Friday, May 17, 2013

A Tale of Two Finishes


I've finished my quilt for Hand2Help Charity Challenge that I promised for Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo. 



As a side challenge I've challenged myself to see how many donation quilts I can make from my scraps. This quilt used most of my purple scraps.   I first made crumb blocks and then made them into Puss in the Corner blocks.  I decided to use my purple scraps for Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo because that was my mom's favorite color.  She died of breast cancer and while she was in hospice she raved on and on about the purple quilts she had on her bed.   My mom was a drunk and rarely showed that she cared much about anything but she couldn't say enough about how she loved the purple quilts they put on her bed.  Hopefully this purple crumb quilt will give some comfort to someone. 


I quilted it on my DSM with some swirls.  You never know if you can do something until you try. I tried and I guess the swirls don't look too bad as done by an old lady with shaky hands and bad eyesight.



There's all kids of whimsy in the quilt and for a bit of fun I actually put some pusses in the corners of the Puss in Corner blocks. See them? 



I'm not sure how the chocolate chip got into the quilt. Doesn't look purple to me! 

This quilt will go to Quilts Beyond Borders.   It is also a charity sponsored by H2H Charity Quilt Challenge but I don't think I'm going to get this one mailed off by the H2H deadline because I will probably have 3 ready to mail before long and also Sunshine Online Quilt Guild also sponsors Quilts Beyond Borders and Wrap a Smile so I will be sending to both charities the rest of the year. 


This quilt used my green scraps that I made into Bear Track blocks with muslin background.  

Again I quilted it on my DSM but this time just did some loop-de-loops which was a little easier for me to do it seems. 

But, aaargggghhhh...this was my first time doing machine binding. I don't really like the looks of machine binding and actually like to do hand binding.   I'm not really proud of my first attempt. I sewed to the back first and pulled to the front.   One thing I forgot to do was to cut front,back and batting evenly. I'm used to leaving about 1/4 inch of batting and backing all around when I attach the binding to the front of the quilt....Doesn't work very well when you sew to back of quilt and pull to front!!!!!   Anyway, I zigzagged around twice and put through the washer and dryer and it all held together just fine so I guess it will be okay. I think that binding fabric has been around here since the 70s so it finally got put to good use. 

So, do you think I can get a Whoop, Whoop???   Others are whooping it up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Go check out why. 

And, I've finished things up just in time for Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts. 

7 comments:

Quilty Conscience said...

I think your Puss in the Corner quilt is very cheerful. I'm sure it will brighten someones days. Great way to use your scraps! Toni

Anonymous said...

Love the leaves. Great fabric, colour and pattern choice.

Anonymous said...

Cathy, I think you should get double hugs for making such beautiful quilts for charity. In the four years I have been reading blogs, some charity quilts were.....well....lets just leave it at that.
blessings, jill

Karen said...

Great H2H quilts. An awesome way to use your scraps.

Carol said...

Lovely quilts. I know donated quilts all require the machine binding but I'm with you...I just don't like doing it.

Sarah Craig said...

Yes, you get a whoop whoop for two fabulous quilts!! I really love your purple Puss In The Corner quilt - such a great use of scraps! And the green quilt really sings to me - my favorite color. Keep trying with the machine stitched binding - it gets easier with practice and is definitely easier if you trim the quilt first. It holds up so much better for charity quilts...

April said...

Great job!! You did great on the swirls! and everyone needs a little chocolate chip even if it's not purple. :) You did a wonderful job, love them both!