Pfelicity's Pfirst Quilt

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Yesterday I spent most of the day working on my doll quilt for the June doll quilt swap.

Each time I make a doll quilt, I'm reminded how much fun it is. I tend to choose favorite fabrics from my scrap bins, because let's face it...our favorite fabrics are the ones most likely to end up as scraps. The optional theme for June's swap is "In the Garden". My partner and I agreed to surprise one another, and I decided to stick with the theme. I'm fairly certain she doesn't read my blog, and so I don't think I'm spoiling the surprise by posting this today.
I started this quilt on Saturday and by Monday morning, it was finished. It's such fun to take a quilt from cutting to binding in just a matter of hours. When I left off yesterday, I had taken it this far:

Then this morning, I took it the rest of the way. This is the Carolina Lily table topper pattern available free from Allpeoplequilt.com. I'm calling mine, "Pretty Posies".

Pfelicity did a fine job on this! She did a good job sewing nice straight seams for piecing.

Then I tried out her buttonhole stitch on the appliqued leaves. And she had to sew right next to the edge of the applique stem. She handled both with aplomb. 

I was going to give her a chance to show off her style with free motion quilting, but then realized I didn't have the proper foot for that. Still, I lowered her feed dogs...no problem there. I tried quilting with no foot, but she could only sew a few stitches before refusing to pick up the bobbin thread. I know some folks do free motion quilting with no foot, but Pfelicity says it is not ladylike to go out without one's feet. She would consent to stitching in the ditch, however, and that went well too. Here's how it looks from the back:

And because we thought the stitch in the ditch needed a little oomph, we tried out one of her fancy stitches as a finishing touch. 

I think she did just great for her first project, don't you? As for me...no swearing! This is an excellent sign.

So while I was finishing up hand sewing the binding this morning, the phone rang. It was Mike. As I was searching around for the cordless handset, I spied his wallet sitting on the coffee table, and I was pretty sure I knew why he was calling.

"You're a man without a country, aren't you?" I said.  

He was. He very sweetly asked me if I would mind bringing his wallet by...without actually asking. Of course, I said I would. Having gone off to work without my purse once (and how does one do that, anyway?) I knew the bind he was in. No cash, no debit card, and no identification. It was no big deal for me to help him out. It gave me just the excuse I needed to get out the door.

A promotion at my LQS has started now. They are taking sewing machine donations, and the machines coincidentally end up with the Coffee Creek Quilters organization I'm planning to volunteer with. When I met with the woman from Coffee Creek Quilters last week, I was very impressed with their group and the opportunities that are available for volunteer work. She also informed me that when a woman is released from prison, she is given a sewing machine and a kit for her next quilt. I donated my old Janome to the cause, and in exchange I was given 25% off a Bernina accessory. I chose the #21 "braiding foot". 

And now, I have a few little housekeeping chores to do before starting in on my next project. Since writing my list of June goals yesterday, I realized I'd completely forgotten about my guild's "Initially Yours" challenge quilt. So much for making a list and checking it twice. You may recall that we are to make a quilt 36 x 36 inches that in some way represents our initials. Mine being "BS", it was tempting to do something truly tacky. When I asked for suggestions a few months back, Kirsty came up with the idea of "Blooming Sunflower". That one kind of stuck with me, and so I've gone in search of inspiration. In the process, I came across this quilt pattern by Jane L. Kakaley for a sunflower mosaic.

It's a little larger than I need it to be, but I can think I can make it work for my purposes. I'm going to give it a try anyway. If you like this pattern, you can find it available for instant download in her Etsy shop. It's a little different from anything I've attempted in the past since I'll need to pay close attention to my color values. I like the idea that I can work from my many blue, yellow, and green scraps, and shouldn't have to purchase anything.
So that's my day. Finishing a quilt so early in the month really makes me feel as if I'm getting the jump on June.