A Quilt on a Mission

 I spied a quilt I made the other day in a Rotaplast post about their latest mission in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Being geographically challenged I had to look up that location on a map and found it is 8,164 miles from my home in Long Grove, Iowa.  

Rotaplast International, Inc. is committed to helping children and families worldwide by eliminating the burden of cleft lip and/or palate, burn scarring, and other deformities.  Wrap-a-Smile, a Rotaplast partner, provides quilts for the patients treated on the missions. 

Here's an excerpt from a letter about our quilts from a nurse who worked on several Rotaplast missions: 

"These hospitals we work in have NO linens at all, let alone on the OR tables or recovery rooms or wards. We use these quilts first to wrap each child in as they wait for surgery. It truly comforts them, no matter what age. Then, as they are moved to the OR, we use the quilt to cover them and keep them warm in surgery. This is actually critical to anesthesia and post-op healing. Warmth is critical!

At home we use electric warmers called Bear Huggers. On missions we use your quilts. But – we are very careful to protect the quilts from blood splashes during the IV start and surgery.

Then, as the patients are moved to recovery room, the quilts are a crucial part of the caring, medical equipment, and patient comfort. Again, if patients are not warmed, they do NOT do as well post-op. We cover them in PACU (recovery) again, being careful not to let blood or body fluids touch the beautiful quilts..."

Anyway...the quilt in that operating room was a Wonky Log quilt I made back in 2017 and I was thrilled to see it in use. 

I recently used a few scraps left over from the kite fabric used as the Wonky Log block centers in some  low volume Bright Hopes blocks. When that quilt is finished it will be for me and I'll think of a patient somewhere in Myanmar whenever I see it.



UPDATE JULY 31:

There is now another  Rotaplast post about the little boy named Aung who has this quilt!

Just one more thing...

Sunshine Online Quilt Guild members make quilts for kids around the world. We donate to two programs: Wrap a Smile and Quilts Beyond Borders. Quilts go to kids, teens, and adults undergoing cleft palate surgery and to under-served children, often in orphanages, worldwide.

Please join us if you enjoy making quilts for children in need.

It's a Flimsy! Crazy Ladies of the Lake

 It's a flimsy!

Crazy Ladies of the Lake

90 x 90

 I made a few of these ten inch blocks each month from scraps from October 2016 - July 2018.  It was a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project so I used light and dark scraps in the color of the month or scraps in the color of the month plus another. 

 Most of the 6.5 inch center HST parts were left over from making a basket quilt several years ago and the 2.5 inch side HSTs came from the 2.5 inch scrap box.  The 2.5 inch scraps determined how many blocks would get made each month. Sometimes I hardly had any scraps in the color of the month and barely could make one. Other months I ended up with several blocks. 

 When I start making blocks I usually don't know the size of the quilt I'll end up with or how many blocks I'll need. I just make blocks.  I like looking through scraps and combining colors and making blocks. 

 In this case I decided 81 blocks was enough.  And then they sat around for awhile taking up space. I loved the individual blocks but feared I would not be able to combine them into a quilt top without looking like a jumbled mess.   Several times I got the blocks out and looked at them and put them back in the box afraid I would be so disappointed if I sewed them all together. 

 Then one day I told myself to stop procrastinating and just do it. 

So I did! 

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

3256 Triangles

When I made my July One Monthly Goal I posed the question: How many triangles does it take to make a quilt?   I've done a little math and now know the answer for my quilt is 3256. That is 44 rows of 74 triangles and a quilt that will measure 84 x 88.  I started making the triangle units back in November 2016 as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project to use 2.5 inch scraps and made them throughout 2016 and 2017 following a tutorial on Molly Flanders blog. 

 I quit making those little units when I thought I had enough for a quilt. I had no idea how many units I had. I hadn't counted as I went along. Anyway...my July OMG was to sew those triangle units into rows that consisted of 36 triangle units and empty the box. 

 My goals was accomplished. I now have an empty box. I actually filled it back up again after I emptied it and then emptied it again. 

 After I sewed the box of units together I only had 25 rows and I wanted 44. So I cut and made more triangle units from the 2.5 inch scrap bin and scrap chunks I cut into 2.5 inch pieces. 

So now I have 44 rows and more than completed my July OMG so time to link up to: 

One Monthly Goal (OMG) at Elm Street Quilts

And now I've been sewing those rows together so maybe in August I'll have a completed top.  But it's pretty time consuming matching and pinning all those triangle points. 12 rows sewn together only 32 more to go! 

Milquetoast

Traditional block is Bright Hopes. 

I've been making them from a small box of low volume scraps and now have 324 of them. 

Most of those scraps are now gone except for the white on white (WOW) fabrics because I've been using them as Garlic Knot backgrounds. 

I've been making a few each morning before I head out to weed the flower and veggie gardens and then I iron and count them when I get a big stack of blocks made.  I'm always pleasantly surprised when I take count.  I hardly ever cut all my pieces before I start a quilt...I cut some, then sew some, cut some, then sew some. 

When I first started making them I had no idea what size quilt all those scraps would make and figured out how many blocks were needed for two different sizes of quits. It just dawned on me as I was writing this post that my math was based on a four inch finished block and these blocks finish at 4.5 inches. So,  I just quickly did some calculations based on the 4.5 inch block. Good news...361 blocks will make a quilt 85.5 x 85.5. Although I don't really like square quilts they do work fine on my bed.  Now I only need 37 more blocks.  

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Moving it Forward Monday at Em's Scrapbag

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

The Pink Kitty Litters

The kitten has a luxurious, Bohemian, unpuritanical nature. It eats six meals a day, plays furiously with a toy mouse and a piece of rope, and suddenly falls into a deep sleep whenever the fit takes it. It never feels the necessity to do anything to justify its existence; it does not want to be a Good Citizen; it has never heard of Service. It knows that it is beautiful and delightful, and it considers that a sufficient contribution to the general good. And in return for its beauty and charm it expects fish, meat, and vegetables, a comfortable bed, a chair by the grate fire, and endless petting.
                                       ~ Robertson Davies

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

It's a Flimsy! Chocolate Swirls

 Chocolate Swirls

78 x 84

It's a flimsy! 

 The block is Cogwheel aka Rising Sun.  The fabrics are all from stash -- chocolate novelties and reds and whites/creams. 

I will probably hand quilt this one next year. 

And then I'll be able to cover myself in chocolate. 

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

All Creatures Great and Small

All Creatures Great and Small Hexagons

With this latest batch I now have about 120 hexies. When I started making them I had no idea how many I wanted. I'm now tired of making them and have used most of my critter fabrics so maybe it's time to start sewing them together.  

For English Paper Piecing (EPP) I've reused old papers removed from a hexie quilt I made in the past and I've drawn new hexies and hexie parts on  graph paper generated at Incompetech.  

In the Pink!

Wishing Rings that finish at 3.5 inches. 

(Blocks are also called Church Window Hexagon Variation, Buttons, Doughnuts) 

Cut and weed. Sew and weed. Cut and weed. Sew and weed. And repeat. 

 This week in between garden weeding I dug into my pink scraps and managed to complete most but not all of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks. 

 Four inch Double X Variation and Snowballs inspired by a vintage quilt. 

 Wedding Rings that finish at 7.5 inches. 

(Also called Single Wedding Ring, Odd Scraps Patchwork and Crown of Thorns). 

 Six inch Sixteen Patches. 

 HRTs (2 x 4)

 3 inch Rails. 

 A couple of six inch Broken Dishes and a 12 inch 16-Patch Star. 

And a bunch of eight inch Garlic Knots (aka Arrowhead Puzzle). 

Rainbow Scrap Challenge ScrapHappy Saturday

Oh Joy!

 Oh joy! 

Carolina Chains is a flimsy. 

77 x 89.5

 I started it last year to use 2 inch scraps left over from making Fractured Rainbows (aka Totally Demented aka Garden Mosaic). 

 I used dark fabrics with light chains and light fabric with bright chains and Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Chain pattern. 

 I really like how it turned out and my 2 inch scrap bin is a whole lot lighter. 

 And

Oh Joy! The Daylilies are in bloom in the flower gardens. 

You didn't think I just sewed all day long, did you? 

The Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More