Friday Finishes

I have a few finishes to share this week.  Two are mine, one belongs to my beautiful daughter, who is not old enough to have a blog of her own.


First, I posted my very first tutorial this week, on how to make an embroidered quilt tag.  I like to make these for every "personal" quilt I make (those I give to family and friends).  I've seen (and bookmarked and used) so many great tutorials online that I wanted to take a stab at one of my own.  I hope you enjoy it!  Here's a link to the tutorial for making a tag like this one:

Second, I completed the first of the monthly "Seasonal Skinnies" I plan to make.  Since it's March, I opted for a shamrock pattern for St. Patrick's Day.  This finishes at about 14" x 28" and I'm planning to make at least one each month this year, to correspond with a holiday.  I'm hoping to make a few others (such as the birthday cupcake and the ladybugs) which don't tie to any specific month.  The patterns are easy to follow and I used only scraps / stash.  I was in a bit of a hurry so I just quilted around each shamrock and then stitched in the ditch around the border.  I hope to do some FMQ on the background of my April Skinny (an Easter Egg).

Last but *certainly* not least....

I have two daughters, ages 5 and 8.  They are always asking if they can "help" me sew.  My little one likes to design mini quilts for her stuffed animals, or play with my scraps and strings.  My older one was really anxious to sew all by herself so I bought her a very basic machine to learn on.  I think my machine is a lot easier to use, but two sewers necessitates two machines, right?

First, I had her practice sewing straight lines.  Lots of straight lines.  When she felt comfortable with that, I let her choose some 5" squares from a box full I had.  She laid them out into 4 rows of 3 squares each and began to sew.  I did the ironing for her, but I taught her about ironing seams in opposite directions, pinning the rows together and when her top was done, sandwiching the quilt.  She helped pin baste all the layers together and quilted it with a "stitch in the ditch" method.  She even sewed on the binding (with some pinning help from me).  She's a little disappointed that not all her lines are straight, and I probably should have given her some thread that matched a little better (we used white for the whole thing), but I think this is a *speactacular* first quilt for an eight year old!

I wish I had taken some more photos along the way, but she's ready to make more projects (she wants to try a bag next) so I'll definitely make sure I use the camera more next time.

Oh.... if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2012 over at Confessions of a Fabric Addict!  You can link to the details here, or see my post about it here.

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Linking up with: 

Crazy Mom Quilts for  "Finish it Up Friday" 

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for "Whoop Whoop Friday"

AmyLouWho for "Sew and Tell"

I'm looking forward to seeing what you've worked on this week!

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2012

Over and over again I remind myself not to bite off more pieces of fabric than I can chew, but when I saw the "Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2012" on Sarah's Blog (Confessions of a Fabric Addict), I knew this was something I had to do.  

Sign-up for this Challenge runs from March 18-24 and quilts are due by June 8.  There are 2 great organizations to chose from and you may choose to make a quilt (or multiple quilts!) for one or both.


There will be giveaways and design help and "share your progress" check-in days.  There will be a chance to bust some of your stash.  There will be partners (if you'd like, but not required) to help challenge you along the way.  But bigger and better than all of that combined, times infinity, plus one, no trade backs.... there will be a tremendous opportunity to share your talent and your quilting love with someone who might need a big hug right about now, someone who has gone (or is going) through a tough time, someone who might smile for the first time in a long time when they receive the beautiful gift of your donated quilt.


Hop on over to Sarah's blog to read all about the Challenge, the dates and the charities.  She has a tab for "Hands2Help" with all the details, right under her header image.


Happy Quilting, everyone!




~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~