During the years I was learning to deal with my illness, I also took up quilting again. This time I put myself under the tutelage of a quilt guild. I started out hand quilting, but quickly realized, with everything I wanted to do, I simply did not have the time for that.

Helping others makes you feel good about yourself. This is crucial for mental health patients. I joined a hospital auxiliary and a quilting group that quilts for charity. Here are some of the quilts I have made:

A crib quilt for Lisa when she was little, before I was diagnosed. This is a mixture of cotton and polyester cotton fabrics, and hand quilted.

 

Here is one of my projects for the guild, a Majic Tiles quilt. By this time I had taken a machine quilting course and decided to switch to machine quilting quilts.

 

 

I often made small quilts for the girls of flannel, and they each received on made of blue jeans and cereal bags as teenagers. Here are a couple of quilts I designed myself. The blue and orange one I call Ocean Sunset. It was given to young mother in need of a little love and attention. Charity begins at home, with your immediate family and extended family. Then friends and others.

 

Here are a series of baby quilts I made for charity. This pattern is called Fan Blades. I used extra thick batting for these by accident. It was tough to machine quilt it without puckers developing as I sewed.

And a lap quilt for charity. This pattern is called Bento Box.

I took workshops through the Quilt Guild and learned to make this String quilt.

 

 

Another workshop taught me how to make this World's Fair crib quilt I am currently using for a wall hanging.

 

Quilting is fun, but can be expensive. I have ceased taking workshops because of the cost involved. I may be able to piece the tops from leftover scraps, but I still need to buy batting and backing. Those often set me back a fair bit. Some women in the guild piece the backs of the quilts as well as the front. I simply do not have that much cotton fabric in my fabric stash.

Still, I have several more quilting projects on the go. I will be quilting for a long while.

To be continued...