ATCs: Fairy Tales and Bedtime Stories

For the artists in this month's Artist Trading Card (ATC) swap, the theme of "Fairy Tales and Bedtime Stories" conjured up magic and myth and portrayals of fanciful characters and evil adversaries.

Fairies, princesses, wicked trolls and monsters under the bed... that's what bedtime stories—and this month's ATCs—are made of. It was a playful theme with numerous creative possibilities. The traders tapped into their inner child and did not disappoint!

Here (right) is "Tinkerbell's Tower."

Left: "The Princess and the Frog"
Right: "Water Fairy"

Left: "Once Upon a Time"

Right: "There's one in every story"

Left: "A Fairy with no Tale"

Right: "In your dreams, you are always the princess."

Above: "Mama, please read one more."
The little doll slips in and out of the bed, and the bed sheets are flannel.

Above: "Tooth Fairy"
The Tooth Fairy removes the tooth from under the pillow by pulling the pink ribbon.

And who can forget, "The Monster under the Bed" (above).

I guess I'll leave the night light on. Boogey, boogey, BOO!

My charity quilt pattern goes to Thailand

About a month ago, my new friend, Jill, from Bangkok, Thailand, asked me for a copy of my Free Charity Quilt pattern. I just received an e-mail from her with this picture attached.

Made from fabrics available in Thailand, Jill cut and pieced this lap-size quilt in just 2.5 hours. She has tied her quilt, but you could also hand or machine quilt it. The organization that will receive Jill's quilt is the Melissa Cosgrove Children's Foundation.

Here is a close-up of the cute animal print that Jill incorporated into her quilt—dogs and cats at the movies—what fun. Thanks, Jill, for sharing your quilt!

If you would like a copy of my FREE lap size charity quilt pattern,  just e-mail me at veronicaquilts@gmail.com and I'd be happy to e-mail it to you. The pattern (right) is "fat quarter friendly" and sews up quickly (Jill worked hers up in 2.5 hours). It uses 7 fat quarters and the finished size is 36" x 48".

Other ideas for charity quilts and links to block patterns can be found in an earlier post here. 

Daisies make me smile

Is this a cheery quilt, or what?! It reminds me of when Meg Ryan's character in "You've Got Mail" says to Tom Hank's character, "... don't you think that daisies are the friendliest flower?"

I received this quilt top [57" x 69"] to machine quilt. When I took the pressed top from the zippered garment bag and spread it out on the work table, it just made me smile. The golden orange and teal blue [complementary] color scheme gives it just the right amount of zing. And it has a perfect balance of patterns in the fabrics: a plaid, two small prints, a pin dot and a solid.

 

The appliqued "daisy" flowers were outline quilted to give them dimension and the rest of the quilt was free-motion stitched with leaves, vines and an occasional flower. 

When I asked my client to whom she was giving this quilt, she said, "I may just keep this one for myself." I hope she does.

Cut-to-Order Cuddle Quilts

My quilt guild, the Choo Choo Quilters, had a sew-in today for our community service Cuddle Quilt program. We made great progress. The goal for our Great Cuddle Quilt Quest is 51 and when these quilts are finished, we'll add 13 more to that total.

Since my team was responsible for the program, I pre-cut blocks, strips and borders for 10 quilt kits for assembly at today's workshop. I also had 3 quilt tops that required basting. Backing fabrics and batting were also supplied.

Sewing the quilt tops

Pre-cutting the blocks made efficient use of the 3 hours we had for the workshop. We hit the ground running—or sewing—and got all 10 tops sewn.

Using king size quilt batting, we were able to get about 8 cuddle quilt batts from each package. Basting goes quickly with these smaller quilts.

With Ricky Tims, Van Morrison and Sam Bush serenading us in the background, and lemonade, coffee and yummy cookies from Jackson's Bakery to sustain us, the group finished 10 tops, basted 5, quilted 3, and got batting, backing and bindings ready for the remainder. 

A job well done! We hope to see these finished quilts at an upcoming guild meeting.