Headstart Quilting...

 Each year, members of our quilt guild are asked to create quilts for 

three different charities...Hospice, Toys for Tots and Headstart.

The Headstart quilts are made for pre-schoolers who get to choose their own, use it for rest time through the year and then keep it at the end of the year. It has to be quilted at least every four inches because they are washed every week and need to stand up to that extra laundering. There is also a size requirement, and they need to measure at least 36" x 42".

I made this quilt top on Monday and quilted it yesterday. Today I'll bind it and then it will be ready to donate next week at our guild meeting. It measures 42" x 42".

We were told that we needed more boys' themes, so I decided to use some cute dinosaur, paw print and circle fabrics. I had a lot of fun quilting it, too. I quilted spirals over the circles, "Raahr" and two hearts in the dinosaur blocks and a single, big paw print (echoing those in the fabric) and "woof" in the paw print blocks. Then I just stitched straight rows in the sashes and borders.

One of the cool benefits of making these charity quilts is that I can practice my quilting techniques. As long as the stitching is secure, little kids don't notice a few imperfections, and trust me, there are more than a few!

I'm also going to try a new (to me) binding technique. Rather than machine sew the binding to the right side of the quilt, fold it over and hand stitch it on the back side, I'll try sewing it to the wrong side, fold it over and then (using a specialty stitch) sew down the binding on the right side. I'm hoping it turns out really cute. (I'll let you know.)

I'll try to make one more boy's quilt before next Tuesday so I can hand in two at the meeting. Wish me luck!