A couple years ago I organized a group fundraiser quilt to be made by lots of my quilty friends that went back to my hometown area in Illinois to raise money for St. Jude.  The charity organization is called  "Saddle Up for St. Jude" and each year in November they hold a big auction to raise money to help childhood cancer and this year I would like to do the same thing, only bigger!

Ok y'all, this is how it is all going to work...
I have created a YouTube video to share some tips on making scrappy square-in-a-square quilt blocks so that we can each make a couple blocks and they will all come out exactly the same.  The papers will make it much easier for me to put all the blocks together since so they will be super square and perfect and I can't wait to see all the big scrappy quilts they will create for St. Jude!  My goal is to try to make two quilts, one with the 3.5" papers and a second quilt with tiny 1.5" papers. 
**The only RULE is to keep the center blocks all light in color (white, linen, cream, light grey) while the 4 corner pieces are all the same color fabric, any color is great, I want lots of color variety, use whatever you have in your scrap bin! 
**It is ok if you leave the papers on, or take them off, whatever you prefer.  
Dont have the foundation papers yet? Click HERE

UPDATE: We have all the blocks we need for this charity, but make sure you join my Charity Facebook Group so you don't miss out on the next group quilt! 
Join my chairy Facebook group to post pictures and meet new friends!

I will be sharing the finished quilts on my YouTube Channel the end of October 2022 just before the auction, I would love for you to Subscribe so you don't miss the auction! 

Here is some information about the Southern Illinois Saddle Up For St. Jude charity, you can follow their Facebook page, and each year in the fall they will post more details on the auction items.  The annual auction takes place the first Saturday in November and in the last 11 years the action has raised $294,253.12 total, which includes private donors and the auction.  100% of the proceeds from this benefit go to St. Jude Children Hospital, let's keep that number growing!! 

​You can click the links to check out my 2020  Instagram post for more photos, and to download the Rainbow Taffy free pattern.  Our quilt made by around 50 people and was included with many other auction items to help raise $37,500 to be sent to St. Jude in the 2020 benefit! 

Feel free to share this blog post with friends, and please share pictures on social media with the hashtag #SaddleUpGina #SaddleUpStJude 
I am so excited to do this charity together, thanks so much for stopping by! ​

Board games were a big part of my life when I was a kid, because I am old (lol) we didn't have phones and video games to entertain us, we had game night.  I used to love to play Monopoly, UNO, Yahtzee, Scrabble and of course Checkers and Tic Tac Toe.  I can remember my brother and I with a pen and paper and a zillion little X's and O's on the long car rides, so I decided it would be the perfect gift for his daughter birthday coming up, maybe he will remember to tell her about the good times he had with his big sister...
​Probably not, but it's worth a shot.  

I made this entire game set with fabric from my stash, it doesn't require much fabric so it's a super simple little handmade gift that you can do in any colors.
  
First, I decided that I wanted to use some graffiti fabric that I had for the back side of the checker board since I had a few yards and she and I both love art! It is full of fun bright colors so I picked pink and aqua for the front.  

I cut 2.5" strips from the solid pink and aqua fabric and sewed them into strip sets and then trimmed them down to 2.5" - this made it super fast and easy.  Or you can cut 2.5" squares and piece them all together, as long as your board is 8 rows of squares across x 8 rows of squares down, it will work! 
You'll need 64 total squares for Checker Board:
32 of one color  
32 of another color  
You will need 9 - 2.5" for the Tic Tac Toe Board:
3 of one color
​3 of another color 

I wanted to make sure the board was as flat at possible so I pressed all my seams open and used my clapper to keep them super flat while I did my pressing! I have the Riley Blake Clappers but I have heard great things about all the brands Fat Quarter Shop stocks.
​**(If you see green letters, that means I link what I used and love)

Next, I added a black border, I cut it out 2.5" and then trimmed it down perfectly square after I did the long arm quilting on it.  I picked a panto that stitched out pretty dense so the board would not be flat in some areas and puffy in others, you could also do small diagonal crosshatch on your home machine. 

When I loaded it onto the long arm I used some scrap grey fabric for the backing because it would be covered up by my graffiti focus fabric anyway. I picked out the "Dizzy Izzy" digital pantograph with 80/20 batting, & Glide 60wt thread so it would blend in and be super skinny! 

After the quilting, trim both pieces down to the size you like best, then lay your backing piece and your quilted piece good side to good side and stitch all 4 sides down with 1/4 seam and then leave a 4" hole on one side so you can flip it inside out.  This is also the hole you will tuck your straps inside if you want to be able to fold it and tie it closed for storage when you are done playing. 

It's now time to tuck in your straps and top stitch to secure, you can use anything you have for straps, or not add any at all, totally up to you.  You could used canvas straping, fancy rope, bias tape or make your own.  

Now it's time to work on the game pieces, I found some plain wood pieces on Amazon and I painted them to match, you can do that too, or just leave them natural color, I just used spray paint that I already had. 
ere is what I got:
Checker Pieces and Tic Tac Toe Pieces

I cut extra 2.5" squares on purpose so I could make this matching bag, but I also made a YouTube video with some ideas for making one with scrappy strips, super simple with endless possibilities! 

I hope you make the kiddos in your life some handmade board games, it sure is a fun little project packed with love and will make tons of memories! Share what you make on social so I can see them, I love that! #ginasgamenight

Please Subscribe to my new YouTube Channel and be sure to follow me on Instagram too! 
Happy Sewing! 
​Gina