel, so I thought that would tie in nicely.  I scanned the internet for inspiration and made up this block to get the scale right.  

Then I added these economy blocks with some of my favorite things that I also thought Courtney would enjoy - a recipe print, some HR, homey images...all in happy, bright fabrics.  

I met Courtney at Sew South last year and was instantly drawn to her warm and sunny disposition and great sense of humor.  And the girl can SEW!  Every time I looked up, she was finishing yet another awesome project as I was laboriously trying to finish The Duffle.  I should probably mention she was like 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time too...You can check her out at Mon Petit Lyons.  I'm so thankful to have had the chance to get to know her better in this bee, and look forward to seeing her again soon!

Thank You

This stack of quilts is on it's way to Guatemala this week thanks to the kind and extremely generous efforts of the quilting community.  I have been giddy over the last couple of months as these quilts have come in from all over to be shared with the children in the Safe House of the La Limonada community.  This week, 6 more kids will receive their quilts and I know there will be smiles all over their sweet faces!

A special thank you to the following friends for making this happen:
Lisa - HilltopHouseCreativeWorks
Lorna - SewFreshQuilts
Renee - SoulScrappin'
Nicole - MamaLoveQuilts
Megan - CrookedSeams

Truly, I am so thankful to each one of you for sharing your gifts and talents to provide care and comfort for people you've never even met.  Quilters are the best!

Circle 7: Lindsey

                                             

I am so late in posting my Circle 7 Bee updates, but I am really excited to share these quilts with you.  Each quilt in this bee has been an absolute delight to work on and I feel so giddy as I make each one - like I'm working on a surprise for that particular person each month!  That's not to say I don't stress about these quilts - trying to narrow down ideas and utilize designs that complement what the others in the group have contributed has been a fun challenge for me.

My sweet friend Lindsey of LR Stitched requested vintage kitchen as her theme.  FUN!!!  Let me at it! She was open about colors, adding that she loves bright happy fabrics and polka dots.  Very doable!  I have always wanted to make one of those beautiful stand mixer paper pieced patterns, and this seemed the perfect opportunity to try it out.  But all the paper pieced patterns I found weren't as big as I wanted for Lindsey's block.  So, I think to myself - I can improvise a paper pieced pattern! Why not?!

Well, guess what??  Turns out, it's not that easy.  Especially when you don't have any software and you're going all old school with pencil and paper and such.  Ha!  I turned to the awesome tutorial here, but again, I wanted something significantly bigger.  And maybe y'all would know not to simply add inches around the pattern pieces because the proportions don't translate well.  Of course you would know that.  But I didn't.  I best learn lessons like this the hard way!  Long story short, I ended up paper piecing some sections, and free piecing others, and even using the freezer paper technique in spots too.  And lots of starting over.  And then starting over again.  But look - It turned out!

Please don't ask me how - I couldn't begin to tell you!  But it is done - it is a thing I made!  And I love it. And I love that Lindsey will have it.  I hope she enjoys it - I'm sure she will, as all of us quilters know what labors of love each stitch is.  I added the colorful patchwork along the sides to brighten it up and frame it out a bit, as well as the red-check to make the table it sits on since that reminded me of a tablecloth.  

I'll be back soon with some more progress on these Circle 7 quilts.  Hard to believe the bee is almost over as the year draws to a close.

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013

                                              

Y'll know I'm a big fan of Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival, where twice a year she hosts a giant linky party for quilters to enter their quilts in a variety of categories.  What a treat this online quilt show is!

I'm entering Claudia's quilt in to the Group/Bee Quilts category.  I know I've recently shared this, so if you'd like to hear the whole story, click here.  The quick version is that my sweet friends in That Stash Bee and I made this quilt for my friend Claudia and her family who lost their 6 year old son Michael earlier this year after a tough battle with Neuroblastoma cancer.  There are no words for this kind of heartbreak, but I knew I wanted to make them a quilt in the hopes of offering some kind of comfort.  I asked my bee mates for a variety of stars and the words Faith, Hope and Love in a rainbow of colors.  I was in awe as the blocks started coming in!  What a joy it was to put this together, although many tears were shed while making it in memory of that sweet boy.

Here's the back:

I did that giant LOVE banner and liked how it came together with the scrappy stars.  This quilt was full of significant coincidences such as Michael's birth year in one of the fabrics and birds on several of the fabrics, which is a favorite of Michael's and his family.  

I know this quilt is loved by my sweet friends, and I feel so grateful to my friends in That Stash Bee for their help in making this quilt for them:

Toni 

 Kelli

Debbie

Nicole

Whitney

Cathy

Kelsey

Michonne

Katie

It was so great to work together with friends across the miles to make this quilt.  Enjoy the rest of the Festival!

QUILT LEMONADE

I've been wanting to write this post for a while.  Years really!  Today is the day I share with you a vision I have had to spread some love and kindness in a particular part of the world that could use some good quilty cheer.  La Limonada is a community in Guatemala City where tens of thousands of people live in extreme poverty.  All the things that are associated with extreme poverty exist here:  Addiction.  Violence.  Poor housing conditions.  Lack of decent paying jobs.  For some, having safe water or electricity is a luxury. Things that I take for granted a thousand times a day before lunch.

But there is also hope.  Always hope.  Lemonade International has been working for the past five years in the people of La Limonada to partner in community development.  A school was started.  Then another school was started.  Scholarship programs started.  Sponsorship programs begun.  Micro-enterprise and vocational training programs are now available.  A fair trade coffee partnership with a coffee house here in Raleigh was recently launched (check out Jubala - the best cup of coffee in town.  Worth traveling for if you aren't in the area!).  I am always inspired with the creative and effective ways this organization utilizes to support and nurture this often overlooked population.  Perfect example - Establishing a shoe maker in the community as the official shoe provider for the children in the schools.  Lives are being changed here!

Perhaps the project most near and dear to my heart is the safe house that was started for children who were in dangerous situations.  The most needy of the needy.  Currently, there are 18 children living in the Mi Casita Safe House.  As a quilter and a mother, I want to wrap each of these kids up in a warm embrace, to whisper in their ears and hearts that they are loved.  That they are valuable.  That they matter.  That they are remembered!

I so want each of these kids to have their very own quilt - a spot of brightness that is made specifically for them and belongs soley to them.  I stepped out on a limb and told Cherie (of the husband/wife team Bill and Cherie who started the non-profit Lemonade International) that I would make a quilt for every child in the safe house, even if it took me 10 years.  I have already sent this quilt down for a special resident of the safe house, and have seen pictures of her enjoying this treasure made just for her.  Oh, my friends.  This feeling of being able to share a bit of comfort and cheer is one of the joys of being a quilter!

I would love your help in making some quilts for these kids.  I don't want any of the kids to have to wait for their turn to get a quilt.  I want to rain down some love on them!  And secretly, I would love to see quilts popping up throughout the community, beyond the safe house, spreading some tangible cheer in a place that so desperately needs it.  If you are interested in helping out, please leave me a comment or send me an email.  Thank you!

And so, Project Quilt Lemonade begins.

Over at Amy's today!

                                             

Come hang out with me later today over at Amy's Creative Side.  She's been featuring quilters from all over the blogosphere in preparation for the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival and is including me in today's line up of artists.  Somebody pinch me!  I have had the privilege of meeting Amy briefly at both Sewing Summit and Quilt Con and she is just as nice and genuine as you imagine she would be.  I so enjoy and look forward to her Blogger's Quilt Festival, which is an online quilt show with entries in all kinds of categories from people all around the globe every Spring and Fall.  It all starts up again tomorrow - I so hope you will join me in sharing some of your work!

Circle 7: Jennifer

I couldn't wait to get my hands on Jennifer's Circle 7 quilt.  She requested low volume background with a range of solid colors.  I had a hard time narrowing down what to make because there were so many fun directions to explore with this quilt.  I have found that to be the best challenge in this bee - my mind will spin with ideas for each person's quilt and the narrowing down to just one or two designs is the hard part.

I first made this Racing Stripes panel since I've been wanting to explore this theme again.  I felt it was perfect to add this to her quilt since I debuted the original Racing Stripes on her blog during a feature she did on me here.

And because I'm a lover of improv piecing, and I know Jenn is as well, I made this sort of pixelated improv block to also add to her quilt.  This type of piecing always takes time, but the end result is worth it in my mind.  Can you imagine a whole quilt done this way?!  It would be fantastic!  

 I added my contributions to her starter pieces, which includes the wonky star block you see below, as well as the herringbone strip.  Lindsey added the triangle strips and wonky churn dash blocks and split off part of the herringbone strip to expand Jenn's original panel.  So this is how it looked when it left my house!

I love seeing how these quilts evolve over time!  I'll be trying to post updates on the other quilts in this bee over these next couple of weeks.  I can hardly believe these quilts will be done soon!