Quilts for Japan, an Apron, and Allie's Apple Quilt

Bonnie Hunter posted yesterday about a way to get some quilts to Japan. One of the comments on that posting was from Beth, who says she is collecting blocks to make a quilt, thinking that blocks might be easier for folks to contribute than whole quilts. Check out Beth's blog to see what she has in mind. I woke up early this morning because DH is volunteering for a race in Atlanta and had to leave home at 5:45 to get there on time. I thought I'd go back to sleep for awhile, but had several quilt projects rolling around in my head so I got up. On the way to the quilting room I checked my email and read Bonnie's blog and saw Beth's comment. So this morning I made these 5 blocks to send to Beth. Hopefully they will blend in with the other blocks she has been promised. She's had about 40 replies so far, and everyone is saying they'll make one or two at least.

Next, I made this tea towel apron. I wear an apron everytime I cook, and though I have several, this one looked fun and quick to do when I saw it at Little Quilts in Marietta a few weeks ago.

A few days ago our daughter who lives in Seattle told us she is moving into an apartment of her own. She's been in Seattle almost 1 1/2 years and has lived in several places but not had an apt of her own. In the spring of '06 she decided to move from the Bay area of SF, where she was a Montessori pre-school teacher, to an organic farm in KY. For the next few years she worked there, and then on 2 different organic farms in the Hudson Valley of NY before moving to Seattle in Nov '09. When she left the Bay area I had been working on a quilt for her - It was the first quilt I started after I retired in June '05, and is hand-pieced, but she told me to put in on the back burner until she had a place she could hang it since it is to be a large wall hanging - or a good-sized throw. Well, now I've decided maybe she is ready for it so I have gotten it off the back burner and have started hand quilting it again. She will be here for a visit in mid-April. Don't think I can have it finished by then, but I'll be working on it. Here is part of the border where I am outlining the individual apples  and this is one of the corners where I have a basket to quilt in some way. I have quilted part of the basketweave border, but now can't find the template I used for that, so will have to draw one to finish up that part. In the 6 squares where the appliqued apples are I have done echo quilting - still have 2 of those blocks to do.  There is a reason why I made her a quilt with apples on it - read here to see our family connection to apples. I made that webpage after our visit to San Francisco in May '05, where I was able to view Allie making her "real apple" quilt in a window at her art school.