$900 towards Japan Relief Efforts!

I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all that participated and supported my mini auction. Even if you didn’t bid, thank you for reading and spreading the word – it means a lot! I am so happy that this auction was a success, and that it’s going towards such an important cause. You all are the best!

Congratulations to Rebecca from beautiful Hawaii (I’m a tad jealous of the quilt ;)! I will be contacting you shortly via email to arrange shipping and donation details. And I have great news…thanks to my generous in-laws, Rebecca’s donation is being matched by them. And then on top of that, the company I work for will double that total! So the total donation going toward Japan Relief Efforts comes out to $900! Thank you everyone!

On a different note, because of the auction I haven’t blogged in a while so here are a few updates:

I received my latest batch of fabric from Moda! The above collection is called Strawberry Fields by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. If you liked the Quilt for Japan design, my next Moda Bakeshop tutorial will be on how to make that quilt. It’s a really simple pattern that applies the ‘stack and whack’ method so there’s no measuring involved – just stack, cut and sew!

As it only requires one layer cake pack to make the quilt top, I will also be hosting another fabric giveaway along with the MBS post, so please stay tuned if you’re interested. 🙂

I’ve been spending so much money on batting that I finally bought myself a jumbo roll. I had to have my husband carry it up to my sewing room. This is Warm and White batting – it’s one of my favorites because it quilts well and it doesn’t shrink as much . My other favorite batting is called Soft and Bright. If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I’d be more than happy to answer.

Lastly, some of you asked if my faithful furrball, Paige, kept me company as I stayed up until 2 am working on the Quilt for Japan last weekend. She sure did!

Happy Quilting!

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Quilt Auction! Proceeds go towards Japan relief efforts

This auction has ended.

As mentioned in my previous post, I am auctioning this quilt and all proceeds will go towards relief efforts in Japan. I will ship this quilt to the highest bidder, and your donation will be matched 100% by the company I work for. To make a bid, please leave a comment to this post with your donation amount and a way for me to contact you*. This auction will end on Friday, March 25th at midnight. Donation will be accepted through Paypal (they accept all major credit cards).

Donations will go towards Direct Relief International, International Medical Corps, or UNICEF. If you choose not to participate in this auction, you can click the links above to find alternative ways to donate.

“On March 11 a massive 9.0 earthquake hit northern Japan. The earthquake, one of the largest in the country’s history, triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan’s coast, killing thousands and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats.” – Amgen Foundation Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Relief Program




My mission over the weekend was to finish this quilt so I can auction it off today. Mission accomplished! You can see the making of this quilt on my Quilting in the Rain Facebook page (link to the right).

I’ve never done an auction like this, so I’m crossing my fingers that this will be successful. 🙂 And don’t forget that the highest bidder’s donation will be matched 100%! Thanks in advance to those who participate…every bit helps!

*If you do not feel comfortable leaving your email address in your comment, please send it to me via email at quiltingintherain@gmail.com so I know how to contact you. Also be sure that I know which bid is yours!

 

Tutorial here: http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/05/strawberry-fields-forever-quilt.html#more

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Fabric treat and a quilt for Japan

Yesterday after work I came home to this sweet little fabric treat in the mail…what a way to make my day! I’m totally psyched about it and can’t stop looking at its cuteness! Kirsten N., all the way from Australia, made this iPhone sleeve as a thank you for my last fabric giveaway. A huge perk about this sleeve is now I have an adequate excuse to finally get an iPhone! (the phone in the picture actually belongs to my husband ;-p) If it weren’t for Kirsten I’d still be living in the stone age, so thank you for that as well!

Not to change the subject so suddenly, but I wanted to give you all a heads up about my next project. I’m on a mission this weekend to finish a quilt for Japan. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the recent earthquake, tsunami and potential nuclear disaster in Japan; well, here’s a small way you can help AND get a quilt in the process. The company I work for is having a fundraiser where they match donations 100% and all proceeds go towards disaster relief in Japan. My mission this weekend is to finish a quilt and then auction it off via a blog post. I will ship the quilt to the highest bidder, and then have my work match your donation 100%.

I will be using the Sunkissed collection by Moda. Please stay tuned for my quilt for Japan so you can participate in my little fund raising auction. Every bit helps. Also, I will be posting Facebook updates this weekend as I make the quilt, so if you haven’t already, you can ‘Like’ my Facebook page by clicking the link to the right :).


Thanks for stopping by…and happy Friday! Wish me luck on my mission… 🙂

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Finally finished!

The clouds were kind enough to part for a few hours so I could snap some pictures of my finished Rainy Days quilt 🙂 I thought I’d do a quick post on how I finished it up. Above is when I was binding it… I was able to use scraps from the quarter yard cuts to make up all the binding. When binding a quilt I use to throw the yards and yards of binding up and over both of my shoulders; however, now I suggest wrapping it around a ruler, or something (other than your neck), so you don’t get tangled up… death by binding would be a sad way to go.. :-}

Here it is on my quilting frame. If you follow my blog you’ll notice I like to post pictures of my quilts set up on the frame because it’s not something you get to see often. I got a few comments asking what my frame is and how it works. The frame I have is called the Imperial Quilting frame and is compatible with my sewing machine (i have a Pfaff Grand Quilter and love it!).

Basically, I can plop my sewing machine onto the frame and secure it onto a carriage that glides up and down the frame. Since the carriage can glide up and down the frame, it allows the sewing machine to easily maneuver over the quilt sandwich (which you don’t need to baste), as shown above. It’s not computerized quilting, as I still need to use the handle bars to guide the sewing machine. For those of you that don’t have a quilt frame and do all your quilting on a table top, I admire you! It’s something I just couldn’t get use to! Anyway, I promise to post a video soon of me using the frame so you can get an idea of how it really works. 🙂

As always, I quilted stipples. 🙂 I just can’t get myself to do anything other than stippling. I started with loopy-loops, but a split second later had a change of heart. :-p

And here it is, quilted and binded! 🙂 I’m really happy with how it turned out. Don’t forget to make one yourself, here’s the pattern!

Happy Quilting!

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Gray and Gloomy

Not only did it rain all weekend, but it stayed dark and gloomy without the slightest break of sunshine. Bodie stayed by the window all weekend watching the rain and day dreaming of long summertime walks. I guess that’s typical Seattle weather for ya!

I admit the rain allowed for good quilting weather; however, it was SO gray and dark outside all day that I couldn’t even get a good picture of my finished Rainy Days quilt. 🙁 I took several photos of the finished quilt, and my husband and I even came up with crazy lighting contraptions to try to brighten the room, but we still couldn’t get a decent picture. So in short, I apologize for not having the finished photo up yet but it will happen! My plan is to score a decent photo after returning from work this week, and thanks to daylight savings time that extra hour of daylight should help! 🙂

On a different note, you may have noticed the new “Finished Quilt” button on the right hand side of my blog. This is something I’ve been meaning to put together for a while now. It captures all of the quilts I’ve made since I started this blog April of last year, and it also includes some photos of quilts I made prior. There’s a few more photos I still need to take to complete the collection, but I’ll get to them eventually. I will continue to update that page with my latest quilts.

A great benefit about blogging is it captures all of the completed projects I’ve done throughout the year. But above all, I get to meet awesome folks like yourselves who encourage me to keep at it :o)

Have a great week everyone! Hopefully you’re getting more sunshine than I am (I recently learned I have a vitamin D deficiency!)

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