Comfort Quilts

In December and January, I made a few dozen baby / toddler quilts and blankets in my spare time. During visits for treatment, Jolee and her mama and daddy took them to Vanderbilt University Children's Hospital to be given to children on 6A, where Jolee spent 5 months last year. When Jolee was in the hospital, she clung to her own blanket, along with her Lambie, so we wanted to do something to bring comfort to the kids. I hope these quilts help those little ones, even though it's such a small thing in the scheme of things. By the way, you can read the latest update about Jolee here.

As for the actual quiltmaking, I went with a simple whole cloth quilt. It was quicker and I could get more made in a short time. My Juki sewing machine is super fast, although I don't go as fast as its capabilities... I'd like to keep my fingers free of needle holes!

My sewing area is in the corner of my workroom, and sometimes I work late at night, so I definitely need plenty of lighting. I have two OttLite lamps for sewing. These make a huge difference!

I prefer to hand stitch the binding, but again, it was quicker to machine stitch it. I'm not that great at keeping it perfectly in line, but it looked ok and once the quilts are washed and dried, little imperfections weren't as obvious. These quilts were the first time I tried attaching the binding completely by machine.

The labels were made from fabric I had printed at Spoonflower. Care instructions are on the other side of the label.

I did straight line quilting using a walking foot. This type of foot is also good when attaching the binding.

I tried masking tape for marking quilting lines. I found that I couldn't sew right next to the tape because the tape interfered with the walking foot moving across the quilt. It worked ok staying a walking foot width away from the tape.

Then I remembered I had a Clover Hera Marker, and that's all I've been using to mark my quilting lines... well, the marker and my Omnigrid acrylic ruler.

I very seldom use pre-made binding and instead, make my own. Polka dot fabric is my favorite for binding!

After making several quilts, I found some fleece fabric at Walmart for $1.50 per yard! I bought several yards of My Little Pony, Disney Princesses, Mickey Mouse, and Olaf. These were "no sew" blankets! Trim the selvedges, cut a square out of each corner, cut 1" strips for fringe, tie knots at the top of each strip, and it's done!

I will probably make more, but I'll pace myself. Maybe do a few a month or try to send several quarterly.

If you'd like to donate quilts and blankets to children and teens in hospitals, I'm sure you could contact a hospital and get details of how to go about it. Maybe this will inspire someone else to help out.

Take care and God bless,
Lana

The Best Job I've Ever Had is Being a Nana

The title of this post is on a coffee mug that was given to me a while after Jolee was born. I never knew a grandchild could bring so much joy, love, and happiness until she was born three years ago on a snowy January day. This child is the love of my life.

If you have followed me on Instagram or Facebook, you know that our sweet Jojo was diagnosed with brain cancer last June. Since then she has had surgery, chemo, countless tests, transfusions, dealt with severe infections, and spent five months in the hospital. She still has physical limitations, but she is getting stronger every day.

Despite all she has endured, Jolee's spirit has not been broken. She is a happy, spunky, determined little girl who makes the best of her situation. We all could learn from her and be so much better for it.

Jolee's MRI earlier this month didn't have the results we'd hoped for. Jolee will begin proton radiation therapy soon and her mama and daddy are both staying at home with her while her treatments continue. I have never heard Jolee's parents (my son and daughter-in-law) ask for anything except prayers for Jolee. But we all know that financial responsibilities still continue, even when our lives are put on hold. They still have travel expenses, medical expenses, health insurance premiums, household bills, etc. If you feel led to bless them financially, there is a GoFundMe account set up in Jolee's name.

Here is a recent GoFundMe update: "Jolee has remained so strong throughout her journey but she doesn't do anything simple. During her third round of chemo in August 2018, she developed a severe infection that left her unable to get chemo for 3 months. In November, she was started on an outpatient regimen of chemo. It was so nice to be able to go home after treatment and not stay overnight. Unfortunately, her MRI on Feb 6th revealed that the chemo was not working as well as hoped. She has new enhancements in her brain and two new places in her cervical spine. All of her doctors agreed that radiation would be the best course of action. She is so young and radiation was avoided as long as possible. She will be receiving proton therapy at a location fairly close to home. She will get 31 treatments and going 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Radiation is set start by the first of March. Mom and Dad are both off work to be able to be with her and help her get through this next phase to get this thing beat! Help is appreciated but most of all, we desire prayers! God bless!!"

As her parents mentioned, we do ask for your prayers, always.

Take care and God bless,
Lana (Jolee's Nana)


https://www.gofundme.com/JoleeManis

Catching Up

I thought I had posted this on my blog at Christmas, but evidently forgot. It made it to Instagram and Facebook, but some of you that have been with me for years still read blog posts.

So, here it is, a little late, but just in time for Jolee's birthday tomorrow... she will be 3 years old!!! :)

From December 25, 2018
"Merry Christmas!!! This little girl is the best Christmas present ever! Thank you, everyone, for you prayers for Jolee, and for always asking about her through messages, phone calls, or when you see me in town (which isn't often... I avoid stores as much as possible nowadays). After a total of five months in the hospital, sweet Jolee came home in November. God has brought her through so much and it's such a blessing to have her home now. Chemo treatments continue, but as outpatient. We look forward to 2019 as a year of healing and getting stronger every day. Please continue to keep Jojo and her mama and daddy in your prayers."

Take care and God bless,
Lana, blessed and proud Nana of sweet Jojo

Another Quilt Finished!

Back in 2015, I decided to make a quilt for each of my three children and my daughter-in-law. I started on my oldest son's quilt, since his birthday came first in the year. Well, a year later I finally finished it and posted about it here. In my defense, it was king size and I was a bit overwhelmed by that, so I procrastinated.

Eight or nine months later, I started my youngest son's quilt. Even though he's the youngest child, I was doing his next because I originally planned on doing them in order of their birthday month because I had every intention of making them all in the same year.... ha-ha! So, fast forward two years and one month and I have the second quilt finished! Yay! It's queen size and I machine quilted it on my Juki TL-2000Qi. I LOVE this machine! Another "tool" I can't do without is my OttLite lamp... or two in this case! These lamps make all the difference in the world, especially with handwork.

Since this one is finished, I am ready to begin my daughter's quilt. We decided on a color scheme and I'll be shopping for fabrics soon.

Thanks for visiting today!
God bless,
Lana

Topiaries, Birds, and Words... all half off!!!

When I sold on Etsy, I had a really bad habit of letting my listings expire and then forgetting to update them again. A few months back, I put those shops on vacation - permanently - and started moving things over to Honeysuckle Lane (on Big Cartel).

Last night I listed several sets of my block print note cards... and they are half off! These will make great stocking stuffers, so come on over and see if there's something you'd like. Shipping for the cards is a flat $6 no matter how many sets you purchase.

Click here to shop the HALF OFF block print cards!

Blessings,
Lana