What I Now Have Off My Plate

9 quilts are now off my to-do list (2 aren't shown).  I was in charge of making sure these 9 beauties were finished in time for the 9 graduating seniors in our church congregation.  The parents provide the 2 twin sheets, another wonderful lady monograms them and I coordinate the tying and binding of them.  I had a hand in helping with 8 out of the 9 in some way, whether it be tying or binding or sometimes both.  While it's a fun project, my fingers were numb for a couple of weeks from pulling the needle through the layers.  I'm just glad they are done and will be presented this weekend.

Sowing While You Sew--Continuation of Week 6

(If you are new to the series you might want to check out the intro or the other weeks)

Today another guest poster sharing a quilt they did with their daughter.  This time it is from Justine, the amazing talent from over at Sew Country Chick.  You should check out some of the clothes that she sews.  The thing that caught my attention when I first saw her blog was that she sews amazingly fashionable clothes for her older children as well.  That's also why I asked her to contribute.  Without further ado:

Hello Daisy Chain Creations Readers! I'm Justine from the Sew Country Chick Blog and happy to be sharing a kids' sewing project with you today.

I'm sharing my daughter Lily's favorite sewing project with you, a quilt we made for the County Fair when she was eight years old. Lily wanted to make a project to enter into the Ventura County Fair so I trolled around the internet to some of my favorite sewing sites and I found a tutorial for an easy picnic quilt with rock pockets on the  at Sew mama sew.

 I myself, had never made a quilt before so this was a learning experience for me as well.  I prefer making clothing..... but this proved to be the perfect project to make with my then 8 year old daughter and her best friend who helped with the quilting, I cut out all the fabrics for Lily's quilt. Lily really balked at the thought of cutting out so many squares, 16 in all. Whatever it takes to get them interested, right?

                                                                

A simple quilt like this is an easy project to make with kids. They only have to sew straight lines.

The back of the quilt was simple. It was just a plain sheet with pockets to hold rocks on the corners. The girls enjoyed the quilting process and chatted while they knotted the squares on the quilt. It was a regular old fashioned, quilting bee I'd say!                                                                                                              

Lily was so excited to receive her ribbon!

Thanks Justine and your lovely helpers.  What a great idea for a picnic blanket with pockets for rocks!

Sowing While You Sew--Week 6 Comfort

Blankets and quilts are one of the most widely requested and received items for charities, when it comes to sewing.  It's one of those projects that will be easy to find a place to donate.  I think that is because a blanket or quilt is a symbol of comfort and warmth and that is just the thing needed for someone that is either going through a difficult time or feeling a little lonely.  The other nice thing is that the degree of difficulty can vary greatly, allowing even the beginner to make a blanket to donate. 
Project Linus is an organization that helps you find a place to donate, if you need help.  I also know that you don't have to look very far to find a place to donate.  Nursing homes, hospitals (especially children's hospitals), and shelters are just a few of the places that take homemade blankets and quilts.  Just call and ask if they need some and which sizes they prefer.  That being said, you are sure to find someone close to you that might need a little warmth and comfort, so you could make it a gift to someone you love.
Here are just a couple of examples of blankets that I have either made or received.
Let's start with one's I've made:
This one is an example of a simple fleece blanket, which I gave to my daughter for Christmas a couple of years ago.  Each of my kids now has one.  It's just a big rectangle of the super soft fleece and then I hemmed each side.  That's it.  Perfect for the beginner.

This is just an example of a simple quilt that I pieced for one of my sons 10 years ago and it is still used by him on his bed.  Half of the squares are from jeans and the other half are of flannel.  For the back I used a sheet and then simply tied it with yarn.

This is just a fun little lap blanket made from outgrown flannel pajamas and flannel from other projects.  Each square is actually 3 squares sewn together with an 'X' and then pieced together.  I then snipped the raw edges and after going through the wash a bunch of times it starts to look nicely frayed and worn.

Now here are some blankets and quilts given to me:

This one is one that my mother-in-law knitted for me and gave to me one Christmas.  I love it because it's the perfect weight and while it keeps me warm, it isn't too bulky or heavy.  Many places take knitted and crocheted blankets as well.

This is an example of a blanket that does not require any sewing, so perfect for those younger siblings that have been wanting to do a project too.

My sister-in-law gave this one to us for Christmas this year.  It's 2 pieces of fleece laid together and then snipping the fringes and knotting them together.  This one has become one of the favorites with the kids to cuddle up with.

Here is a simple tied quilt that my mom made for me years and years ago.  I think I was 6 or 7 when she gave it to me.  She made one for each of the kids that year for Christmas in their favorite colors.  That was no small undertaking, seeing as there are 10 of us.  I think maybe just the girls got them, but I'm not sure.  Still that is 6 of them.  I'm glad I still have this symbol of comfort and warmth my mom made me all those years ago.

This quilt was another Christmas present, this time from my sister.  In our family we have a rotation going so we only give gifts to one sibling and their family each year.  She makes a quilt every year.  This one is very impressive and has over 4000 little strips and squares.  The time she put into this quilt makes me feel special that she gave it to me.

This is a baby quilt made for my youngest daughter by a very talented friend.  My daughter still sleeps with it on her bed.  Baby quilts and blankets are a great place to start, because the size is not too overwhelming for a beginner.

Another baby blanket made for my youngest.  This one my sister-in-law crocheted.  And yes my daughter still sleeps with this one on her bed too.

Finally, I wanted to share this little blanket with you to show how the gift of someone anonymous benefited me.  It is a simple crocheted blanket, no bigger than 2 feet and probably didn't take very much time to make.  But it symbolizes much more to me, as it swaddled our stillborn baby 6 years ago.  While it didn't actually give me warmth, it warmed my heart and gave me comfort to know that someone cared enough to take the time to make this little blanket and donate it to the hospital to then be given to a grieving mother to hold her little baby in it for a while.

So I share that story in the hopes that you are able to pass on to those you are teaching to sew that sometimes they might not see who will benefit from their donation, but they are always appreciated as they bring with them the warmth and comfort that is put into them by the hands that created the blanket or quilt.

Sowing While You Sew--Week 6 Guest Post

(If you are new to the series, check out the past couple of weeks)
(Wondering what it is all about, check out the intro)

This week's Guest Post is from the lovely Elizabeth, from over at Simple Simon & Company.  She is showing us this stunning quilt that her daughter helped her create (I just love the colors!).  Quilts and blankets are the focus this week and are one of the perfect things to make for donating to local charities.  Just think what they signify, warmth and comfort, something that those going through trying circumstances always need.  Throughout the week I'll be highlighting different ways to make them as well as some charities that accept them as donations.

Quilts are also a great beginner project because the level of involvement can vary with your child's abilities.  It can range from just helping to pick out the fabric, to sewing the pieces together to actually learning how to quilt it.

So without further ado, here is Elizabeth:

Hi! I am Elizabeth, one half of the duo of sisters-in-law who blog at Simple Simon and Co.  During the last month or so, my oldest daughter and I have been changing her room into a "big girl" room.  She chose the colors raspberry, pink and orange....and being the mother I am, added gray into the color scheme so I would have a color to paint the walls ;).

My absolute favorite part about the room re-do (which we are almost done with---we are just waiting for the perfect dresser to thrift and paint) has been the quilting project that we have been working on together.  She picked out the fabrics, I cut them out and made them pinwheels using this great tutorial for making 8 HST at a time and she helped me piece and sash the pinwheel blocks.

She was so excited last week when we got the quilt back from the quilter.  She was absolutely thrilled.  We still have to bind it, which she can help sew and iron the bias binding; but I think I get the hand-stitching job---which will keep me busy during some TV nights this next week.

The quilt itself is 79 by 89 inches, which is a generous twin sized quilt.

And I am so happy to see how proud she is of her quilt.  I am hoping she will remember the experience for many years to come.

Enjoy sewing with your children.....what great memories to make!

~Elizabeth

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What I did instead of packing

Here's what I was doing the week before our move, when I should have been packing and organizing and that I am now consequently blogging about and ignoring the unpacking that needs to be done. The Scouts in the ward were having a silent auction fundraiser for camp and since Jakob was going to not be there to help out with the fundraiser (he is going to camp with our Atlanta ward though), I decided to donate some items. All were made from my stash and I didn't need to buy anything except for the ribbon on the skirts. A modified version of this dress, with a little pin on flower with a vintage button accent and pin tucking on the underskirt.

A baby quilt in pinks, yellows, aquas and black and whites. I ended up really liking this color combination. The fabric was originally purchased (more or less, some was from my stash) for a bird mobile of a friend who was having her third baby girl. Sadly I don't have any pictures of the mobile. I liked how the quilt turned out. I just randomly pieced it and machine quilted it.

This is the first time that I pieced the back. Cynthia does it all of the time and always loved the way it looked. I think this one turned out rather well too. I like how the quilting design is easy to see in this shot.

Finally, a lazy day skirt and matching headband. I think this one was my favorite. It's a fun print and I love polka dots.

Hopefully, they all went to good homes and made a little money for the Scouts that needed it in the process.

I also made 2 more lazy day skirts, one for a friend of Sophia's who turned 9 and a matching one for Sophia.

Pictures of Projects and avoiding more Projects

Here are some pictures of the finished mushroom book covers. I liked how this one turned out. I think Jakob is getting this one and his cousin the other. I'm not sure which one I like more though.
Here is the quilt top that is going to be Sophia's Christmas present. She already knows that hers won't be quite finished, but I'm still going to wrap it up with the fabric I'm going to use for the back. There are a couple places that bug me, but over all I love the scrappy look of it all. It doesn't really show up in the picture, but the different white on white prints look really scrappy too.
Here it is with the backing. It doesn't quite match, but I think she is going to love it. It's got butterflies and red and pink, some of her favorite things.
Finally, I finished one!!! That is, one of the jump rope dresses from Oliver&S. It was an amazingly fast sew, given how complicated it seemed. It was hard, but the directions were wonderfully written to make every step easy to understand. It did stretch my skills as well and I love the end result. What happened was my original idea for Sophia's Christmas dress went down the drain when I discovered the gray wool that I intended to use was full of moth eaten holes (it was going to be a jumper with kick plate pleats and embroidered snowflakes, my own creation) Plan B turned into this dress from some old purple and gold fabric from my mom's stash. Love the vintage look of the fabric and love the way it looks on her (she tried it on with her eyes closed for me, just so I could see how I did). My review of the pattern: Loved it! Easy to follow with great "hints" written into the directions Challenging, but worth it. My only negative thought is that it runs a little small. My experience with patterns so far has been that they run a little big, so when I measured Sophia and she fell under 'size 5' I went with it thinking she'll have a little room to grow into it. Not really the case. It's a little tight in the shoulders. Now I know.
Oh and Baby Violet gets a "matching" dress too.

Now back to the rest of the sewing I need to get done before Christmas...

Little and Lovely

Here is what I have been making--a bunch of doll quilts. Except for one small zip lock bag with green strips and a bag of dark blues and navies, which didn't seem to work as a doll quilt and a couple of other random scraps that just didn't go with anything else, I used up all of my scraps smaller than a fat quarter. My mom is headed to a craft show in WV (Harper's Ferry, I think) so she is going to try and sell them there. Here's a collage of the various quilts.

Sophia's favorite, the crazy one at the top of the turquoise picture; my favorite, the ones in blue. Hopefully, some little girls go home happy from the craft show.

Work in Progress

First up, a quilt for Sophia and a crib skirt for Clara. Now that they have their own 'Girl's room' it needs some fixing up. These squares are going to be turned into a pinwheel quilt with white in between and some kind of colorful border and a colorful back. For the skirt, I'm just taking 10 inch strips of colorful fabric of random widths and sewing them together, gathering them and then sewing them on to a crib sheet cut to fit the size of the crib. A lot of the fabrics will be the same in the quilt of Sophia's and some are just scraps I have laying around. I think it will really brighten up their room.