Playful Totes

At the last meeting of Quilts for Kids that I attended I picked up five kits to make totes.  You see a stack of six here because I had some fabric and made some kits, too.  On Sunday, I sat down and really got to work on some of these.  The directions can be found on the Annapolis Quilts for Kids site.

I really only deviated from the directions a little bit.  I added a piece of batting cut to 3/4" wide to the strap to buff it up a little.  I just didn't like how flimsy it seemed without the batting.

I also left an opening in the side seam of the lining so I could stitch around the entire top of the bag and really catch the handles in the seam before turning and top-stitching.  Here, you can see I"ve pinned them together around the top.

Here are the four I finished today.  I sewed them in pairs, so I could do a little bit of assembly-line sewing.  I still created quilting that fit each bag so no two are quilted the same.

This one is my favorite of the bunch.  I tried to replicate the sea grass lines in the quilting for the upper portion and just used a simple meander for the base.  Love these colors!

I finished up these two bags during the week.  So I'll just slip the picture in here.

I still have six more kits.  I don't know that I'll get to all of them this week, but I do need to keep at it since they're due by November 16th.  These totes are used by the Nursing Student Association at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C.  They "fill the bags with goodies based on age, and gender.  [They] really love doing this activity and the kids at Children's Hospital are very appreciative."

Swirls Galore

I sent a quilt kit home with my friend.  She has discovered the magic of using the serger for quilt piecing.  I just like that I have another set of hands to help with Quilts for Kids.  This is the Jumbo Coins quilt I modified to be more Quilts for Kids friendly. 

When I set up to quilt it, swirls were recommended as the quilting design.  I'm all about the swirls, so I went with it. 

I need to practice my swirls, though.  I have a tendency to make them huge.  Not everyone likes swirls that are almost 6 inches across. 

I should be able to get the binding on this one soon so I can get the binding finished.  Maybe I should revisit the machine finished binding... I'll think about it.

I've been so horrible about posting to the blog, I figured I should share this little wonder.  This is what I got in September.  My charm packs from Fat Quarter Shop's charm pack club.  Every month I find new inspiration in my mailbox.  Love it.  Also pictured is the fabulous pack of hand dyed fabrics I received as a prize from Quilting Colors for the Pet Quilts contest over at Quilting Gallery.  I love these vibrant colors.

Quilts for Kids October Update

Last weekend I fought my way past miles and miles and miles of Renaissance Festival traffic to get to Annapolis Quilts for Kids.  I didn't arrive early enough to do any work, but I did drop off three quilts and pick up some kits for both quilts and bags.

The falling blocks quilt made with wonky blocks.

And this darling puppy quilt that sort of looks like they're jailhouse puppies.

I picked up a couple kits to make cute little quilted totes.  Here is my current stash of bag kits (I added to the five I picked up and now have about a dozen ready to put together.) and in the cubby I have about seven quilt kits in various stages of construction.  I'll have to share some of these or they'll never get done.

Sunday, I managed to finish up two of the totes.  Only a dozen left to go.  Who wants to help?