North Hills Quilter

and one more

2012-01-30T06:08:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-29T17:17:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-29T08:17:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-28T08:47:00.001-08:00

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

2012-01-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-23T05:56:00.001-08:00

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

2012-01-22T11:08:00.001-08:00

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

2012-01-19T17:40:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-13T20:29:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-11T22:00:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-11T20:27:00.001-08:00

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

making use of free time

2012-01-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-11T07:59:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-10T06:43:00.000-08:00

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?...

2012-01-08T11:14:00.001-08:00

Yes, we can!

loving this quick strippie quilt

2012-01-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

more quilt day pictures

2012-01-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

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?

2012-01-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-01T16:40:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-01T16:20:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-01T14:13:00.000-08:00

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!

Goal reached, but no proof!

2011-12-31T09:53:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-12-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

"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?

2011-12-30T13:30:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-14T21:04:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-11T18:24:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-11T11:30:00.000-08:00

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

tying a quilt?

2011-12-11T10:41:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-10T15:42:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-10T13:59:00.001-08:00

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

2011-12-09T06:26:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-29T07:16:00.001-08:00

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

End of year goals

2011-11-26T06:33:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-11-23T19:53:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-20T14:09:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-19T10:54:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-19T09:10:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-19T06:45:00.001-08:00

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!

2011-11-18T17:35:00.001-08:00

check out this giveaway

you have to see these pictures

2011-11-14T06:06:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-12T08:07:00.001-08:00

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

2011-11-08T07:41:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-06T08:18:00.000-08:00

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

is my child the only weird one in the world?

2011-11-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

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

Broken quilting machines

2011-11-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-11-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-11-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-31T07:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-10-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-24T13:02:00.000-07:00

...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

2011-09-21T07:09:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-20T17:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-19T05:58:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-09-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-18T08:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-14T06:06:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-08T07:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-03T10:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

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!

A Mother's Joy

2011-09-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

My 7 year old came home from school today and found the drunkard's path blocks I had sewn laying on the floor. I had them arranged with the 7 inch and 3 1/2 inch blocks together since they fit so nicely and he asks if he can arrange them. Of course! Please ignore the laundry that needs folding and the papers that need grading. Those things can wait! There is a quilt to be made :)

This might even be better than a video game. You actually get something in the end. Who knows, he might just end up a famous quilt designer one day. Or, he might get tired of it and go back to playing video games, but I took a picture to show his future wife and to make me smile.

I thought I was doing really good today. I didn't take any pain medication all day and I didn't take a nap and I went to the store and bought envelopes for my sub to use for class tomorrow (science fair--wee) and then I went to my daughter's tennis match. I thought it started at 3 and they hadn't started at 3:45 and I was about to die. I can't bend over very far just yet because I can still feel the stitches in there and things are poking me and my son comes out after school (the older one) and says he lost a bracelet on the football field, so I walked out to help him look (cuz there are big scary football players out there practicing, and we couldn't find it, and by this time I'm about to die!

I am so not ready to go back to work! Good thing I have at least 4 more days off. Another full week if I need it. Whatever is poking me from the inside needs to go away so I can actually walk without feeling like I am dying would be nice :) But, the kids miss me and I miss them too. All in good time.

600 had to be special

2011-08-31T16:21:00.001-07:00

I am supposed to still be resting and recovering from surgery, but I never did learn what that is supposed to look like so since I needed a quilt for someone in the hospital and I have all of this time on my hands, I figured quilting really isn't that strenuous :) I would be ok putting this top together and quilting it. This makes quilt number 600 that I have quilted. It was inspired by Bonnie Hunter's Chunky Churn Dash quilt and used up some of the scraps we cut at the Teen Quilt day back in early August.

The setting blocks are called Hourglass blocks and my friend Carla helped figure out how big to make them. The Churndash blocks are 12 1/2 unfinished so that means the Hourglass blocks are supposed to be the same size. Well, according to Bonnie Hunter, you add 1 1/4 inch to the size you want, which would make the square to start with 13 3/4. Well, either I can't measure or somebody's math was off because those blocks came out about an inch too big. I cut 4 of them and then messed up and cut 8 blocks at 12 3/4 inches and those came out just right. Someone doesn't know what they are doing. Most likely me :)

Do you see the mistake in this quilt? How did that happen? Ugh. After it has been quilted, I am NOT going to take it out, and I doubt the person who receives it will notice, but double ugh :)

This one is going to my across the street neighbor's band bass player, DJ. He suffered a massive heart attack and I think could use a little hug to help the healing. I stopped in at my son's school today and asked that they make a whole bunch of get well cards too because the band, the Hipwaders, plays at the school every year and most of the kids know the band members. Both of the neighbor boys attended the elementary school.

I'm in trouble now!

2011-08-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Look what just came in the mail! the 3 1/2 inch drunkard's path die. Now, I have both sizes which means endless possibilities for designs. I have the whole week off to recuperate from the appendectomy and between sleeping and resting, I may find a bit of time for quilting. Woo, Hoo!

more quilts in Japan pictures

2011-08-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this blog and you will see more quilts in Japan. It is so nice to see the quilts in the hands of people after such a long journey.

My shoulder and side pain are getting a little better today, but my stomach is hurting more. Not sure they actually took care of the problem :( I sure hope they did and didn't just take a guess and start removing body parts that weren't really the cause of the trouble.

I had a student's family bring over brownies last night. That was so nice!

Enough with the excitement already!

2011-08-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last night, across the way, about 1/4 mile from my house, there was a really big fire. It burned over 500 acres. I guess my court was the best place in the whole city to watch the fire. The next door neighor was already having a party so he had about 15 people out front in lawn chairs watching and talking and parked along the court. Then, people came from everywhere and started parking in the middle of the road, blocking the entire street. I can barely walk after my surgery and I started to get nervous. The fire was moving pretty quickly on the hill and there is a 2 lane road between where the fire was and another big grassy area and my house. I figured if it jumped that road, it would move pretty quickly across the grass area to my house and I wouldn't have a lot of time to get out. At the rate I'm moving, I wanted to have as much time as possible to get out so I called the police to clear the court. I understand wanting to watch the fire because it was really cool, but come on people, don't block the road and block people into their houses!

It was all for nothing. There were lots of fire departments out on scene, most likely because there is a prison just to the right of these pictures and you know they are going to do everything to protect the prisoners so they don't have to move them :)

The fire reached the road, but didn't jump it. It is always super windy around here, but last night it was pretty calm. That helped get the fire under control.

I'm ready for things to calm down A LOT!

Fun Friday-not

2011-08-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night, after enjoying a steak burrito from Rubio's at the Open House, my stomach started to really hurt. I felt better on Thursday for most of the day and then Thursday night, it started hurting again. It just kept getting worse and worse through out the night and woke me up several times. By Friday morning I knew something was wrong. I went to Kaiser for an appointment at 9 and the doctor said she didn't think it was anything, but sent me for lots of blood work just to make me happy. When the blood work came back she said she thought I had the beginning of a bacterial infection and was going to send me home with antibiotics. I told her it had gotten worse in the hour and a half I had been waiting for the results. She agreed to let me have a CT scan of my belly. More waiting, drinking nasty iodine die and finally the test, which I had an allergic reaction to. Never had that happen before. They rushed me to the ER (was trying to avoid that costly trip) and when they got the results of the CT scan found out I had appendicitis! Yipee! So, around 8pm last night, I had my appendix removed. I asked, but apparently, they won't let you take body parts home anymore, but I did get lots of pictures of my guts! My doctor looked at me like I was strange, but was really nice because I am a teacher and wanted to show my students.

I will be out for at least a week The worst part was after I got home and the pain in my shoulder and side from the CO2 gas they pumped me with so they could see my insides. That is the worse pain I have ever had in my life and I've had 4 kids and severe migraines!

What an exciting way to spend a Friday. I don't think I will do it again.

Last night and this morning

2011-08-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

With the change in my schedule this year, I have an extra hour in the mornings after getting my husband and two older kids off to school. Lunches are made, dishes are done and a load of laundry is thrown in and washed. What to do with the extra time? Well, what would you do? Now that the shoulder is feeling better, I am going to try and get a quilt done in the mornings. Don't worry, if the shoulder starts acting up, I will give it a rest! Promise :)

But I was able to get a quilt done last night and then another one this morning. I'm almost to 600 quilts quilted by me. Wow, in only just over 3 years. That's a lot of quilts. And, I'm almost to 300 quilts for this year alone! Double wow! No wonder my shoulder has been hurting me. About 200 of those have been since March. Sometimes I don't understand the word moderation.

Ok, off to help the little guy with his homework. He likes having the extra time in the mornings as well. Yesterday he says, Mom, you are really nice. I ask, why? He says, because you let me choose when to do my homework. Oh, is that all it takes? As long as it gets done, I don't care if he does it before or after school :) One less battle to fight!

Coming back

2011-08-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

I'm back in business! I woke up this morning and could barely tell my shoulder was hurting! Yay! So, I quilted this one before having to head in to work today. This year's schedule has me going into work later so I can drop off my youngest at school which means I have about an hour every morning after getting everyone else off in the morning and getting all of the morning chores done. One whole hour to myself to clean, or sew. Hmmm. What would you choose?

Busy today

2011-08-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

I got both of these quilts done today. Both are gifts for my friend at work and her partner who lost their grandmothers within a couple days of each other. They are to take to their mothers who could use a hug. I will let them pick which one they want to give to their moms. While it felt so good to quilt again, I can tell my shoulder will be killing me tomorrow. I do believe it was worth it though. I know my friend is going to appreciate these hugs. I need to make some more of the pinwheel blocks. I just love these guys! I forgot how much I love these because I was so distracted by the drunkard's path blocks. Oh, I get so easily distracted. Too bad I have to work :)

Next!

2011-08-21T08:29:00.001-07:00

Obsessed, I think that is the only way to describe what has happened to me. And these pink/green blocks. After 3 quilts, you would think I should be out of them by now? Well, think again! There are enough blocks for one more small quilt. Loaves and fishes I tell you!

I'm hoping to actually quilt this one today (the first quilting I've done in almost a month and yes, my shoulder still hurts!) for a friend at work's mom. My friend's grandmother passed away this week and her mom was the caregiver and had a really hard time. I thought this quilt might be a nice hug for her. I need to get another one done because her partner's grandmother passed away just a couple of days earlier and her mother was also the caregiver. They are really having a hard time. The funerals for both grandmothers are on the same day in two different states. I guess I had better get busy.

I didn't show you this one

2011-08-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

It is at Carla's now, getting quilted. I can't believe I forgot to post it when I finished it last weekend. I got the fabric in black and white for my son who is now thinking of different patterns to make for his quilt. I think I may have created a monster :)

I need an intervention

2011-08-20T20:07:00.000-07:00

I'm addicted to the Drunkard's Path! So many possibilities and each quilt looks so different! This one is sewn together and I'm working on another one. It should be done tonight, if I get off this computer :) I even ordered the smaller version of this die today. I can't wait for it to get here so I can have more choices when making these quilts.

now I remember

2011-08-18T20:09:00.001-07:00

why I love teaching so much! I laugh every day.

I started back again on Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday didn't count. They were filled with boring, annoying, bloodpressure raising meetings. Filled with people who made me wonder why I got into this profession in the first place. Ugh.

Then, Wednesday came along, and I got to meet the students I would be spending the next 9 months with. And I laughed. A lot!

and came home to collapse on the couch...and get up and do it all over again today. It's a good thing this week is only 3 days long. Someone knew what they were doing when they put the first day of school on a Wednesday. Three days is a perfect amount for the first week of school.

I'm exhausted. Maybe from all of the talking. Or, maybe from all of the laughing. I tell you, I crack myself up! And these kids, some of them are really funny people too! I think this is going to be a really good year.

Weekend, I'm looking forward to you and getting to sew...I miss my fabric!

after 5 hours

2011-08-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

my son is working on this one with the leftovers from the first pink/green quilt. We didn't have enough of one of the pink so had to switch out the pink with tiny dots for a different one and it took about 5 hours of laying it out and trying different things to get it finished. Now, I'm finally sewing it together. Not sure how long it will take to get it completed because I have to go back to work tomorrow. This will be another one for my neighbor who has cancer. My son wants one like this in white and black. He worked so hard on it and loves the pattern. I think I can do the sewing if he can do the laying out again :)

that one's done

2011-08-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

and off to Carla's for quilting...now onto the next one...and the next :)

you would think

2011-08-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

That with twice as many blocks sewn, I would have enough for one quilt, but NO, twice as many, but still not enough. You see, half of them have the green centers. I still have a bunch more to sew because some of the pink ones aren't the ones I need. That's ok, because sewing has become therapy these past couple of days. School for me starts Monday and that means added stress. I am glad to have a project to work on between running the kids around, working on my classroom and trying to get things ready around here. I'm loving how this one is turning out already. The other one will have green curves and pink paths. I'm dying to see what that one will look like. Motivation to get this one sewn together so I have some place to lay it out. Wish I had a huge design wall :)

my next project

2011-08-11T10:38:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, the neighbor lady stopped me and told me she has cancer. I taught her daughter last year and she never said anything. The lady is having a fundraiser dinner to help raise money for the medical expenses for a stem cell transplant and the houseing expenses for her stay near the hospital for a month. Carla and I are going to make a quilt to give to the efforts.

I decided on this pattern, again using the drunkard's path die. I just love this Accuquilt Die. It is so easy to cut out and so quick to go together and looks like you spent a lot of time and effort on it. Of course, I can't count so I ended up cutting out enough pieces for TWO quilts. Oh, well, I'm sure the second quilt will not go to waste :) It will be in green and pinks thanks to my friend Judy, who has been bringing me truckloads of fabric this summer. She is coming again today with another load. I helped her celebrate her 71st birthday by enjoying a German Chocolate cake in her honor!