Quilting Adventures

This soft cotton quilt is designed for real use~washable, durable, and most importantly, full of love to wrap the baby in!

SWEET BABY CONNOLLY 

Looking through the “windows” toward your future

your Mom chose the Suzy’s Zoo fabric

to develop your sense of whimsy and a love of animals;

turtles to teach you patience and kindness;

and “chocolate” brown to wrap you in the love

of the sisterhood of women.

As your Mom and Dad await your birth,

you are their wish~

their wish to each other.

May you always feel

how much you are loved~

even when you were just a wish in their hearts.

Given to Kate and Patrick Connolly

for Baby Connolly

Designed, pieced and quilted by friend

Jeannie M. Bush

LaCrosse, WI

August, 2009

This custom wall hanging quilt was created as a gift from a group a women to give to the baby of one of their Executive Board members. Each member “gifted” a quality they would like the baby to have. The fabric label is sewn on the back.

Cancer patient receives perfect gift

A dear friend of this patient gave her the gift that comforts her when she wakes up during the night and can’t sleep~the lettering glows in the dark for up to 6 hours and reminds her of her friends . But she received another companion pillow case below~can you tell she has a love of chickens? At first she was puzzled by the words on the front of the pillow case, but soon figured it out on the back!

I'm a bit confused. . .

Now I get it!

Simple pleasures are the best. Tell someone how much you care and think about them often. With thread calligraphy you can say anything.

Here are a couple of personalized stockings that I made using the stacking method. So easy. The first one is for my daughter’s new black lab. He loves to play ball, so we cut one of the tennis balls in half to put on his stocking, wrote his name in glow-in-the-dark thread, and put a tracing of his paw print on the front of the stocking!

Dakota's stocking

Unfortunately, I don’t know how to rotate the photo!!!

Another stocking set I did, using the same stacking method, was out of a gal’s favorite flannel shirt that she thought was long gone! Her dear friend saved it until she found the perfect thing to do with it~have stockings made for them and their very spoiled dog!

flannel Christmas stockings

Note the bone and paw print on Gracie’s stocking!

And then with the only bit of fabric left, I made a rice bag for Kathy to enjoy her favorite flannel shirt all year round. Comfort at its best.

rice bag from yoke of flannel shirt

The recipient was thrilled!

8 panels of traditions. . .priceless!

I finished this 7′ diameter tree skirt a couple weeks before Christmas, just in time for the family to decorate! Each panel highlights one of the traditions this family does. One panel is the story of their family traditions, one is a replica of their home (all hearts come home for Christmas);one is sledding with miniature sleds for the family to write their names on; one is the creche with glow-in-the-dark stars showering down; one is Santa (their dad); one is a family outline where each sibling could draw their face on and sign it; one is not chocolate with the mittens holding the cup~on the cuff of each mitten is one of the boy’s first cursive signatures and miniature cut out cookie cutters attached to the panel; and one is music to represent the beautiful music the family cherishes. Each year, all the people that gather at Ellen’s home for Christmas, can sign the back of the tree skirt. What an heirloom. Priceless.

I hope you had time to be with family and friends over the holidays. Because of a major snow storm, we left for Minneapolis a day early~so I took my sewing machine along to make the stocking stuffer

recycled wool mittens

 gifts. . . wool mittens from sweaters I had purchases from Goodwill and the Good Steward Shop. After making 5 pair (my daughter-in-law’s did not fit) I am working on tuning the pattern.

I am the Director of the Council on Education for the American Electrology Association. One of my duties is to put together the report packets for our meetings.When a person gets their report in on time, their name is entered into a drawing for something special. This time I made glow-in-the-dark thread calligraphied pillow cases~aren’t they cute?

This weekend I sorted all the place mats by color and chose a button, a pin, or magnet as the closure. Next I started sewing by color, so I didn’t have to change thread often! One of the features on my sewing machine that I had never used is the sew- on- button function~love it now! I did 14 purses this weekend in addition to 3 other projects. Stay tuned! My sister Judi is sending some purses she has created and sounds like she may be able to attend the Nov event with me~how special would that be!

Cancer touches almost every family. In my family is was my sister Judi, diagnosed with colon cancer at age 49. No known risk factors. Surgery, chemo, and radiation followed. The good news is, she was surrounded by family and friends, insurance, and financially stable. Not all families are so fortunate.

In La Crosse, a young mammographer named Paula used to give from her own pocket when she would over hear cancer families say they didn’t have money for a long distance phone call, gas money to come back the next week, hotel money to stay the night. . .and then she was diagnosed with breast cancer, fought the battle, but lost. Her co-workers kept her legacy going by starting Paula’s Purse, a foundation to provide cancer families with small amounts of money for daily living while their loved ones are fighting for their lives and need family support around them.

This November, a major fundraiser will take place for Paula’s Purse at the La Crosse Center. In honor of my sister Judi, I am making and donating 150 purses to be the Keepsake for the ladies at this event. I think Paula would love the idea that these purses will be made from place mats! I did not know Paula, but she seemed like the down to earth kind of gal that would just love the practicality of using place mats to make purses for Paula’s Purse! The challenge to myself was to spend no more than $2 on any place mat. . . . I did go higher on a few. . . they were just too darn cute!

PS—-my sister Judi is now a 10 year survivor and making place mat purses in her Fargo home!!

As you can see, I ended up reversing the light and dark layout. Each gore symbolizes part of the family’s Christmas. I keep it up on the design board so I can “see” it better! There is applique, paper piecing, miniature cookie cutters—lots of special parts to come~stay tuned!