Quilting the Jelly Roll Race Quilt

I am having too much fun with this quilt! As you can see, I have started quilting it. I really want to finish it tomorrow, but I have physical therapy tomorrow for my hand and will probably not be in any condition to do much of anything. :( However, we'll see. In the meantime, I really like the quilting pantograph I chose and the way it looks on the quilt!

DONE (but not in 35 minutes!!!!)

Participating in the Jelly Race at 1 Choice 4 Quilting was WAY fun! Even if you aren't interested in the contest/race, I encourage you to check out their blog and review the pattern for this quilt. She was so imaginative in incorporating Indy 500 race preparations with the instructions. Great read and delightful project.

Here is my Mr. Wonderful holding up the completed quilt top. I used fabric strips that my daughter-in-law, Mary (Quilt Genius) cut for me and made into a jelly roll.

Jelly Roll Quilt Contest!

Do you love Jelly Rolls as much as I do? Check out the Race Day Contest at 1 Choice for Quilting. It's a really cute idea, based on Indy 500 racing and offers a great way to make a quilt really fast using a Jelly Roll or your own 2-1/2" strips. I'd tell you more, but the website covers everything much better than I ever could and I have to get quilting! I have less than 24 hours to complete my quilt so I can enter the contest, although the website says the fastest done was 35 MINUTES!!!! Oh my! I better get sewing!

Knitting is Therapy!

After my cast was removed following the surgery on my thumb, I had to have physical therapy. I was told that most insurance companies will only pay for 70%-90% recovery. I informed the therapist that I expect 100% recovery and I don't care what it takes! I told them that knitting and quilting are very important to me. So they had me bring in my knitting so I could show them what forms of dexterity are required. That was a couple weeks ago. Now I have progressed enough that knitting is part of my therapy homework - along with massaging the scars with Vitamin E cream to help stretch the ligaments and exercising my wrist with 1# weights.

One of the therapists has a twin brother who was very recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. :-( John (therapist) was asking me how long it takes to make various articles. Then he wanted to know what I would charge to make a pair of white socks with the pink cancer ribbons for a woman who wears a size 7.5 shoe. His mom? His sister-in-law?

I never gave him an answer, but when I got home, I ordered a cotton-blend sport yarn. It arrived today! So I got busy designing the chart for the pink ribbon and cast on the socks. I have about an inch done, but my hands are exhausted and sore, so i need to quit for now. Hope to have time to work on the socks tomorrow! I will post pics when I get a little more done.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

My daughter-in-law (Mary of Quilt Genius and Our Hoppy Place) is always finding neat websites and blogs with fun and interesting posts. The most recent is Amy's Creative Side post about her Blogger's Quilt Festival.

So far, my all-time-favorite quilt I have made is Debbie Caffrey's 911 quilt, so named because someone who made it thought they counted 911 pieces. I don't know if they miscounted or if I made a different size, but there were well over 1100 pieces!

I made this at a quilt retreat, spending about 36 total hours on the pieced top. My son, who dropped by the retreat site to say "hi" to his wife, even stitched a few pieces. :-) She (Mary) is truly a genius, especially when it comes to colors. Determined to move me out of my comfort zone, Mary selected batiks in orange, yellow, and a pink? magenta? (The picture is really BAD!) BUT, I did get a first place ribbon at the 2010 Goodtime Quilters Quilt Show in Circleville Ohio.