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 :)