Story of the Friendship Quilt

I've wanted to post this quilt for some time because it's one of my favorite projects that my friends and I did several years ago. We had been meeting as a group for nearly three years when we decided it would be fun to do a block exchange. As a group we decided on a quilt theme and the color palette we wanted to use.

So, we got twelve of us to commit to making the twelve blocks each and then we set a date that we all thought we could finish it by. It was really fun when we finally got together to exchange the blocks. We had a couple of stragglers in the end but we ALL got them done! It was a really great accomplishment as a group to finish this kind of project!

After the block exchange I was so excited to sew the blocks together that I finished my quilt right away and it's been hanging on my sewing room wall for many years now. I get to look at it often and I'm reminded of the special times we shared as friends and how much quilting has brought us together.

Here are close-ups of some of the blocks. Blogger wouldn't let me upload the rest of the block pictures. I will try to add the other blocks later.

This block was made by Jean S.

This block was made by Diana M.

This block was made by Sandy H.

This block was made by me, Kim W.

This block was made by Rae Ann N.

Happy Quilt

I made the quilt top months and months ago and it got put on hold because of life but it's been nagging me to get down and I finally sat down and machine quilted it and put on the binding. Now it's ready for the label and to finally give away to the recipient.

I made two of these quilts for a couple of five year olds who were best friends in life and will always be best friends even now that one has passed away. I gave the first quilt to the mother along with a book of memories from the kids at church. It was very touching and I know the book will bring comfort in the years to come. The second quilt I made for the little friend who loved her so much and still speaks of her friend often.

The quilt label will have a picture of the two of them together in their dance costumes. The picture of them is just so precious!

Our Crazy Trip

Here's a picture of how our trip went! Pretty visual don't you think? She wore the barf bag around her neck most of the time we were in the car. Funny! I just had to get a picture!

It wasn't all a waste, just keep reading. During Spring Break we went south to Las Vegas, St. George, and Zion's National Park. We came home early since Kenna spent most of the time feeling car sick and when she wasn't feeling car sick she was feeling nauseous because she was always hungry.

We enjoyed the two shows we saw in Vegas but missed seeing Zion's National Park because we were tired of all the complaints and I'd been fighting a cold too. If you didn't know, McKenna has "GAD" which is Generalized Anxiety Disorder and sometimes it makes life more than difficult. She was conflicted the whole time and enjoyed things one minute and wanted to go home the next.

On our way to Zion's we stopped in St. George so my husband and son could get in some golfing while Kenna and I went shopping. I managed to visit one quilt shop called Lazy Daisy Cottage.

It was a cute shop and I was able to pick up some more Civil War Fabric by Marcus Brothers Textile Inc. The line of fabric is called "Charleston IV 1850-1865 from the collection of Judy Rothermel." They didn't have a big collection of Civil War Prints but I did pick up nine more to add to my stash.

I just couldn't resist the cute doll and the crocheted hat for my new grand daughter. Kora Belle is going to be 8 weeks old on Monday.

After golfing and shopping we drove an hour or so to Springdale which is located near the entrance to Zion's park. We had a nice dinner but things weren't looking good as far as seeing the park the next day. My husband was ready to drive home that night and it was late. I convinced him to let us sleep on it and see how Kenna was doing in the morning and sure enough she was ready to go home. So we packed it up and left. We had breakfast in Cedar City at IHOP and made it home before 2pm.

There's NO place like HOME!

Blogger Trouble

I came home from Spring Break ready to upload pictures but I keep getting internal errors from blogger. I'll try again later today and see if it'll work.

It's Spring Break!

It's spring break for the kids and I'm ready for a break! I just thought I'd let you know I'll be too busy relaxing and having fun not taking kids to school and working etc. Have a great week and I'll post this weekend. Happy Quilting!

ldsfabric.com

I stumbled across this website for those who have a need for lds novelty fabric. The fabric would be fun to use in pillowcases for baptisms or missionaries and I'm sure all of you creative women could come up with some fun projects. Here's just a few ideas: notebook covers, binder covers, headbands, pillowcases, bookmarks, gift bags, and of course quilts. They have a section called "Show and Tell" so if you make any projects with their fabric they'd be interested in your emails with pictures and a description of what you made. Sounds like fun.

I copied the following from their website for your information:

"About Us
LDSFabric.com is a family owned fabric business, owned and operated by Kathleen and Tom Jensen in Vancouver, Washington, USA. No, not Vancouver Canada! Vancouver, Washington USA - located right next to Portland Oregon (3 hours south of Seattle) in the wonderful Pacific Northwest."

"The Owner - Kathleen is a remarkable quilter with a great love for fabric and color. A mother of five, grandmother of two and husband of one (well sometimes Tom thinks she is married to Harry our dog as well!) All of Kathleen’s friends know she always has several projects in motion! Kathleen is eager to share her interest and skill - especially with the young women, whom she loves and serves and works with in the Church. "For quite some time I have looked forward to the time that we could start a business that could promote interest in fabric - especially among our youth and if possible, build faith while having fun! Everyone knows that quilting, sewing and fabric do-it-yourself projects have become so popular… And with the price of gas - more people appreciate the ease of web-searching from home - looking for that unique and special fabric or project. I am pleased to present LDSFabric.com". kathleen :) "

"Our Products – Many of our products specialize in religious prints for our Christian community. We have tried to offer a blend of product interest which will grow larger and larger with time. I anticipate that with time we will post more and more products that are conducive to our theme. As more designs are generated and more fabrics printed we will see our site grow and grow. Please return often to see what new products we have. We feel that the greatest compliment you could give us is a referral to your friends."

"Quilter’s Marketplace - One of the areas that we are eager to develop on our website is a “Quilter’s Marketplace” where our sisters can post their handmade quilts for sale at no cost and sell a quilt project that they have made. I have known many gifted sisters along the years that have expressed interest in marketing their talents but did not know of a safe and appropriate way to do so. Everyone needs a “safe harbor” and I feel that our "Quilter's Marketplace" will offer that. Any person is invited to post a quilt-project for sale and LDSFabric.com will be happy help the process absolutely free – no charge. Our hope is that this area will become a winning central market place for everyone interested in quilting."

"Our Blog – I am excited to see this Blog take shape... I have no idea where it is going to go! So many ideas, recipes, projects and Quilts to share... so much to say. May I invite you to jump into our Blog, check it out and feel free to comment."

I went to their website and it looks like all of the prints come in either 100% cotton or flannel. It is $6.60 a yard and the prints are also available in a jelly roll. They also have BYU Fabric in Cotton or Fleece. Check it out.

"Swell" Spring Table Runner

I just couldn't resist this grouping of fabric and decided to make a table runner for the Easter Holiday and Spring. The fabric line I used for my table runner is "Swell" by Urban Chics by Moda. I used Sixty 5" squares from two charm packs and some yardage for the back of the runner and the two larger fabric pieces at both ends. It measures over 105 inches in length and is 20 inches wide, that's 4 rows of 15 blocks. I also used a wide green rick rack to finish it off. I was going to use a traditional binding but because I only had a day to make it I just sewed up the edges and turned it right side out and used a curvy wavy stitch to machine quilt it. I think I'll have to make one for the 4th of July. There are some really cute patriotic charm packs out right now.

Here it is pictured on my dining room table but, I actually used it on my kitchen island where I served a buffet dinner for my family. We had about 33 people come for dinner. We had our children, their children, my dad and all of my siblings with their children and my brother-in-law along with his wife and their 3 kids too. Our family is sure getting bigger. Luckily we have a big enough house to hold all of them without too much trouble. We just haven't figured out how to keep all of the kids downstairs to maintain the noise level. LOL!

Baby Jane Blocks

I've wanted to make this quilt for some time now and when I saw that my friend, Nanette had signed up to make it I thought I would check into it as well. I was worried that it may be too late but, come to find out I was only 3 or 4 blocks behind and I knew that I could do it so, I signed up to make the Dear Jane Quilt on March 13th, 2008. I'm just now catching up and as of today the group has made 11 blocks and I've completed 8 of the 11 and have the 3 remaining blocks prepped and ready to applique. I should be caught up by tomorrow. I've also included pictures of the blocks I've made so far.

I chose to use Civil War prints since I have quite a few and that way I won't have to buy very much. Just some colors to fill in the blanks. So far I've found that I need more red, browns, and yellows. Also, I'm making it easy on myself and just keeping the color of each block as true to the original as possible. It won't look exactly the same but pretty close. I've really enjoyed expanding my techniques and using my experience to make these blocks. Don't get me wrong, I still make mistakes, like on K-7 Rose of Sharing. I'm in the process of remaking it. Can anyone figure out why? There is a reason and I'll tell you if I don't get any responses. LOL!

B-13 Four Corner Press

D-13 Field of Dreams

A-7 Dad's Plaid

A-6 Uncle Homer

B-3 Mirror Image

B-4 Chris's Soccer Field

M-10 Simple Simon

K-7 Rose of Sharing

My Favorite Star Quilt

I was going through some of my old quilt pictures and thought you might be interested in my sharing some of them from time to time.

I also thought this would be a fun quilt to show the Dear Baby Jane group since it uses 5" (unfinished) nine patch blocks like the one from Dear Baby Jane Quilt Block "Simple Simon" #M-10.

I made this quilt many years ago now and the nine patch blocks we made one year in our quilt group as a block exchange. We brought 21 of the same nine patch blocks and came home with 21 different nine patches each month. By the end of the 12 months we each had 252 blocks. This quilt uses just 60 blocks and I still have enough to make 2 or more quilts. If I could only find the time. I'm so into other things right now and I find it hard to go back and duplicate a quilt when I finally get it done. I'm always ready to just move on to another project.

Baby Bricks

This is a really fun and easy baby quilt and makes up pretty quick in comparison to other more complicated quilts. I made this baby quilt for a friend of mine who just had a little boy just 10 days ago. The label I made using fabric ink and a cute baby stamp I've had for years. I also used fabric ink to color in the stars and the baby.