Quilting for Me (& Next Year's Auction)

I've finally done it.  After finishing my first three quilts nearly a year ago and quilting a dozen more projects for other people, I made something for myself!

I was out of town last week and so away from my fabric and machine.  I started to have the shakes (emotionally, if not physically) from not sewing anything... does this happen to anyone else, or do I have a problem?

In any case... in one fast and furious evening, I whipped up this pillow.

I was starting to get really tired of the orange and green scheme we have going on in the family room.  Thankfully, this cheers things up a bit.

The backing is this great Denyse Schmidt print that I picked up at JoAnn's.  I only bought half a yard, but wow! - that goes quite a long way when it goes into a pillow as opposed to a quilt backing!  Though I do think I'll have to go back and buy some more...

I'm in love and am now envisioning half a dozen other pillows which would make for a full room redo... Why didn't anyone tell me how gratifying a quick and easy pillow project is?

I'm so glad that Charlotte is so enthusiastic, too.  I actually put the pillow in the car for our most recent trip to chemo... Charlotte wanted to hold it for the entire ride - too cute!

Now, back to the real point of this blog: quilt auction for brain tumor research.  Over the course of six weeks from March to April 2013, we were able to auction quilts to raise over $3,000 for brain tumor research and for pediatric patient care. How exciting to be a part of something so meaningful!

I've brainstormed and schemed in an effort to learn from last year's auction and to have next year's pulled off without a hitch.  Here's what I've come up with: I want to auction all of our quilts simultaneously next year.  Which means that I will have to photograph the quilts and write posts all ahead of time.  It's still quite a few months away, but I'd like to have all the quilts in hand on February 1, 2014.  So plan accordingly, okay?  Surely you could whip up a quilt to further brain cancer research by then, couldn't you?

Don't quilt?  Click on over to my "Get Involved" page to see how else to help.  Hint: a $35 gift card to Fabric.com could go a long way.  Last year, I was given fabric that probably cost about $35, but the quilts that we made with them (Pink Diamond and Once Upon a Time) raised $250!  How is that for multiplying a friend's generosity?!

Please don't hesitate to contact me at charlottesgraceforacure[at]gmail[dot]com with any questions.  I'd love to hear from you!



(Linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story and Crazy Mom Quilts.)