Thursday, February 20, 2020

Wheelchair quilts with feet


Happy Thursday! Today's finishes are two wheelchair quilts that I sent off to the Joyful Stitchers in Alabama. They distribute quilts to nursing homes in their area. The quilts are quite small, only about 36"x48". This size keeps the fabric from getting caught in the wheels while still providing some warmth and color.


The first one was made in January, when the RSC color was green and my own theme-o-the-month was food. I think this panel was meant to be placemats? I fattened up the panels with a scrappy green and cream checkerboard, reminiscent of tablecloths in a casual restaurant. 



The fun panels are all Italian food, an all-time favorite here on the boat. DH's family is Italian and both his Dad and uncle are fantastic cooks. The back is also food themed: cafe tables with wine bottles, and fun teapots. I wouldn't use wine fabric on a kid's quilt, so this is a great way to use up that chunk.


And speaking of DH, here are his feet! You can tell we've gotten back into warm, southerly waters because the weather is perfect for shorts and bare feet.


The second quilt is my own design and made from a jelly roll of batiks. I pieced it many months ago and finally got it finished. One more off the UFO pile, hooray!


It's one of those stitch-and-flip kind of layouts, where you sew together all the strips and then cut sections off the ends. Those sections are flipped over and sewn back in the middle for a bit of contrast. For the quilting, I just did wiggly lines across all the seams. EZPZ.



The back used up the last of this fun VW bus fabric, plus a newspaper collage with upbeat article snippets. I hope it will bring back memories of the 60s for someone. Of course, they say if you can remember the 60s, you weren't really enjoying them fully!



You can tell this piece is slightly longer than the last one, because there are feet but no shorts. Rest assured the shorts are actually there...he was not nekkid in this pic! Is that reassuring, or disappointing?

15 comments:

  1. Haha... funny post with the feet and shorts!!! lovely quilts as always... so great to see how you use up different fabrics...

    Hugz

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  2. Love them all. That's a good idea about the size of those quilts to keep them from getting into the wheels. I can imagine that has happened a lot. Sometime, we don't think about the simple things.

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  3. What pretty quilts! Lol on the shorts (or not)! I was just thinking this morning about making a wheelchair quilt for an older friend and wondering what size I needed, and here is your post for guidance. I love your fabric and realize I need to provide some visual interest for the recipient!

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  4. Ahh, bare feet and shorts -- I'm dreaming of those days! At least I can go barefoot in the house, which is my usual mode. Your comment on the 60s made me chuckle - ha! Nice quilts, Louise! I like that jellyroll design of yours, so I might have to give that a go.

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  5. Great size for quilts - not so big that they take forever but big enough to make them interesting. Thanks for a fun post.

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  6. I really like the jelly roll quilt you came up with? I'm directionally challenges. I can't, for the life for me, figure out how you made that!! I know you said you cut from the ends and flipped to the middle. It just seems like there's a little more to the story.

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  7. Haha! Good chuckle! Wonderful quilts, Louise! You are a master at taking what you get and making something wonderful out of it.

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  8. Now I do have a jelly roll I've been hunting for ideas for and I love what you did with yours! Thanks for the inspiration, Louise!!

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  9. Joyful Stitchers thanks you Louise. Both quilts also have so much visual interest.

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  10. More wonderful quilts! I love your concept for the jelly roll quilt. I can see future donation quilts using that method coming out of my studio someday. Thanks for sharing!

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  11. You are so funny! And so prolific and clever! Lovely quilts; makes me want to make some again!

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  12. Love how you continue to carry out your "theme". That Italian quilt should bring back fond memories. The jelly roll quilt is something that I would enjoy making some day. That wiggly line quilting does very well on this quilt. Keep up the grand work!

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  13. Great work for great causes Louise! Thanks for the chuckle about the shorts being there, LOL Hooray for shorts weather for sure!!!

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  14. I remember the 60's possibly because I was having so much fun naturally! Graduated high school and met my hubby in 1970, married him in 72 and the rest of the 70's is a blur of pregnancies, babies and the rest! Nowadays I am filling my life with grands, quilting and travel.

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