Guild quilt show!

The Illini Country Stitchers held their bi-annual quilt show last weekend. It was great! We had wonderful attendance, and visitors were treated not only to the beautiful quilts entered by members, but to a sampling of guild quilts being donated to Project Linus. We passed out information on making quilts for Linus and a couple simple patterns.

More quilts!

We received some very cute quilts last month that I'm just getting on the blog now. Here's a fun one that really pops with the sports print.
Here's a traditional star pattern with each star from a different fabric. Beautiful!
Here's an easy-to-piece but bright and very child-friendly quilt. If you're looking for an idea for a quick Linus quilt, why not try one like this?
Thank you! Your donations are very much appreciated.

Quilts from Sue K

Sue K donated 3 quilts for Project Linus. She has cute coordinating fabric on the back of each one, too. Here's a sailboat quilt:

and a cowboy quilt:
and a rail fence for a baby or toddler.
Thanks so much, Sue!

Quilts & afghans & blankets ... oh my!

We received some lovely donations recently! This bright quilt of old-fashioned transportation is certain to we appealing to a young child.

And here's a simple panel with some very huggable animals on the front ...
...and on the back!
You may recognize this lively top from when it was hanging in Sew Sassy. Marion donated it to be quilted and bound for Project Linus.
Joan F brought in two baby-soft knit afghans.
And Tina made a toddler blanket -- quick and easy and cute! One side is cotton with all sorts of animals, and the other side is soft flannel with little monkeys. So much fun!


Thank you all for your wonderful donations!

Fish blocks!

There are some very cute fish swimming in this sea!Thanks, everyone, for all your fish block contributions! These are just a few that we have received from you. Tina is going to be able to make several tops from these.

Cute quilts

We've received lots of cute quilts! Here's a fun strip quilt with Snoopy characters.
Diane M made this very sweet quilt with blocks of old-fashioned children.
This flannel quilt with a fuzzy fleece backing has hearts hand-quilted in the squares. It was very lovingly made!
Karen M and Dorothy B made this 9-patch quilt. There are beetles in the border fabric and the backing is bright, jumping frogs!
Diane L made this delightful quilt of jars filled will all sorts of things!

The next 3 quilts did not load properly and I can't fix them! So sorry -- you'll have to turn your head to the left to see them the right way round. There's a plane and train quilt:
And a checkerboard panel quilt from a committee kit. This quilting on this one haslots of flowers, very nice!
Theresa L made this heart quilt from an adaptation of a Billie Lauter pattern. Dorothy E quilted it with hearts all over!
Here's another Easy Squares quilt made from a variety of prints. It's a very adaptable pattern!
We received a panel quilt, which is easy to put together but very well loved by the recipient! If you want to make a donation and don't have much time, please consider finishing a pre-quilted panel.
This cozy bear flannel kit was nicely quilted by Dorothy E.

Thank you everyone!

More 2007 Camp Coco quilts

We have such a generous membership in our guild! Lots more Camp Coco quilts were turned in for this summer's campers. I can't always match the name to the quilt in the photo, so many of these do not have a quilter's name. If you know who made one of the quilters whose name was omitted, please let me know and I will update this post. Thanks to everyone for these wonderful quilts!

This S'mores quilt was made by Debbi D.





Kim L made the dog quilt.

Linus Committee doings

Our raffle quilt is coming along! Since this photo was taken, all three missing blocks have been finished. Dixie is busy completing the top and then Connie L will quilt it. Cute, isn't it? Ami Simms graciously gave us her written permission to use her Dog-Yeared quilt pattern to raise money for Project Linus. You can see her pattern on her website -- check it out! Sew Sassy will display the quilt in their window starting in January. Be sure to buy a raffle ticket!
The Committee also put together a bunch of Happy House blocks at the June worknight. Soon we'll make these into a quilt.
The house blocks have some quick corners, so we stitched the leftovers together to make some half square triangles. Waste not, want not!

Three more Camp Coco quilts

We're so pleased to see the Camp Coco quilts come in! There's a need for all kinds of quilts all the time, but at this time of year the Central Illinois region is also collecting outdoorsy quilts to give to the children at Camp Coco. Thank you to everyone who has donated a Coco quilt. We will be collecting them through the business meeting on June 14.

Lorraine G made this very creative quilt! Do click on the photo to get a closer look at the frogs and trees and other delightful things she stitched into this quilt. It's a real treasure. Thank you, Lorraine!
Debbie D-W chose a lizard fabric as the focus for this Camp Coco quilt. It's bright and lively and lots of fun!
Here's a close-up of one of the red stripes she has on the back. Her quilting outlined the leaves and lizards on the front of the fabric and it makes for a very interesting back. I'm sure the child who receives this quilt will enjoy the back as well as the front. Thank you, Debbie.

Donna R made this adorable quilt with crazy trees and cute bears.

The back is woodsy, too -- she pieced it from several fabrics featuring different kinds of woodland animals. Thank you so much, Donna!

Camp Coco quilts from Marge P

Marge has been really busy lately! Not only does she label all the guild's Linus quilts (plus other Linus quilts donated by others who aren't in the guild), but she has made FOUR quilts for Camp Coco! Each one is different, too. You can click on the photos to enlarge them so you can take a closer look at the outdoorsy fabrics. Thanks so much, Marge. There will be four very happy kids this summer!

Strippy quilt

Martha A quilted pieced some cut animal strips together for this charming quilt.

Thanks, Martha!

Happy Houses for June 7 work night

Lately we've been working on group projects at Sew Sassy work nights and it's been great fun! I thought I'd give you a preview of coming attractions in case you'd like to join us!

We're going to be making house blocks on June 7. The idea came from the quilts Barbara J. Eikmeier sews with kids. She demonstrated butterfly and house blocks on Simply Quilts and put the instructions on the HGTV website. The only difference in these blocks is that we're putting a person or animal in the doorway of each house instead of making a door out of the roof fabric. I love the ballons in the sky in this block -- do you suppose this guy is happy because it's his birthday?

Every block will be different. We have some nighttime skies, some with sun, some with fluffy clouds. The grasses are a variety of greens, and the houses are, well, wild! If you'd like to make some blocks to contribute, click the HGTV link above for directions. The cutting directions are a little confusing because the pieces are labeled A,B,C, etc., instead of "house," "sky," or "grass," so I'll give you my notes to help you get started:

Fabric A - Roof and Door*
one 4-1/2" x 12-1/2" rectangle (roof)
one 2-1/2" x 4-1/2" rectangle (*door -- but we're fussy cutting people or animals)

Fabric B - Sky
two 4-1/2" squares

Fabric C - House
two 5-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles
one 2-1/2" square

Fabric D - Grass
one 2-1/2" x 12-1/2" rectangle

The block finishes at 12" square (12-1/2" with seam allowances).

Have fun! We hope to see you at the work night. We'll also have string blocks to make and you can always work on one of our kits or bring your own project if you prefer. See you there!

Coco quilts from Gramma Bunny

Gramma Bunny made four more quilts for Camp Coco! Each one is unique, and she puts a little note on the label of each quilt. This is a very colorful one with outdoorsy-themed fabrics. Remember, if you want to look closely at the fabrics, you can always click on a photo to enlarge it.This one ... ribbitt! ... has lots of frogs.
This one is outdoors surfing style.
And this one is bears in the woods.
Thank you, Gramma Bunny!