Friday, October 30, 2015

Another finished quilt

I don't think I ever mentioned that one of the members in my guild has been diagnosed with cancer and has had surgery and now the follow up chemo/radiation, I'm not sure which.  The guild has a policy of making and giving a quilt to members or their spouses who are seriously ill. We don't keep a supply of quilts on hand, but make them up one by one as they're needed. Fortunately, we've only had to make 2 quilts in the 5 years I've been a member.

I suggested that we all chip in with fabric and talent and make a quilt for Diane while we were at retreat.  Everyone brought 2.5" strips of a variety of yellow fabrics and we stitched them into 12" blocks.  I overestimated how many blocks we'd need to make a generous throw quilt for her and we ended up with enough extra blocks to make a second quilt to keep on hand for when we may need it.

Since I was the organizer of this project, I took the finished top with me after retreat and got backing fabric on sale. Another guild member who does long-arm quilting offered to quilt it up which she did in 2 days.  I asked another member to make up a label which she printed off on fabric. I got the label yesterday and framed it up and did some hand embroidery on it. Last night I finished the binding and label and the quilt is ready to go to Diane on Tuesday night at the guild meeting.

Here's what we made for her:  "Rays of Sunshine" (photographed on a gloomy, dreary day).


I love all the yellows and golds in this quilt.  While I was stitching on the binding, it felt so warm and snuggly on my lap, I know Diane will feel loved when she wraps up in this quilt.


Unknown to us, Diane is a bee keeper so it's very fitting that we included some bumble bee fabrics in this quilt.


And this is the label Becky and I made together for our friend.

The other thing I didn't mention after retreat is that I sold my red "Santas" table runner--


after I'd finished the embroidery and worked out the faint staining from the red dyes, and added the checkerboard border and quilted it up--to one of the gals at retreat who fell in love with it when it was finished.  She took a look at my Etsy store, Jolly Ruby  as well and decided to buy the embroidered Halloween table runner as well.


In addition to these sales--and remember every penny of sales goes to the Jolly Ruby fund which helps enhance the lives of people with disabilities--two other retreaters asked me if I would make "Santas" table runners for them as well. I'll do my best to get them finished by Christmas but I didn't make any promises.  They're okay getting them a little late.  Whew!

Then, the other day, I got a call from a person who lives a few blocks from me about making a memory quilt for her out of napkins she's saved from various events she's attended in her career.  So, of course I said yes!  This is going to be fun--and easy!  And she's not in a big hurry to get it.  Whew again!

Today, I have done my house chores and will go for a walk when I'm finished with this. Then, into the sewing room to work on a charity quilt block that needs to be done by the end of the week. What's on your plate for this Friday?


No comments:

Post a Comment