Community Quilt with Ray and Stoney

I am interrupting this blog post to tell you in regards to last night’s post about cutting up shirts…I did get a video done on how to rotary cut recycled shirts up.  Here it is…

….and now, I have a treat for you.  Ray revved it up over Christmas break and tackled a lot of quilts.  Four of them were from Stoney in WI.  All of them are being featured in this post.

Ray writes:
“Earlier in 2020 Stoney M. in WI sent me some tops to quilt and donate. In the group were four tops that were all made with charm squares and sashed with white on white fabric. When I saw them in the stack of To-Do tops the other day, they caught my eye and I decided to look them over.

I am so glad I did. They are very similar but are also very distinct. Needless to say FUN!!

Post-Christmas and countdown of 2020, I was in the mood for fun! Here is the first one.

It has a sports theme but the baseballs seemed to dominate. Maybe it is because Fort Myers has two spring training camps and having them back would be a sure sign of a return to “normal”. Oh well, I digress. I found a quilt pattern with a baseball meander. Awesome! Now to decide on thread color. I normally downplay the top thread color to let the fabric take center stage. Sorry, what is a baseball without red stitching?

Had to go with red. The backing fabric is from Ila in IL and was just the perfect backing for the quilt. It is a home run!

Thanks to you, Stoney, and Ila for the assist in making this a winning quilt to be donated to a local baseball fanatic.”

Here is quilt #2.

Ray writes:
“This is the second of four charm quilts that Stoney M. in WI sent to me. As you can see it is the same pattern as the first quilt. However, there is not a baseball to be found in this quilt.

That does not mean it is not fun. The fun is of a totally different variety. It has tools, toys, frogs and trains. That is what little boys are made of. I really liked the red thread from the first quilt especially on the backing that came from Ila M. in IL. I have the same backing on this quilt. But I did go with a different pattern. Balloons, big red balloons. More fun!! Thanks to you, Stoney, and Ila for your contributions to a fun quilt that is sure to make someone’s day very special.

Here is quilt #3.
Ray writes:
“This is the third quilt from Stoney M in WI. You will immediately notice that the charms have gone from dark colors to softer, warmer colors.

To me, it is more feminine. Do not get me wrong there are some strong bold colors in there but there is also a softer touch. Stoney has a special talent in blending them all together for that special, cozy, comforting touch. Because of the softness of the colors, I went to the extreme of white thread for two reasons. One, to let the fabrics take center stage. Two, to get some pop on the backing from Ila in IL. I really like the inclusiveness of the kids on the back.

For a quilting pattern, I finally decided on the circle motif. There were a lot of circles and rounds in the patterns.
My thanks to you, Stoney, and Ila for the wonderful contributions to create another community quilt to touch a life when donated.”

Here is quilt #4.
Ray writes:
“Here is the last of the four quilt tops of this set that Stoney M. from WI. sent me. She again created a top using charm squares.

Many of them come from leftovers of other quilts she has made. This quilt also has a lot of the softer, more gentle colors but also have some dark bold colors to add that special spunk. As I looked at the various fabrics, I noticed a lot of stars scattered throughout. Therefore, I used the star meander pattern and stayed with the white thread to make sure the story of the blocks continued to show.

This one also has the kid fabric from Ila M, in IL.

Love that fabric. Thank you to Jo, Stoney, and Ila for your generous contributions to these quilts as well as many, many others. These four quilts are to be delivered to Valerie’s House this week. Valerie’s House provides support for children to work through their grieving process.”

WOW!  I love all of the quilts.  It’s great to see people I know working together to do great things.  I’ve met both Ila who provided the backings and Stoney who supplied the awesome tops.  I’ve yet to meet Ray but trust me, he’s on my bucket list of people to meet.  Some people want to meet Rock Stars or actors or famous people…not me.  I want to meet Ray.  He’s a real hero in my eyes!!  Thanks, everyone!!