My Last Few Quilting Projects

I have been dying to get going on making baby quilts for our new grandbabies.  But I realized I had a whole lot of quilting projects part-way done.  So I decided to make a list of all the things I had started, and I'm checking them off one-by-one so I can get going on those baby quilts!  I finished my Quilts of Valor quilt for the year, but I forgot to take a picture of it.  I'll take a picture on the day we present them to the local Veteran's at the City Picnic.  I have also done the binding on a couple more, and I made the pillowcases that we present the quilts in.  That's four things scratched off my list.

Here are a few more I've crossed off my list.

The Missouri Star Quilt Company sponsored a Mystery Quilt.  This is mine!  The Mystery Quilt part was the inside zig-zaggy part.  The quilt wasn't quite big enough, so I sewed a white border around the edge.  I couldn't decide what to do to make the border.  The dad came up with the yellow checkerboard idea.  That man is a color genius, I tell you.  Scratch another one off the list!

This one has an interesting story.  Mr. Hartog is retiring this year.  As a retirement gift, we all chipped in and bought him airline tickets to NYC, and tickets to a Yankees Baseball game.  He's big a huge fan for 60+ years.  I found some Yankees fabric, so I decided I would make him a Yankees quilt to go along with the gift.

After I was just about done with the quilt top, it dawned on me that that was just about the dumbest idea I had ever had.  How would that look for me to waltz in and give him this quilt on top of the gift.  It would look like I was kissing up to the boss and trying to earn brownie points.  What was I thinking!?!  I decided to finish it up and donate it to Project Linus since I like making quilts for that organization anyway.  I felt good about that decision.

Just as I finished the quilt, the powers that be (the girls in the main office, etc.) asked me if i would make a quilt to present to Mr. Hartog at the Suprise Retirement Assembly and Program we were having at the end of the year.  At his retirement party, we each provided a quote that we thought fit the situation, and they were hung up all around at the party.  They wanted to have everybody write their quotes on a quilt square, and they wanted me to make a quilt out of them (in two weeks).  I knew I could never get one done that quickly while working all day, and I told them that.  I told them the story of the Yankees Quilt that was in my Project Linus pile, and told them we could write the quotes on the back.  They liked the idea, and here is the back with the quotes on.  (At the time I made it, I put the light fabric on the back because it was the only thing I had that would go with it at all that I already had enough of.  I would have preferred something darker, since it's to take to ball games.

But it turned out that it's good the backing was light.  That way the quotes would actually show up.  This was my quote.  Another project scratched off the list!

I finished this quilt a couple of months ago, but I didn't have the shams made.  I made them and put the quilt on our bed.  Scratch another one off the list!