DK Quilt Guild: A place for quilters to gather, share ideas, projects, and to make the world a better place, one quilt at a time. Join us and share your thoughts, projects, questions, and tips. Quilters here are at many different levels of skill. Beginners and non-quilters are welcome, too!
It has been a hell of a week at Catnip Manor. Many of you already know this but my sister, Ann was taken seriously ill and was admitted to the hospital last Sunday. One minute, we were at a pub lunch with one of our quilt recipients, Phil N DeBlanc, eating happily. The next, Ann is shaking with chills so hard we had to leave. We took her temperature at home and it was 103.1. Fifteen minutes later it was 103.6 -- so it was off to the ER. Fortunately, watercarrier4diogenes was still at the pub and he came to our house and took us to the hospital. Stayed with us, too, until she was admitted!
Ann had a blood borne illness that she evidently picked up at work from an animal (she works at a pet store). Poor baby was put through a CT scan, chest x-ray and spinal tap before she was admitted -- not to mention all the blood tests. She was put on an IV drip with three different antibiotics at once. By Wednesday, her white cell count was down to normal and she was well enough to come home.
Her doctor thinks she knows what it is. Apparently, all Ann's symptoms line up with a very rare and very deadly disease -- and her blood is now being tested for antibodies to that illness. If we had not got to the ER as promptly as we did, Ann might have died. So we are very, very lucky.
We are also very, very tired. I'm not sure that we'll be able to get as much done for the VA Hospital Support Project as we had hoped, given this health emergency. However, we have finished four quilts and have started some simple ones -- see pictures below!
These four are done -- except that three need labels and all need to be washed. We'll ship these this week.
Nine Patch
Stretched Star
I don't know what the name of this one is -- this shot is of the blocks, pinned to the wall, but the quilt is done now
Peace and Plenty
In search of a simple, fast pattern to make, I turned to Billie Lauder's Let's Make Squares and Rectangles. If you don't know Billie Lauder's work, her little pamphlets are full of neat tricks and easy ways of doing things and I recommend them... Anyway, I chose a dead simple two patch pattern.
Here's what you do.
1. Cut strips, from selvedge to selvedge, 3" wide. Cut 18 dark strips and 18 light ones. (I used shades of blue for my dark and shades of white for my light.)
2. Sew one dark strip to one light. You'll end up with 18 double strips.
3. Cut 5.5" blocks from your strips. They'll look like this:
Now, you could arrange your blocks in a rail fence, zig zag pattern:
Or you could do what I did and make little pinwheels. My top is not yet complete, but you get the idea:
Ridiculously simple, n'est-ce pas? The use of scrappy fabrics keeps it from looking too simple, however. I'm going to try to make another of these with shades of orange and white, maybe in a rail fence setting.
Now, my sister found an interesting book at the library, Quilts on the Double by Judy Hooworth and Margaret Rolfe. This book contains patterns for strip piecing and cutting with a triangle ruler. You make strips of three colors and when you cut them, you use the right side up triangles for one quilt and the upside down triangles for another. So far, Ann has made one top. The second one is still in pieces.
Isn't that cool looking? Ann says it was simple to construct -- but it doesn't look it.
Do you have any favorite books or authors for simple, quick quilts? Please share! There is still time to make some quick quilts for the DK VA Hospital Support Project. Quilts should be shipped to winifred3.
And don't forget, there is a book drive for the project, too! If you were thinking of culling your bookshelves or DVD rack, consider sending something on to the Detroit VA Hospital!
Here's the list of quilts pledged -- let me know if there are any adjustments!:
Sara R: 3 quilts
winglion: 9 quilts
Beadlady: 4 quilts (SHIPPED!)
Pam from Calif: 3 quilts
Winifred3: 2 quilts
SilverWillow: 4 quilts
leu2500: 4 quilts
FloridaSNMOM: 1 quilt
madmommy: 1 quilt
Bridget: 5 quilts
NEPatriot: 1 quilt
Wood Dragon: 2 quilts
jlms qkw: 1 quilt
Elizaveta: 1 quilt
vtgal: 5 quilts (SHIPPED!)
ERRN: 2 quilts
rk2: 1 quilt
maggiejean: 2 quilts
RUNNING TOTAL: 51 quilts, only 14 to go!
Can't wait to see your pictures! Please share what you are working on.
Would you like to write a future DK Quilt Guild diary? Please join in! Please volunteer within the comments. Thank you.
DKQG Diary Schedule
06/22 -- trkingmomoe~Sampler Quilt Along
06/29 -- Sara R
07/06 -- OPEN
07/13 -- trkingmomoe~Sampler Quilt Along
07/20 -- OPEN
07/27 -- trkingmomoe~Sampler Quilt Along
08/03 -- OPEN
08/10 -- OPEN
08/17 -- OPEN
08/24 -- OPEN