Stars and rain

Three more blankets came in at the last guild meeting. (The photo of one was fuzzy, so I'll take another and post that later.) One was this very cute panel quilt of a duck in the rain made by Sue K. The pictures are adorable, and her quilting really highlights the rain and the clouds. A lucky child will have fun looking at the quilting design on the back as well as the front of this one.

Martha O finished this oh-so-soft fleece that she started at the last Sew Sassy work night. It's bright and cheery, and just so wonderful to touch.

Make a Blanket Day!

The problem with February is the weather. We had a one-day snowstorm that kept guild members from attending the festivities at Hickory Point Mall in Forsyth. That meant we couldn't vote for Boo Boo Kids quilts. Nonetheless, Debbi D won second place in the judged category! Congratulations, Debbi! You can see her entry in an earlier posting (click on the underlined words to go there).

There were about 6 people who made it to Sew Sassy, where they were treated to pizza and stitched away. They finished ALL the blocks to make a heartstring quilt! You may remember how they started from an earlier posting. Here are a few blocks laid out. We'll post the finished quilt when it's done.

In addition to the heartstrings blocks, participants pieced several quilt tops. Way to go!

Great new pattern!

Marian donated two quilts from a simple pattern that looks stunning when complete. There's a solid background with stripes that are pieced on the slant. Her binding uses a mixture of the print fabrics. The quilts look brighter in person than I photographed them, sorry.


Another cute quilt from Marian! Simple 9-patches in bright fabrics make a quilt any child would want. The black binding with white dots sets the quilt off nicely. (Clicking on any photo to enlarge it lets you see it better.) Thank you, Marian, for great quilts with super design and workmanship!

Child friendly rail fence

Donna R made a lively rail fence quilt for Make A Blanket Day. One children's novelty print and three other bright fabrics make a lovely quilt! She used a variety of fabrics in the binding to make it interesting.

Teddy Bear flannel blanket

We always seem to have kits that are complete except for quilting, and so we're very grateful when people take a kit to finish up. Kim L took this heart-studded teddy bear flannel and quilted and bound it. Cute and warm! Thank you, Kim.

Easy Squares

I received so many blankets and gave out so many kits at the last guild meeting that I don't remember who turned in this lovely quilt made from one of our kits. She did a beautiful job -- the zig zag style quilting is really nice.This one deserves a close-up! You can see the zig zags but also the heart embroidered in one square. (Remember, you can always click on a photo to enlarge it.) It's these extra touches that make our quilts really special. Please, if anyone knows who made this quilt, let me know. Thank you so much!

Four fine fleece

Debbie D-W donated four beautifully stitched fleece blankets. The first is really wild and fun:
The next one will probably appeal to a teenager:
This one is more sedate, though every bit as cuddly:
And this has wonderfully bold graphics in the squares:
Thanks, Debbie!

More Boo Boo Kids quilts

We got three more wonderful Boo Boo Kids quilts tonight! Donna R made this absolutely wonderful one with the Boo Boo Kid crossing the moat to a castle. The dragons in the border are terrific, too.Marge P, who is Debbi D's mom, made this Road to Recovery quilt with all the things needed to get well, including chicken soup! Click on the photo to see the detail. Marge one first place in the Boo Boo Kids challenge last year.
UPDATE: Debbi's quilt just won 2nd place judged at Make A Blanket Day. Congratulations! This is Debbi D's darling entry. It's just so cute and bright! The black and white look like checkerboard fabric, but they are a pieced checkerboard. So cute!
Good luck to all our Guild members who have entered Boo Boo Kids quilts in this year's challenge. They are all winners just for making one!

Strips and strings

String quilts are a great way to use up odds and ends of fabric. Since our Linus quilts rely on donations, we try not to waste anything. All the extras get cut into squares or strips.

We have 24 muslin squares, each with a bright red strip down the center. Volunteers at Sew Sassy on Make A Blanket Day will fill the blocks up with lots of bright fabrics!

If you have any strips to donate, we'd love to have them!

String quilts can be made with complete randomness in the placing of the strings, but having the same color strip down the center of each block opens lots of design possibilities. One simple layout is a diamond shape like the one in this photo. The Heartstrings website has complete directions for making blocks as well as photos of several design possibilities, including their wonderful string heart. Quiltville has a complete string quilt primer that includes photos of several quilts. The Heartstrings group makes these quilts to donate, and we think their idea is great for Linus quilts.

Three more quilts!

Diane M always makes such lovely quilts for Linus. Here's her latest donation.

This blanket is from a very soft Spiderman fleece donated to Linus. Karen O, who is not a member of the guild but is a faithful participant at Sew Sassy worknights, braided the borders of this kit.

Mary M put together this balloon panel kit and did a very creative quilting stitch in the red borders.

Diane L brought in 11 quilts!

I just couldn't believe that someone came to the Sew Sassy work night with ELEVEN quilts! But that's what Diane did. She said some were "just" simple panels and one was a kit, but they are all lovely. Thank you, Diane!

She brought in 4 cute Raggedy Ann panels (individualized by different bindings) ...

3 "Animal Crackers" Arks that started as panels ...

a flannel cow baby quilt that has some zing from its zig zag quilting ...

a cozy little quilt covered with blue dogs...

and this charming purple dinosaur quilt.

She also brought in a bright nine patch quilted by Colleen J.

Here's a close-up of Colleen's trains and cars in the quilting: