Beads of Courage Bags

For the last few days, I have been making Beads of Courage bags. I finished 20 bags and have fabric cut for an additional 30 bags. Beads of Courage was developed by Jean Baruch while working on her PHD in Nursing at the University of Arizona. She piloted the program at Phoenix Children's Hospital in February 2003. Every year, Beads of Courage provides assistance to more than 60,000 sick children coping with serious and life-threatening illnesses, and their families in over 250 children's hospitals throughout the United States, and in six additional countries.

I will be donating all Beads of Courage bag to Phoenix Children's Hospital, in memory of Kendall, a granddaughter of a good friend.

Marcie's Bunny and Birds

I took a break from working on Folk-Tails, Sue Spargo's 2015 BOM, to stitch Bertie's Spring by Bonnie Sullivan. I added some embellishing stitches, notably the buttonhole scallops on the baby chick wings and bullion knots for the bird legs. I decided to eliminated the half square triangle sashing and border on Bonnie's pattern and I was really undecided on borders for the wool appliqué. I thought about designing a wool appliqué border but then I saw some linen fabric I purchased at the 2014 Houston Quilt Festival in my sewing room. There were 7 15" by 15" of beautiful 100% Italian linen. After some careful calculations, I determined I would have enough linen fabric to make a piano key linen border. Linen is more loosely woven than regular quilting cotton and tends to shift and fray easily so I starched each piece of linen with Mary Ellen's Best Press which made cutting the 1 1/2" strips much easier. After machine quilting, I will be giving the quilt to my daughter. The quilt is about 32" by 38".

It's a rabbit!

About 3 weeks ago, Molly was looking out the living room windows and barking. Molly is on alert, it is a cul de sac EMERGENCY! Molly is getting more agitated. I get up to check out this cul de sac emergency. I don't see anyone walking on the sidewalk, I don't see any vehicles, I simply do not see anything which would cause Molly and Katie to be on hyper alert. Molly and Katie continue to look out the living room windows and barking. I go to look out the window again and this time I see the cul de sac emergency. It is a rabbit, a cute little cottontail rabbit.


I live very near the North Mountain Preserve but a rabbit in my cul de sac does not seem possible. The rabbit would have to exit the preserve and then hop about an eighth of a mile down Central Avenue to get to my cul de sac. It appears that the rabbit has taken up residence in my cul de sac which is definitely causing Molly and Katie extreme angst. Yesterday, I was able to get a few pictures of rabbit.

Rhonda

Rhonda, the rhinoceros, is now awaiting machine quilting with Jessica Jones Gamez. Rhonda was designed by Barbara Jones of bjdesigns. I almost had all the necessary fabrics and supplies in my stash, I only had to buy the background fabric. After machine quilted, Rhonda will hang over my daughter's bed. The top is approximately 29" by 42".

Arizona Centennial Kaleidoscope

Arizona Centennial Kaleidoscope quilt is finished including the label and hanging sleeve. The kaleidoscope blocks were constructed using the Stack-n-Whack 45 degree Triangle tool designed by Bethany Reynolds and the Arizona Centennial fabric designed by Jason Yenter of In the Beginning fabric. The quilt is 29" by 41".



I inserted mini piping using a companion Arizona Centennial fabric which I also used for the back of the quilt.


I will be donating this quilt to Quilt for a Cause which auctions and sells handmade quilts and quilt patterns to support breast and gynecological cancer research. Since 2003, Quilt For a Cause has raised over $750,000 and donated 99% of the proceeds to Tucson area organizations in support of research, training and assistance for uninsured and underinsured women.

Strolling at Lake Havasu

In January 2015, I attended Quilting at the Lake, a quilting retreat held in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Linda Hibbert of Silver Linings Originals, designed Strolling at Lake Havasu specifically for this class. Even though I have done a lot of paper piecing, Linda's paper piecing patterns are quite challenging. I enjoyed learning some of Linda's techniques for paper piecing. Jessica Jones Gamez did the gorgeous machine quilting. The top is about 16" by 36".


Close up of some of the machine quilting

Quilts of Valor

Finally finished and delivered. I belong to Carol Doak's on-line Yahoo group, Carol generously designs blocks specifically for the on-line group. In 2007, I started making the free block designs in patriotic fabrics so I could donate a quilt to Quilts of Valor. I made 16 12" blocks, enough for one quilt but not 2. I received 8 more blocks and I was able to make 2 quilts. After the quilts were machine quilted, my sister, Lucie, had a relapse of cancer and after her death, the quilts got put into a drawer and forgotten. A few weeks ago, I discovered the quilts and took the time to bind both quilts. The quilts are 56" by 68". The Bernina Connection, my local quilt store, sponsors sewing days to support the Quilts of Valor project. Today I delivered the 2 quilts to the Bernina Connection so they can finally be sent to the Quilts of Valor Project.