20,000 wow

Wow, today I hit 20,000 views since July 7. Who would have thought? Thanks for stopping by to see what's going on. Feel free to leave a comment any day. I love to read who is out there watching what I'm up to.

a little of both

I decided to start with some binding and got three quilts bound,

then sat down and worked on some more preemie dolls

and am now working on some more quilting. Of course, there was grocery shopping and laundry thrown in for good measure.

I still need to get outside to enjoy the warm winter day! Just had to check in quickly to update the numbers on the left, in case I didn't get to it later.

a big finish?

Today is the last day of the month and I am faced with a question. Should I try to end the month with a big finish and raise my number of finished quilts by binding a whole bunch of my quilted quilts, or should I work on quilting a whole bunch of quilts today?

I have to go grocery shopping and it is a gorgeous day outside, so there is that too...

Decisions...decisions...

Check back later to see what I decided :)

good for quilting

Having a child go away, at least for a little while, is good for quilting. When my #2 daughter goes for a sleepover, I get a lot of quilting done. It helps relieve the stress and worry and gives me thinking time as I wonder what she is up to. It also keeps me busy so I am not calling her 12 times and embarassing her.

Daughter #1 went back to college today and was on the airplane for about 11 hours, counting the layover and waiting to take off. That's a lot of time to think and pray and quilt.

I moved the quilting machine into her room and got busy working on the quilts that are ready to go. I have 16 more that are tops with backs ready to quilt and about 20 tops that need backs either sewn to fit, or don't have backs pulled from the stash yet. Now that the quilting machine is back in

the house, I would like to get these 16 quilts done by the end of February--quilted, at least if not bound. We have a long weekend coming up soon. How do people with 'real jobs' do it?

I didn't cry...

until I actually drove up to the airport and saw the planes taking off and then realized that my daughter would be on one of them and I would have to say goodbye. Then, when I left her and was driving home, I cried again.

Not too bad considering...

I will miss her terribly, but we are going to visit her in April and she will be home in May and she gets to have a ton of fun. Of course, she is leaving 70 degree weather and returning to snow and ice and cold. I hope she is ready! While it looks pretty, I'm glad it isn't me.

Superbowl Sunday?

http://www.quiltville.com/striptwist.shtml

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2009/01/superbowl-twist.html

Head on over to Quiltville and check out the Superbowl Challenge quilt. I'm not sure if I will join in the challenge or not, but this looks like a nice quilt to use up some scraps. I will be off of work tomorrow to take my daughter to the airport so she can go back to college and have some extra time to sew. I plan to move the quilting machine into her bedroom so I can do some quilting without freezing to death (ok, so you really can't freeze at 60 degrees, but I get cold easily) and hope to have lots of pictures to share by this Sunday.

One of my online groups is having a Superbowl mystery. I still haven't finished the New Year's Eve Mystery that I should be working on and I promised myself that I would make one quilt from a book each month this year and that hasn't happened yet either. I only have a couple days left this month to get busy on that. I have almost used up a whole box of fabric though, so that is great! Most of it went to match to quilt tops, so it is still in the fabric stage, but about half got cut up and put into tops or actually quilted with those quilt tops I worked on a couple weekends ago. This Sunday I will pull another box of fabric into the house and sort through it for both inspiration and as a push to keep working on getting these quilt tops quilted and into the hands of kids who need them.

There is also a male teacher at my work who is in a medically induced coma from the surgeries he has undergone for pancreatitis. I was thinking of working on a quilt for him, I think I have a quilt top that I could add a border to and make it a bit larger for him and maybe get that one quilted up this weekend.

So many plans...

I love rainy days!

After yesterday's unproductive day, I am so happy with everything I got done today. Binding two quilts before church, then coming home and getting the rose bushes all trimmed. They were ready to start sprouting since the weather has been so nice lately. I know you are supposed to trim them way back in January and I just barely made it this year.

Then, when I came in, it started raining so hard and started to hail. That is always fun. We don't get snow, but sometimes get the hail. It only lasted 5 minutes and by the time the kids grabbed a pan and ran outside, it had stopped.

But, the rain gave me a good excuse to sit on the couch, watch some of my new DVD of the TV show Dirty Jobs and work on the preemie dolls I make. You can purchase the pattern here.

http://dollnetmarket.com/product.php?productid=7

I got two of the dolls finished up today and they are ready for their new homes. These are three pounders. I make them as 'fit' models so that people who make charity preemie items for hospitals know that their items will fit real babies. I sponsored a contest in 2006 and am getting closer to the end of all of the people who made over 100 items for the babies that year. I only have 26 more dolls to make :) I've made about 75 of them so far. It takes about 3 hours for each doll.

You can order the dolls already made from this website

http://www.weebundles.com/dolls.html

She does a great job on the hands and feet. I finally gave up trying to get the tiny fingers to turn correctly. I did one and it took about an hour per hand to get the fingers to turn right side out and I figured that it just wasn't worth the extra time and effort, so my fingers look like mitts. If I had the extra time, I could stitch fingers, but I have a lot of these babies still left to make so I don't stitch each finger or toe.

I also cut out 4 more dolls in the 5 pound size and started sewing those.

We also had a double rainbow today, which made the day extra special!

2 more bound

I got in the binding mood this morning and got two quilts bound before church. Here they are, two stripie (or is it strippie) quilts. They will be headed to Kazakhstan or prehaps to Mexico with the group that goes every summer.

wasted day

Wow, do I ever hate days like this.

I woke up this morning after not sleeping well and had a terrible crick in my neck. After getting everything done that 'had' to be done today, I took a muscle relaxer and was out for the count for most of the day. After finally waking up, the knot in my neck is still there and now I feel horrible for wasting the day.

From what I saw of the day, it was a nice, sunny day outside too. Oh, well, there is always tomorrow...

one week

My oldest leaves for college again in one week. I can't believe the time has gone so fast since she came home for break. Although I'm excited for her to return so she can continue to grow and learn, I will miss her terribly. I wish sometimes there was a 'pause' button you could push to spend just a little more time doing the things you love with the people you love.

Take a minute today to hug your kids and remember they won't stay little for long. I know one day, not long from now, she will be leaving for good. I have thoroughly enjoyed this time she has been home.

Be the change

So, this guy named Gandhi says Be the change you want to see in the world and Obama says he is the Change we need and I'm trying to wrap my mind around these ideas and come up with something I can do to change my own little world one deed at a time.

I was thinking about my last post and how the people I work with were not at all motivated to do anything for the National Day of Service, eventhough the guy they voted for asked them to. I'm wondering how these changes that our country needs will come about, if each of us doesn't make some kind of change from what we have been doing every day. If we all just sit around and complain about the state of the economy, and then wait for someone else to fix it, I don't believe the change will come. But, how do you get people to act on the changes that are necessary?

These are just some of the things I ponder in my spare time.

As a teacher, I try to get students to change their behaviors every day, to make better choices for their futures. Giving speaches has never worked, there always has to be something, whether externally motivating, such as a parent taking away their cell phone or car, or internally, such as the desire to go to college to get students to perform to their best potential.

What can I do to be a part of the change?

I don't get it

Today at work, one of the teachers asked if anyone did anything for the Day of Service yesterday. Boy, you should have heard the excuses from all of the people who actually voted for the guy who asked us all to do something for our fellow man! I was sad that everyone who says they believe the same things the new president does, didn't even take 5 minutes out of thier day to help someone out. I just don't get it. I don't see this country turing around with everyone having this kind of an attitude.

I have purposely avoided watching the activities of the day because I can't stand to listen to a bunch of people talk and then not act on their words.

I took the quilt in today and gave it to the preschool teachers to give to the woman who has cancer at my son's preschool. I found out that she is one of the moms of a boy in my son's class. Her husband picked up the quilt this morning when he dropped his son off.

Did you "Day of Service" Today?

Ok, so I'm really going to try to give the new president a fair shot at fulfilling all of his promises and a good chance to make good on his ideas for our country. I'm just not sold that he is the next Abe Lincoln/JFK combo. He hasn't done anything yet. He isn't even the president yet! Let's give him some time to see what he can do.

But, since he will be leading our country and he has asked us for a "Day of Service" I decided that I would honor his request and give some of my time today to serve others.

Today I wrestled with the crib bumper set for my friend whose husband serves in the military. He flies airplanes that bring supplies to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is gone for long periods of time and may or may not get a call to "work" when the baby is due. I remember why I haven't made one of these things in 19 years. They are a pain to make. They are looooooong and take some muscle to get the stuffing inside and everything wants to twist on you. It will take some more wrestling to finsh and I still have to put the ties on it. Then, there is the crib sheet and quilt to make.

Then, I decided to work on the 2nd breast cancer quilt. This one I am calling my obedience quilt. My son has a prayer wall at his preschool where people put up their prayer requests and the teachers and children pray for the needs. When I started the first quilt for my friend at school who had breast cancer, I bought more of the pink ribbon fabric than I needed. I made more squares than I needed and I didn't know why. Well, last week, I just happened to notice that on the prayer wall, there is a lady who is going through chemo for breast cancer. I'm not sure if she is one of the many preschool teachers, or a parent of one of the children, but I felt like I needed to make the 2nd quilt for her.

It is not easy to make a quilt for someone you don't know and then say "God told me to make this for you". I did that last year a couple of times. One was for the mother of a student who was shot and killed. The other was for the mother of the young city councilman who was also shot and killed. I didn't know either of these people, but I felt like they needed a hug that a quilt can give and so I made them quilts with prayers out of obedience. I am hoping to get the binding on this one tonight so I can take it to his school tomorrow and give it to the teachers so they can get it to the lady who needs it.

And last night, I quilted another stripie quilt. The ladies at my church love this pattern from Mary at maryquilts.com and aren't willing to try anything else :) Thanks Mary for sharing this pattern with us. I'm sure we have made at least 50 quilts using your pattern.

one more today

Today's migraine was a doozie, but I started feeling a little better and had to get another quilt done just because I could. Here it is. This one was donated to me and all I had to do was the quilting on it. I love the color combination on this one and wonder why the person who made it didn't like it enough to keep it. Some child will love it I'm sure.

What a difference a few inches makes

I decided to raise the quilting table today and see if it made a difference. I didn't feel well--still suffering from my cold and coughing and sniffling so didn't go to church and had the beginnings of a migraine. I started with one brick under each leg and made one quilt. It was better for pinning the quilt, but I still had to lean over to see the quilting.

For the second quilt, I put a second brick under each leg. What a difference. I don't have to bend over at all to do the quilting. I think this will be a lot better on my back. Now, why didn't I do this 100 quilts ago? I guess I am a slow learner.

Too bad my migrane has gotten to be terrible, or I would still be out there working on quilts. I think I will just go sit in the sun and try to feel better. But here are the two quilts I got done this morning before my head started to explode.

Oh, and someone asked how tall I am. I am 5'11".

got stress? Make quilts

This week has been very stressful for me and today was such a gorgeous day that I had to get outside and enjoy it. I worked in the garden until the Green Toter was full (which only takes 15 minutes) and then decided it was warm enough in the garage to do some quilting. I know most of the country is freezing to death, but we are having a nice, warm spell and I wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

I turned up my favorite radio station--KLOVE--and listened to Christian music while I worked on quilts. With each quilt, I could feel the stress level go down just a little bit.

I think stress can be a good thing, if this is what I can accomplish. I was hoping to get 5 done today, but 4 is pretty good. I think I need to get risers for the table because my back is hurting a little from bending over to pin the quilts on. If the table were a little higher, it would help. Since I am so tall, everything is just made a little too short for me.

finals week

This is finals week at my high school and things can get stressful. It is supposed to be a nice, short day week for the teachers, but I have yet to make it home earlier than I normally do. I am working longer and harder this week because things come up that add stress and time to the day.

I have still been finding a few minutes to work with fabric this week. I have been adding borders to the small quilts that I dug out last weekend and have been stuffing the preemie dolls and getting those ready to finish up.

Just not much to share that would interest anyone. I just didn't want anyone to wonder about me and think I got to go on vacation or something :)

I hope to have some progress pictures to share this weekend. Thankfully it is a nice, long, three day weekend. I can't believe I have had to work a full two weeks to get another vacation!

quilt for Gayle

Here is the quilt I finished for Gayle, my friend at work who is battling breast cancer. I hope she likes it. It turned out really nice. I ended up with enough extra blocks to make another one this size and then 12 blocks more. I plan to put another row around each of those blocks to make each one bigger. I have more of the pink ribbon fabric and more white fabric as well.

I also started working on the pile of quilt tops I have laying all around the sewing room.

I decided that I felt like matching tops to backing fabric and making sure the backing matched in size so when I feel like quilting, I was ready to go. I started putting the pairs together in giant ziploc bags and then putting them in a big rubbermaid tub. The tub is full of quilts ready to go and so I pulled out the quilt tops that need 'something' to be called finished. I found some really bright kid prints in the garage today when I was out there working on this quilt (looking for the backing fabric) and am now cutting borders for the 'too small' quilts. I will work on a few of these, until I don't feel like doing that anymore, and hope to find backs for these smaller quilts as well.

When my oldest goes back to college, I plan to move the quilting machine into her bedroom so that I don't have to work in the garage. It was gorgeous outside today and the temperature was just fine, but the garage is dirty and I have to make sure everything stays off of the floor. I would rather work in the house, where I can vacuum and also where I can hear the kids playing. Since she won't be home for 4 months, that will give me plenty of time to work on all of these quilts that need quilting. I will race to see if I can get all of them quilted before she gets home for the summer when I have to move the quilting machine again. I liked having it in the living room, but it took up a lot of space. The kids like to have friends over and they really can't play with their friends and the video games when the quilting machine is in the same room.

Maybe this summer, I will work on the garage and clean out a space for the quilting machine and put down some carpet so I can keep it cleaner. If only I could get rid of more junk that is just taking up space, I could make room for the machine and everyone would be happy. I hang onto things because I might need them one day and have all sorts of things that I haven't used in years. I am slowly learning to let go of things I never use and learning that it is ok.

Don't make me go out there...

I just could not bring myself to going into the garage today to work on the quilt that I really need to get finished up. It was over 60 today outside, but I really hate the cold. I know, I could have put a coat on and been fine, but I just couldn't bring myself to it. Besides, I had to referee a kickball game that was going badly in the front yard instead. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

But, during my procrastination, I found this pattern for a new quilt I want to make.

It is called Brickwork and it looks a lot like the Posh quilts that I am working on (#3 now) but done sideways and in brighter colors. I am going to dig through the bright scraps and start cutting fabrics for this later tonight. Unless something else distracts me...

http://www.martingale-pub.com/store/content/free_patterns/2008-03_b794/brickwork_sample_pattern_b794.pdf

Saturday fun

Ok, so I am totally trying to convince myself that correcting lab books is fun. It is not. But, it is a necessary part of the job. I brought home about 60 of them and am more than half way done with them this morning already. I am doing them in stages, grade a few, crochet a little, check some email, so it isn't all torture. I am also trying to watch some of the shows I have taped on the video recorder. It was at 100% capacity this morning, which means there are 40 hours of things to watch. What a good excuse to sit on the couch in my pajamas all day, don't you think? Of course, it is a gorgeous day outside and I think it will go over 60 degrees today so this afternoon will be spent doing some quilting in the garage with the door open to let the sunshine in.

finally Friday

I can't believe Friday is here again. This week went by quickly. Maybe it was the stress of the end of the semester coming up next week and everyone wanting to get things done and having two labs going in class, or maybe it was the migraines, caused by the stress, or just maybe time is really going faster as I get older, but the weekend is here and I plan to have some fun! I have grading to do of couse, but that will be done and over with as quickly as possible and I plan to finish up the quilt for my friend who is battling breast cancer. I am also working on three preemie dolls that need to be sent out as soon as they are done. I make them as 'fit models' so people can use them to try on tiny clothes they make to donate to hospitals for preemies. These babies I am working on are 3 pounders. I am hoping to get all three babies done this weekend. I only have the hand sewing to finish up. That shouldn't take long.

I am also going to dig through my patterns and find something new to try.

Plus, there is the New Year's eve mystery quilt that I started and which needs some attention. It has tiny pieces and is slow going, but will look great when finished. No pictures to share on that one yet, it is a mystery after all :)

Happy Birthday to the Queen and King

For those of you who don't know, today would have been Elvis' birthday. I'm not a big Elvis fan, some of his music is ok, but I know that it is/was his birthday, because he shares it with the queen, my mother. So, happy birthday mom. She turns 75 today and is my inspiration for all of my quilting.

Just a quick story and lesson I learned from my mom. When we were kids, my mom used to make all of our clothes. She is an excellent seamstress. We used to bug her all of the time to start her own sewing business and design her own clothing line to sell. She always said that if she ever did that, sewing would no longer be fun since she would HAVE to do it. As a child I never understood, because I thought if you liked to do something, then getting paid to do it would mean that you could do it all of the time.

Now that I am older (and wiser) I understand that sewing was her hobby and that getting to chose when and what to sew was what made things fun. When I have to sew something or quilt something and have a deadline, the fun is taken out of the project. But, when I get to chose what I am working on and how long I want to work on it, even if I work longer than I would if I were getting paid, I enjoy the process more.

Thanks mom for teaching me this lesson so long ago.

Enjoy your day doing what you like to do!

Tuesday quilting

I am working on the Posh quilt and have all of the blocks sewn together. It measures 40 x 60 and now I need to decide if I should add another row of blocks to make it wider, or to put a border on it. I'm leaning toward the border, so I can save the blocks for another quilt. I didn't count, but I believe I have enough for another quilt. I think I will put those up on the design wall this evening as well.

It is funny, but the first day back after a vacation I could hardly hold my head up when I got home. We ate Taco Bell for dinner and I wanted to go to bed at 5pm. Tonight, I have energy to spare! Of course, the kids did too. Good thing we are doing a lab this week so they can get up and move around and make a lot of noise and play with water. They love doing labs and I love them too...just not all of the set up and clean up.

argh--first finish of 2009

And I forgot to take a picture! I gave the quilt away today at work and I can't ask for it back again!!! This was the quilt I gave away once, right before vacation and then asked for it back so I could actually do the quilting on and then finished it up yesterday so I could give it as a present for real this time. Oh, well. Here is a picture of the top of it anyways. You can just imagine what it looked like quilted. I put some flowers on it with leaves. My quilting is getting better. At least other people could tell they were supposed to be flowers with leaves. One lady asked me if my machine did that by itself or if I had to make those flowers. I guess that is a compliment :)

Here is a picture of the crib dust ruffle I made for my very pregnant friend at work. She is having a boy in March and picked out the monkey fabric and the red polka dots. I picked out the blue stripes and I think this looks great! I won't tell you how long it took to make this silly thing, but now I know why my kids never had these for their cribs or beds. I could have made 3 quilts in the time it took me to sew all of these seams and then zig zag over them and trim everything. When I make something for someone else, I try to be more prefect.

The mother to be, loved it so it made it worthwhile. Now, only the crib sheet, bumper pads and quilt to go :)

and finally, the picture of the squares for the Posh quilt I am working on for the lady who is battling breast cancer. I am making it smaller than the pattern calls for, but I am thinking of adding maybe one more row sideways? I still haven't decided yet. I will sew this together and then measure. I may just sew a border around it. I have about 25 more squares already made. I thought I had made too many for one quilt.

fabric donations

When I was at the Quilt shop on Saturday (?) I picked up a bag of fabric that a lady had dropped off. This is some of it. I am always overwhelmed at the generosity of people who don't even know me. They hear about me through the quilt shop, or through this blog or from somewhere and give me fabric. Just look at this wonderful stuff! These cat blocks are so adorable. And, in the bag was a whole bunch of bird fabric. That just has to go together with the cat blocks to make a quilt. How fun is that going to be?

There are also some large pieces, just perfect for the backing of some boy quilts. I just wish I had more time in the day to work on quilts!

Today I was back at work and am exhausted. The kids were good, but talking all day makes me tired. I have to figure out a way to bring sewing machines into the science classroom and teach the kids how to sew quilts while learning science. Hmmm...I'm thinking.

Saturday's project

http://www.ericas.com/fabric/posh.pdf

This one is called Posh by Chez Moi, which is the fabric line, not really the pattern name so if you try to search for just the pattern, you will come up with a whole bunch of really pretty fabrics.

I decided that I really, really needed to make a quilt for my friend at work who is battling breast cancer. She was diagnosed in August and has undergone a mastectomy and is already back at work. She took some time off for reconstructive surgery and I believe will be back when we come back on Monday.

I'm not sure if I will get this done by then, but it will get done and given when the time is right.

So far, I have spent an hour cutting the fabric and about an hour sewing. I have one more hour to go (since I am half way done with the blocks--although I think I cut about twice what I need) and then there is the quilting and binding. I am guessing about 5 hours for this quilt.

I also have to get the quilt done for my other friend by Monday. I need to stop procrastinating, put on my heavy winter coat and get in the garage and get quilting! Once I get out there, things will go quickly, but it is the getting myself out there that is taking so long :)

These are my quilting companions. When I get up to move rooms, they follow me. As soon as I sit down to sew, they plop themselves down on top of the loveseat and fall asleep. Until I bother them with taking their picture, or a leaf moves outside. Then, they wake up and bark.

Here is a shot of one of the treasures I got yesterday from a wonderful lady who gave me a whole bag of fabric. I will share more pictures of that later, but these are just too cute!

And while at the quilt shop, they had just done inventory and decided to give me these 8 bolts of fabric! I was in tears when I left and on the drive home. I am truely blessed!!!!!

Modifying quilt designs

I am working through a box of fabric and took the quick stripie pattern and modified it to fit the fabric I had on hand. I only had two strips left of the checkered fabric so had to work with that. Those are 5 inches and the blues are 3 inches and the horse batiks are 10 inches. I have more of that fabric, about 30 inches or so left. This is a nice boy quilt top and was quick to put together.

See the original pattern here, for the original instructions and measurements.

http://maryquilts.com/quick-strippie/

in excess

Remember how I told you everything I do is in excess? Well, here is more proof. I belong to a group called All Crafts for Charity on the Yahoo site and each month they have a different project they work towards. In the past, I have been more active with that online group, even hosting a month myself, which was a lot of work, but a lot of fun. One of the ongoing needs for each of the monthly projects is 7 inch squares. The squares can be knitted or crocheted, acrlyic or wool. You make as many squares as you want and then send them to one of the joiners who puts squares together from people all over the country (and world sometimes) and then sends the completed blankets to the monthly project. January's project is Bundles of Love in Minnesota. They give Bundles of baby items to new mothers who have little or nothing and have to take their babies home in the cold Minnesota winters. I am cold when it is 60 degrees outside. I couldn't imagine going out when it was negative anything.

So, when I sit and watch TV, or watch the little guy play video games or just sit and need to relax from a busy day of quilting, I crochet. I am trying to go for the title of "World's fastest crocheter" and almost have my speed high enough, when I am at home, in private, with nobody looking. I entered a contest at the local Michael's once and almost died of a heart attack and started shaking so I doubt I would ever win for real, but I can crochet really fast. I can make a 7 inch crochet square in about 10 minutes. My mind wanders and I just think about things and have 10 minutes to pray for the kids in my classes or for my family, or just think about nothing. It looks like I am doing something, so the kids leave me alone, sometimes.

Well, back in November, I picked out a bag of yarn and decided that I was going to work through that bag and make as many squares as I could by the end of the month of December and then send them in to the project.

I don't like weaving the ends in, so luckily the person who is getting them from me doesn't mind doing that for me.

This is what I came up with in about 6 weeks of free time. Of course, there was a week of Thanksgiving in there and almost two weeks of Christmas vacation as well.

155 squares. I have no idea how many afghans this will make, but it should keep a few babies warmer this winter and it gets a whole bag of yarn out of the house. I am going to fill the bag back up and start over again. I will keep working and at the end of February send another box of squares out to a different joiner for a different project.

Happy New Year

http://www.azblankets4kids.com/Patterns/Easy%20Blanket%20For%20Infant%20to%20Teen.pdf

As promised, I will begin the New Year with new quilting :)

I sorted my from the internet patterns and have about 75 that I have printed out this past year that I wanted to try out. So, I picked out what I thought would be an easy one and got started this morning. This one took longer than I had figured for. I picked the focus fabric first and cut it all up into as many rectangles as I could. I had more than I needed and ended up getting two tops out of the bunch of squares I made. The first one is 48 x 64

The second top I had to add some fabric strips to the top and bottom of to make it tall enough and I like the way this one looks. The blue strips are 3 inches and the checkered ones are 5 inches. The second one is 39 x 48

I have one block leftover. What to do with that one? I think I will make a kitten quilt out of it and just add some extra fabric around it until it is big enough and send it to my daughter in college to donate to the local shelter. That way it won't end up in my scrap pile and will find a good home.