and one more

Had time last night for just one more quilt.  I know my daughter would love this cute quilt and so would a friend at work!  I have to find this fabric online and get some to make a couple more quilts just like this one!

Productive Sunday

 Started off with a migraine and I decided that I wasn't going to let that stop me.  I had blue quilting thread loaded on the machine, so pulled out this quilt top and backing and did a fern ziggle quilting on it.  Quick, mindless and fun.

 Then, since I was on a roll, this quilt top was also quick and easy.  This is a super sized 9 patch the kids at the middle school put together.  We have about 400 of them to do, many are being put together with ties now, but this was already matched with a backing and is just as quick to quilt so on the frame it went.

And finally, I have two friends who are expecting a baby in April.  Their theme is sailboats and I found this fabric on etsy.  The center is a panel and was very narrow.  I also found the border pieces as a one yard piece of fabric and it went together so well I decided to just add it.  The backing fabric is some gorgeous shells I have had for a long time that has been waiting for the perfect match to go with something.  I also found the cutest little turtle cutout that needed a home and it got sewn on the back of the quilt.  A cute little surprise.

a very productive Sunday

Revisiting goals for the year

I just realized that this week we change months.  I have a meeting on Thursday that I'm looking forward to and it is in February, but that means January must end before then.  Where has the time gone?  What have I been doing all month?  I don't have much time left to reach my goals for quilting.  I had better get busy if I want to beat my goals from last year.

Right now, I'm working on a secret project for the blog hop.  It is taking way longer than I anticipated.  It is HARD to design a quilt!  It makes me appreciate all of the real quilt designers out there :)  Thank you!  I like being able to go to a quilt pattern and just cut and sew and not have to think about all of the math involved.  Somehow that number part of my brain just shuts down when I try to use it.  But yesterday, despite having a terrible migraine, I managed to figure out the quilt and get it sewn together.  Even though it took me several tries.  Note to self...don't work on a quilt when you have a migraine.  I think my time would have been better spent just quilting or mindless sewing.  But, lesson learned and now that hard part is done.

I can't wait for my day to share, on Feb 15 so I hope you come back and see what I've been  up to.

I am also working on another quilt for a friend who had a baby 6 weeks ago.  I ordered the fabric long before she had the baby and then put it away on a shelf.  I've been looking for the fabric for a few weeks and couldn't figure out where I hid it.  I almost ordered more fabric because I searched everywhere for it and just couldn't find it.  Then, finally found it in a bucket at the very bottom.  Why would I put it there?  My mind sometimes I swear!

Ok, time to get off this computer and get at least one quilt done today.  Got to get those numbers up if there is ever a chance of reaching my goal and getting more of these quilt tops out of here and into the hands of kids!

Home is where the Quilt is contest

http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/projects/galleries/Home/guidelines/

This contest sounds interesting.  In my 'free' time, I think I just might make a house quilt and enter it.  Who knows, I just might win a new quilting machine :)  You should enter too!

Quilt for a cause

This quilt was made by my friend Judy who has donated a ton of fabric for Binky Patrol.  It was quilted by Carla and bound by Sherri.  It is being donated today to a fundraiser for a Vallejo Police officer's family.  He was killed a couple of months ago while in pursuit of a suspect and this will be a silent auction item on Saturday.  I hope it brings a lot of money for the family.  It is a king size quilt!  Just gorgeous.

Do you love Blog Hops? How about Accuquilt? Coming soon!

Are you ready for some blog hopping fun?  Well, stay tuned because this lovely group of Accuquilt loving bloggers are working away getting ready to amaze you with some fun tutorials and give you some inspiration on using the Accuquilt products.  Some of us will even have giveaways on our blogs.  My day is February 15 and I can't wait to show you what I have in store.  If you have been following me for any amount of time, you know I just love my Accuquilt Studio and Accuquilt Go! fabric cutters.  I will be using my favorite die (can you guess which one that is?) to make a really cute quilt to share with you on my special day.  There will be a giveaway or three so be sure to visit all of the blogs, and hop on back here on February 15 to see what my favorite Go! die is and have a chance to win something in the giveaway...

See you soon!


February 13th

• Marjorie (Marjorie Busby, quilter)
• Ariane (Ariane's Crafts)

February 14th

• Connie (Quilting by the River)
• Linda (Living 4 Quilting)

February 15th

• Lisa Marie (Scraps of Life)
• Marilyn (North Hills Quilters)

February 16th

• Alicia (Heirloom Quilting)
• Marjorie (Marjorie's Busy Corner)

February 17th

• Sharon (Crazee Corners)
• Jacque (Lilypad Quilting)

February 18th

• Stacey (Driving Miss Stacey)
• Tracey (The Peony Teacup)
• Paulette (Sweet P Quilting and Creations)

Winter Ball

my son and his girlfriend went to the school's Winter Ball on Saturday night.  They had fun and yes, she likes purple!

special quilt

made for a student at school who tried to commit suicide over the Christmas break.  She likes anime so the fabric was special ordered.  Hope she likes it.

Japanese quilters

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120118004086.htm

Here's an article about Japanese quilters helping after the earthquake.  My friend Max, sent it to me and said it reminded him of our efforts :)

my own design

This quilt was inspired by the little panels.  They are bears playing golf.  I just started adding and adding and the quilt grew into this.  The back has golf words printed and it is for my friend, whose father is really sick.  He is doing better, but could use a little encouragement and confort that only a quilt can bring.  He loves golf (and motorcycles) and so this quilt was made especially for him.  I couldn't find any motorcycle fabric so this quilt came from my stash.  I love it when that happens!  It is 52x62, just perfect for cuddling under.

Why I am not a plumber

 So Friday night my husband wakes me up and says he has broken the kitchen sink.  I only remember telling him to put a note on it so nobody uses it in the morning.  When I got up Saturday morning, there really wasn't a need for a note.  He had completely broken the handle off the old sink.  Don't even ask me how.  He says he was just getting water for the dog, but let me tell you, there was no mistaking the fact it was broken.

When the sink was leaking over the summer, I had called out a plumber and asked them how much it woudl cost to put in a new one.  $200 was the quote and I had to get my own sink.  Well, I'm cheap, so figured I could do it myself.  Seriously, how hard could it be?

Three trips to the hardware store later and I know why they charge $200.  Crawling under the sink and 6 hours later, I have a new sink :)  I hope this one lasts another 18 years.  Of course by then, I won't be able to crawl under the sink and will be happy to pay someone $400 to replace it.  But maybe my little guy will be willing to do it for me!

not a great week for my high school

this week I found out the art teacher has stage 4 liver cancer and two students from the class of 07 passed away.  Also, after coming back from Christmas break, I had one student tell me she tried to commit suicide and I had to call her mom and let her know-a phone call I've never wanted to make!  And another student also tried to do the same and is in a mental institution and looks like she will be for quite some time.

If you have a chance to make a quilt or two and donate it to your local high school, I'm sure they would love to be able to give to some of the kids who are hurting.  Just drop the quilt off with the counseling office and they will know which kids to give them to.  I usually give the quilts to the school psychologist or the counselors and they pass the quilts along to the students.  Sometimes they tell them who the quilts are from and sometimes now.

I'm glad to have a 3 day weekend to rest, recover and quilt.  Sunday is Binky Sunday and I'm hoping to get lots of quilts tied and ready for binding.

Hug those you love!

one more tied and one more sit down quilted

 this one was tied today at school

and this one was stitch in the ditch quilted.  Getting better...that's all I can say :)

butterflies

from the Pajamaquilter DVD, some beautiful butterflies floating through the frog stripes.  Too cute!

making use of free time

 after school yesterday, I threw this cute little quilt on the frame and quickly got it quilted.

I have a student teacher who has taken over one of my classes in the morning, so now I have about an hour of extra free time.  Until I have some papers to grade, I am going to be working on tying quilts while I sit around.  I have a TA during that period as well, so yesterday we got these two tied quilts done.  Win, win!

stitch in the ditch

I'm bound and determined to learn how to stitch in the ditch this year, so last night, eventhough I was dead tired, I pinned this small quilt and practiced.  It turned out better than the last few and I'm happy with my progress.  I think if I keep practicing, I will be an expert by the end of the year :)

sail away

 trying to get some Free Motion Quilting skills back this year so I pulled a book off the shelf and picked out a couple of patterns for this quilt.

 fish here

sailboats here

Can we Quilt it?...

Yes, we can!

loving this quick strippie quilt

the colors on this one just speak to me :)  I'm normally a red quilt person, but this one really is a nice color combo.  Can't wait until this one gets in the hands of a kid needing a hug, and it was fun to quilt :)

this one was crazy

measure twice, cut once???  How about lay the background fabric on the right way?  Why isn't that a rule?  I had the backing fabric cut right, but then loaded on the frame wrong so when I got to the end of the quilt, had a whole row to go and no backing fabric.  I had to remove the quilt, sew the backing fabric on and then put the quilt back on.  It's a good thing I've been quilting for a little bit or I would have just given up and started to cry!

Now that I can see the quilt in whole, it is a gorgeous quilt.  Sometimes when I am looking at the thing closeup, I can't really see it.  It is nice to have it in picture form and be able to see it like this.  Simple, but stunning.  Another quilt marked off the list.  The bucket of quilts isn't getting any smaller.  Why is that?

another tied

more quilt day pictures

Rhoda, the binding beast!  I finally got a picture of her smiling :)

One of the robotics students from Vanden High School, who came over for a couple hours who learned how to tie quilts using the vertical quilting frame.

my oldest daughter, home from college, helping tie quilts (I'm so happy!)

a stack of quilts tied and ready for binding

Finished quilts--we got 29 quilts finished, I miscouted yesterday

I'm working on a quilt with daughter #2.  I'm so happy I can't keep my eyes open!

The teens love using the studio fabric cutter to cut binding!  Boy did we cut a lot of binding yesterday.

quilt day

Today was another great quilt day at my friend Carla's house.  We had a few students show up and some regular attendees.  I had made 5 quilting frames and used one for holding a roll of batting.  I had 20 quilts ready to go for tying and all of those got done.  We completely finished 19 quilts, bound and everything.  I will have more pictures tomorrow, but had to share this mother/daughter picture my oldest took with her cell phone.  Here we are working on tying a quilt together on one of the frames.  It was nice having my two daughters spend part of the day with me.  It was a very long day from taking my older son to a band practice early in the morning to spending the entire day making quilts to having to go back late to pick up my son again.  Long, but rewarding getting so much accomplished. 

Our next quilt afternoon is January 15.  We have 3 hours of tying quilts and some more binding.  Maybe with a few more of these quilt days, we will catch up with the quilt tops...maybe :)

Today's treasures

It's a good thing vacation is coming to an end :)  The girls and I went to the Outlet in Sacramento again today and got more goodies!  They got 33 items and I got 20, this time for only $36.  Of course, more tshirts for me and dresses and shirts and skirts for them.  We are just having so much fun collecting and treasure hunting.  Everything is getting washed and readied for the fashion show later on tonight!

Have I shown you my thrift store loot?

Oh, well, the Goodwill Outlet in Sacramento is my New Love.  It is a close runner up to Quilting and crocheting and sleeping and chocolate.

My oldest had a dentist appointment on Monday morning and she was mighty grumpy.  She is not a morning person, but I said I would go with her and since her dentist is half way to Sacramento, we could go to the thrift store afterwards.  I could show her the craziness of the place and I thought she would have some fun.  She wasn't too sure about it and was a little afraid of having to push people out of the way to grab things, but agreed to go with me.

We set a time limit of one hour because I knew that if we spent more time than that, we could end up filling the car and running out of money.

We ended up with about 75 pieces of clothing, 2 pair of shoes and only spent $46.  These are my tshirts.  I got 20.  My daughter got a whole bunch of designer clothing like Holister and American Eagle and some Tshirt that she said originally cost $75 and adidas and Nike and all of the stuff we got were really nice things.  Of course, we have no real need for any of this stuff, but I love tshirts and had a great time with my daughter.  I don't think I will ever go clothes shopping anywhere else ever again.  My daughter got several jackets for my #2 daughter that are really nice and I can't find anything wrong with them.  As soon as we got home, everything went into the washing machine :)  I love a good treasure hunt!

I'm not afraid of power tools

Today was a work day in the garage.  First, I moved this set of shelves from the middle of the garage to the side wall to join with the rest of the set.  I have about 50 buckets of various things, fabric, yarn, kid toys, treasures that I cannot part with stored safely in plastic tombs, waiting to be opened and remembered each summer.

Then, where the metal storage shelves were kept, I created these wooden shelves.  They are attached to another set, which, although it doesn't look pretty, has stood for about 6 years and hasn't broken or fallen down yet, so I must have done a decent job.  I was feeling rather foolish in the way I had built them, but then a few years ago, we hired a carpenter to fix up the shed out back.  He build a very similar set of shelves in the shed for another set of buckets and after I saw the shelves he built, I felt much better with the shelves I made, since I had never been to building school!

I'm trying to get all of my buckets of treasures off the floor and easier to access so they aren't stacked on top of each other.  We have a ping pong table in the garage that is currently useless because there is no place to unfold it.  After this weekend, things should be different.  I'm hoping that tomorrow I find more time to move and sort.  Notice I am not talking about throwing much away, although I did throw away some old Christmas cards (how long are you supposed to keep those anyways?) and a few stuffed animals that had seen better days.  I am getting better at throwing things away and finding better ways of preserving the things I love.

A little bit each day, week, year and one day the house will be presentable.

one quilted, one tied

Loops and turns...

the repetitive motion of the knots calms the migraine and brings peace to the mind.  I like both types of quilting.

more quilting

My second quilt this year is more practice for the leaves pattern. 

Here's a close up of the leaves.  They almost look like hearts, but have the vein in the middle.

Here's another quilt for my friend Nancy's grandson.  She has 4 grandkids and this one has a map as the background.

Here you can see the waves pattern I quilted in the flag stripe.  Just trying something different in my quilting this year :)

First quilt of the new year

This first quilt is a special one for a special friend.  My BFF Nancy has 4 grandkids and this one was picked out by one of her grandkids a couple weeks ago.  It is all quilted up and ready for Nancy to pick up and bind.  I'm practicing my Free Motion Quilting by doing the pattern this month which is leaves.  They don't really look different from hearts except for the little veins in the center, so you can look at them either way.  I'm glad for the FMQ challenge to get my creative juices flowing again and force me out of the rut I've fallen into.  I'm looking forward to the next quilt already :)

Quilting 2011

I want to delete the sidebar of quilting from 2011, but still keep a record of the work I did, so I'm going to post here instead.  Wow, 300 quilts this past year, mostly encouraged by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  I'm hoping for more quilting this year, but no more tragedies.  Here's my summary of Quilting 2011

• 299-300 Dec 19
• 298 Dec 11
• 295-297 Dec 10
• 293-294 Nov 22-25
• 288-292 Nov 19-20
• 287 Nov 8
• 286 Nov 5
• 285 Nov 4
• 281-284 week of Oct 15
• 280 Sept 24
• 278-279 Sept 20
• 277 Sept 19
• 276 Sept 18
• 275 Sept 11 Hope's quilt
• 274 Sept 10 Joyce's daughter cat quilt
• 273 Sept 7 baby quilt for Asst. Coach
• 272 August 31 Quilt for DJ
• 271 August 24
• 270 August 23
• 269 August 22
• 267-268 August 21 quilts for Kris
• 225-226 July 27
• 223-224 July 22
• 220-222 July 19
• 219 July 14
• 218 July 12
• 217 July 11
• 214-216 July 10
• 215 July 8
• 214 July 7
• 210-213 July 6
• 206-209 July 4
• 202-205 July 3
• 192-201 July 2
• 189-191 July 1
• 184-188 June 30
• 182-183 June 29
• 180-181 June 27
• 175-179 June 26
• 173-174 two more June 25
• 160-172 quilts June 21-24
• 147-159 more quilting June 15-20
• 144-146 quilts for Japan June 11
• 135-143 quilts for Japan June 10-11
• 132-134 quilts for Japan June 9
• 122-131 quilts for Japan June 4-8
• 120-121 quilts for Japan June 3
• 114-119 quilts for Japan June 1-2
• 108-113quilts for Japan May 30
• 107 quilt for Vanden student May 25
• 105-106 quilts for Japan May11
• 99-104 quilts for Japan April 30-May 1
• 89-98 quilts for Japan April 29
• 79-88 quilts for Japan April 28
• 69-78 quilts for Japan april 27
• 63-68 quilts for Japan April 26
• 60-62 quilts for Japan April 25
• 54-59 quilts for Japan April 22-23
• 50-53 quilts for Japan April 22
• 47-49 quilts for Japan April 7
• 43-46 quilts for Japan April 3
• 38-42 quilts for Japan April 2
• 34-37 quilts for Japan April 1-2
• 30-33. quilts for Japan March 19
• 29. children strippie March 18
• 26-28 2 strippie, one small March 3
• 21-25 3 small, 2 strippie Feb 24
• 20 flower strippie Feb 20
• 18-19 frogs and squares Feb 18
• 17 cat monkey Feb 17
• 15-16 patriotic soldier quilts Feb 15
• 13-14 Buttonberry, purple flowers Feb 8
• 4-12. Quilt day quilts Feb 5
• 3. Pinwheel Jan 22, 2011
• 2. Sudoku Jan 22, 2011
• 1. Raquel's quilt Jan 2, 2011

Vertical quilt tying frame

Here is the diagram for cutting the pieces for the vertical quilt tying frame.  I came up with this idea because at our next quilt day, we are going to be tying a whole bunch of quilts and will have a lot of people in a small space.  We need to be able to get the quilts to be flat, but won't have a lot of horizontal space to lay them out.  Necessity is the mother of invention, so the vertical quilt frame was born.  99.9% of our quilts are 44x60 inches so this frame is perfect for these quilts we will be tying.

You will need 3-10 foot pieces of PVC pipe.  I used 1 inch because it was cheaper than the 2 inch and sturdier than the 3/4 inch.  Good enough reasons?  You need 2 elbow joints and 4 T joints.  The whole thing cost me under $15 to make and can also be used to hang up a sign later on if need be :)



Here is the back of the quilt, where you can see that I pinned the quilt, batting and backing to the hanging sleeve.  The sleeve is just a 6 1/2 inch tube of fabric sewn together.  I used 6 pins.  I probably should have ironed the backing fabric, but who wants to work that hard?



Tip your head sideways and you can see that with a tall stool, you can sit as you sew the quilt top, backing and batting together.  I used embroider floss doubled and started at the top, sewing long running stitches from top to bottom and then after I finished sewing the whole thing, unpinned it and sat on the couch to tie the quilt.  Much more comfortable to tie while sitting down!

Here is the top of the frame with the header fabric tube slipped over the top PVC pipe

Here is the bottom of the frame, where you can see the 6 inch piece that holds up the frame off the ground.  The whole frame is just over 5 1/2 feet tall.  Perfect for me to reach, I'm 5'11", so you might need a stool or step ladder if you are a little vertically challenged :)

Again, tip your head to see the frame without a quilt on it, lightweight, portable, easy to assemble and disassemble and take with you or store in the closet.

The finished quilt with ties.  I should probably trim up these ties, they are a bit long, but the vertical quilt frame makes tying a quilt sooooooo easy!  Hope you like it and give it a try.  Let me know if it works for you!