My mother's first quilt

I'm so proud of my mom.  I just have to share this with you all.

My father passed away in May 2007. That's my daddy above in Korea during the Vietnam war. As of last summer, his clothes were still in his closet and my mom asked me to help her go through them. She wasn't quite ready to let them go and had the wonderful idea of making them into a quilt. My mom hadn't made a quilt before, but she's a very talented sewer, cross stitcher, crocheter, and crafter.

We sorted through my dad's shirts, 

cut them into large pieces, and tried to sort them out by color and shade.

She wanted something simple to construct, so I suggested the blocks above and she started cutting and sewing.

And here's the finished quilt! She did such a beautiful job, although I'm not the least bit surprised she did such nice work, I knew she would. I'm so proud of her!

The quilt is queen sized and she plans to use it on her bed. The backing is a purchased sheet in a shirting stripe; it looks perfect for the quilt. The binding is made of more shirt scraps and is hand sewn. We decided that tying this quilt might be the best option for her because she wanted to do the work herself (I know where I get my stubbornness from) and she didn't want to try quilting a queen on her domestic machine.

This quilt is a treasure! It's special and sentimental in so many different ways. I know this quilt will be loved and used for years and years.

So, after years of trying to talk my mom into quilting, I suspect this first quilt won't be her last. Between you and me, I think she's hooked.

do. Good Stitches December quilt

I'm a member of the do. Good Stitches {a charity bee} at flickr started by Rachel at Stitched in Color. My first moth to be the quilter was December and I decided on playing with color and asked my fellow stitchers to make these blocks. If you like these blocks, be sure to read the comments. There are some great suggestions for alternate construction methods.

So here's the finished quilt. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

(Remember, I'm giving up on perfection; this quilt proves I'm serious.*)

Everyone did a lovely job on the blocks. They worked so beautifully together. The quilt measures 50 x 58".

I had two extra blocks and I cut each of them into four pieces for the back.

I couldn't get a good hanging shot of the back to show the quilting, but it's a large double diamond with ties in the middle of the diamonds.

This quilt is being donated to the Wrap Them In Love Foundation and I would like to think it's got a long life ahead of it. I'll get it packed up and sent out tomorrow.

I wanted to share this photo too. I recruited my hubby to help me with the basting. He's such a good sport.

*Yes, I messed up when I sewed the blocks together. I noticed it when I took it out to take photos of the quilt top. But, I brought it back inside, took it apart, "fixed" it, and finished it up. When I removed it from the dryer, I realized that my solution to the problem wasn't a solution at all and I had created a row of blocks turned the wrong direction! I'm hoping maybe you didn't notice until I told you and I sincerely apologize to my fellow bee members for goofing it up.

A winner and the SGQA.

Here we go. The winner of the Cheater Friday 2.5" squares is

Jennifer

who blogs at marriedtoabmw.com.

And, get this, Jennifer is a fellow Texan! These little squares are only making a short trip to their new home. I'll send you a message, Jennifer, to get your address and get these on the way to you. Congrats!

So, I hardly need another project right now, but this is one I can't pass up.

Last year, I spent who knows how many hours (and money) chasing down the entire Katie Jump Rope collection to make the Single Girl quilt. I've had all the fabric, but the pattern seemed overwhelming with all those little templates. But no fear, Nova, Megan, and Katy have formed the Single Girl Support Group and come to my rescue. 

Over the past couple of days, I traced and cut out all the templates. My first thought was to stick with the KJR and use Kona stone for the background. But after looking around in the SGSG (Single Girl Support Group), I decided it's time to cut into some of my beloved Flea Market Fancy. I'm not jumping in with both feet this time, I only pulled FMF fabrics that I have more than one FQ of so that I'll still have a complete set of FMF. 

I want to make the king sized quilt for our bed, but I was worried about all the pink the FMF brings to the party. What would the hubby think? I called him in to the sewing room for his opinion.  

This one...

or this one.

He likes the set with the pink! Woo hoo! And I even fully disclosed that it was going on our bed. I'm not really that surprised, because he has good taste and isn't afraid to wear pink himself, but I was glad because I think that set with the pink on Kona stone is going to make a beautiful quilt.

If you've had the Single Girl quilt on your radar, but like me were intimidated by the pattern (templates, curves, etc.), check out the SGSG and jump on in!

So easy it's like cheating. Oh, wait, it is.

I think this was the easiest quilt I've ever made!

I used less than a yard of my Cheater Friday fabric and some Kona Ash (2.5" sashing strips) to make this quick quilt Wednesday night. It measures about 38" square.

Being iced/snowed in for four days now has got my creative juices flowing. We got another 4" of snow last night and it's still coming down this afternoon. It's snowmageddon 2011! It's the snowpocalypse! Whatever it is, this weather is crazy!

I need to be working on real work, but playing is so much more fun. Maybe I need to recolor the cheater print into a girly version and a boy version. Any other ideas for another color way? Maybe I just need to work on some new prints entirely. But part of me wants to continue the set-up of my jewelry studio in the basement. And there's so much quilting to be done. And then there's the snow. It's so pretty I just want to sit by the window with a book and a mug of hot chocolate and watch it fall. Decisions, decisions.

Don't forget about the giveaway in my previous post and thank you for all the kind comments about the shop. The shop still needs a lot of work (I fixed the typos in my bio, but I don't know what's wrong with the international shipping yet), but I'm glad I just did it. I've already shipped out a few FQs and I've got some jewelry going out today. You guys are the best!