Saturday, November 20, 2010

So many strippies!

We have made so many wonderful Quick Strippie quilts using Mary's pattern (see sidebar). Here are the highlights from the many quilts of this type we donated over several months. A bright and happy fish quilt!

And for the rest, just closeups so you ca see the fabric choices. Here's a wild animal quilt.
Fun in the skies.
Let's go to the circus!
Meow!
And more circus fun.
Monkeys playing.
Dogs galore!
Lady bugs in the dandelions -- an outdoor quilt for Camp Coco.
Sponge Bob Squarepants.

More great quilts from panels

This wonderful alphabet panel has been jazzed up with an amazing border -- easy to make with large half-square triangles.
Another very cute quilt cut from a panel.
For all the sports fans out there.
Old McDonald had a farm ... and a great quilt, too!
Another alphabet quilt featuring animals -- very cute!
Cat and dog chefs -- it doesn't get much cuter than that...
...though teddy bears and bunny rabbits are pretty adorable, too.
Love the old fashioned rag dolls.

Start with some squares

So many fun ways to set squares in a quilt! A little sashing can set off sections.
A border print on either end adds something special to this squares quilt.
Great big novelty squares make a fun quilt.
Subtle pastel flowers on baby flannel make a snuggly quilt.

Try a new technique!

Linus quilts provide a wonderful opportunity for you to expand your quilting skills! Try a new technique, work with a different set of colors, make something a little different and see how you like it. Stacking, slicing and rearranging blocks makes for a very fun quilt -- give it a try! This one uses sports fabrics.
If you've always wanted to try bargello or a trip around the world, a Linus quilt is a much-appreciated way to test out the technique.
Want to see how you feel about making wonky log cabins? Pull out your scraps and try! This is a great block to make when working with a group -- if things get a little off, it's ok, and all blocks can be trimmed to the exact same size without ruining the design.
One guild member took a quilting class from Ami Simms and decided to learn the technique using strings of animal fabrics that had been donated to Linus. A fun quilt was the result!

Trucks and cars

Some kids are fascinated by trucks and cars, and these quilts are made for them.
Here's a closeup -- this one has lots of construction vehicles and also tools! A double winner!
Race cars!

And a closeup of the fabrics usedin another race car quilt.
And of course, a quilt with the king of trucks -- a fire engine!!

Friday, November 19, 2010

The Great Outdoors

Kids love being outside! It's easy to celebrate the great outdoors in your quilts when you do what these quilters did and rely on printed panels.

Sometimes the outdoors means bears in the wilderness...
...or all sorts of woodland wildlife.
Sometimes these critters seem cute and whimsical. Imagine them by a pond...
...or in the flowers and grass.
Being outdoors means working in the garden...
...or enjoying the harvest!

A variety of patterns

If there's a design you love, why not use it to make a quilt for Project Linus? Grandma Bunny made this lively zig zag quilt using a pattern she found on the Bee Square Blog. It's such an easy way to do zig-zags with NO TRIANGLES!! You can follow Bee Square's instructions to make one of these snazzy quilts for Project Linus by clicking HERE.
Here's a cute Stretched Stars quilt -- look at the clever way the stars were extended into the four-patch border.
Someone donated a Puzzle Quilt kit to Project Linus and one of our wonderful volunteers who had always wanted to make one put this quilt together.
This two-tone pattern looks complicated, but it's not -- you can strip piece some of the blocks and cut them into squares. Think of how many different ways this quilt could look using different fabrics!
Marge, who for years was our chief blanket labeler, also makes adorable quilts for Linus. She loved the balloon fabric, and used it to border a quilt feature brightly colored dogs...
... and then she gave equal time to cats in this quilt!

More Easy Squares Quilts

The Easy Squares quilts are one of our standbys. They are just squares with an inner border strip -- sometimes we put an outer border,too, like in the one below.
This one doesn't have the outer border, but the binding uses the same fabric as the inner border.
This Easy Squares quilt has a musical theme in the print fabric ...

... but to keep the solid blocks from being outdone, our wonderful quilter Joe used a contrasting thread to quilt some musical symbols.
And a couple more Easy Squares quilts.