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Friday, October 22, 2010

Friday's Sewing......the benefit quilt

Wow, I have been quiet all week.    I feel like I've been going non-stop since Saturday!   Lots have been going on and I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend, finally.  lol   I spent all weekend helping w/ a charity benefit, had an OB appointment on Monday, an ultra sound appointment on Tuesday and since then I've been stuck in Girl Scout Fall Product paper land. lol   Our big and exciting news is that we found out on Tuesday that we're having a little boy!   We are SO excited!  Even my older children wanted a boy.   I have 3 girls and one boy, so we were due for another one.  lol  So, now the hard part......figuring out a name and the fun part, I can start sewing for him!   I actually made something for Mr. Peanut last night and I'll share that in another post. :-)

For Friday's sewing, I can finally share a quilt that I made last month.   I made it for a benefit and I didn't want to share it until the benefit was over this past Sunday.   This is my first "real" quilt.  I had made three other quilts before this one I'm going to share but they were all the same pattern, a HUGE Ohio Star baby quilt.  So, even though it is a quilt, it didn't feel like a "real" quilt because it used one gigantic triangle.  Plus, I tied them all because I was too afraid to machine quilt. lol   So, this is my first quilt that I actually pieced together lots of fabric and machine quilted on it.   

I used the Stacked Coins Baby quilt tutorial at Moda Bake Shop.   I am so thrilled at how this one turned out and I think I might make one for my little guy.   My 13 old daughter wants one, too!


I used the Spirit Charm Pack by Lila Tueller, which I absolutely love the mixture of colors in it!  Pinks, blues, browns, yellows....so pretty!


And here's the back.....I'm loving how designers are adding quilted elements to the back of quilts!  It really makes both sides so much fun.   I used some pink gingham flannel that I found at JoAnn Fabrics for the backing.   Which, it was very frustrating, because the printing on the selvage edge was very big!   I'd say it was at least an inch thick and the backing was just wide enough, so there is a small part in the back where you can see part of the words, because I couldn't even get it covered up w/ the binding.  

I went back and forth with putting a label on this quilt.  Since it was being donated, I didn't it to seem like I was bragging or something by having my name on it.   But, I asked several of my quilting friends and they all told me to put a label on it, so I did.   I embroidered all of it w/ DMC floss and chose a rainbow, because the decorating theme for the benefit was rainbows.   Ever since the accident,  almost everyone close to Colby, including Colby, have seen rainbows, so rainbows are very special to them all now.  

As far as the quilting goes on this.......I went out and bought a walking foot (the best thing in the ENTIRE world that I have EVER bought!!!!! lol) and just did some simple machine quilting 1/4-inch around the outside of each pieced strip.   Since this was the first quilt that I was machine quilting, I was afraid to try anything more than that.   The original quilt in the tutorial has free-motion quilting on it and I might try that the next time that I make this quilt.  

So, most importantly, the benefit was wonderful.   There were so many people there showing support and it was very touching to be a part of it.   I also did all of the decorations for the benefit, so I spent a couple of weeks painting rainbows. lol  

I'm nice and new to linking to amylouwho's "Sew & Tell Friday's" and Lit and Laundry's "Finished for Friday". I am so grateful and appreciative of everyone who visited me for my first share last Friday.   I haven't been able to sit down and thank you each personally yet, but please know that I am so thankful for all of your kind words about my Autumn Table Topper Quilt.   I plan on thanking each of you this weekend!  I'm looking forward to sitting down tomorrow and looking at everyone's wonderful creations that they have finished up this week!

Take care and God Bless!
di

8 comments:

  1. I think the label really completes your quilt and love that you included the rainbow. Thanks for sharing that with us! (I found you via Amy's link up)

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  2. Lovely quilt. And your label is a nice touch!

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  3. Really pretty quilt. The stacked coins is a wonderful design.

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  4. The label is perfect! I love the design, too. I think that's a perfect way to use a charm pack.

    Doesn't a walking foot make all the difference in the world???

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  5. Great quilt! The colors are just gorgeous!! And your label is too cute.... I use printable fabric for my labels, and have several different ones - a binding label for our ministry quilts, a "Wicked Auntie Production" label for things I make for my nieces, a "Nana made it for me" label for my granddaughter's things - you get the picture. So it may not have my name on it, but the recipient can always remember where it came from, and I can identify it as my work!

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  6. What a pretty quilt and the label is perfect.

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  7. Pretty, pretty quilt. Isn't a walking foot just amazing!

    Fabric manufacturers are so annoying...I remember when fabric was 44"/45"-now you're lucky if its 40" wide.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to visit my blog and to leave me a comment! I really do appreciate it and hope that you come back and visit me again soon! Take care and God Bless! di