Design Wall

Look what I have. I got some help and hung up a design wall in my den. Just no room in my sewing room for it. We actually put up regular quilt hangers so I can easily take it down and put up a finished quilt for display. I'll probably get a couple more hangers to hold a finished quilt but I only had two in the house and they are fine for the design wall. I was using a sheet of plastic table cloth with flannel-type background but it didn't hold the fabric well so I put a layer of cotton bating over it and it works fine. What do you use for your design wall?

I'm still working on preparing UFO's to be quilted. Remember this flimsy that I made in FL last winter? Actually, I have two of them. I thought about using one for the backing but decided to piece some other fabrics and made two backings. I only took a pic of one of them.

Then I used the leftover cut pieces to make eight more 12" blocks. I put six of them together to make a doll blankie and used the last two to make pillows or are they doll beds? They have a double layer of thick poly batting in them. I'm thinking I'll do some quilting in them - just to hold the batting in place. I plan to get the back for the doll blankie pieced today. I made enough binding for the two big quilts and wonder if there will be enough to the doll one. Probably not.

My LQS is dressing orphan dolls. They were acquired from garage sales. They also are making doll blankets so I decided to add a couple blankets for the child too.

This brings back great memories. I was a Girl Scout leader for many years. We had a large project of dressing dolls for donations. Our local Good Will kept all the dolls that were donated and the Girl Scouts made clothes for them. We would display them in a store window and any girl would love them. I wish I had a pic of them. I'm sure I took some but...

As I've told you before, my area here in MI is hurting so much. Lately, there has been a drive for school supplies. Some churches have been taking children to the store and getting them new shoes to start school. Ninety-seven percent of the students in an area elementary school qualify for free hot lunches. They are also giving them breakfasts. Now they are doing a back pack program for weekends. Every Friday the students get a backpack to take home. It has enough food for two meals and two snacks for the child to eat over the weekend. The kids bring back the empty backpack to be filled for the next weekend. There is some government subsidy for the hot lunches but all the backpack food is donations. Regardless of your political inclinations, I urge you to support programs like Head Start and hot lunches in schools. And health care too. Money put into children's needs will only pay back multiple-fold in the future.