Month: September 2026

Patti S., a talented friend from the guild, gifted me the pieced blocks a few weeks ago. Shortly after, I discovered that our partner, who manages most of our guild’s donation quilts, had a request. They needed 5 or 6 quilts for an upcoming Veterans Day event. While I had intended to focus on two Christmas projects that often get sidelined this time of year, I couldn’t say no.

My projects will have to, once again, wait another year but I’m grateful for the blocks which I was able to use to create two quilts. Two down, four to go!

The results of yesterday’s experiment were about as thrilling as watching paint dry, but I learned a few things, so I suppose it wasn’t a total waste of time.

After washing and drying the little quilt the tail came loose and stuck to itself so I couldn’t just stitch it down. I had to pull it back to the dog’s butt and attach a new one. (Luckily, it peeled back rather easily.)

I machine blanket stitched the edges to enhance my plain tan print. I was happy to discover it was super easy to stitch through the top, applique, batting, and backing without using a walking foot. That, and the small, easy to manuever size gave me a lot more control around the curves.

I had sewn the rick rack for the kite string down before washing it (also through all the layers) and it held up surprisingly well with no curling of the edges.

Another thing I found was that stitching the applique down after quilting has a big advantage. Using a contrasting thread on the back makes the design visible there as well.

Now that I know what to expect, I want to try it again with my original idea of using a grass and sky background.

I just need to decide… it he a golden retriever or a dalmatian? 🙂

There needed to be something in the sky since the dog shape is looking up. I was thinking about a bird until, ironically.. my friend, ROBIN suggested a kite! LOL

Of course she was right. The kite is a better idea. I remembered seeing this fabric at Hobby Lobby that I can use for the back so of course I had to go buy a piece before I wait too long and it’s gone. 😉

If you want to play with some of the outline shapes I saved, I made a page for them here. You’ll be able to click on the one you want to try and save it to your computer to print.

Yesterday I learned about a product call Hotfix for applique. It claims that it doesn’t need to be stitched down but that it won’t gum up your needle if you do. It’s also washable and bonds to fabric, leather, lace, and paper. I want to try it on a little quilt, wash/dry it and see if it meets expectations.
(I’ll let you know how it goes!)

I’m hoping this might be a way to turn what would be considered “drab” fabrics or unsuitable “old lady” prints into something cute. If you have a little quilt you’re having second thoughts about because it doesn’t feel like it quite meets the “kid friendly” guideline, maybe this will help. Being a quilter is to be patient, take your time, and keep at it until it feels “right”. It’s what we do. ♥

This morning I scoured the internet searching for outlines. I avoided silhouettes because of all the wasted ink it would use to print them. 🙂

I found a few that might work and resized them to print on 11″ x 17″ paper. The size is big enough to center on a little quilt and fit the 12″ wide sheet of fusible Hotfix .

I’ll be on the lookout for other shapes but this feels like a good start!

The photo is to capture your attention. Now that it has, I really hope you’ll read this post through to the end. I first posted this to our Facebook group Quilts Pieced With Purpose and decided to share it here because I know not everyone participating in this project have a Facebook account.

I have friends worldwide who share the passion for this project. I’ve really appreciated reading about what you’re making, where you donate, and most of all, why it matters.

There was a news story last night about 163 abused and exploited children found in Florida and recovered in an ongoing Florida Department of Law Enforcement sting operation. They ranged from 2 months old to 17 years of age. The details are horrific and heart-breaking.

The more I thought about these children, the more I felt I needed to write the post. Our next donation of Huggables will be to DCF (Florida Department of Children and Family Services) once we get confirmation on the number they’d prefer to receive at a time.

Our little quilts may not go to the children in the news story but, they will be going to children who are being housed. We know that because of housing type items requested in the same email as “stuffed animals for much needed emotional support”. It’s likely they’ve been removed from their homes because of neglect or abuse. Many of these children have already experienced what it feels like to be treated as though they aren’t as important or deserving as other children.

I feel very strongly that we should not, even unintentionally, reinforce that message.

So, what does that mean?

These little quilts don’t have to be perfect, and they certainly don’t have to be elaborate. But I do believe they should be made with care and be something we would be proud to give to a child. The child may never know whether a quilt was made with a carefully chosen pattern and fabric or simply from fabrics we wanted to get rid of—but WE know. And the counselor who puts that quilt into a child’s arms knows.

What we are making is more than a little quilt wrapped around a stuffed animal. It is one small way of saying to a child, “YOU MATTER!”. “YOU ARE WORTH CARING ABOUT!” We want to send them the message that someone took the time to make something special for you.

So please, when choosing or making a quilt for this project, think about the child who will receive it. Let’s give them our best—not because anyone expects perfection, but because they deserve our best.

I hope you’ll feel as strongly about this project as I do. I would love for us to be able to look at every Huggable we give away and know that it was made with the love, respect and care these children deserve.

This little quilt finishes at 22″ x 24″ made with 2 1/2″ squares.
Downsized from the free Linus Connection pattern Bijou Junior by Jeanne Toewe.

This is the original version of the pattern I made last August.