Quilt for Laud

This is Laud's quilt.



In late 2011 a Facebook friend shared that one of her 3 year old twin boys was diagnosed with Leukemia. While prognosis is good, he still has to live in a city five hours away from most of his family, while he undergoes treatment. He is living in Winnepeg with his mom and newborn baby brother, while his other six brothers and sisters continue to live back at home. Not only does he have to go through chemotherapy, most of the time he's away from dad and the rest of the family too!



I decided I wanted to make a Laud a quilt. When I messaged Laud's mom about the quilt and asked what his interests were, she said he liked trains and cars. Pretty typical 3 year old stuff. Plus, my youngest nephew is the same age as Laud, just one month older. I got this one! I knew what Laud might like and just the right size to make. I had just completed this baby boy quilt, using Cluck Cluck Sew's Road Trip tutorial. A similar quilt would be perfect.

I went shopping in my stash and gathered the fabrics I wanted to use. I used similar fabrics to those in the first Road Trip quilt, but added Thomas the Train and Cars movie fabric that I found out in the back shed! (I forgot I had that... I really need to re-organize my fabric stash.) I brought all of my fabric selections with me to the February 2012 Austin Modern Quilt Guild retreat. The top went together very quickly on Saturday afternoon. Since I was using another Crate and Barrel Marimekko fabric for the backing, the quilt was sandwiched and pinned in no time. By the time I went to bed that night, I had quilted it and bound it. I love retreats!



Oh, I also sent a baby blanket for Laud's newest brother with his quilt. Four fat quarters with soft fabric on the back. Something simple and soft that baby can snuggle with.

If you want to read more about Laud's journey, you can check in at his Caring Bridge site.

If you are in International Falls on March 31st, there is a benefit for Laud to raise money for medical expenses at the International House of Bowling. Check out the facebook event for details!

Baby Boy Quilt

A friend is having a baby boy! Yesterday the mom-to-be's sister hosted a baby shower and I can finally reveal the quilt I made.



I followed Cluck Cluck Sew's Road Trip tutorial, expect I used 12 fabrics instead of 10. It was super easy to follow and could easily be modified for fat quarters instead of 1/8 yard fabric pieces.

For the back I used fabric I had in my stash, a brown/gold/burgundy/moss green Crate and Barrel fabric by Marimekko. I bought it in late 2011, on sale for about $4.95 per yard. Its slightly wider than standard quilting fabric, so I was able to use one piece for the back. I love the rich colors of the fabric!



Everything used in the quilt was what I had in my fabric stash. Is that a good thing... or a bad thing? Either way, it was fun shopping in my fabric closet! I received a half yard of froggy fabric during the Austin Modern Quilt Guild's December 2011 White Elephant Gift Exchange. I used the frogs as my inspiration. From there, I pulled in the apples, mushrooms, and dots. Lots and lots of dots! I also used three Marimekko fabrics. One was Rotti, which was used on the back, and the other two were burgundy and green/blue grass-like fabrics.



When I was purchasing the Marimekko fabrics, the sales clerk let me in on a little secret. The Marimekko fabrics sold at Crate and Barrel are reprints from the originals. The selvage tells us not only the name of the fabric, but the year it was originally printed. I LOVED that idea so much that I included the selvage into the binding.

Speaking of binding, all the binding on this quilt was machine sewn. I've been working on perfecting my binding skills for the last 4 or 5 quilts. I still do a 2.5 inch double fold binding, but instead of attaching the binding to the front and hand sewing to the back, I attach the binding to the back and zig zag the front. If you go slow enough, you can feel where the seam on the back is and guide the front to lie on top. The result is a quick binding with a bit of an organic feel.



Again... I just love this quilt! Its one of my favorite to date. I hope mom, dad, and new baby boy love it too!

AMQG: Block Swap

The Austin Modern Quilt Guild is hosting a 6 month quilt block swap! We are following the Summer Sampler Series for the swap. Each month each person brings at least two blocks. One block is to swap. The other will be used in charity quilts, to be completed by guild members at the end of the swap.



February's blocks were Star of Virginia and Greek Cross. After the first swap, and seeing all the wonderful blocks that people made, I went home THAT NIGHT and worked on March's blocks, Mosaic and Garden Path. I am loving this swap!

My fifth charity quilt

This quilt is on its way to the Bronx.



I had some fabric leftover from the Texas Wildfires Quilt Drive, so in late 2011/early 2012, I finished this Batman quilt. I read about the Bumble Beans Basic Quilt Gather last summer or fall. After looking at photos and videos of people receiving their own quilts, how could I NOT send something?



What is the Bumble Beans BASICS Quilt Gather? Basically, BASICS is a community based organization in the South Bronx that provides housing services (along with a lot of other social services) to individuals getting back on their feet. They are supplying quilts to homeless families, y'all.



Quilt stats:

• A large twin quilt - 70x90 inches.
• Each inner fabric is twelve inches squared. The outer borders of each square make each block twenty inches squared.
• The quilt back is a vintage green thrift store sheet. Leftover fabric from the front was used on the scrappy band on the back.
• Binding was pieced with leftover fabric scraps.
• 100% cotton fabric used on the front, back, batting, and binding.

Quilters from all over the country are sending in quilts. Bumble Beans BASICS is 100 quilts shy of the 700 quilts challenge. Don't you think you could help out too?

Austin Modern Quilt Guild - Member Spotlight

This year, each month, the Austin Modern Quilt Guild is spot-lighting a member of the guild. And I'm the first one they are featuring! WOO-HOO!!! Love it.

You can read all about me here.