I am trying to wrap up all of my mail into this one post. I was so busy sending mail out from the last two auctions and have sent over 40 quilt tops out, that I’ve gotten behind on mail…and sadly, it got a little unorganized.
As always, I’m hoping I do this right.
This…I know I got right. My blog friend Maxine who is a reader here on the blog and I end up corresponding with quite regularly did something super sweet for me.
She made me all of these cute, cute, cute, beagles dogs in cross-stitch. Maxine stitched them herself. 
There is a total of 11 facing to the right and 11 facing to the left. Maxine suggested I might use them to make a quilt for Georgia as Kelli’s family loves beagles too. That might be a fun idea.
Maxine is not only prolific with her cross stitch but also VERY-VERY-NEAT! Check out the back. WOW. My backs never look that good!
So precious.
I am so honored that Maxine would take the time to stitch these for me. Being a cross-stitcher I know how long it takes to do cross-stitch. I have these on the back burner for now. I have the boy’s baby quilts to finish before I tackle these.
Curiously, has anyone made a quilt with cross-stitch before? Do I need to put interfacing or something on the back of the stitched piece to help keep the treads in place?
Maxine also sent some thread and graphing paper.
At first I wasn’t sure how to use the thread as I typically follow the thread guide the designer suggests but then looked closer to see this…It says Sub for DMC 415…so I’m guessing using this wouldn’t be any different than using the corresponding DMC thread.
Thanks so much for thinking of me!! I love it all. You’re so sweet Maxine.
Marie sent this package. There was a great piece of red yardage perfect for a backing. The cherry print is fun and there is a UFO that I will pass on to the Cresco ladies.
Julie sent these great quilt tops. These were larger. I contacted Janet from the list of of people looking for goodies and she is going to get these and finish them for her group. I haven’t sent a lot of stuff to Janet in the past and am so happy to be able to.
I think Janet focuses her charitable work to help foster children. I thought these quilts were so bright and cheery and would be perfect for foster children. These were big but if Janet needs to make them bigger, she can easily put a border on them.
What a fun string quilt!!
This one was bright and cheery too. I’m guessing it must have been a jelly roll quilt.
This one was a fun bunch of patchwork squares.
The last one was smaller. I will check if Janet wants this one too. It might make a nice boy quilt for an outdoors lover.
I have a conglomeration of what I hope I am logging correctly. I’m also not sure if I wrote about his before. I found the pictures in my folder and typically I delete all photos after I’ve blogged about them.
This package came from Iris.
She was so sweet and included some postage money too.
There were goodies galore!!
There was a large variety included.
…lots of baby prints. So cute!
Novelty prints to patriotic…
As I said, a little bit of everything.
..even a quilt top. I paired this fabric with it thinking it might make a good backing.
There were so many things squished in to the boxes. It’s always fun to do an unboxing.
The next box came from Julie…
Check out the cute homemade card. So cute!
The box was a big blessing of calico. I’ve been collecting it and with this, I think my collection is complete.
WOW!! Now it’s time to make a quilt!!
The next goodies came from Joann.  So much was packed into this box!!
Cross-stitch goodies…
Awesome scraps!
I’ve already passed the blocks on the left onto the Cresco ladies and they already made a top with them. That’s how lost these photos were. I’m so sorry.
There were fun patterns and English paper pieced goodies too.
So many fun and pretty fabrics. I saved the ones at the top of the picture…the yellow and gray ones. When Kalissa got married I made them a wedding quilt with yellows, grays, and teal. If they ever have a girl, I’ve always thought to make her a quilt in the same colors. So I added these to the scraps leftover from their wedding quilt. FUN!
At this point, I don’t even know if they will have any more kids. It doesn’t really matter. I’ll wait and if they don’t, I’ll pass it on.
Thanks so much everyone for the wonderful goodies. I HUGE apology to Julie and Joann for misplacing the photos and not sharing your amazing goodies sooner.
Yes, I have a made a cross-stitch blocks quilt. Do iron on an interfacing or it will unravel with washing. I’m sure it was washed often and was holding up last I saw it.
It must be so fun opening the boxes. What a good array of fabrics and supplies. I can imagine some beautiful quilts coming out of all of these fabrics.
I have as much fun as you do seeing what everyone sends and your decisions as to what goes where!. Thanks to all who take part in these fun “in my mail” blogs.
Jo, at my house I’m the quilter and my wife is the counted cross-stitcher. I’ve incorporated many of her cross-stitched works into my quilts.
Make a backing on yours and then zigzag around the perimeter before sashing. Your beagles will be beautiful and happy in the quilt.
Thank you Elle and Jazz for the information. It makes good sense. I have an embroidered piece I have hesitated putting into a quilt for that same reason of do I or don’t I back it.
I made a baby quilt in yellow, gray and light aqua. I thought those were going to be difficult to work with but I loved the very calming look it has. The baby’s room is also done in those colors.
Ditto the above comments re the cross stitch blocks in a quilt. I usually add the iron on interfacing then do a small zig zag to hold edges. I did a number of baby blankets on the waffle weave (think thermal long underwear) premade blankets just using a non iron-on interfacing and they all held up wonderfully with many, many trips thru the washer.
Quite a treasure trove there! A great selection of all kinds of fabrics. The calicoes in the box from Julie must date from about the mid-70s. I had several of them, maybe still have scraps around here somewhere. I had the bright green print in several colorways.
I have some bits and pieces of those calicos left over from the 70’s too. I used them to make fabric ABC books for my nieces. I love seeing all the different fabric pieces that comes your way Jo.
Hi Jo. I have made cross stitch squares into quilts. Teddy bear alphabet quilts for my grand kids. Like you I was worried about the stitching. So I made mine into wall hangings. I used a fusible interfacing on the back of them to stabilize the stitching, then made the wall hanging. Because they don’t get laundered a lot, there is even less worry of them unraveling.
You get THE BEST mail, Jo!!! You’ve got quite the distribution center going on at your house. Thanks for the time and effort it takes to get the various quilting bits to people who make donations in the name of your Community Quilts program!
Hi Jo — I have made Kathy Schmitz embroidered quilt blocks and I back the blocks with Pellon woven fusible interfacing SF101. It prevents the embroidery threads from pulling out. I love how it works.
Boy oh boy did you ever have the goodies to share.