KaHolly: November 2019

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Stitch It and Gift It Blog Hop!

Thank you, Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks

for hostessing yet another fun blog hop.

Most quilters are compassionate, empathetic, giving people who work hard to create beauty, warmth, and security for others. They are inspired by the cause, the person, the backstory, the fabric, the future. Some quilters, like Louise of My Quilt Odyssey, quilt almost entirely for a variety of community groups, and others, like myself, give when they can, or when they are especially moved. Sew Preeti Quilts is a perfect example of how a Quilter constantly rises to the occasion to make a difference in someone’s life. She stitches it, she gives it, and then, very eloquently, shares the story.

I seldom keep what I make. Among my friends, acquaintances, and family, or within my community, there is always someone in need, or with a special occasion to commemorate. It soothes my soul to reach out by way of my passion to sew. It generates my enthusiasm and inspires me to cross that finish line when I am thinking of someone in particular with every stitch.

Today's gifties honor special occasions, a cherished friendship and the impending birth of a first born. I've been diligently working on them to finish them up before I migrate south for the winter. My time is getting short!

Twenty years ago, my daughter graduated from university. She not only walked away with a degree, but with lasting friendships. I've been blessed to get to know her friends throughout the years, to witness them becoming successful adults, and to share their joy in establishing their families.

A few posts back, I shared the beginnings of this quilt for Adrienne. I was excited to be able to use the bonus half square triangles that resulted from constructing Cluck Cluck Sew's hearts to simultaneously piece these Churn Dash blocks by Blossom Heart Quilts.

They shared space on the design wall, and although it was not my original intention, I liked how they looked together so much, I decided to include both blocks into my quilt for Adrienne.

I was not disappointed with the end result! As a matter of fact, I love it!

And here is a quick glimpse of the backing. Would you believe that this is the first time I have ever rounded the corners of a quilt? Finishing up at 54" x 62", it is the perfect size to fold over the back of the couch, and to pull down to snuggle under on a cold winter's evening. I hope that finally making this quilt means a long overdue trip to Abilene to deliver it in person!

This next quilt only took me a week to put together, but I had already precut the fabrics. It will be gifted to my only nephew and his sweet wife in celebration of expecting their first baby. I will be hand delivering it in a very few short weeks as I begin my migration south by first stopping in Maine.

Simple, straight forward sewing for a girl running out of time, and nice big rectangles to showcase a large print, this pattern screamed for me to use the owl fabric bundle that has been sitting on the shelf for the past 5 or 6 years.

I adapted a pattern called Zoo Dwellers by A Bright Corner. Why, you ask, did I have to adapt such a straight forward design? Well, as much as I hate to admit this, when I was precutting my fabrics, I didn't pay any attention to the one way designs. So, instead of a horizontal placement, I had to make mine vertical. Simple fix.

I added an extra row for the back so I could widen a length of cute fabric that I had on hand.

And I used the serpentine stitch programmed into my Janome to quilt both these quilts to speed up the completion process.

I decided to rename this quilt from Zoo Dwellers to Tree Dwellers, and then got quite a chuckle because my nephew and his blushing bride of 1+ years have just completed building their first home and it's a tree house! Finishing up at 47" x 58", this baby quilt is large enough to see many years of use.

Thank you for visiting my blog post today. I think this is the longest post I've ever written in the 10+ years I've been a blogger. Below is a list of the participating bloggers for the remainder of the hop. Be sure to visit and show some quilty love!