Tidings of Comfort and Joy

 Happy Winter Solstice! As I write this, it's mid afternoon and the sky is getting dimmer by the minute. School was canceled today and tomorrow due to the arctic temps headed our way. All my teacher friends have been rejoicing that Christmas came early! I'm enjoying being cozy and relaxing, which is wonderful after a crazy busy couple of weeks. 

I'm excited to be blogging today because I have a finished quilt to share! One of my coworkers found out that I'm a quilter and asked if I could make her a quilt for her sister who is battling ovarian cancer. 

I was hesitant to say yes because quilts take so much time to create. But, it happened to be my turn to be Queen Bee in the Beeutifully Modern Quilt Bee. I didn't have a prompt in mind for the group, so I asked my bee mates if they would consider helping me create this quilt. Phyllis (pictured here with me) suggested we make a word quilt, which I loved! She also suggested the color scheme of orange and purple to go with the turquoise fabrics that had been supplied. 

Here's Kristie, Liz, and Judy! We all met at the Quilt Museum during a Lincoln Modern Quilt Guild sew day to create the word blocks. I showed them how to make applique letters using Shannon Brinkley's method.  We had a nice time together making the blocks. I just love getting together with these gals! 

I took the word blocks home and created a few more. Then I started puzzling the quilt together. I dug through my box of blocks from other projects to see if I had anything that would work with the color scheme. Surprisingly, I had a few!

Here's the final layout. It felt like a huge accomplishment getting everything to work together in one whole piece! 

For the quilting, I did "organic" straight lines. Some of the lines are kind of wavy and some are straight. I like it ha! You can't tell from the photo, but Judy's HAPPY block has a sparkly background fabric which makes it extra special! 

The binding is some vintage 80's fabric I got from my mom. I love it's spray painty, pastel goodness! 

Butterfly block pattern can be found HERE 

Feather block pattern can be found HERE 

This applique circle flower block is so old, I don't quite remember where I found the pattern! I'm happy I was able to use the block in this project!

I didn't feel like going out in the cold to buy fabric for a backing so I pieced one instead. 

I love how this project turned out! I'm so very thankful for my quilty friends who helped me create this quilt and for their encouragement! I can't wait to give this quilt away! I hope the recipient will feel loved and comforted. 

Happy Holidays friends! 

Comfort and Joy Word Quilt

51" x 60" 

Word blocks by the Beeutifully Modern Quilt Bee

Pieced and quilted by me