Pillowcases for Sandy Hook

A local quilt shop is collecting pillowcases to give to the children of Sandy Hook elementary school when they return after the winter break. I am tired of sewing for victims of violence, but maybe this project will help a few traumatized children recognize that most of the world isn't bad guys.

Toodle-oo September!

Even by my standards, I had an incredibly productive weekend. (This was helped by the fact that I have a head cold and am just congested enough that sitting down for a long time results in compromised respiratory functioning.) Brace yourself for this...here's what I accomplished:

I completed all of the quilting -- wavy border lines and 30 (!) embroideries -- on the Beatles quilt. However, I did have to remove one of the embroideries due to tension problems. I'll restitch this one and bind it up later this week, after I replenish my black Aurifil. That stuff lasts forever -- I use it for all my piecing, and it worked great in embroidering these quilt motifs -- but I burn through it!

Quilting the Beatles!

I made and attached binding to my cute little Pink Rink quilt, which by tomorrow night will be in the "Finished in 2012" list. I'll post finished photos when the binding is stitched down.

I quilted and bound the mini "Fire Drill" from Modern Patchwork. I'm not terribly in love with this one; I was experimenting with softer colors than the ones I prefer. Lesson learned.

"Fire Drill" mini (binding is still loose in this photo)

I quilted my orange squares for the Rainbow Scrap challenge. (I was thinking this was the only orange project I finished this month, but I guess the autumnal Rapid City started as an orange buster too.) I have eight of these finished now:

Simple spiral quilting on the orange squares.

Finally, sometime mid-week I realized that September was nearly over but I hadn't made anything for the Color Palette challenge. I really love this month's photo:

September photo for Judy Laquidara's Color Palette Challenge

I pulled my bins of appropriately colored scraps and got to work. The boys noticed that the colors are very similar to the colors in April's challenge (remember mine?); I agree -- I actually thought the moldy pie reminded me of the springs and pools at Yellowstone. Inspired by Elizabeth Hartman's new version of her Glam Garlands quilt that she's been working on this month, I decided to use my Wing Clipper ruler to make a version with a bunch of flying geese. Here's what I came up with:

Garlands of Geese (42 x 52"). Completed for September Color Palette Challenge.

A new habit that I'm trying to develop is to prepare the back at the same time that I complete a top; I'm thinking they're less likely to languish in the UFO bin if both pieces are ready to go when I'm ready to baste something. Here's the back for the September geese:

Pieced back for the Garlands of Geese quilt.

And it's only 7:50 on Sunday. What to do, what to do...

Happiness Is a Warm Quilt

The Beatles top that I'm making for the New Britain Symphony Orchestra is finished!

These fabrics are terrifically fun to work with. I have so many memories of listening to the Fab Four while I was growing up. My mother had all of their albums from before the Greater-Than-Jesus controversy (at which point she was no longer allowed to buy them), but my father had the later (better) ones, so that meant that I had them all! I have a pretty clear (and somewhat alarming) memory of a day in second grade when my "boyfriend" at the time sent me a ghost-shaped construction paper note that said "Boo! I hate you." I went home from school in tears and sat under the dining room table playing "I Need You" about a zillion times on my clunky little cassette player. Gather 'round and listen attentively, Children, for I shall tell you a story about the Times Before: This tragedy befell me in the days before CDs, so I had no Repeat function to ease the process of my grieving. Lo, I had to use what was called a "Rewind button" to make this song play in countless repetition; I played it so many times that I knew exactly where to stop the rewind process via a number counter, which looked thus:

Countdown to musical solace

If you're still reading at this point, you shall now be privy to a preview of the back of this quilt. I used Elizabeth Hartman's idea of freezer-paper stencils to paint the Help album logo on four half-yard solids. After these cure all day, I'll set the paint and sew them together with big black borders on the top and bottom to make the quilt back. I have an all-day editing session tomorrow, then I'll baste it up in the afternoon and get it quilted in the nick of time for the auction.

Remember, if you're salivating over this Fab Four in Fabric creation, it can be yours at the New Britain Symphony Orchestra's auction on October 12!

Magical Mystery Quilt

Lots of progress on the Beatles quilt for the New Britain Symphony Orchestra today. I got all of the pieces sewn and ready to assemble. Here's a partial layout (showing only two of six rows). The finished quilt will be 64.5 x 76.5". I was thinking I'd add a border, but that's a pretty healthy lap size snuggle quilt, so it may end up borderless.

Quilting for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!

A friend of mine asked if I would donate a quilt for the New Britain Symphony's annual fundraiser. Yes - I shall be a patron of the arts! (And, since the boys are learning about classical composers this year, maybe we'll actually get to some of their performances...) I still have a nice little stack of Beatles fabrics, so in honor of the string quartet's Beatles/pop performance this spring, I'm making a Fab Four Slide Show quilt. Here's a peek at my wall as this starts to go together...

In other artistic news, today I submitted my moebius strip for consideration in the New Britain Museum of American Art's all-member juried exhibition. I promise to keep you posted when I hear if I made the cut!