My Aim for 2014

This year I want to make sure I make an effort to give away more of the things I make. Give them to people, or charities, who need them far more than I do. In an effort to set myself off in the right direction I have heeded Alison's call for quilts for the street children of Mexico. Please read more about it here.

Like many quilters, I have a fabric stash. It is not huge compared to some. It is varied because I buy lots of small bits rather than many pieces beyond the size of a FQ. For my style of scrappy quilting this suits me fine. But if you dig around in various hidey holes you can stumble across fabric I put aside ages ago with some purpose in mind I am sure. And there it stayed. Well, it is time for this fabric to come out into the light of day and to be used. For all intents and purposes it allows me to make things for free - because if I paid for the stuff more than two years ago it just does not count any more.

At the bottom of one of the girls old toy boxes, now used for storage for me, was a stack of the softest, prettiest girlie flannel. Most of it was left over from a quilt I made ages ago, but there was a big chunk of purple I had picked up on sale afterwards.

That flannel is now this.

Please forgive the wrinkly appearance. I backed the quilt with a fleece blanket and it is acting like velcro, clinging to everything and refusing to let go. Plus I wouldn't iron the quilt for fear of melting the fleece. Just saying.

The finished quilt measures approximately 50" x 60". The combination of the flannel with the fleece should be nice and warm, as well as feeling as cuddly as all get out.

I sewed the layers together and then turned it and top stitched the edge, following Hadley's fine example.

I did very little quilting, other than a row of stitching on either side of the seams going around the patchwork squares. I wouldn't attempt more with the fleece backing, but I did want to make sure it could hold up to lots of use.

I am hoping that somewhere in Mexico there is a young girl who deserves a better life than she currently has. I am really hoping that this quilt makes her smile, keeps her warm at night and helps in some very small way on her way to a better future.

What about you? Do you have fabric lurking in your stash that could be put to good use now, rather than hiding there for a few more years? I'm aiming for a minimum of four quilts of whatever size going to charity in 2014. Just imagine if we all did that.

Susan