I'm not normally a violent person...

but if I could kill my migraines, I'd chop them up really small, put them in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour them down the drain and wash them away into the ocean! They have really cut into my production these last couple of days.

Hubby says yesterday, it doesn't matter how bad you feel, you still quilt!

That's because I have a goal of 200 quilts before my vacation ends and now I'm behind. That makes me feel even worse! I can't give myself a break :( Which causes the migraine to get worse, or at least makes me worry which is a stupid thing because there is no quilt police to come and lock me up if I don't reach my goal. I just see time ticking away and the pile of quilt tops not getting any smaller. Ugh. The cycle continues.

Praying for a better day today. At least I don't have to be at work :)

She is really in Greece

:)

Go! Baby giveaway-visit this blog

http://quiltingalongthegorge.blogspot.com/2011/06/giveaway-of-baby-go-and-3-dies.html

Here's another chance to win a Go! baby. Seems these are popping up everywere now. I hope you win! Accuquilt is a great product and makes quilting really fun.

5 and 2

makes 7 more quilts. I'm on track for 4 a day. Yesterday was another run around day. Today it is raining. Last week we had temps right around 100 degrees and today it is raining. Not just sprinkling, but actually pouring down rain. Great for the plants. I wish I had gotten a garden this year, but the garden is just weeds now. Too much time spent quilting. Oh, well, the farmers will like me when I buy all of their tomatoes. Strange weather we have been having this year.

Here she goes

My oldest is on a plane right now, headed to Greece. I hope she can land. They are having an air traffic controller's strike on Monday. Greece is 10 hours ahead of California so I hope when they get there, someone is working to tell them when and where to land. Please pray for my child. And pray for this mama who had a hard time letting her get on a plane this morning at 12:30am. When you look at her, you may see a 21 year old woman. This is what I see. A litle girl in a red dress. Where did the time go?

TV time again

Here are three videos on You Tube from the TV show Common Ground. Once again, I couldn't find it on the internet, so video taped it from the TV recording. This is a longer version of the news from shipping the quilts to Japan. This time, the reporters got lots of the information wrong :( I teach at Vanden High School and live in Vacaville and the quilts aren't going to Nirasaki first, but the general idea is there. It is a good lesson for my students that just because you see something on TV doesn't make it true :)

Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXvnUXh1N8M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snR4UKYn1rY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IItCXPognkI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

The first picture of quilts in Japan

Here is the first picture of the quilts in Japan. This is Maxx and his wife Laura. They are very excited to be able to hand out the quilts. They should be in the hands of the kids in the next two weeks! Do you recognize your quilt?

In the News again

Tonight on Channel 3 if you are in Northern California (Sacramento area) at 6:30pm you can watch the longer version of our story. I'm not sure what they are going to show, but they filmed for a good 45 minutes so should have lots to choose from. I will be watching and probably squealing again :)

Also, we finally made the paper. The numbers are off a little--112 chapters, not 117, but the general idea of the story is correct. We were overwhelmed by the generous giving of quilters everywhere.
http://www.thereporter.com/ci_18356686?IADID=Search-www.thereporter.com-www.thereporter.com


Yesterday with all of the other activities I had going, I was only able to get 2 quilts quilted. I also think I drove over 200 miles and about 4 1/2 hours. Crazy!

Tonight I take my oldest to the airport and put her on a plane to Greece. She is doing a study abroad program for a month. But she doesn't come home at the end of the month. She goes to Florida and then back to school. I won't see her until October when she comes home for Fall Break. :( I will miss her. This has been a good 4 weeks. If you have little ones at home. Don't blink. Don't sleep. Don't let them out of your sight for a minute. Because they will grow up and move away before you know it. I never thought it would happen to me either. Especially during the times when I wasn't getting any sleep.

yesterday's number

7

pretty good I would say. Added to the others I had already counted, here is the pile of 11 quilts that are cut and ready to go to the binding beast, Rhoda.

I now have two people working with me to keep up this summer. My friend Nancy has found that binding is actually kind of fun and will be binding some quilts for me as well.

If I can keep up the pace this summer, you should see the numbers go up and the pile of quilt tops go down...way down. I just hope I can keep up with my toppers! They work fast :) I love it! I picked up two more tops from the quilt shop yesterday. Back to work. I have tennis to drive to and a funeral to attend and a tournament to go to as well. Not much time for quilting today. Got to sneak it in whenever I can.

Go! on baby, enter

http://vickibquilts.blogspot.com/2011/06/ready-set-go-baby-contest-starts-now

Hop on over if you want another chance to win a Go! baby fabric cutter. You never know if you are going to win if you don't enter.

Good luck

Staying Motivated

I've been having a rough couple of days here between migraines and seeing all of the work that needs to get done. I just found a countdown to add to my blog to help keep me motivated to KEEP WORKING! Time is ticking by and my vacation will be over before I know it.

I did a little calculating and if I can get at least 4 quilts done a day, I will have over 200 quilts completed before I go back to work. For some of you getting 4 quilts done a day is an impossible task. For me, it is a piece of cake. As long as I have that as a goal, I can do it. Some days I will get 10 done and some days I won't get any done.

I get overwhelmed when I look in the sewing room and see what a mess it has become after all of the work that went into cleaning it for the TV crew. But, if I keep working at it a little at a time, the mess will not only be cleaned out, but the quilt tops will be all done and the fabric will be used up in the process. Just moving one pile from place to place isn't cleaning. It needs to be used and out of the house to make any progress around here.

So, back to work! Time is ticking by!

And to those of you with real jobs...sorry. I do love my summer vacations!

Delivered!

Delivered
Initiated
Picked up
In transit
Delivered
Delivered
Signed for by:
.SUGAWARA

Shipment Dates
Ship date
Jun 14, 2011
Delivery date
Jun 21, 2011 12:40 PM
Destination
SIZUOKA-KEN JP
Proof of Delivery

my girls

are so creative. Check out their blog post to see what they did with some flip flops from the thrift store.

http://aeneverforget.blogspot.com

Still quilting for Japan

Preemie quilt

Preemie quilt

I still have quite a few quilt tops that were sent for Japan. I'm filling a box and going to send it to the APO address I have. If it isn't too expensive, I will keep quilting and sending boxes to Japan as I can afford the postage. I hope to send a box a month until I have all of these quilts finished and sent. There was just no way I could get everything finished in time to ship out. But, like the fish in Finding Nemo, I will 'Just keep Quilting' and eventually get them all done.

Some of these are for our local project, NorthBay hospital both the Neonatal Unit for the preemie babies and the A Baby is Coming (ABC) program. Can't forget the local babies!

Using Batting Scraps

Do you have leftover batting scraps from all of your quilting projects?

Here's how I use up mine. This probably isn't the 'right' way to do things, but it works for me and I haven't had anyone return a quilt and say they had problems with it.

I take the strips of batting and overlap them by about 2 inches and then quilt a little closer than usual. If I need to add another piece, I just lay it in and keep on quilting. I've never had a problem with the batting shifting or getting a space in the quilt. I use poly batting most of the time so I don't know if this would work with cotton batting or not.

I have lots of leftover scraps and hope to use them up quickly!

The hostages were released!

At least that is what it felt like when I checked the status of the packages. Released! In transit! The boxes of quilts are on their way. Should be tomorrow when they reach their final destination. So exciting! My heart is racing :) I just wish I could be there to see the faces of the kids when they get the quilts.

I was asked to write a short note to explain the culture of quilting in the United States. Short note explaining quilting? Let's see, we take perfectly good fabric, cut it up into small pieces, spend hours sewing it back together. We are insane. How's that?

They are going to translate it into Japanese and give it to each person who receives a quilt. How cool is that? I used Google Translate to translate one sentence into Japanese and it took up a whole lota space. I can't imgaine translating a whole paragraph...that I wrote! I'm walking on air today. I just hope the migraine doesn't come back..grrr.


Jun 20, 2011 2:16 PM
International shipment release
SENNAN-SHI JP
Jun 20, 2011 2:16 PM
In transit
SENNAN-SHI JP
Jun 16, 2011 6:15 PM
Clearance delay
SENNAN-SHI JP
A written statement indicating the end use of goods or reason of importation is required.
Jun 16, 2011 12:44 PM
In transit
SENNAN-SHI JP
Package available for clearance

Do you love pretty things?

Do you like unique, one of a kind, hand made jewelry? Well, my daughters have started their own jewelry making business this summer and have opened an Etsy store called AENeverForget. Check out their blog and find out what they are all about. Then, take a look at some of their jewelry. They are just getting started putting items into their store and will be adding things all summer. Actually, my younger daughter will be manning the store while her older sister will be in Greece having lots of fun and getting inspired by her tennis coach's aunt who owns a very exclusive jewelry shop there. She is doing a month abroad study program. Such a sacrifice! I'm sure she will be sending lots of pictures home and you will see many more creations in the near future.

My daughter hopes to fund her college through sales at her shop (actually, I hope she funds her college this way...she would love to buy clothes!)

Tell your friend. It makes their day when someone 'likes' their items! And it gives her something to do when she isn't playing tennis 5 hours a day :)

Video of News Coverage

Since the video of our news coverage never made it online, and I wanted my parents to see me on TV, I thought I'd share this with them and you by filming the 50 seconds of fame and posting it here. I've only watched myself about a dozen times so far. My little guy says, 'mom, remember when you say yourself the first time and screamed?' Yeah, a little embarassing now.

Here's the link to the video

Enjoy! I know I did :) Maybe a little too much!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwYCg9ZxB-Y

another Go! baby giveaway

http://www.sameliasmum.com/2011/06/accuquilt-go-baby-giveaway.html

Check it out. Another chance to win a great fabric cutter. And if you win, you can help me tackle my fabric scraps this summer! Good luck!

Empty Spools of Thread

My Friend Carla and I have been saving out empty spools of thread for the past few months and I have finally filled this huge bucket. I took it in to give to my son's first grade teacher today with a note attached explaining how the thread was used to sew all of the quilts for Japan. I also attached some ideas for using these spools including a sorting game, a stacking challenge, a guessing game and some other ideas I came up with. When I taught first grade, I loved collecting things like this. My favorite collections was old keys. I have over 200 keys and somehow they got lost in the move. I still miss those old keys. If you sew a lot, please save the empty spools of thread for an elementary school near you. Give them to a first or second grade teacher. Trust me, there will be one teacher in the school like me who will love you for it! If you don't have that many spools of thread, ask all of your friends to save theirs for you. This container was from Cheese Balls. It cost me $5 including the nasty tasting Cheese Balls. I think next time I will get the Giant Pretzel bucket instead. Nobody wanted to eat the Cheese Balls and I ended up throwing about half the container in the garbage, but I loved the container, so it was worth it :)

The quilts are in Japan!

I love being able to track a package. Look how quickly these quilts made it to Japan. Now they are waiting in Customs for a written statement indicating the end use of goods or reason of importation.

Do you think the Japanese government would understand that we are sending 1,144 hugs? Is that a good enough reason to let them pass through customs?


Date/Time
Activity
Location
Details
Jun 16, 2011 6:15 PM
Clearance delay
SENNAN-SHI JP
A written statement indicating the end use of goods or reason of importation is required.
Jun 16, 2011 12:44 PM
In transit
SENNAN-SHI JP
Package available for clearance
Jun 16, 2011 11:27 AM
At destination sort facility
SENNAN-SHI JP
Jun 15, 2011 10:43 AM
Departed FedEx location
ANCHORAGE, AK
Jun 15, 2011 6:22 AM
Arrived at FedEx location
ANCHORAGE, AK
Jun 15, 2011 2:56 AM
Departed FedEx location
OAKLAND, CA
Jun 14, 2011 11:04 PM
Departed FedEx location
OAKLAND, CA
Jun 14, 2011 10:15 PM
Arrived at FedEx location
OAKLAND, CA
Jun 14, 2011 4:45 PM
Picked up
SACRAMENTO, CA

Shipping Day

Yesterday was the big shipping day and lots of people came over to help out. The news showed up and everything was just perfect! We all got our 15 seconds of fame :) Fed Ex brought a HUGE truck and the kids from Vanden got right to work.

Everyone had a job to do. We had save out about 100 quilts to pack for TV and boxes were made up quickly and quilts were packed.

We had a bucket brigade to get the boxes out of the house and out to the labeling station so that each box could get a label on it before getting loaded onto the truck.

The Fed Ex guy was glad to have the help. We had 2,000 pounds of boxes and I'm sure he was happy not to have to put them all on the truck himself!

It took about 45 minutes with everyone working like crazy to get all of the boxes out of the house and onto the truck! I would have been working all day if I had to do this myself. I was so thankful to have so many helpers.

Thank you Fed Ex for providing shipping! It will take about a week to get to Japan.

Go! die giveaway--go! hurry go!

http://talinscorner.blogspot.com/2011/06/go-cutter-sponsored-giveaway.html

who doesn't need more Go! dies for your Go! cutter? We all do who have the Accuquilt Go! cutter. I have over half of them already and now that the Quilts for Japan project is finished am ready to start something new. Some new Go! dies would hit the spot just about now. But, which ones to pick...

If you win, you get to choose 3.

Perspective

My friend Carla said that you don't really get an understand of just how many boxes I have in my house until you come over and actually SEE them in my house! Well, the big day is tomorrow and Fed Ex will be here around noon to pick them up and take them away! Maybe this picture will give you a little perspective of just how many boxes of wonderful handmade quilts you all have helped me make and collect in the last 3 months. I am overwhelmed and just how much we have accomplished together!

Each box contains love from someone out there who took time to make a quilt or blanket to send to a person half a world away and I thank you from the bottom of my heart! I will probably cry a little bit tomorrow when the truck drives away.

And then I will take a nap :) I will also post a final count on the total number of quilts we sent. I am still working on finishing up as many as I can and I have several people bringing more tomorrow! THANK YOU! You all are the best! God Bless each and every one of you for the big and little parts you played in making this all possible!

Binky Day today

First, I went to a machine quilter's meeting at my friend Carla's house. Everyone there had a fancy long arm machine, so I did feel a little out of place when they started talking about all of the wonderful things their machines could do, but they were impressed when I said I had quilted over 500 quilts in the 3 years I had been quilting on my little Janome and original Handi Quilter Frame. It isn't what you have, it's what you do with what you have been given that counts :)

Then, onto Binky Patrol where people came and helped trim quilts and bind! I'm not sure how many quilts we got bound, but I brought some home and two other ladies took some home to finish up as well. We have a lot to get done before Tuesday's shipment. We are going to get as many done as we can.

I got 3 done and 3 more half way done tonight and will spend the day tomorrow spending time cleaning and binding and taking kids to their different activities. I sure hope I can get everything done and don't forget anyone! I had better get a good night's sleep tonight. I think I will need a lot of strength tomorrow!

Even with a tennis tournament

that was defaulted by the other girl after we got there...I still managed to get another 3 quilts done. I'm trying to clean my house so that if the TV station shows up on Tuesday you all won't see the mess that has been creeping up on me since I have been quilting and not cleaning :) More cleaning is on the agenda for tomorrow and tomorrow is also Binky Sunday. If anyone lives in Vacaville or close enough to make it a day trip, please feel free to join us at A Quilted Heart on Alamo Drive. You will be put to work binding these quilts and cutting more binding and I have some fleece that needs to be made into quilts. It isn't doing anyone any good sitting around here!

don't blink

So, the number has already changed. Things don't stay the same around here. Like I said, I have too much to do :) My daughter has a tennis tournament today and then I will be back :)

crazy

Do you see the number on the right side of the screen over there? The number under the heading Quilted by me? That number says 500. I started quilting in 2008. The summer of 2008. Almost 3 years ago. I'm looking back at some numbers today and see that in the last 3 months I've quitled just over 100 quilts for the children of Japan. Last year I quilted 100 quilts.

Yesterday, my oldest daughter who is 21, got up and saw me working on quilts and asked if I ever woke up and thought I don't think I will quilt today. I said that maybe on Wednesday I will take a break, but until these quilts are safely out of my house and on their way to Japan, I have a limited amount of time to get as many quilts done as I can. I have to work as fast as I can for as long as I can. Right now, quilting is like breathing. It is something I must do. There is no resting. There is no stopping. I will never get everything finished, but I can get one more done and that is one more child comforted. There are more than a million people who lost their homes in Japan. Yet, you hear nothing on the news about it. That really makes me sad. Those people still do not have a permanent place to stay. I don't want them to think they are forgotten. God loves them and I love them too, eventhough I will never meet them. If I could meet them, I would give them a big hug. Since I can't, I will hug them with a quilt. One more quilt. Just one more.

Crazy.

I've been called worse.

Just keep quilting...

With a deadline fast approaching, I had to make a decision to stop quilting and start binding, or keep quilting and hope to find someone to bind the quilts I'm frantically quilting as time is running out! I have a whole bunch of quilt tops still to get finished up and I know I'm not going to get to them all. I want to get as many of them done as I can, but I do have to sleep sometime!

I called my friend Nancy, who always comes through for me. One day I was walking home from dropping my car off to get fixed and I saw a dog get hit by a car. Here I was with a dead dog in the middle of the street. I went out, picked up the dead dog and put it on the sidewalk. It was about 7 in the morning and I didn't have the number to the pound so I called the garbage company. I figured they would have the number to the pound so someone could come and get this poor dead dog for me. Well, while I was on the phone, the dead dog, got up and ran into the bushes! I started yelling, "you crazy dog, you are supposed to be dead! I saw you get hit by a car!" So, who do I call next? My friend Nancy! I woke her up and she came and got me and we tried to catch the now not dead dog. Instead, it ran across the street and into a field and away faster than any dog I've ever seen before. She took me home. She is such a great friend.

So, when I called her, I kinda knew she would help me out of my bind. Or, into a bind :) Or, into binding 20 quilts...by Monday...

She's just that kind of friend. So, I will keep quilting and she will start binding and we will see how many more quilts we can get done by Monday night and then I will get up early Tuesday and finish off as many as I can before the Fed Ex truck comes on Tuesday morning.