Little Lambs quilt and whispers of PPPP in the wind.....

Ok so 3 posts in one month is a charm??

 I finished one of my donations for Hands2Help and am working on the second.......
I had a little Bears Alphabet panel and decided to just cut out each square and add some thin sashing around the squares.  Little Lambs, where I will send this, is asking for only small quilts...36" to 42", hence the very thin sashing....(you can click on the Little Lambs link above to read about their wonderful and worthwhile foundation)
  

 

For quilting I just used a running stitch across each square in a simple "x" pattern...and I did a "cheater" binding by just folding over the backing.....(I'm getting better at regular binding but sometimes I still run away from it and do it this way instead....)  

 

On another subject.....I've been wondering if maybe it's time to revive the Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade?  My family who helped me in the past says it's time for another and I think maybe it is......what do you think?  Since we are all staying in maybe we could gather up our pincushions and share them in the PPPP 2020! 

Whoa! Another Post??

Wow.........who'd a thunk??  
Anyway, while looking through link-up pages on Sarah's page at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, I ran across another linkup at "Quilting and Learning - What a Combo!" called  Free Motion Maverick link-up.   Here you can show your recent FMQ projects so I decided to linkup with my latest project...just finished last week...a "bigger than a baby quilt but smaller than a twin size quilt".  

I have found that kids get more out of a slightly larger quilt that is still small enough to drag around but big enough to become a "fort" when draped from the sofa to the coffee table...or big enough to cover them when they are no longer babies............

I actually forgot to measure before I sent it out in the mail but I guess it was probably throw size....50 x 60 more or less?  (I'm not such a "pioneer" after all in new kid quilt sizes....lol)

So anyhow.........I made this Mickey Mouse quilt for a young man who is scheduled to be born in August. 

 His parents speak to their children both in English and Spanish so when I found this fabric panel to made a cloth book which teaches English, Spanish, and French words .....

                                    

I decided to cut it up and turn it into a quilt instead!             

 So the quilting inside each block and on the horizontal sashing is actually one-run quilting done with my embroidery machine.  I found a nifty pattern of tiny little Mickey Mouse heads for inside the blocks and a larger applique pattern that I used for both the sashing and then for the appliqued black Mickey heads on the borders.

 Then I finished with just a meandering stipple in all the empty places........

Don't forget to visit Sarah's Blog and help out by making a quilt if you can!

Hands 2 Help & some little National Park Flags

I'm not too sure who will read my post since I have become woefully bad at blogging but I did want to mention that Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict is sponsoring her Hands 2 Help Campaign again this year. (click on her button on right sidebar or on the link above) 
Over the years I have joined and plan to again this year.  In the meantime, Sarah has a linky party over at her blog asking for small projects we are doing during this COVID19 stay home time so I am linking up THERE with her today with some mini flags my Sisters and I did....

A week or so ago my Sis, Barb, asked us (my other sewing Sisters) to help a friend who has applied for a National Parks Art Residency and asked for help in creating her application project which is a display of 6"x8" hanging flags of National or State Parks you have visited. The original photo which you created the flag with is sewed on the back of the flag and then she hangs them like this:

Here is what I created and sent to her:

Glacier Bay National Park , above, (original photo on right)

Below is Guadalupe Mountains National Park with the original photo again on right:

Below are the masterpieces my Sisters made:

By Barb, below is White Sands National Park:

and Glacier National Park

Here is Big Bend National Park by Irene:

and Saguaro National Park also by Irene:

  

....and last but not least by Lynette we have Zion National Park:

My Sisters and I had a great time making these little flags....we texted each other for several days as we were creating some "together time" while we were apart!

I Whitewashed my fireplace!

Some of you know that I retired last April so I finally decided to tackle a project I had been wanting to do for awhile...whitewashing my dark rock fireplace......
Besides the dark dated color, I also didn't like that the installer had placed the rock veneer on the front to end short of the pieces on the sides so I had visible ugly grout lines "walking" up both sides of the fireplace!  
Before the whitewash I filled in the grout lines with concrete repair mastic and "created" bigger rocks that went all the way to the ends....much better than before!

I used ideas from both Pinterest and YouTube for my project.  Both suggested using a 50/50 (water/paint) mixture of Chalk paint in a light gray color.  I used Rustoleum Chalked Aged Gray and began painting with a sponge brush, then I tried a large sponge and also used a regular bristle brush to get into the deep crevices of the rock... 

 After the first coat I thought the overall effect looked dull.....the rocks didn't seem to have any texture and just faded into the grout lines.....

I let it dry overnight then the next day I began dry brushing with a 50/50 mixture of white latex flat paint mixed with water.  The rock began to look so much better but wasn't as white as I had hoped so I added even more white to the mixtures and coated the rocks again...paying attention to highlighting the high spots.....this made the grout lines show up better and added some vividness to the rock....

     I think I like it!

and it's "Kitty Approved" too! 

I have finished the Lexington Challenge Quilt!  I was surprised at how big it turned out and it's my own fault for using my "selective reading"........When I read that this was a throw quilt my brain thought lap quilt so when I ended up with a 64x64 inch "lap quilt" I was not happy to know I would have to manage quilting it on my Singer............anyway I do love the quilt and am happy with how it turned out..........

I also want to show you the lovely table toppers I have received from my Swap Partners in my Sewing with Friends Group

This beauty is from Lynette

I love the bold/jewel colors!  Thanks Lynnie....I Love it!

I also received this gorgeous Autumn topper from Irene which I may have already shown you but it's so pretty that it bears repeating...............

Irene added some machine embroidery quilting that just finished it off perfectly! Thanks Sis!

Now I have a question...........the end of this month/first of next month is when I have had the Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade 

and I'm not sure about doing it this year.  I have become such a lazy blogger that I'm not sure I will get any response to it.........if some of my faithful (what I have left of them) followers can pass the word and see if anyone is still interested I will be happy to host it again..........if I get enough "yes" responses I'll do it again.........and if not I'll skip it this year and see if I can get back to blogging and get back my followers and start back up next year........

Lexington Challenge, Table toppers...

I joined the National Quilter's Circle Lexington Sampler challenge and after being 3 weeks behind have managed to catch up!  It is a 9 week challenge and so far we are on week #4 (each week has been 2 blocks of same pattern).  You can choose to make either a bed size or throw size quilt. (the bed size has additional borders). Although the original quilt is basically reds I decided to use a blue palette.....Here's what I have so far.....

week seven has a bonus block for the center if we don't want to use plain fabric or our own center block. I really don't like either of the middle colors here so I will most likely wait for the bonus pattern or find one of my own.  Does anyone have a suggestion for a 15 inch center block?

I got this beautiful table topper from my swap buddy, Irene....I'm all ready for fall!  Irene used the Swoon block and added the triangles to make the second on point background square. (ummm….I may have "made her" use the swoon pattern....lol)  She also included some beautiful machine embroidery.  I love it so much! Thanks Irene. Sorry my photo doesn't do it justice....in addition to the pumpkin center, there are quilted leaves also.

Oh...….and here is the front of the topper I made for Irene's table...….

 I guess that's all for this post.  I hope Blogger has fixed the no comment notification problem...………….

Table Toppers and Visiting with Family

Last post I showed you the back of the table topper I sent to my swap partner and now that I know she received it I will show you all the front of the "God Bless America" topper:

I had wanted to make a swoon block since they became so popular a few years ago but just never had.  Then I came across a table topper on Pinterest that someone had adapted from a swoon block and decided to take the opportunity.  It is really easy because all you do is cut 2 pieces of 9x9 fabric diagonally and sew to the middle of each side of the finished Swoon block to make the additional 4 points. 

 We allow ourselves 2 months between swaps in our group but I have a really busy remainder of the year and I've been trying to get ahead so I don't end up in a pinch later on...

That being said....I've made my next topper...…….since my swap partner will see this post I will do like before and show you the back.  Irene had requested an oblong or rectangular table topper in teals, brown, and creams: 

I am visiting my son and his family this week and having a great time.  We went to the beach on Memorial Day and will have a party this weekend to celebrate my granddaughter's 3rd birthday before I head back home....as a bonus my other son and his family will be here and I'll have all my grandchildren in one place at once!

H2H and Sewing with Friends .............

Today  I am linking up with Hands2Help at Confessions of a Fabric Addict with the Transformers Quilt I made for the event.    As you can see I got a lot of grief  help from Cali while I was constructing the quilt.....                                              

Fortunately "we" were able to get the quilt finished and sent off to Little Lambs Foundation for Kids....a non profit 501(c)3 Organization operating out of Utah which provides comfort kits to children ages newborn to 17 years old who are transitioning into foster care, emergency shelter or who have been hospitalized, by providing them with a little comfort in a bag....you can read more about Little Lambs by clicking HERE

 

 

My Sewing with Friends group just finished our last swap....we made postcards.....here are the ones I received. I love them all!
 

 

Our new project is table toppers.......We do one every two months and our first one is due in the mail by July 15th but I wanted to have mine done for my swap mate by 4th of July so I'm sending it out to you this week, Mary.....sorry but I'm going to only let you see the back.....heehee....

 

Cali had to have one last "look" before The Transformers went in the mail...................