For the Children

I love making things for kids, so this was a very good week.  It feels good to finish projects, even small ones, like the dinosaur pillowcase I finally made for my grandson, to go with his dinosaur quilt.

Isn't this cute fabric?  I was pointing out different kinds of dinosaurs in the print to my Little Buddy, but I got the T. Rex wrong.  "No, that's a raptor," he said, and showed me which one really was the T. Rex.  He should know, it's his very favorite dino. 

He also loves Daniel Tiger, so I made this pillowcase to put on when the dino one is in the wash.

At naptime on Monday, I got the finishing touches done on the baby sweater for my daughter's friend's new baby.  The knitting was all done,  I just had to sew on the buttons and the little applique.

I've had this duckie applique in my stash since my own kids were little!  It was a sew-on applique, not an iron-on, and somehow I just never got around to using it.
Click HERE for the sweater pattern.  It's knit from the top down, and is seamless.  I didn't follow the pattern exactly for the number of rows, etc., just used experience and common sense.  My way makes a size 3-6 months.
The baby shower is later today, so that was motivating me to wrap it up (yes, literally).

My last project is this little quilt.
I was inspired to make it by quilts I saw on the Sew Preeti Quilts blog.  (Click HERE for the specific post.)  Preeti made six quilts to send to the Socorro Foundation in Texas, which helps families released from federal agencies.  Her post was very moving.

The quilts will be used at the shelter and washed frequently, so they need to be sturdy.  There is a list of specific requirements and sizes HERE.

Isn't this animal print a hoot?  I had two fat quarters of it, and nearly used up every scrap.  I bought the fat quarters (at a highly discounted price!) from a friend of a friend who was destashing.

The small scraps for the nine patch blocks came from this bag.  It was stuffed full of 2 in. bright strips when I started cutting.  Since it's more efficient to cut several quilts at once, I cut pieces for two more quilts while I was at it.  Do you think there's enough for yet one more?  If not, no worries, there might be more fabric around here somewhere.

Thursday morning we took Little Buddy and went to Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine, which is in a nearby town.  The church complex overlooks the surrounding woods and farmland, and it's a great place to see the changing colors of the leaves.

The sky was a little overcast, but the view was still amazing.  I took these photos from the tower, which you are allowed to climb in good weather.

Sights like these help me to remember to live my values every day.

Have a wonderful week, and thanks for reading.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at So Scrappy
Alycia at Alycia Quilts 
Cynthia at Oh Scrap