Two Birds, One Stone

I’m still chipping away at my unloved fabrics in a purge effort spearheaded by Rachel at Stitched in Color.

Here’s where things stand right now …

My 3.5-inch squares of poppy, teal, salmon, and gray have started their journey to becoming a quilt. The interesting part of this process so far has been realizing that what I originally identified as tomato in the Joel Dewberry Notting Hill fabric (second from bottom on the left) could be “read” as poppy. Isn’t that a weird phenomenon? What you pair a fabric with affects how you interpret the colors in it. And once I placed the Notting Hill fabric with the Jewel from Lizzy House (second from bottom on the right) at my local quilt shop, I knew I would include poppy in the palette instead of my original intention, tomato.

Yes, that means I added some newly purchased yardage to this project. I just needed some more variety, and my stash is especially lacking in the teal department. It’s a paradox my husband does not understand: sometimes, to use up fabric, one must buy some fabric.

My selection of orange, brown, and mustard fabrics—set aside for a second quilt—have grown. Taking a cue from the colors in the Tic Tac fabric (on the far left), I added green to the palette, searched through my scraps, and hit pay dirt. I also included half-yards of Rae Hoekstra’s Lotus Pond—one featuring snails, the other featuring frogs—that I had on hand. I think I’ll use Amanda Jean’s instructions for making a rail fence quilt.

(Update: I decided that the color palette in the pic above is hideous. Hideous, I tell you! I’m going to edit out the greens and add in some teals or aquas. The look I’m striving for is less 1978 and more today.)

The exciting thing about these two projects—in addition to putting previously overlooked fabric to good use—is that I’ve decided to jump on the 100 Quilts for Kids bandwagon and donate these to charity. It’s really a win-win situation: I get to join in the action at Stitched in Color and Quilts in the Queue, I use up neglected yardage and scraps, and two kids get a quilt!

Here’s the challenge. I’ve never donated a quilt before. When I start a quilt, I either have a recipient in mind from the get-go, or I have absolutely no one in mind. In the latter case, as I progress with the project, the quilt seems to decide whom it’s supposed to go to. Sometimes even I am surprised!

Here’s where you come in. You are my witness and can hold me accountable: I will not let these quilts go to friends! They are headed to someone I’ve never met who will love them and use them.

Of course, the question of where I’ll donate these quilts remains. I would like to send the finished quilts somewhere local (I live in Massachusetts), but I’m happy to send them to a faraway place as long as they’ll be put to good use. Any ideas?

To learn more about 100 Quilts for Kids, visit ...