Animal Hand Quilt

I had so much fun making this quilt for Zoe' kindergarten class. It will be auctioned off this week. Every kid put a hand print on a block & her teacher painted all the animal features on the hand. I love how cute all the animals look. 

There was one extra hand print in this quilt so I added it to the back. 

I bought all the fabric at Hancock Fabric. The giant green gingham is my favorite! 

I usually do a much smaller quilting stitch but in this case I thought a smaller stitch would crinkle the hand prints too much once I washed the quilt. So I did a larger stitch. I don't know if I like it as much as some of my other quilting stitches but it was still a good learning experience for me. I feel a little more confident with trying new things with every quilt.

This time next week the girls will be starting our summer vacation. I am so very excited to sleep in (even if it's just 30 extra minutes). I look forward to playing in the back yard, visits to the library, dinners on the back porch, late afternoon bike rides & movies. I think I'm most excited that the girls can play a little later in the evening because they won't have to wake up so early in the morning for school. Omri is getting a little easier every week. He plays outside all afternoon while I work at the table. He usually comes in every 5 minutes or so to make sure I'm still paying attention to him. He's the cutest. I love this stage.

I wanted to thank everyone for bidding on the auction for Danny. Desert Rose will be getting her quilt later this week. I do have some very sad news. Danny passed away on Tuesday. My parents went to his funeral on Saturday & My mom said it was a very touching memorial. Standing room only. I know Danny was very loved. What stood out most was his extraordinary faith in Christ & his love for sharing that faith with others. What a great example of courage & kindness.

I have such amazing friends. My dear sweet friend Sally has donated a table runner to auction off & her friend has made some beautiful blankets to be auctioned off too. I plan on having two more auctions with these lovely donations to help out Danny's family. I know that the money earned will be helpful to them. I am always touched by the kindness of others. Thanks so much ladies for your talents & willingness to help out such a wonderful family. I'll be starting the first auction tomorrow. 

Quilt Auction for Daniel

Front of quilt

Back of Quilt

The baby quilt measures 39"x33.5"

I used my beloved fabric stash of American Jane for this little quilt. The back is one single panel of printed fabric even though it looks like little blocks of fabric. The binding is a fabric I found at JoAnn's.

Detail of the quilting. I drew lines with my tailors chalk that way I'd have a guide for when I quilted it. Then I used the two different free motion quilt stitches.

On the front I used some cream colored muslin & the last of my fabric squares of American Jane. I paired it with some black & white polka dot fabric. 

I've already washed it & it has such a yummy crinkle to it.

It's ready to find a new home. Could that new home be YOUR home? I sure hope so. I'm auctioning off this little quilt to help raise money for my friend Daniel. Please take a few minutes to read his profile. He's been sick for such a long time. Ever since I've known him he has been struggling with his health. He's one of the nicest guys I know & so very talented. The money earned will go to cover living costs during the surgery & his recovery. As you can imagine any chronic illness can take it's toll financially on a family. I'm asking for your help fellow friends & bloggers to spread the word. Let's raise some money to help Daniel.

 Please spread the word. I'd love to raise as much money as possible to help out my friend!

Here's how the auction will work

I'll open the bid with $35
The next person will bid $36 or how ever much you want & so on & so forth. Bidding will take place in the comment section of my blog. Make sure you look at the previous bid in the comment above yours so you can bid accordingly. The auction will end on Saturday June 9th at midnight (my time here in Reno) When the auction ends the winner of the quilt will pay directly to Daniel's fund & once you have sent me an email with confirmation of the payment I'll mail the quilt your way. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Happy bidding & thanks in advance for all your kindness in helping with such a worthy cause!


If you feel so inclined I'm adding a button you can use if you'd like to link back to this auction.

I'm also linking up to Amy's

Sew& Tell Friday

!!!UPDATE!!!

Auction is now closed! Thanks to all who were bidding.

Pot Holder Teacher Gifts

Well here they are! It only took me a week & a half to finish them. This was supossed to be a weekend project but I ran into a couple little bumps along the way. Like the fact that I had no fabric that would match for the binding. I made a run to my favorite local quilting store to see if they had any of the fabric line I used. thankfully they had a few fat quarters left. I had planned on harnd stitching the binding but changed my mind after talking to Susannah. I've never been able to do machine binding very well but figured I'd give it another try. I am so glad I did. I made a few little mistakes but this will be my go to when binding "tiny" things. Did you happen to see her amazing quilt? Funny story, we bought the fabric we used for both of these projects the last time she came for a visit. Almost 4 years ago. The even funnier thing is neither of us planned to finish these projects at the smae time using the same fabric. I love it that even though we are so far apart we still find ourselves creativly on the same page. 

I'll be taking these to the girls teachers, office staff & Sloan's school nurses the last week of school. We have been so blessed to move to a neighborhood that has such wonderful schools right in our back yard. Three more weeks of school! This summer is going to rock. I'm already planning some fun things for the kids & I to do togeather. Dean also bought me a bike this weekend! Looking forward to bike rides with the girls. Dean is getting in on the action too. We are on the lookout for a bike for him. Crossing my fingers we can find something sooner than later. Really hoping to make some fun family memories this summer.

Swing by tomorrow. I'll be sharing the baby quilt & starting the auction for my sweet freind!

Little Hands Quilt

The front 

I adore Zoe' teacher. She is really creative & wonderful. My only sadness about this whole school year is not being able to volunteer in her classroom as much as I have wanted. I figured the least I could do is offer to make some quilts for the end of the year auction. This is the first one that was auctioned off to raise money for an art program at the school. We kept it pretty basic. Just little hand prints. Each child wrote their name in permanent marker beside their print. I chose to use grey & orange because I wanted to keep it gender neutral. That way a boy or girl would be able to enjoy it. 

 The back

I kept the back pretty basic. I tried to find some other fabric to match the grey fabric I used on the front but not much matched the orange or the grey in either fabric. So I went with the orange with yellow polka dots. Isn't that crazy? Out of hundreds of fabrics in 2 stores not one thing really matched. Please tell me I'm not the only one this happens to.

 I chose to do a pebble stitch on this quilt because I was just quilting the strips of the front. I really thought it wouldn't take me that long. Wrong. It took FOREVER! Lol. One giant spool of thread & two broken needles later I finally finished. It was worth it though because I got to practice this stitch. I think it turned out okay too. I won't be using a pebble stitch again unless it's a much smaller project. I think Zoe' teacher liked it too & that makes me super happy. I'll be making one more quilt for her class & plan on sharing that sometime soon.

Right now I'm working on two little projects. The first one is these potholders made from some scraps I've been hoarding for a while now. These will be given to the girls teachers for a belated teacher appreciation gift. They were meant to be a quick one weekend project. Somehow it turned into a week long project. I just have to add the binding & they will be done. 

This is the second project I am almost finished with. I'm having so much fun quilting the top. This one will be auctioned off on my blog next week for a dear friend of mine. He's waiting for a heart transplant & all the money that is raised will go to living expenses while he is waiting for the transplant & after he receives his new heart. He is one of the nicest guys & a very talented artist. I am hoping to help raise as     much as possible to help his cause.

So grateful it's almost Friday. Dean has been working on the house again & I've been helping out in the house with organizing & a few projects on the back yard too. My goal this weekend is to get the garage organized. I'm trying to clean out & give away the things we just don't need anymore. It's a huge task! I've also started sketching. Susannah & I talked the other day about just how much we miss drawing. So I broke out the ol' sketchbook this week & have a few fun ideas I'm working on.

I'm linking up to Amy's Sew & Tell!

Bloggers Quilt Festival Voting

Hey friends! Today is the day you can start voting for your favorite quilt over at Amy's Creative Side.

If you feel like you liked mine enough could you pretty please vote for it? I'm quilt number

210

Thanks so much! Be sure to drop by tomorrow also. I'll be sharing another finished quilt.