I'm a Thistle Farmer

Wednesday of this week, I had the great pleasure to volunteer at Thistle Farms, a local organization where I could put my craftiness to work. And for a great cause!

Photo: Thistle Farms

Thistle Farms is the business arm of a Magdalene, a Nashville, Tennessee residential program for women who have survived prostitution, trafficking and addiction. Through the sale of natural bath and body products, candles, handmade paper and more, the business employs local women who are getting back on their feet.

Each Wednesday and a few other times throughout the week, volunteers are welcome to come and join the mission by crafting it up. There were somewhere around 50 people working together on the day I joined. I felt the love the moment I walked in the doors.

You can see a few pics I snapped of the handmade paper greeting cards, coasters and a couple of the women I volunteered with in the sewing studio. Love them! The teacup chandelier is a stunning centerpiece in the new Thistle Stop Cafe, a coffee house which also employs women from the residential recovery program.

While at the sewing shop, I helped out assembling these really simple coasters, which will also be for sale in the Thistle Stop Cafe and some local business that vend Thistle products. The coasters are folded from 5" fabric squares, and sewn shut with just four stitched lines around the perimeter before they are flipped right side out. Easy!

Photo: Thistle Farms

For a look at more of the beautiful craftiness that is going on at Thistle Farms, check out this Flickr photostream.

I'd been sitting on the fence, wanting to get involved ever since I heard about the wonderful story of Thistle Farms. But after putting it off for weeks, I was completely blessed by this whole experience and the wonderful people I met. For me, the moral of this story is ... volunteer. Even if it is out of your comfort zone, or if you're not sure that your help is even needed. It is!

Looking for Batiks:
If you have any yardage of batik fabrics that you'd like to donate to Thistle Farms and their sewing studio, please let me know. They'd be so happy to receive it!

Craft Buds and My Shop

Brackets Quilt Finish + Catching Up

You know that feeling when you just know the list of W.i.P.s is growing and you don't know if you'll ever get out? I'm happy to say that I knocked one off my list, which is my do Good Stitches quilt from March! The blocks were made by the ladies in my Imagine Circle of the charity bee using my Brackets Quilt tutorial.



I finished this quilt in just a few hours, because it was already basted. As another bonus, I had already made the green binding for another project, but didn't end up using it last time. I free-motion quilted it with a wide stipple and backed the quilt in a vintage rainbow sheet plus some additional blocks from the bee!



These were my do Good Stitches blocks for May, made using this card trick block tutorial by Heidi of Buttons and Butterflies. I think she chose great colors, so I can't wait to see the finished quilt.

Where did the rest of my month go? Where to begin.... The first 10 days of the month, Matt and I visited California, driving the coast from San Diego to San Francisco! It was fun, but exhausting... lots of walking and activities and not enough lounging around for my taste, but I'm still thankful for the chance to travel. This guy is a lot of fun!

 

While we were in San Francisco, I actually had a deadline for the final edits of my book. So exciting! So I packed a red pen to take on the plane and decided to drop off my pages in person at the C&T Publishing offices outside of San Fran. I totally missed it when I walked in, but they made me a "welcome" sign! How sweet!



The big highlight there was meeting and going out to lunch with everyone on my book team. A close second was seeing the tiny room where they take photos of all the quilts (flat shots) from a little spot in the ceiling, looking downward. Genius!

With any luck today, I'll be sewing up a skirt or two for Skirt Week! I'd love to hear what you are working on this week or weekend. :)

Craft Buds and My Shop

Quilt in a Day: Wholecloth Baby Quilt

Hello friends! I had another post planned today to let you all know what I've been up to this month, including a fun trip to with the hubs to California. But, since I actually finished a quilt, I'll share that instead!



I was in a hurry to finish a commissioned baby quilt, and decided to make my first (almost) wholecloth quilt! A wholecloth quilt is one with no patchwork, but just two solid pieces of fabric sandwiched together, quilted and bound. I'm always loving the yellow-and-gray color combo, so I jumped at the chance to make a baby quilt in those colors.



For the back, I chose this Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets print. I really ended up preferring the back to the front, so let's just call this the front!



The other side is made from just four strips of fabric, so that's why it's almost a wholecloth quilt. The yellow print is by Jennifer Paganelli from the older Poodle line and the elephants print is by Ed Emberley for Cloud 9.

 

Here's a close-up shot of those elephants. I knew right away that the binding had to be Flea Market Fancy seeds... one of my favorites!

Have you ever made a wholecloth quilt (or almost)?

Craft Buds and My Shop