Ten Small Tops

 

5 Small Quilt Tops

A few weeks ago the Wrap-A-Smile coordinator sent out a plea for 40-50 "smalls".

"Hope y’all can help! I’m still on the outlook for even more very small, very light-weight children’s quilts for WAS. During the past year I have received an amazing number of gorgeous, beautiful quilts but the majority have been larger and heavier. Rotaplast treats a variety of ages and they need me to pack a mix of sizes. Plus they have weight restrictions on the supply boxes that go by air for the medical missions.
I would love to receive 40-50 “smalls” (36 x 45-ish) by the end of the year. "...Ann

 I usually make my quilts for them in the 40 x 50-60 range and have a lot of those ready to send and in the quilting pile but don't have any "smalls". I was tempted to make up some small Strippies but since the theme in my sewing space last month was " loose ends" I decided to see what I could quickly make from all the bits and bobs and loose ends that have come my way.

5 Small Quilt Tops

I will give more details on each quilt in future posts after they are finished.

Wrap-A-Smile partners with   Rotaplast International, Inc.

"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. Working with local professionals, Rotarians, and other organizations, Rotaplast sends multidisciplinary medical teams to provide freely reconstructive surgery, ancillary treatment, and training for the comprehensive care of these children." Wrap-A-Smile provides each child undergoing surgery with a quilt. 

So this month I have two themes in my sewing space - "smalls" and "neutrals". 

Three Little Finishes

Three Litle Finishes

Little Baskets

36 x 36

Cindy sent me this one last year along with the backing and binding and thread. All I needed to do was add batting and quilt! 

Look at all the sweet fabrics. One has a little fairy in it. 

And there's a little fairy in another basket.  I quilted it with three petaled flowers on my sewing machine in light pink thread. 

I had to give this one the Dawn and hot water soak. The purple border fabric bled into the muslin in places but I think it's all fixed now. 

Blue and Yellow Squares

40 x 48

I made the top last year after someone sent me some 4.5 inch squares. A lot of them were blues and yellows. After adding in a few yellow squares of my own I made this top last year. 

This year I finished it by quilting on the diagonals. I used a piece of navy blue gingham for the binding. 

Two backs. 

The floral is the back of the Little Baskets.

The blue Cheater Cloth Log Cabin is the back of the Blue and Yellow Squares quilt. 

Surf and Turf

44 x 52

This is one of several quilts I made back in 2023 after someone gave me a box of fishy fabrics. I had a few of my own. 

In this quilt I added some sand I had on hand.   

The squares in the quilt are 8.5 inches. 

I quilted it with swirls in a variegated blue thread.   I didn't notice until I hung it on the line that the blue in the sandy areas is not the result of blue variegated thread but the result of the backing bleeding through to the front in places. 

Now I guess this one needs a Dawn/hot water bath. 

The binding is a sandy color all around. 

The bleeding back - a batik with frogs on blue and a little piece of blue with white flowers. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

REMEMBER, TREASURE, GROW, READ (my words of the year)

I've started winter sowing some seeds...

The first batch...five different kinds of milkweed, a couple of different kinds of sea holly, a couple of different kinds of blazing star, a mix of columbine, bottle gentian, aconite, obedient plant and ironweed.  Most of these seeds need a period of cold stratification. 

In past years I have winter sown in milk jugs, gallon baggies and small pots covered in plastic.  This year I'm trying a new method in addition to my old methods- larger pots covered in shower caps. I've had the pots stored in the barn for a long time so might as well put them to use. I bought the clear disposable shower caps on line last year. I think I bought 100 of them for $8.  I just had to put slits in the shower caps so rain or snow can get into the pot. 

I will be planting several more batches and then there are seeds I start inside under lights in a corner of my sewing space. 

And sow on...

A Couple Of Crumby Tops

Two Crumb Quilt Tops

44 x 59

Someone gave me a bunch of crumb blocks that finish at 9.5 inches. 

Someone else gave me....

...some striped strips cut at 2.5 inches. 

Instead of putting these blocks away for another day I thought it would be nice mindless sewing to make a couple of tops in between gardening, housework and hubby's physical therapy exercises I help him with several times a day. 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

May 16 - I finally have everything planted in my veg garden! I have potatoes, onions, cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli, two different beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers, snow peas, shelling peas, lettuce, mustard greens, radishes, spinach, kohlrabi, watermelon, cantaloupe, 4 different types of winter squash, and several different varieties of tomatoes and peppers I started from seed.  There are permanent places in the garden for asparagus, rhubarb and strawberries. Since hubby is on a feeding tube for his nutrition  and won't be able to eat anything I cut down on the quantity of seeds and plants and since I now have extra veg garden space I planted my flowers that have to be dug up in the autumn (dahlias and gladiolis) and Sunflowers in those extra spaces. Hubby used to help me with planting the veg garden but he is too weak to do so this year so I did it all myself. One thing about that...I work the beds by hand and don't stir up the earth more than necessary and hubby likes to till. I keep trying to  convince him that tilling brings up weed seeds. So now I'm looking forward to doing a little less weeding in the veg garden. And now I  can concentrate on my cuttting garden, cottage garden and native wildflower garden.  And sow on...

 

And Now For The Rest Of The Story

A quilt full of flowers and butterflies that I made now belongs to a girl with a big smile who just underwent surgery in Medellin, Colombia! 

I made the quilt back in 2019  and donated it to Wrap-A-Smile.  

Wrap-A-Smile partners with Rotaplast, International to provide quilts to children undergoing cleft lip and cleft palate surgeries. 

Rotaplast also has a Facebook page and that is where the photo was found. I'm not on Facebook; however, the page is public so I could see the photo. 

Unfortunately, when the pandemic hit the Rotaplast surgical missions were cancelled for a couple of years so all the quilts planned for those missions like the one I made in 2019 stayed in storage for awhile. Wrap-A-Smile also quit accepting quilts for awhile when the missions were cancelled but now are back in business. 

And now that Wrap-A-Smile is accepting quilts again I have 20 quilts I hope to get boxed up and shipped off within the next couple of weeks. FYI - I have found Pirate Ship an economical way to ship. I wonder where they will end up!  

And sew on...

*****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

May 14 - I received a 25 lb. box of crumb blocks, orphan blocks, fat quarters and other fabrics and batting. I have plans to make 3 crumb quilts for kids asap. 

Today, May 15 - Hubby, John, had a CT scan a couple of weeks ago and had an appointment this morning with his pulmonologist to go over the results. GOOD NEWS! The doctor showed us the scan from October when he was in the hospital with aspiration pneumonia and one from January and the current one. He showed us on the current scan that the fluid is gone and lungs have healed up as much as they can. He still has bronchiectasis and uses a nebulizer and has some problems breathing but he can walk without a walker now and is not on oxygen and a few months ago he was on oxygen, could not get up out of a chair and had to walk with a walker! Pulmonologist told him to keep doing what he is doing and come back in November! Root cause of most of John's health issues stems from oropharyngeal cancer and all the radiation he had over 20 years ago. He can no longer swallow so gets his nutrition via feeding tube and pump. When he could not swallow very well he was aspirating most everything he tried to swallow. Then they put in feeding tube and he was still aspirating bolus feedings. Aspiration led to aspiration pnuemonia and inability to swallow and eat anything before feeding tube led to weakness and malnutrition. Now that he no longer aspirates and lung damage is healed and he is getting nutrition and gaining weight with enteral feeding and doing physical therapy exercises he is getting healthier every day!!! (Oh, and he has a good wife that helps him out too!)

And guess what...another celebration...today I found a four leaf clover when I was weeding. Lucky me! I am pressing it to save. This is from a red clover (trifolium pratense). I've never found one from a red clover. In the past I have found four leaf white clover (trifolium repens). In the middle ages it was believed by some Celtic groups tthat wielding a four leaf clover would help you see fairies and ward off evil spirits and grant the holder good luck.  I just looked down and immediately spotted it. I was already thinking that I'm a pretty lucky person so now I'm wondering what the future holds!

 

Special Delivery

30 Quilts

in bundles of 5

I will be handing them off this afternoon to Elise with Fostering Crossroads. 

Only about 1/3 of these are from last month's quilting marathon. The rest were finished last year. I am still going to mail about the same amount of quilts in small batches over the next few months to a coordinator for both Wrap-A-Smile and Quilts Beyond Borders.   And I am making more. 

And sew on...

***

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

April 7 - After the rain stopped, the winds died down a little and the sun came out I walked out to see what was new in the gardens. I spotted my first butterfly of the season - a Red Admiral (Vanessa Atalanta). I couldn't believe it. It seems a bit early for butterflies but I did a little research on them in Iowa and found they do start to appear in early April. I didn't have my camera with me but here's a link to Iowa State University and some basic info on Red Admirals if you are interested.

April 8 - Quilt delivery!

 

Animal Crackers

Animal Crackers

30 Patches

40 x 60

They are finished! 

I actually started making these blocks in September 2020.  I used small animal prints and solids. 

Back in my September post I wrote: "I was inspired by Gretchen's (Gretchen's Little Corner) quilt she called Modern Amish and by Nann's (With Strings Attached) 30 patch quilt. Both quilts were inspired by a quilt called Sound Check by John Kubiniec (McCall's, March/April 2014). "

I quilted one with vertical and horizontal lines. 

And the other was quilted with diagonal lines. 

The backs have animals too. 

The theme this month in my sewing space is March Madness (Quilting) Marathon.  I'm going to concentrate on finishing up a lot of the small tops I have in the TBQ (to be quilted) pile.  They will then be donated to:

Fostering Crossroads

Wrap - A -Smile 

Quilts Beyond Borders

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

***

CELEBRATE! (My word of the year)

March 28 - Seeds. Plant them. Be witness to a miracle. Life.

 

Seven So Far

Seven Little Monkey Wrench Tops

For a couple of years I made three different sizes of Monkey Wrench blocks from scraps as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project with the intent to make donation quilts.  It is always fun to see how many quilts I can get from a pile of blocks. 

This week I worked with the pile of 10 inch (finished) blocks and made 7 tops. If I make a few more brown blocks I can make a brown top and if I make a few more multicolor on black blocks I can make another top.  Then I have a few oddball orphan blocks I will combine with other orphans later in the year. 

All Blues

40 x 60

and

Purple/Lime Green

40 x 50

All Greens

40 x 60

Warm Colors

40 x 50

Orange and Pink

40 x 50

Cool Colors

40 x 50

Pastels

40 x 40

And sew on...

*******

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Feb. 18 - I finally got around to cleaning off my ironing board so I could iron the Monkey Wrench tops and so I can iron some backs I have ready for other quilts I want to get quilted next month when I have a little quilting marathon.  Before cleaning I barely had enough space to iron a six inch block. 

 

A Fishing Trip and Surf and Turf

Fishing Trip

42 x 54

I'm still using fish fabric - some given to me and some I had on hand. I've been trying to get to the end of it but those fish seem to multiply. This is quilt top #5.   It's a Fishing Trip Around The World with 6.5 inch squares. 

I had to add some "water" to the mix. 

Surf and Turf

44 x 52

Surf is full of 8.5 inch fish squares and...

...turf is full of sandy beach 8.5 inch squares. 

I still have some fish fabric left. 

Anyone for fish and chips? 😀

And sew on...

*****

CELEBRATE! (my word of the year)

Jan. 23 -a box of scraps from a friend arrived on my door step! Oh, the makes I can make!

(They weren't all small. There were a couple of big pieces in there too. I don't think I saw any fish, though!)