Quilts for Peace ~ Dallas MQG

After the tragedy in Dallas, the Dallas MQG put out a call for Blue Heart Blocks.  The blocks will be made into quilts for the survivors and the deceased officers' families.  I took a break from my current project.  The first day I selected the fabrics from my stash.  I love having a good stash!  Then I did all the cutting,  The Dallas MQG asked that the blocks be 10.5 inches and follow Cluck Cluck Sews great tutorial.

Then yesterday, I sewed them all up, took some photos, and put them in the mail.

This tragedy, the wholesale killing of police officers, broke my heart.  My husband was an LAPD officer for 28.5 years.  He worked in the Watts area, home of the worse criminal gangs in the country.  I didn't worry about him, he was mature and well trained.  Worrying solves nothing.

I love being part of the wonderful quilting community.  They jump right in, whenever there's a need.

The other big quilt drive is Quilts for Pulse, in response to the killings in Orlando.  Next week, I'm sending the Orlando MQG this heart quilt.  I happened to make this a year and a half ago, just for the joy of making a quilt.  Now, it'll comfort a stranger.  That's what quilts are for.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt with HSTs

The LAQ, Janiel Miller, had three quilts back to me eons ago; my extra duties involved in being a caregiver make it difficult to just devote a chuck of time to creativity.  No complaint, just the facts.  I have decided to really try to get the binding on all three, before 2015 rolls around.

I'm really in love with this quilt, I spent some time "auditioning" fabric for the binding and settled on this warm gray diagonal strip from the Little Red Riding Hood line by Tasha Noel.  There are both warm and cool grays in the patchwork, and I thought this was a good choice.

Name of quilt:  Patchwork Heart Quilt with HSTs
Start date:  September 28, 2014
Finish date:  December 28,2014
Measurements:  48" x 48"

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt

 

When I purchased a FQ bundle of 1930's fabric, it just sat there, and sat there on the shelf .  I usually keep my quilts pretty modern and I wasn't inspired to use them.  After I finished the Patchwork Heart Memory Quilt for a little girl, I thought I'd make another using these FQs.  I'm really happy with the results.

I used a navy gingham check from the Dear Jane line by Brenda Papadakis.  I think it really adds to this quilt.

Name of quilt:  Patchwork Heart Quilt
Start date:  September 5, 2014
Finish date:  December 29,2014
Measurements:  48" x 48"

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Back with HSTs

For this quilt back I took all the leftover bits from making the quilt top, strung them together and put the panel in the middle of some Kona White.  I love making then using the leftover bits.

Here's the quilt top.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Top with HSTs

I finally feel like I know what I'm doing!  Yesterday, I got the center of this Heart Quilt completed; then I added the outer ring of patchwork to complete the 64 patch center block.  Then I started on the twelve 16 patch blocks needed to complete the quilt top.

Today, I finished up the outer blocks, spent some time arranging, then rearranging them, trying really, really hard to not have the same fabrics touching!  This afternoon I stitched the whole 49" x 49" quilt top together.

It's a bit breezy today, making photos extra fun.

May your bobbins always be full,

Heart Quilt Top, the slowness.

I finally found some sewing time, and started to work on this new quilt.  I decided to change it up a bit from the previous versions.  I wanted to make a new one, but not be bored or boring.  I'm really liking this so far.

These are the other two patchwork hearts I made for the centers of quilt tops.

May your bobbins always be full,

A New Patchwork Heart Quilt Top

I think I'm stuck in a rut, but I'm going for it!  I've decided to make one more Patchwork Heart Quilt.  Like the last one, it's for no one in particular!

These are the FQ fabrics I'm using:
Serenity Entwined Pearl, Ta Dot in Graphite, Triangle Tokens Metallic, Script Honeycomb, Zig Zag in Raspberry, and Bee Damask in Wine. Kona Cotton Solids in Snow, Coal, Ice Frappe, Curry, Pomegranate, and Crimson. Glimma Blueberry Kita, Glimma Fog Kita, Mormor Nopp Eggplant, Mormor Nopp Rubine, Mormo Trassel Mist, Mormor Trassel Myer Lemon, Mormor Blomster Mint, Glimma Dandelion Tove, Sweet Siesta Barcelona Pewter, Sweet Siesta Costa Del Sol Mint.

This is the B&W version, to help me select the darkest values.  I'm always surprised at how some of the colors "read".

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Back

I had a lot of fabric pieces leftover, all 3.5 inches wide but different lengths.  I used them to make 5 strips for the center of the quilt back.  

This is the quilt top.

Ben was my helper, today.  Frisco laid under the quilt ladder and barely raised his head when I asked if he wanted to help!

I started writing this post about noon, and I'm finishing up at 5:30 PM.  What took so long?  We had surprise visitors.  Both of my daughters and our grandson Oden.

Bob and Oden.

 Carrie, who lives in North Carolina, Sharon from Orange County and myself.

Now, these girls know how to surprise their parents!  We're having a heatwave, and our AC went out, so we all went to Chili's for an early dinner.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Top is finished

This quilt top took a little longer than I anticipated, for two reasons.  First I wrote a tutorial, as I went.  Second, my husband is ill, and we're trying to get a diagnosis, which involves a lot of time and appointments.  So far, the specialist think he has inoperable cancer, but we're waiting for a biopsy appointment to confirm and to specify which type of cancer.  I post about Bob on the family blog if you're interested.

Now, I need to piece the quilt back for this.

May your bobbins always be full,

Patchwork Heart Quilt Top progress

I'm making good progress on the new version of the Patchwork Heart Quilt Top.  I got the center 36 patch work done, then worked on the surrounding border.

Now, I have a 64 patchwork block, and I'm ready to put together the 12 sixteen patch blocks that will surround it, to finish the quilt top.

These are the strip sets I've put together for the sixteen patch blocks,  

Hope you had a great weekend, we did!

May your bobbins always be full,

Quilt Back for the Heart Quilt

I took pockets from Daddy's shirts and three colors of blue to make the quilt back.

The lightest blue isn't reading very well, but it is blue.

Ben came outside to supervise.  He's very bossy, but managed to control himself.

May your bobbins always be full,