100 quilts for Kids finish!

I finished attaching the binding to my Sock Monkey Jigsaw Puzzle quilt for 100 quilts for kids on Monday night after work.  Unfortunately I missed the link-up because I couldn't get any good pictures yesterday due to heavy storms last night, oh well.

I think this quilt turned out so cute!  The novelty prints really aren't my taste at all, but I think it will make a child really happy :)

I wanted something quick and easy for quilting so I chose to do organic wavy likes long-ways over the entire quilt.  I started quilting over the seam lines (every 3 inches) then went back and added a wave in between each.  In hindsight, I wish I would have used yellow thread (like I used to attach the binding) instead of white to make the quilting stand out a little bit more

I really need to seriously look into getting a heavier machine for quilting because even wrangling this small lap sized quilt through my little brother moved it all over the table (even though I have sticky shelf liner under it!)... Christmas is coming up ::wink::

The backing is the blue dots from DS Quilts at Joann's, it was on clearance for $7 a yard, so I finished off the bolt even though I only used about 2 yards on this quilt.

I had a little less than a half yard of the white banana print so I added a strip of that to the backing just for a little variety :)

The binding is a combination of Riley Blake and Robert Kaufman yellow dots that just happened to be the same shade as the solid yellow in the quilt!  I had a very serendipitous romp through my scrap bin and managed to find two different but very similar fabrics... You can't even tell they're different in the grand scheme of things.

I machine attached the binding using the tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew.  I must be getting better at binding because I only had to go back and hand stitch over the section where the binding ends meet.  I ended up with a measly 15 inches of binding scrap, so it really worked out perfectly.

I'll be turning this over the Heather at our DCMQG on Saturday where our batch of quilts will be donated to Carpenter's Shelter in Alexandria, VA.  I hope the bright colors and happy monkeys can help bring joy to a child in need :)

Details:
Finished Size: 54"x45"
Fabrics: various scraps including Erin McMorris Funky Monkeys for Moda and Robert Kaufman Kona Solids; backed with DS Quilts for Joann's
Quilted with Gutterman

WIP Wednesday: 100 Quilts for Kids Edition

Happy hump day friends!  Welcome to my stop on the DC Modern Quilt Guild 100 Quilts for Kids blog hop.  Last Saturday member from the DCMQG met in Alexandria, VA to sew up some quilts that will be donated to a shelter in the Alexandria area.  100 Quilts for Kids was started several years ago by Katie Blakesley, the 2014 drive runs through September 30, so you still have time to donate a quilt!  If you're interested, you can find details on Heather's blog.  I would also encourage you to check out the other stops on the blog hop:

Lynne @ Tinkingalong

Meli @ Munchkin Quilts

Alyson @ The Hasty Quilter

Carla @ Modernbias

Susan @ Fuller by Design

Katie @ SwimBikeQuilt

About a year ago, I received a giveaway prize from Erica at Kitchen Table Quilting.  The medium flat rate box was generously stuffed with tons of fabric, including several large scrap cuts of Erin Michael's 5 Funky Monkeys for Moda.

Not being a novelty print kind of girl, I wasn't really sure what to do with these cute little monkeys, but when I received the email about the 100 Quilts for Kids drive these seemed like the perfect fabrics to use.  For those who are regular readers of my blog, you all know I quilt at a glacial pace, so I wanted something quick and easy but not just basic patchwork.  So I did a couple Google searches and came up with this adorable jigsaw puzzle block pattern.

 

Here's the layout as of the Sewing Day last Saturday, I forgot some fabric so I had to fill up the blank spaces when I got home.  I certainly got a lot more accomplished than I would have at home though, and managed to complete more than half of the quilt top at the sewing day!

Since the complete stash is still not unpacked, I had to resort to chopping up the scraps of sock monkeys along with other scraps to have enough for the entire quilt.  I threw in some red, lime, and yellow solids and was able to come up with enough for a lap sized quilt.  I decided to go with the 9" block so I had less sewing to do :)

As is my normal fashion, I finished the quilt top last night.  Despite the fabrics not being my taste, I am really pleased with how it turned out.  I just noticed taking the pictures that I sewed one of the strips on upside down (can you spot it?) so I'll have to fix that!  I have a larger cut of the white banana fabric to use for backing, and I was thinking of picking up a few yards of a DS Quilts Fancy Free plaid to complete the back (its on clearance for $7/yard!).  Hopefully I can get it quilted and bound in the next week or so!  I really need to start quilting on a deadline more often ::wink::

I also participated in making a few blocks for the group quilt.  DS Quilts donated a bunch of fabric for the Charity Drive.  Heather had us turn the fabrics into hourglass blocks. 

They turned out so cute, don't you think!  Keep and eye on the DC Modern Flickr Pool, and blog to see our finished quilts!