Goal reached, but no proof!

I can't believe I didn't take pictures of the final two quilts for the year.  I reached my goal of 300 quilts about 2 weeks ago and was going to post the pictures, but I can't seem to find them on the camera.  Of course, the quilts have been given away already, so there is no going back to take pictures :)  That's ok, I know they were finished and the goal was reached and now it is time to think of 2012 and goals for next year. 

I'm going to count the tied quilts as well as those done on the sit down machine this year.  My goals for this year will be to learn how to use the walking foot so that I'm not getting the puckers because I really like to be able to sit down and stitch up some quilts that way.  Lots of people do really nice work on their sit down machines and that's a skill I would like to have as well.

I've also found that I enjoy the process of hand tying quilts.  It is fun to sew the top and backing together and then sit on the couch and tie the knots.  Right over left, left over right, over and over again, until the quilt is put together.  Just like grandma used to do long ago.  (or my mom)

I'd like to get all of the quilt tops I currently have on hand finished up this coming year.  I'm not sure how many that is, but any new tops that come in will have to wait their turn.  At least in theory!

I will be taking pictures of the piles and buckets and quilts hanging on the quilting rack later today so I can compare at the end of the year to see the progress I have made.  Should be interesting to say the least.  What are your goals?

Pajama Quilter is having a sale!

"I have an amazing sale going on right now. If you buy the ReThreaded DVD – the workbook is free. I’ve never had such a great sale before. (I have a large inventory of the Workbooks – so this is my way of helping everyone start the New Year with freehand quilting designs dancing in their heads!) http://www.pajamaquilter.com As always, free shipping for all orders over $50.00 INCLUDING international orders." Dawn, the Pajama Quilter

I LOVE the Pajama Quilter.  If you don't have her DVD's yet, you must order them and get the workbook free!  They are great for learning to FMQ (Free Motion Quilt) on any machine from your sit down sewing machine to a long arm machine.  She is funny too!

Want to learn to Free Motion Quilt?

Join the Free Motion Quilting Challenge!

Click on the button here and it will take you to the challenge page where you can sign up to join the challenge to learn more about FMQ and learn some new tips and tricks to get better at quilting on your own machine.  I signed up.  I've been in a rut lately and could use some new challenges to get back into the sewing room to do more than just move fabric around!

Join me!

Thrift Store addict

So confession is good for the soul and it is confession time.  I have become a Thrift Store addict.  Hoarding runs in my family and I know that one day, someone will find me burried in all of my treasures, but for now, I am happy searching for them at the different thrift stores in the area.  On the day after Christmas, my daughters and I went looking for the Goodwill outlet in Sacramento.  We went to the wrong one, but did find a great sale with 50% off all clothing and came home with lots of great deals.  I collect t shirts with stupid sayings on them and I think I found 13 to add to my collection. 

Well, after searching the internet again, I found the correct address for the outlet store and headed off there this morning.  I got there before they opened, but was soon joined by the regulars.  How did I know they were the usual customers?  They all knew each other and as soon as the doors opened, they all ran to grab a shopping cart and pushed their way to their favorite bins.  It was crazy!

These blue bins are full of clothes and about every 5 minutes the workers would take a bin away and bring out a new one.  The customers would move aside and swarm the new bin, grabbing everything that looked clean or new.  Didn't matter the size, they grabbed it and shoved it into their shopping carts.  Obviously they were going to resell things, most likely at a swap meet.  Hey, whatever works for them.  I did find a few things for the kids and a couple of t shirts for me and will definately go back another day.  The adventure was definately worth it!

I got my Thrift store fix for the day and now need to finish grading final exams.  The semester ended before break this year which is something new and I don't like it.  I have to work over my vacation and it has really put a downer on my time off.  But, work must be done and then I will feel better so off I go!

Like me on Facebook

I cannot figure out how to add a LIKE button on my blog.  Can anyone out there help me out?  I've tried searching the facebook page and copying and pasting the html code they gave me, but it only takes you to the instruction page for Facebook, which I'm sure nobody wants to go to.  If you have a Facebook Like button on your blog, can you help me out? I would love to link my blog to my Vacaville Binky Patrol Facebook page so people can find out about our meetings.  Just trying to get all connected

Here's a link to the FB page, maybe this will take you where you want to go???

Binky Sunday

Today there were 6 of us who worked during the 3 hours and tied 9 quilts.  Not bad!  I have hope now :)  I also have some plans for using my students to do some catching up with the many, many quilt tops Carla and I have been collecting.  There just seemed to be no way to get caught up, with my shoulder troubles and her robotic quilting machine issues, but now that tying quilts seems to be a viable option, Carla has planned a quilt day for January 6 and I have another Binky Sunday for January 15 and we hope to use both of those days as quilt tying days.  I plan to have my students come after school to pin the quilts.  With about 10 safety pins in the quilts, the quilts can be taken to a smaller area to be tied.  It takes a lot of space to lay the quilt out to pin it, so that's going to be a problem at the next quilt day at Carla's.  It if isn't raining, and it isn't super cold, we can put some students outside to sit in the sun and tie the quilts, but chances are there will be some rain, cold or fog in January, so we have to have a backup plan.  I'm hoping that by having some students come for a couple of hours after school, they can lay out the quilts, batting and backing fabric, get the pinning all done and then on quilt day, the quilts will be ready for tying and a couple of students can work together in a smaller space and won't need a whole table to work on.  Carla has quite a few tables.

I might just need to have a quilt day at my high school and use all of the science rooms.  We have a lot of big tables and if we could get 100 kids helping out, we could whip through lots of quilt tops in no time.  We could have a room set up with people putting the binding on and finish up lots of quilts in a day.  Hmmm.  Sounds like a plan is coming together.  I might just talk to the Honors Society leaders and see what they think :)

loving this one

I love the colors on this quilt!  Another one bites the dust this morning.

tying a quilt?

Do you ever tie your quilts to finish them up?  Carla suggested we start tying some of the quilt tops we have because we just are not able to keep up with all of our quilt makers.  She has a huge pile of tops and so do I.  So, today at our Binky Patrol meeting we are going to be tying as many quilts as we possibly can.  I am bringing 31 tops, backing fabric and batting.  Let's see how many we can get done.  I got this small quilt (42x60) sewn in about 30 minutes to use as an example for todays meeting.  The trouble is, I don't think I would be able to do another one because my thumb hurts on my right hand from pulling the needle through the fabric.  I'm going to try with embroidery floss for the next one because it was pretty hard to pull the cotton yarn through the fabric, especially on the solid blue squares.  I think those are made from sheets and you know how dense the fabric can be sometimes from sheets.

If we can bust through a bunch of these quilts today, I think this will be a great way to catch up on the quilt tops we have piled up and get more quilts into the hands of kids :)

three

 doozie of a migraine today so what is a girl to do, but quilt the day away!  Three closer to goal.

Vacaville Binky Patrol is now on Facebook

In case you wanted to keep up with our events, I've started a Facebook page for Vacaville Binky Patrol.  If you are on Facebook, search for me and join my group.  I will post meetings and delivery events and pictures of quilts and anything else that might be interesting if you are a member of the group, or just love Binky Patrol.  That way I can have students who want to know about upcoming meetings get information about Binky Patrol have access to the information as well without having to be my friend on Facebook.

More quilts being delivered in Japan

Can you believe it has been almost 9 months since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan?  The quilts we sent are still being handed out.  Thank you again for all of your support for that huge project.  Take a look at these picture and see if you recognize one of your quilts.  This was just the boost I needed this morning to make it through a Friday :)

2 closer to goal

2 more quilts done, getting closer to the goal slowly but surely.

End of year goals

As the year speeds to an end, I think about what I would like to accomplish before 2012 gets here.  My goals have become loose with all of the health issues I've had to deal with these past couple of years, but it is still nice to have them in the back of my mind. 

With this week off and not having much school work to deal with, I've tried tackling the sewing room.  I've made more of a disaster out of it than I have accomplished, but I still have the rest of today and tomorrow to get things picked up and put away so hopefully things will look better before I go back to school and I can show you something looking nice tomorrow.

I am 8 quilts away from 300 for the year.  That's a lot of quilts quilted!  No wonder my shoulder gave out on me.  Most of those were done for the Quilts for Japan campaign and most were done around the same time.  I had to slow down significantly once the shoulder said to stop, but I am hopeful to get the last 8 done before the year comes to a close.  I did one yesterday and need to post the picture so that leaves 7 more.

Thursday, I got the grand idea to pull backing fabric for all of the quilt tops I have around here.  I am tired of looking at all of the fabric on my shelves and tired of looking at all of the quilt tops, so figured if I paired up the two, I would be more motivated to quilt them.  Some go together easily and some are more of a challenge.  Some of the backing fabric needs to be pieced together so that is a nice break from just pulling giant piles down and sorting. 

I'm also sewing Christmas stockings.  I'm up to 320 finished stockings and there seems to be at least that many more to go.  I know the kids can't fill that many so I'm ok with leaving the rest for next year's project, or working on them throughout the year and sending them along to projects next September that are asking for stockings to be sent overseas to troops stationed far away.  I'm thankful we don't have that many wounded soldiers so close to home.

I'm also trying to clean out the project bins.  I found some 8 1/2 inch squares yesterday and in a matter of 10 minutes had a top sewn together.  Who knows how long the squares had been sitting in the bin, but now they are one step closer to becoming a quilt.  Silly how long something has to sit in an unfinished stage when it is so simple to move it along.

Well, I'm off to a tennis tournament with my daughter.  She won yesterday so we are off early this morning for round 2. 

No Black Friday shopping for me, except for some tools for my son, who is working on his robot for a school project.  It is driving him and the rest of the family insane because he can't get it to work!

Teenagers really love to work!

 Two days of working and much was accomplished.  We cut fabric, sewed, ate a little (ok a lot) of food and completed over 220 Christmas stockings for our returning wounded soldiers at Travis Air Force Base.  These teenagers from Vanden High School worked really hard in the 7 hours the last two days getting so much done.  Some had never sewn before and they all had a great attitude about learning.  They even helped sew some quilts together when the stockings were to a stage they didn't feel comfortable sewing.  We still have about 200 more stockings that need the top finished off.  I know what I will be doing the next couple of days :)

 These kids really love helping out and filled my friend Carla's house with laughter.  If you are looking for some help with your charity crafting project, contact your local high school.  You will find MANY willing volunteers.  Our high school cut out the manditory volunteer hours long ago, but we had so many kids show up who just wanted to help.  The National Honor Society Club requires they complete 4 hours a semester, but many of these students stayed all 7 hours and want to come back again.

even with a migraine

What do you do when you have a migraine?

Sometimes it is easier to hide and cover my head.

Sometimes it is easier to clean and work.

Today was a really bad one.

I wanted to hide.

I wanted to cry.

But, instead, I cleaned, crocheted, and quilted.

I got one quilt done, two baby hats crocheted, caught a mouse (finally-been trying for a week) and cleaned a bit in the kitchen and sewing room.

The migraine is still there, but at least some things are done around here.

I hope to get another quilt done and maybe another hat before the day is done.

and another

this one is child size and my son won't let me take his picture in it because it is for a girl.  It is the slouch hat pattern and I'm definately going to use a bigger yarn and hook to make it teen size.  TOO cute.  You make it big and then decrease to make it floppy on the head.  not sure how warm this will be, but it sure is cute!

Going to give the shoulder and arm muscles a rest and try some quilting or cleaning for a while.  Also going to turn the heater on.  It is sunny outside, but not very warm around here.  Hope you are staying warm wherever you are today.

one hat done

and it turned out  cute.  It is made with wool yarn, so eventhough it has soem holes in it, should be a little warm.  Will make a few more of these.  Only took about 30 minutes.  This is the butterfly pattern and is easy to make.  I think with a smaller crochet hook, would come out with smaller holes for a smaller child and a bit warmer.  I might try it with a bigger yarn too.  This was made with a pretty thin yarn and a J hook.

Some hat patterns to make this week

Is it chilly where you are yet?  In California where I live, we say it gets cold, but really, we have no idea what cold is.  The morning temperatures never really drop below 30 degrees.  Lately it has been around 60 degrees in the mornings and we are FREEZING, but I do have friends in cold places and they have asked that I make some hats to send to them.  So, since I have the entire week off and I don't have a lot of grading to do this week (yay for good planning the week before break!) I thought inbetween quilting and stocking making, I would do a bit of hat making.  Here's the first bit of pattern searching I came up with this morning:
cute hat pattern with butterfly in side-crochet

slouchy hat-crochet

fleece fish hat--too cute

Fleece hats for a boy and girl-must make these!

Go! baby, Go!

check out this giveaway

you have to see these pictures

Here is a link to a newspaper article with pictures of the cleanup efforts 6 months after the Japanese earthquake and tsumani.  Incredible!

JoAnn's black friday ad

Do you love the thrill of standing in line on Black Friday?  I used to do that.  Get up at 4am, wait in line to get the best deals.  Not any more.  Now, there just isn't anything I must have that's worth losing sleep over.  But, I do get these emails from a Black Friday website that leaks the Black Friday ads early.  Just in case there is something I must have.  And most places you can order online.  So, if you must have an item, you can at least stay in your pajamas and not have to face the cold :)  Here's the link to the JoAnn's ad.  That's the most important one you know.  They have the Go! fabric cutter for $199. which is the lowest price anywhere and they always lower their price on flannel.  This year it is $1.49 a yard.  I have about 4,000 yards of flannel, otherwise I'd be standing in line with you :)

quilting calms the nerves

This one was loaded from the weekend and I thought I could get it quilted before school today.  I'm getting evaluated by the Vice Principal this morning.  Nothing like a little quilting to calm the nerves.  Of course, the lesson I had planned is not ready today, but rather on schedule for tomorrow, but kids are not robots and are not ready for that today, so she will see what she sees, a real day of teaching, not a dog and pony show.  She actually showed up yesterday.  She likes to do that, just throw a little bit of nerves in there to keep you on your toes.  Yeah, real nice like that.  I miss the old VP who used to come around and joke with you.  This one, no joking allowed!  All business.  Today will not be a fun day.  I should probably take some migraine medicine this morning :)

Ok, off to work, can't be late today!  She will probably be sitting in my room when I get there to watch me get things set up! Ha!

10 minute blocks

I just read about this on another blog and had to look it up.  Of course, now I don't want to grade papers, I want to go sew!  Too bad I'm getting evaluated on Tuesday.  I have to be a grown up and get to work.  Maybe this will make me work faster so I can play a little bit tonight before I forget how to make the 10 minute block.  Check out this video and see if you don't want to give it a try.

Cute little quilt

This is a cutie, love the look of these blocks.

is my child the only weird one in the world?

He's playing video games in a laundry bucket.  Is this normal?

Broken quilting machines

I stopped by Carla's today to drop off my empty dog food bags.  She is going to make reusable shopping bags out of them.  I also had to return the lavendar fabric she let me use for the baby quilt I made for my friend's grand daughter.  It had been sitting here forever, waiting patiently to be returned.

Carla was telling me about her troubles with her quilting machine.  Seems she just wore it out!  After 350 quilts in 6 months the poor thing just gave up.  Burned out, got tired.  My quilting machine did about the same thing.  Problem is, hers can be fixed with just a new motor.  Mine can't be fixed as easily.  You see, mine runs on shoulder power.  Hers on a robotic brain.  My shoulder still kills me every time I try to do anything with it.  Grade papers, work on the computer, push a shopping cart, cut the rose bushes.  I wish my quilting troubles were as easy to fix as Carla's.

But, I can tell you she is just as frustrated as I am.  Why do these machines (or body parts) break down when we have the time to be quilting?  She has some time off this week and is raring to go!  She has piles of quilt tops stacked neatly near her machine, just waiting to be quilted and ready for a child to love.  My troubles started at the beginning of summer, when I had lots of time to quilt.  I've been resting for months, hoping that rest and time would heal.  Neither of us is a happy camper right now, but in time, things will get better.

But, Carla has been sneaky.  She has been going down to the local quilt shop and giving demonstrations on their quilting machine.  It is the same machine that she has at home and so while her machine is taking a much needed vacation, Carla is still able to get a little quilting time in.  And she is getting the lady at the quilt shop hooked on quitling too!  We always laugh at how addicting quilting can be.  We often compare outselves to drug dealers.  The first lesson/bit of fabric/quilt will be free, but then you will come back for more and more and soon, you just can't stop thinking about your next quilt and you will be hooked.  But, quilting brings you the best friends too.

Could you vote for my friend?

She is in a contest for some free toys for her girls.  She was the preschool teacher for my younger daughter (who is now 16).  The best thing about the picture is she actually got her husband to wear the silly hat!  He is in the military and serves our country proudly.  I can only imagine the teasing he will be getting from his fellow service members when they find out about this picture :).

It just takes a second if you are already a member of Facebook to like her picture.  Voting ends on Thanksgiving and is another way to say Thanks to our troops (well, sort of anyways).

Here's the link to vote Just click on it, find this picture and click on that and then 'like' the picture.  Simple.  You must be logged into Facebook in order to vote.  Thanks friends!

Call for quilts

My blogging friend Alycia is calling for quilts for our wounded soldiers.  If you have any quilts that are about twin size and can send them to her pretty quickly, she could really use the help.  They don't need to be patriotic colors, she can use pretty much anything to give to the soldiers to say thanks for their service.  Take a look at her blog and see if you have something you've made that fits the need.  I know the feeling.  So many people, so little time!

the bucket is empty...almost

Yesterday, I took the last of the quilts to church to have my friend Wendy take to the kids at CPS.  Or, at least I thought they were the last of the quilts.  When I got home, I found 3 more quilts hiding.  I can never seem to get rid of all of the quilts at one time.  Oh, well, the buckets are almost empty.  Time to fill them up again!  Good thing we are having a few work days during the month of November and I have quite a few quilt tops waiting for me once I finish grading lab books.  That is a never ending process around here :)

motivation

I just gave away about 100 quilts.  There is another lady in my city that is making blankets for the various homeless shelters and kid programs and the local newspaper did an article on her about a month ago.  I tried to contact her, but couldn't figure out how to get ahold of her.  Then, my friend Carla got in touch with her.  I knew Carla would figure out a way.  Turns out, she used to teach at the middle school that feeds into my high school.  What is it about teachers and quilting and charity giving?  Is it a genetic thing?

Well, she is retired now and has the time to make deliveries for me!  Woo Hoo!  We just loaded up her car and I still have more quilts here in case anyone calls and says they need some or an emergency comes up, but I have my living room back :)

Now, I feel motivated to get back to quilting again.  I just hope my shoulder cooperates!  She says she has shoulder troubles too and thinks it is from writing on the board and grading papers.  Hmmm, maybe I should give up those activities!  Sounds like a good plan to me.

Trying to understand

I teach high school.  This year has really been kicking my butt.  I've got the same number of students as last year and teach the same subjects, relatively.  I teach 4 periods of freshmen Earth science and 1 period of honors sophomore science.  I have a different schedule where I go in later and teach later in the day.  That way I can take my youngest to school in the morning.  He really likes this.  He goes home with a friend after school.  Soon, tennis season will be over and my daughter can pick him up after school.  He will love being able to come home after school to relax and hang out and play video games or whatever.

But what I don't understand is why this year is so much harder than every other year I've ever taught.  Or, at least it seems to be that way.

I'm always bringing home work to grade.  Part of that is because I can't read without my glasses anymore.  And, I refuse to wear my glasses in public.  Because I can't see, I can't grade at school.  I used to be able to grade while the kids were working, but now I can't see to read.  One day, I will just have to break out the glasses and admit I'm old.  But not today.

The other thing I'm just not understanding is the parenting.  I have kids who are failing my classes.  These parents call and want a parent conference.  The parents call, they make an appointment, they come to the school and because I have a late class to teach, I don't get done until 3:11.  I have had so many parents this year who will not wait for me to finish teaching.  Yesterday, the parent left at 3:10.  Her child told her I was coming over to talk to her and she said she couldn't wait for me.  Today I had another conference and the parent left right before I got there.  This has happened about 10 times this year.  I have never had this happen to me and I've taught the late class before.  I just don't understand.  I've had parents not show up for conferences before, but to show up and then not have the time to wait 5 minutes?  I just don't understand.

Are we all in such a hurry these days that we don't have time for our kids?  I'm just worn out from the stress of trying to figure all of this out.

I think I will just take a break, make a quilt and then take a nap.  My daughter comes home for a few days on Sunday.  I can't wait to see her!

wow, really?

I have been doing some quilting, even though I have been so busy with school and grading.  I come home every day so tired from all of the work at school, but somehow managed to find time to get these quilts done this week.  I even surprised myself when I looked on the camera.  Cool!  I am still alive :)  I even have pictures to prove it!

This one was quilted for the Quilt guild to be given to the local crisis center.  Feels good to be able to contribute to the guild.  I'm so busy that I haven't been to many meetings since joining.

Binky Sunday

Today was Binky Sunday and although I forgot the camera at home, I did manage to snap a picture on my phone.  The ladies played with my Go! fabric cutter and sewed together these drunkard's path blocks.  One lady took them home to sew together with the rest of the blocks that were cut out and will bring them back next time when the top is all sewn together.  We were just messing around with the layout so who knows what the final quilt will look like.  I just love love love this block and the many design patterns you can come up with. And Karen had so much fun sewing the pieces together.  The first thing she asked was, who has a pin?  I showed her how easy it was to sew it together without pins because of the little notches in the block.  She has the Go! cutter on her Christmas list :)

no quilting, just grading and Binky Sunday today

It's been almost 2 weeks since I posted and no quilting has been going on.  Very sad :(  I've been very busy at work, grading and grading and grading.  I don't like it when I have to give up quilting for working.  There are just some times of the year when school takes over my life and I have to work on the weekends.  Teaching is a great career and there are a lot of times when you have time off, but then there are times when you work 16 hours on the weekend just to catch up to get further behind.  I wouldn't trade my job for any other, except maybe a zoo keeper.  I always wanted to be a zoo keeper or animal trainer.  I never could get my dog to fetch, so I'm not sure how well I would do at that, but I always thought that would be fun to work with wild animals.

Today is Binky Sunday and we will be at A Quilted Heart in Vacaville if anyone wants to stop by.  Carla will be demonstrating the robotic quilting machine they have in the shop for anyone who wants to stop by and see these fantastic machines.  Carla has a robotic machine and can really crank out the quilts!  I'm trying to get my son to make my quilting machine into a robot since he is in the robotics class at his high school this year.  He says by the time he graduates he will have figured out how to do it for me :)  Happy dancing!

I will be bringing my Go! cutter if anyone wants to try it out.  I know that once you get to play with it yourself, you will be hooked.  It cuts a quilt in just minutes and then you are ready for the really fun stuff--sewing and quilting.

I hope to remember to take some pictures today.  Usually I have too much fun and eventhough I bring my camera, forget to pull it out.  I'm looking forward to the break this afternoon from all of the grading and getting to spend some time with my Binky Buddies.

I love this one

I love this quilt. I love the colors, the pattern, the quilting (baptist fans--freehand).  Everything.  Even the size of it.  Just perfect.  Now to find the perfect person to give it to... (oh, maybe it needs binding first)  minor technicality!

In a second...your life can change

When I read in the paper yesterday this tragic story, I once again realized how quickly life can change in an instant.  The person driving the car is the son of my friend.  He is about a month older than my oldest daughter.  I met him when he was just a baby and watched him grow up.  His mom, my friend, is the children's director at the church I first started attending when we moved to Vacaville.  My oldest daughter who is 21 now was 6 weeks old at the time.  That's a long time to know a person.  His life has been forever changed.  The family of the person who died in the accident has been forever changed.  I'm sure neither person involved in the accident thought for a moment how Sunday would be THE day their lives would be different. 

I've been given this moment in time to make a difference.  I pray that I don't waste it.

a journey begins

...with just one step, or so the saying goes.

Since my doctor can't figure out what is wrong with me, I figure I had better take things into my own hands.  All research points to better health through exercise, sleep, drinking more water and a better diet.  All things I have control over.

So, the journey begins today, with walking more, sleeping more and drinking more water.  Adding more fiber to the diet began a couple of days ago, both through fiber supliments and more fruits and we will see if all of the research pays off.  I think I read somewhere that more quilting makes you live longer too.  Oh, wait, maybe that was here on my blog :)  Well, if it doesn't kill you, it certainly makes you stronger.  Or gives you sore muscles to prove that quilting is exercise!

I know I said I need more boy quilts, but I just have so many girl quilt tops in the pile that have already been paired with backings that they are just so easy to grab.  The boy quilts need more effort to put together and with being sick again (teaching exposes you to many cooties) I just haven't had the energy to give it much effort this week.

back to the doctor

I'm not convinced my stomach troubles were caused by the appendix.  Since they took the appendix out, I've still had the pains.  What's up with that?  So, I'm going back in this afternoon to see if maybe they missed something on the CT scan, like maybe my gall bladder.  Every time I eat something, my stomach hurts.  Hopefully we can get to the bottom of the pains.  If this is what getting old is like, I'm not looking forward to getting any older.  If my stomach doesn't hurt, my shoulder or head does.  Seems like I am always in pain somewhere! Ugh.

doubly productive

one in the morning and one after school...really moving along now :)  Too bad I'm tired or I could get one more in tonight!  I have a Quilts of Honor meeting tonight and I'm not sure I'm going to make it.  I need to drop off these quilts to be bound and pick up the finished ones so I really should get over there just for that, but we will see :)

Productive day

Got this one quilted this morning before heading off to school.  I like being able to quilt something in the morning because it makes me feel productive.  If nothing else gets done all day, at least I got a quilt done :)

My son's quilt

Still plugging away at this one.  The blocks are all sewn together, now to add borders and get it quilted.  I love the graphic design on this one.  And, I love the backing fabric I found.  Nobody makes bass cleff notes on fabric, but I did find treble cleff notes that are black on black for the backing fabric and bought out all JoAnn's had.  Perfect for a music lover like my son. 

All that Jazz...

yesterday, my son played in two different jazz bands.  This kid loves his trombone!  The kids were incredible and I'm beginning to understand jazz music.  Another three years and I might just like it :)

quilting again, must be doing better

My assistant pastor is taking 40 boy quilts to an orphanage in Mexico on Tuesday and that clears out all of the boy quilts I have on hand.  With me being so tired from the appendix removal I haven't had the energy to take the quilts on had to the hospital.  That's a good thing, because when the need for them at the orphanage came up, here they are!

However, now that all of the boy quilts are gone and I'm starting to feel almost like myself again, I need to start replenishing the boy quilts again.  I'm putting the call out to all of my local Binky Patrol workers and will be hopefully working again to get these quilt tops quilted up.  What I find is that I have about 3 girl quilts for every boy quilt.  I wonder why that is?  Why do we love to make the girly quilts more than those for little boys?

Looks like I will have to dig through the fabric stash and pull some boy fabrics and get cutting :)

100 quilts for kids

need some inspiration?  Or a reason to sew a quilt for a child?  How about this contest?  Looks like lots of great prizes if you make and donate a quilt in the next month.  I think I can do that :)

for my older son

it is now pinned together and waiting its turn to be sewn together.  It will need some black borders.  My son designed it on paper before laying it out on the floor.  This one took 3 yards of white and 3/4 yards of 4 different black fabrics if you want to make one like it.  I have 20 squares leftover and it used the 7 1/2 inch drunkard's path die.  Looks like there will be another, smaller black and white quilt in the near future :)  Maybe with some purple thrown in.  I think I know someone who likes purple :)  Maybe a Christmas quilt?

Hope

My friend's grand-daughter is going to be named Hope.  A fitting name I believe.  I made this quilt today, a paerfect day to make such a perfect quilt.  I tell you, the more I make these drunkard's path quilts, the more I am in love with these blocks.  My friend Carla found this dove pattern and convinced me this was the block I should use.  She is so clever!  I'm so glad she is my friend.  OH, and she agreed that at my funeral, she would organize the quilting party.  Everyone who shows up to my funeral will leave with their very own handmade quilt, because everyone will sit and sew instead of cry.  My kids will not have to deal with all of the fabric I leave behind because everyone will be cutting and sewing and laughing and eating brownies and remembering how crazy I was.  It can't happen for a while, because I have a lot more drunkard's path quilts to make.  I hear there are 85 different designs you can make with this one block.  I think I have about 7 of them done.  That's a lot more to go!

for Joyce's daughter

This is for my friend Joyce's daughter.  I'm still working on the quilt for her grandbaby who is due in about a month, but when I saw this fabric, I just thought of my friend Joyce and knew I had to make this one for her daughter who probably could use a hug just as much as the baby.  Joyce loved her cat, miss kitty and would write some of her facebook posts from the cat's perspective.  Click on the picture to see the great cat print fabric!  Joyce would have worn pants out of this print if she could have!

The funeral is this evening at 5 and I wanted to have it finished up to bring with me.

Carla convinced me to make yet another drunkard's path quilt for the baby.  She found a pattern called Doves and gave me some lavendar fabrics.  I headed over to JoAnn's for some more and will start cutting them as soon as I get off the computer.  Should go together quickly now that I have the pattern.  I also found a really cute bird pattern where you make birds out of different scraps.  I ordered the book and may give it a try when the book gets here.  It is like my daughter's turtle quilt which took a zillion hours to do, but was oh, so cute when done.

Quilts for Texas fire victims

I hope that those of you who sent quilt tops to me for the Quilts for Japan don't mind, but I am planning on sending some of them to Judy for the people in Texas who have lost everything to the fires.  She is going to quilt them up and donate them.  Since the marathon quilting for Japan, my shoulder has been hurting and then with the appendix removal, I just haven't been able to do as much quilting as I have wanted.  I want these quilts to get into the hands of hurting children and I know that Judy will get them there faster than I can.

If you want to send completed quilts or tops of your own, she is taking them and will be driving them to a friend of hers in the coming weeks.  I hope she doesn't get overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from the quilting world.

love drunk

Are you tired of hearing me go on and on about the Drunkard's path dies from Accuquilt yet?  Well, I'm so much in love with these two dies for the Go! cutter that I tell you if you don't get any other dies for the cutter, you would have well spent your money on the contraption.  This die is so easy to cut and so fun to sew. 

Can you believe I still have a few of these blocks left?  Not enough for another quilt, but they will appear in one more quilt along the road somewhere.

Just finished this quilt this morning, I must be feeling better to be back to quilting.  That is the way to gauge my degree of wellness, by how much quilting gets done around here :)  This one goes to my oldest daughter's assistant tennis coach at college.  She is expecting her first baby in November.  I love how this quilt turned out.  Makes me want to have another baby :)  Or maybe just make another quilt.

My friend Joyce

I just got a phone call that my co-worker and friend Joyce died this morning.  She had gone on a rafting trip yesterday and was trapped under the boat for 20 minutes.  She was such a crazy lady.  She taught art at the school I work at and if you know anything about art teachers, you know they think differently than most of the world.  She always made me laugh!  She loved her cat and often wrote her facebook posts from her cat's perspective.

She will be missed.

You are not promised tomorrow.  What are you going to do with your today?

my buddies

As I sit this morning, 'resting' and grading papers, I am joined by my constant companion, Lily, who is always by my side.  I can't even go to the bathroom without her following me and by my little guy who came down about an hour ago and immediately fell back to sleep.  I just couldn't resist taking this picture.  Ignore the laundry that needs folding.  I know that I have been :)

Just Right

So, he didn't give up.  He wanted circles and I suggested he add some of the smaller blocks in the middle of the bigger ones.  Now it just needs to be sewn together and would you believe I still have some more of the pink/green blocks leftover?  I don't think I will ever get all of them sewn into a quilt!  I don't have enough to make any more, so the rest will have to find their way into another quilt somehow, but this is the last of the pink/green quilts :)  Yipee!