Charity Quilts Donated

At Guild last night I turned in the two finished quilts and the two finished tops for the Alaska Maternity clinic. I returned all the fabric that I had intended to use for additional quilts for the Alaska Maternity clinic as well. I am sorry that I will not longer be able to make quilts for this worthwhile charity. I love making the small quilts and thinking about the newborn babies that will have a blankie to love.

My membership in Guild has been renewed. I was not able to stay for the entire meeting, but my main goals were to turn in the charity quilts and pick up the Sew to Win block for the November meeting. The winner of the October Sew to Win was so excited when her name was called. I was very happy for her. Even if I didn't win, I know how to make the blocks and can make one for my self. That is the advantage of being involved in the Sew to Win process. The November block is a pine tree with HST along the edges. Thangles were included in the package.

This will be another learning experience for me. I use the method of adding 7/8" to the finished HST and making a grid of 3 by 4 square the enhanced size. Then I sew along diagonal lines between the squares and created 24 HST without having to sew on a small piece of fabric along the bias. The HST do need to be trued up to the correct size and there is some waste, but the finished project makes the loss of fabric easier to accept.

This last weekend I made 240 HST triangles for "Navajo Tears" along with socializing at the retreat in 1 1/2 days and started putting the blocks together. My next learning experience will be making QST (quarter square triangles). My heart almost quakes.

I have the NICU quilt top layered and basted. It is ready for quilting and binding. My deadline for this quilt is Sunday, October 19. We will be making another pattern for the NICU. Wonder what pattern they will choose to teach us.

After guild I continued to unpack from the retreat. I have almost everything stored or in place to continue to work on my projects. I have so many projects that are scheduled for Christmas gifts that I will be busy all the time.

Have a nice and blessed day.

Baby "Trip Around the World"

It has reached the binding stage. How exciting. I have to get several quilt tops together and go to Jo Ann's for a binding fabric that will work with all of them. Either that or get a neutral solid color fabric. That might be the better idea. With a 40% coupon burning a hole in my pocket I think I will be heading that way right after work. Then I will pull out my instructions for making binding and be on my way to a finished UFO.

I am practicing my machine quilting on a Kid's Komfort quilt that will be turned in at the October Guild meeting. I am getting so much done in the evenings that I cannot believe it.

I miss the interaction with my 'friends' but get so much more work done without the distraction. Maybe they did me a favor. I am sure that was not their intent, but you know the old adage. "When life hands you lemons make lemonade." I should open a lemonade stand at Guild. Naw. They ain't worth it.

The above is not an example of a Christian thought. But, remember that I am not perfect. It is what I do with my thoughts that makes my Christian walk. It is easy to forgive. The hard part is to forget the slings and arrows and go forward. With Christ at my side I walk through each day with an easier heart knowing that it is written: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather
give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay
saith the Lord." Romans 12:19 (KJV)

Have a great day, Karen

Another top finished and another top started

I finished the top for the Alaska quilt and added a border. It is all ready for layering and quilting. Then I started "A Trip Around the World" for the Alaska maternity quilt project. I cut ten fat quarters into 2 1/2" by 22" strips and then started sewing the strips together. I need 6 pieces 3" wide out of each panel that is number 1 through 10. Then I need 4 pieces 3" wide out of each panel that is number 2 through 1 and so on. I have the 1-10, the 2-1, and the 3-2 rows done. When I have all the rows done I will put a single piece 2 1/2" by 3" between a 1-10 and 10-1 row and have the top row of the quilt done. Once I have completed the top and made sure that my directions are workable, I will post them here.

I have two of these baby "A Trip Around the World" for the Alaska maternity quilt project to do. Boy will I have a show and tell at the next Piecemakers group meeting.

Tonight is the mid month gathering for Quilted Chaos. I still don't know what I will be doing there. Have fun and talk with my friends most likely. I wish I had some binding to fasten on a quilt but I am no where near to that process on any of my projects.

So far I have been able to keep most of my promise about keeping ths living room and dining room straight on a daily basis. Last night I had to leave my iron out because I forgot to turn it off after my last strip was ironed. I will have some picking up to do tonight when I get home from work, but I can do that while I cook supper for DH. I did some major inroads into the kitchen this weekend. Only two mor surfaces to work on and then some major scrubbing and I will be done. The next cleaning project will be the landing between the the stairs. I do progress, but slowly.

Have a nice day, Karen

Quilt top completed and another started!

Last night at Piecemakers I finished the quilt top for the NICU "Trip Around the World". It turned out really great. The only problem I encountered was the way I had been instructed to press the seam allowances. I will never, never, and never press my seams open again. The points where the rectangles came together were not even close. From here on I will always, always and always press to the dark fabric so that the seams will click into place and the points will line up. Now all I have to do is a border, layer, quilt and bind. All??? My binding clips arrived from JoAnn's so I am ready to go. Hooray!

I really got on a roll last night and started my next Alaska maternity quilt. It is a simple 6.5 block surrounded by three 2.5 strips sewn together and cut to 6.5. Then all it needs is arranging and putting together. I got 4 rows of 6 together. After I looked at it I think another block will be needed to make it big enough. It was to be 5 blocks by 6, but I think 6 by 6 is really needed. Fortunately I have enough fabric to do this.

This weekend I have two goals. 1) Make my kitchen as neat and clean as my mother always kept her's. She was a fanatic about clean kitchens! 2) Get the rest of the books into the bookcase.

After these goals are met I am going to quilt to my heart's content. I have been granted a reprieve on my Patchwork Illusions class. The next class I am signed up for at Q.U. is going to be delayed because the teacher is having surgery. This gives me more time on the Patchwork Illusions homework. Everone else in the class is having such success and I want to be included!

Have a great day, Karen

Sweet & Sour -- Happy & Sad

Last night I continued working on my NICU Trip Around the World quilt top. I have the right side together and ready for final pressing. I have the rows for the left side ready for pressing before assembly. I may actually get the top finished this evening. I also set down a larger baby quilt with the Trip Around the World pattern on graph paper. It looks like 9 fat quarters will be perfect. I am going to JoAnn's this evening after work and take advantage of their $.99 sale of FQ and pick up some pastels and baby prints that will work well in 2 1/2" by 3" rectangles. This is going to be fun!

My daughter called yesterday on her way home from work. We were discussing this and that and I mentioned that we wanted her, her husband and our grandchild to come over for a visit. She said that as soon as I finish cleaning the kitchen they will come over. They haven't been in the house in almost 8 years. I am finally feeling better after all these years of poor health and the house is starting to look like a home instead of a collection of stuff. Stuff has ruled my life for far too long and I am getting the better hand of it. Before I went to bed last night I actually picked up everything that was mine in the living room. Now I have to continue this on a daily basis and start working on DH to do the same. If we can keep it clean and straight on a daily basis it will stay that way. Oh, I pray we will succeed on this!

Tonight along with finishing the top of the NICU quilt I need to cut out the fabric for one of my Alaska maternity hospital charity quilts. It's going to be 6.5" squares and 2 1/2" strips sewn together to make 6.5" squares. I am not sure how I will alternate the strips blocks. Will have to get it up on the design wall to make sure what is pleasing.

Tomorrow is the big day. DH and I will visit our primary care doctor. I have many concerns that I will be addressing during this appointment. DH driving, DH applying for conceal to care permit, DH using credit cards, DH not remembering, DH getting lost, DH etc..... Fortunately the doctor is on James side and also has been through it with his own mother. I know he will give us good guidance. If only DH will follow the recommendations! Pray for us, please.

I have to get to work on my Patchwork Illusions homework. I have all the fabric, the value finder and the template. I have no excuses to be procrastinating on this! All I have to do is sit down and do it. My classmates are getting too far ahead of me. I think this will be my Friday project after work.

Yesterday I received not so good news from Hancock's of Paducah. My fabric for the background the of Fairy Dust quilt is on backorder. Oh, sadness and woe.

I must end this and get to work. Have a wonderful day, Karen

NICU Trip Around the World

Saturday the patterns for the Fairy Dust quilt arrived. I have only to wait for Hancocks of Padducah to send me the background fabric and I will be ready to start this quilt. It will be my first major project with paper piecing. What a ball!

Yesterday I went to Best Friends Quilt Shoppe for a free class. It was a Trip Around the World in a small size to be donated to the NICU. I had a ball.

It was a totally new pattern to me. I had seen it in pictures, but to try and construct it was a real trip. That plus the directions didn't seem to go with the finished project. The instructor finally made the instructions work and I got most of the right side of the quilt top sewn together. I was very careful when packing the strips so that I can put them up on my design wall and have them in the right order to sew together. As soon as I finish the entire quilt and take it in I will be entered into a drawing for something from the shop. Since it is a really nice LQS I hope I will win something. However, the main reason for this was to learn to make the smaller quilt. I intend to send some of my quilts based on this pattern to our maternity hospital in Alaska that we donate baby quilts to.

We are finally in our own bed again. Yesterday my DH and I finished clearing off the books from the master bed and we finally had a good night's sleep. I feel totally refreshed! And James used his CPAP and didn't snore all night long. While we were camping out in the living room he snored every night.

We picked up the new dining room table Saturday at IKEA. It looks so nice, although it is under a table cloth. Even though it is considerably smaller than the old table it seems larger. Maybe that is because it is 45" in diameter and the old table was 36" by 60". I love the new table.

Thursday is Piecemakers and I have to cut out some fabric for an Alaska quilt. I think I will also cut out fabric for another baby Trip Around the World and work on both Thursday evening.

Have a great day, Karen

Sewing Room / Studio

Saturday I rewarded myself for going to visit my mother-in-law by going into the Dollar Store and buying out almost every Sterilite storage box they had. I must have spent about $125 on storage for my new studio. Right now they are balanced on the back of the couch in the family room. As soon as I finish getting the living room and dining room in my new austerity format I will truly start on the studio.

My house is a bi-level and the studio will be in the family room that is directly beneath the bedrooms. It is the coolest room in the house during the summer (which is a good thing) and has a fireplace so that I can keep it warm and attractive in the winter. I am so excited about this new studio. I will be able to have quilting friends over for mini retreats.

I am still waiting for my pattern to be sent from Starr Designs that I ordered at the NQA show. I am getting impatient to see it! I still have to purchase about 12 yards of a pale yellow fabric at my LQS to use as the background fabric. I am thinking about Moda Marbles or Fossil Fern at the background, but will have to see what they actually look like next to the HQ bundles I picked up at NQA.

Several of my quilting friends are passing around vintage quilt magazines. We put a post-it on the page of a pattern or article that we want. At the end the magazine will be taken apart and the individual who want the patter will get it. If more than one is interested a copy of the original will be made so as not to run afoul of the copyright laws.

I picked up several pieces of remnant fabric at our local big box fabric store (Joann's here in Cincinnati) on Saturday. That also was in reward of my trip to my mother-in-law. Several are fleece and will coordinate with other remnant pieces of fleece that I have purchased for my quilts for the Alaska baby quilt project that Piecemakers is supporting. Last Thursday at our meeting we took out an enormous storage box with fabric and tried to coordinate fabrics together into packages that will be used to make tops for this project. I picked up so additional fleece then.

I have so many new projects that I need to list on my blog that I will wait until I get some time at home to do it.

Have a great day, Karen

ESA/St Jude Retreat

WOW what a weekend! It was great. It is amazing what 46 quilters can complete when we have no responsibilities. My husband asked me what I did and I told him I sewed the entire time. He couldn't comprehend why I would want to go away to sew. I told him the interruptions at home included two dogs, a husband, cooking, cleaning, responding to his questions, shoping, visiting his mother, responding to his needs...you get the idea.

I finished a baby quilt top out of 3" squares. Just used a solid pale yellow and a white fabric with bunnies and teddy bears on it. This will be machine quilted by a friend and then finished with a border that I haven't figured out yet. The quilt will be going to a maternity hospital in Alaska. They fly in the mother's four to six weeks before their due date and fly them back home after the baby is ready to travel. Our small group, Piecemakers, from the Ohio Valley Quilters Guild (OVQG) try to send about 30 quilts twice a year to have ready for each baby.

My next project was not quilting by any means. I was given the great honor of sewing the Cub Scout badges on my 7 year old grandson's vest. I only have 1/2 of the side of the third patch to go and I will deliver it to him. How exciting is that!?

My main project for the weekend got slowed down by the fact that I left one of the materials at home...but I did what I could and will continue to work on it until it is done.

I had several other projects for just if, but they didn't take up much space and I never got around to them. I did overpack.

Guess what. I ran into a fellow Janiac. If you don't know what the Dear Jane quilt frenzy is about google it and you will see tiny little 4 1/2 inch squares that have as many as 25 pieces in each one. Take Jane and maniac and you have a Janiac.

Although I don't like raffles, I did purchase tickets with the knowledge that if I didn't "win" anything the money would be going to a good cause: St. Jude's Hospital. I had 10 winning tickets and came home with so many fabrics, notions and patterns I won't have to go to my LQS for a long time...well maybe a week or two.

I definitely encourage you to see if you would like to go to this quilt retreat. I am definitely going back!

Karen