Blogger's Quilt Festival time again!

The story behind my entry in this round of the Blogger's Quilt Festival is a dedication to Abi, a local teen who was diagnosed with leukemia more than 2 years ago after she came home from a volleyball game, not feeling well. She went to bed early and began to have difficulty breathing. Her parents loaded her up for a trip to the ER where blood tests and x-rays were ordered and then the devastating news was delivered. She was promptly whisked away to Children's Hospital in Seattle to immediately begin treatment.
Treatment seemed to be working and hopes were high when it was announced that she was in remission. Unfortunately, that was short-lived and another stronger round of treatment began again with a vegance.  All the while Abi and her family maintained a sunny disposition in the face of all that comes with chemotherapy and its side-effects. She lost her hair, but still she smiled, her kidneys shutdown and still she smiled. She was even a part of a YouTube video set to the tune Stronger, that went viral amongst locals here (The first young lady featured in the beginning of the video is Abi, she is also seen dancing later on).  When all was said and done, it finally boiled down to the realization that Miss Abi needed a bonemarrow transplant. A donor was located and after a couple of setbacks, was performed and it was recently announced that the donor cells have taken and she is cancer free! I so admire this young lady and her family and all that they have endured on this long, arduous journey. The local community, classmates and faculty have rallied around Abi, many, many prayers have been offered up for healing on her behalf.  I work with the Student Resource Officer that maintains the peace amongst the students of Riverview High School, his name is Joe and the kids adore him.  He has a heart of gold, cares deeply and often speaks fondly of "his kids".  Deputy Joe (as he's known to his kids) not only once, but twice, organized a benefit golf tournament and auction to raise funds to help Abi and her family while they lived four hours away in Seattle during her treatment. I was honored to play paparazzi for both tournaments, snapping photos of all the teams and various activities, a fun bunch of folks turned out to participate and I had a great time documenting the event!
That's where my quilt comes into the story...it's inspiration and creation were soley to add to the list of items needed for the silent auction for this year's golf tournament. I chose dresdens, because I love them and enjoy the hand-sewing that's involved in attaching them to the background.  The (predominant) color orange is the ribbon color that represents leukemia, the fabrics are a mix of what I had on hand and a few that I purchased for the project. It measures 56x60, so it's lap-sized and was machine pieced and quilted by myself with the binding being hand sewn the night before the tournament!
I hope you all enjoy reading the stories about the entry quilts for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I know that I am constantly in awe of the talent and love that goes into everyone's quilts, of the work and dedication that Amy who hosts the festival twice a year puts in and of those who donate prizes for those lucky enough to be drawn.

I'd Say It Was a Productive Weekend

Phew but it's been a whirlwind  couple of days, this girl had some serious stitch going on! DH had to work Saturday so after (ahem) sleeping in until 10:30 (yikes, haven't done that in forever!) I spent the last two days camped in front of my machine stitching away...except for the time spent sitting in bed finishing off the last of the applique catching a little tv and trying to stay warm...my heck but it was chilly enough to wear a sweatshirt in the house yesterday (and yes, I refused to turn on the heat!)  But enough about our streak of nasty weather, as non-typical for June as it has been...my dresden top is finished and I love it! It finished up to be lap-sized, measuring 66x68" and a bit smaller, I'm sure once it's washed and dried...Now, if the quilting fairy would just show up to finish up  this lovely little gem I would be a happy girl. Unfortunately, being the realist that I am (sigh) I'll just resign myself to a few more days of work to get this quilted, bound, washed, dried and ready to donate on Friday (cringe...as usual, I'm cutting it close)...tomorrow  my mission is to venture off to JoAnn's for backing, a solid flannel I think and I'm not even sure what for the binding, I just haven't thought that far ahead yet. For now though, I have an early morning ahead of me, so I'll be signing off and heading to bed...goodnight all!

I"m Loving It!!

Oh, the excitement is building, well at least for me it is! I am really loving the way this quilt is evolving...in fact I can't stop gazing at it...not sure if that is a good thing or not, but I can't stop just the same!   The inspiration originally came from this quilt, I adore  the rick rack that separates the quadrants...the concept is brilliant...and I was going to do the same...but now I'm thinking not. I like the effect of the sunbursts dividing up the space instead, which works out well in that it won't totally match the inspiration quilt and will make this one unique to me. The next challenge lies in the borders and the quilting, not to mention the deadline that looms ahead.  My goal is to finish this up with time to spare, BEFORE the evening of June 14th preferably! 

Now Available for Napping...Camper Quilt is Finished!

Yikes! Amy's Creative Side's Blogger's Quilt Festival crept up on me once again...this time with too many projects half finished to have an entry done in time...or so I thought.  After getting my stitch on for the last two days in an extreme effort to get the Camper quilt done (partially so I would have an entry, but mostly because my DH had to work the weekend) here she is all bound and ready to be washed and napped under! I wouldn't say that the quilt as you go method is one of my favorite ways to construct a quilt, but in terms of making a large, bed-sized quilt on my machine, it's the only way to go. I love the camper fabric that comprises the middle of each block, it was pretty much the inspiration for this project in the first place. I found the fabric on Equilter.com, I'm not sure if it's available there still, but I have seen it on Ebay recently.  The multitude of fabrics that gave it it's scrappy appeal came from various swaps that were participated in and fat quarters that I had collected for a year or two...and that's what I'd have to say that I love best about the quilt, all the fun fabrics!

Here's What I've Come Up With

http://seaside-stitches.blogspot.com/2011/05/bloggers-quilt-festival.html is where I gained the inspiration for the quilt in progress that ultimately will benefit a young lady who has relapsed in her fight with leukemia and now needs a marrow transplant. Seattle Children's Hospital put together this video: http://youtu.be/ihGCj5mfCk8 in which Abi is one of the patients featured, she will be the young lady at the very beginning and then later on is the one dancing in the panda sweatshirt. Her School Resource Officer (Deputy Joe) with whom I work has organized for the second year a golf tournament whose proceeds go to her family to help with the expense of her treatment. Last year I had the honor of snapping photos of each team and the tournament as a whole.  This year I have committed not only to photos, but a quilt and a basket full of Mary Kay products for auction at the dinner following the 18 holes of golf.  Last year, the family received $7,000...this year we Joe hopes to rock the total by so much more! I am humbly honored even to be involved...honestly, having lost my MIL to leukemia this last October, I just wish I could do so much more for a young woman who I have never met...all I know is that it is a devastating disease and this vibrant young lady deserves a chance at life and all the promise that it holds. If you'd like to make a difference, perhaps give some thought to registering to be a bone marrow donor at: http://marrow.org/Join/Join_Now/Join_Now.aspx I have!

Decisions, Decisions

It's up for a vote, my dear readers and being the curious sort, I wonder, which dresden do you like the best? The top or the bottom? Having ripped this one dresden apart no less than four times, I'm pretty sure I like the assortment of the spokes on #2 the best, but I'm not 100% sold on the center for either of them...though leaning more towards the center on #1.  I'd love to hear what any of you might think!

And since I have you captivated, let me share with you a little side trip that I took while away at training last week in Everett, WA. My BFF Kathy and I hopped in the car Wednesday evening and motored our way through 405 traffic, up to Mt Vernon to see if the tulips were blooming...much to our delight, they were! Though we only had time to take in one vendor, the views were spectacular in the fading light, in between rainbursts and cloud-cover and it was just the thing to shake off the drudgery of sitting in a classroom all day (no matter how interesting the subject matter)...hope you enjoy!

What's "almost" on my bed

Bonnie over at Quiltville's Quips & Snips is having a linky party to celebrate Spring (cleaning)...and though, camper quilt isn't quite worthy of the bed just yet, I'm putting it in the party anyway! Camper quilt, so called,  because each log cabin has a camper fussy cut for the center of each square,  was originally made to bless the double bed in the bungalow (our trailer), but while I was midway through its construction, I realized that I had enough camper motifs to make it a smallish queen size to fit the bed in the house.  Alas, it's still in two pieces, each half quilted and ready to be joined to the other and the backing slipstitched together and bound...much to my chagrin.  I just can't seem to find it within myself to complete the process.

I don't know what my problem is, DS #2's hockey season has been over for weeks now, no more Tuesday night practices or two and three games each weekend to attend...it is however, a rather large quilt to wrestle at any one time and my sewing machine has a rather tiny throat to try and shove it through, but even that part is done...my poor husband has commented several times about how nice it would look on the bed...hint, hint, nudge, nudge. I love it's scrappiness and all the fabrics in it, it really makes me happy... I don't know! I keep telling myself that some Saturday I will just sit down and get it done, I will get myself in the groove and push through to its completion...but it hasn't happened yet...I cringe to tell you that I have even used one half it to cover myself while watching tv, each side is a generous lap quilt in itself, (heavy sigh) So, here it is waiting, patiently, as is my DH...wait a sec, let's re-think this rationale...in retrospect, I haven't posted a blog entry in months either, and now I have...hmmmm...perhaps there's hope yet! (you'll be the first to know if inspiration strikes...stay tuned!)

A Work in Progress and Wordless Wednesday