Feather Your Nest

Do you read the wonderful blog, Stumbles & Stitches?  Jenny and Angel are hosting a fun contest in honor of Earth day and to encourage us all to create something for our homes while re purposing supplies we already have! 

When I first heard of the idea, I immediately thought about that old quilt I bought a few months back that I planned to make Christmas stockings with...well, I gave it a test run this morning. 

I used the free pattern by Denyse Schmidt that can be found HERE .  I enlarged the pattern 150% but it is still a rather small stocking...and I forgot to add a tab for hanging...so, good thing it's a large quilt it may take me a few tries before I get 4 nice ones for Christmas 2012! 

And I ran to my LQS yesterday to buy fabric for the ballet quilt's binding and Hugo wouldn't leave without fabric for a new pillow.

 We took the cover off this very unfortunate pillow and whipped up a new skull and crossbones pillow for Hugo's bed. 

So be sure to stop by Jenny and Angel's blog and get some great ideas on how you might feather your own nest!

ballet fundraiser

My daughter has taken ballet lessons for 4 year.  Its a wonderful organization based at our church called Studio 149.  She has made friends, learned some control of her body, and has the opportunity to perform at a number of recitals.  I hope she continues to enjoy it for many years to come...I am not a very graceful person, and would rather jump off a cliff vs. dance, so I would love to see her grow up with the self confidence to dance.

Anyway, they are having their annual recital and fundraiser at the beginning of June.  I volunteered to make a quilt for raffle.  I used a Sherbet Pips jelly roll designed by the awesome Aneela Hoey.  I was lucky enough to win the jelly roll from the equally awesome Cathy at Wonderous Woven Fabrics.  I thought these fabrics would appeal to the many little girls in the ballet troupe.

I put a call out on Flickr for some scraps of ballet fabric to add into the quilt and Kirsten answered me in spades with these amazing ballet girls by Kokka.

But maybe my favorite part of this rail fence quilt is the blocks where I used the scarf print instead of 4 individual fabrics.  Do you see them hiding in the pattern?

Thanks to Anna, my favorite local fabric pusher for giving me some of this fabric.