Community Quilts from Jazz

I’m off at another cross stitch retreat. I wrote this post in advance so you’ll have something to read while I’m gone. I shared Jazz’s quilt with you yesterday and today Jazz has another fun installment for you today. She writes:

“Greetings, Jo and friends! So many of you have been so magnanimous with your past gifts of fabrics and supplies that I have been able to escape this devastating heat in Houston by hiding out in my smidgeon of a sewing room and happily stitching away for the sweet new babies born at Ben Taub Hospital in the world-famous Texas Medical Center. (No brag, just fact, as we like to mention here in this state. We like to mention it a lot.)

This 40-ish inch square quilt (and most of the others) is the result of the bounty of Becky M who gave me these precut charms and the blue binding almost two years ago when she was in Houston on her way back to Alaska. Ila M. of DePlaines, Illinois sent me the ivory sparkling cotton (the twinkling gold doesn’t photograph glittery but it is effervescent in person). And the lush purple flannel back came from Jo. This is a puffy quilt, almost the loft of a sleeping bag; when I was lacking batting Melissa R surprised me with a box of it from Gainesville, Florida this spring and it was the perfect thing for this project.

Flushed with success I continued on with more charms from Becky M to make this baby quilt that finished at about 38” x 38”. It’s so lively and jovial … especially backed with this vibrant pastel flannel back and binding from Jo. (I am so grateful to whoever gifted her with all these flannel backings, and to Jo for forwarding them to me.) I used a white sheet for the sashing and Melissa R’s batting.

Here is another quilt made with more charm squares from the same big-hearted Becky M of Texas and Alaska, mixed up with some from my stash as well as some from everyone else’s. The vibrant pink back and binding came from Becky too, and the batting for this one was provided by Jo. It finished at 42” x 42”.

Just in case you were starting to suspect that Texas/Alaskan Becky M confined her favors to baby girls, here is proof that she does not discriminate. These are all sports motifs, baseball, football, basketball, and coordinating pieces that I bordered in bright blue and white from my collections, stitched  ¼” outside each square and bound and backed with blue and white stripes from Jo, who also gave me the batting for this quilt.

Recently I showed you some darling quilts made with pup and cat prints from Melissa R of Gainesville Florida. They were such a hit at the hospital I couldn’t resist making one more. This one is 44” x 44” and features more of the fancy mutts – and a kitty! I had so much fun with these.  I sashed them with a bright yellow-gold from Anonymous, bound and backed it with a bright candy apple red cotton from Becky M.

Melissa provided the batting for this, too. Cute, cute, cute!

Friends, there are no words big enough to thank you properly for all your donations of fabrics and supplies that allow me to design and sew quilts for the newborns at Ben Taub Hospital. The need there is great, and every one of you are helping meet it.

Thank you.

WOW…Jazz is such a talent and a hard worker to boot. I just love seeing an email come in and it’s from Jazz. I know I’m in for a treat. Thanks to the many of you who work with Jazz to make these quilts happen!!