finished up the last roll of backing

 These are the last three quilts for that last big roll of backing fabric I loaded on Friday.  I used up a whole bucked of flannel that was in the shed.  My friend Judy gave it to me a couple of years ago.  I pulled in another bucked of flannel and sorted it into three piles.  I sewed and sewed and made one more long backing of the purples tonight and loaded that onto the machine after quilting up my friend's memory quilt.  I'm going to get it done in time for her birthday on the 10th of this month.  I was asked today by a friend to make 10 quilts for a cancer treatment center in Utah where her mom gets treatment.  She said they have some very old and well used quilts that have seen better days.  I guess they let the patients sit under them when they are getting treatments.  I would love to be able to make enough to give each patient to take home with them, but that's probably not going to happen.  I will be happy to make the 10 soon enough to give to her so she can send them along so her mom can deliver them.  I'm always happy to be able to fill a need when it arises.  Lord knows I have enough fabric to make 1,000 more quilts :)  For those of you who are wondering what to do with all of your extra quilts, there are so many places who are in need.  Just let people know you make quilts :)

Today's three and screen door fix

 Here's today's three and just thought I'd let you all know, in case you were wondering, that we were able to fix the gaps in the screen door with some weather stripping.  My daughter and I got it at Lowe's and attached it to the door facing.  Now we can leave the front door open and let the cool breeze blow through the house in the morning and evening to cool things off.  The door should pay for itself in a couple of months by saving on air conditioning.  My son attached a rubber door thingy at the bottom too.  It is nice to have a son who is handy with tools.  He learned a lot in his robotics class.  They taught him welding and electronics and computer programming.  Lots of practical things.  Most of the high school classes aren't really practical, but that one is really a useful class.

Motivation for quilting

My daughter asked me yesterday if I quilt because I love to quilt or because I love to give the quilts away.  This picture here is why I quilt.  I got this note from my friend who delivered the quilts.

 

Marilyn , we brought the dresses and quilts to Rwanda for Justice. The center , founded by 2 Vacaville police officers , treats and helps girls who are victims of sexual assault . Many time they arrive in horrific shape with only the clothes on their backs.
The quilts offer warmth and something tangible to hang on to.
I will try to get some pictures got you on Monday , while being sensitive to the victims .
Thank you seems so inadequate .

 

The quilts I make are just pieces of fabric, with some batting and thread, but they are so much more than that.  They are love in a form children can hold onto.  Each quilt I make gets a heart quilted into it somewhere.  That's my signature to show these kids they are loved.

 

 

Solano County Fair

My daughter and I went to the fair yesterday and I got to pet an alligator.  The lady said it was 25 years old.  Just a tiny thing.  I think I could have one as a pet!

My daughter won first place for her Cat in the Hat quilt.  It really bugs me how they display quilts at the fair.  There were two kid quilts they bunched up like this where you couldn't see the quilt.  They had the adult quilts all hung up or laid out nicely, but the kid ones were displayed like this.  So weird.  The final time I entered an afghan in the fair, they used it as a table cloth and put food all over it.  Nope, not going to do that again.  They wonder why they don't get a lot of entries.  People put a lot of time into their work and then they don't take the time to display the work well,  It is frustrating for the person making the items.  This is my daughter's last year as a youth and my boys show no interest in entering anything so it will probably be our last year going to the fair.  We went, spent 30 minutes walking around and were done.  We don't do the food or the rides or games.  We walked through the vendor area and didn't sign up for any free stuff (or the endless phone calls you get) and looked at the crafty displays and animals all in under 30 minutes.  My daughter said she felt bad that we were done so quickly, but it is a very small fair.  $10 for parking and $10 for fair entry (she got a free ticket for entering things) and they wonder why nobody wants to come to the fair.  When she was little, we did 4H and would spend the whole week at the fair showing guinea pigs and rabbits and watching the other animals, but those days are long gone.  I did see some of the other kids from 4 H there and they are all grown up now too.  Time flies.

You'll never guess what I found today

 Yep, another box of quilt tops. 28 more! I guess I have to quilt more than 3 a day to get them all done before I go back in 2 weeks.  Or, just keep going and save these for my next vacation week.  They won't go anywhere.

my 1,000th quilt

 Here I am, quilting my 1,000th quilt since getting my quilting machine in July, 2008.  I can't believe I have been enjoying quilting for that long, or that I have stuck with this crazy hobby and accomplished so much.  Quilting has pretty much taken over my house, my every waking hour, my creativity and thought process and when I'm not actually quilting, I'm thinking about my next quilt, or my past quilt.  I'm collecting fabric or trying to organize fabric or stepping over fabric and haven't been happier.  It has helped me get through a lot of painful days with migraines and helped me offer comfort to many hurting friends and introduced me to many new friends. Thanks again mom and dad for giving me my great quilting machine and while I sometimes dream of getting a robotic long arm quilting machine that could work with the push of a button, I am happy with my current set up and the many accomplishments we have completed together.  I only wish we could work faster and that I didn't get tired so we could work longer and make more quilts because there are so many more kids in need of quilts.  I guess I just need to recruit more teenagers to help out.  I need more Rebeccas to come over more often not only to get them addicted to sewing and quilting but to get them to help me dig out of the piles of fabric that are everywhere.  My student teacher and her boyfriend came over today and the first thing they said was WOW, that's a lot of fabric.  They didn't even see all the fabric in the garage and shed! :)  But, it will get used up soon enough.  I just used up a whole bucket of fabric for the backings of these small quilts in less than a week.  When I'm on a roll, the fabric goes fast.  I just wish summer wasn't coming to an end so quickly.  The Lotto is over 300 million and who knows, I may just win if I buy a ticket and then my dreams of a robotic quilting machine and days of endless quilting just may come true :)  But I guess I have to buy a ticket first!  If I stop quilting long enough to get to the gas station!

Here she is, the 1,000th quilt.  I had to do something different.  This little beauty has been waiting a long time for a turn to be quilted.  Aged to perfection I say!

New security door

Today we had a new security door installed by Lowe's.  We wanted to get it so we could leave the front door open and let the cool breeze blow through the house.  We live in a wind tunnel and the $400 price tag should have paid off in saved air conditioning

 

They didn't tell us that there would be a 1/2 inch gap all the way around the door where bugs could get in.  The guy who installed it said it was for security, not for keeping bugs out.  It doesn't really make sense to me that there has to be a gap all the way around the door, but at least now, when I answer the door, the dogs can't run out and the bad guys can't get in.  But see the light there on the outside wall?  Yeah, the security door hits it when it is opened.  The solution?  I put a pot right under it so when the door opens, it hits the pot, not the light.  That's what the door installer suggested.  The door doesn't open all the way, but at least my light and my door won't get broken when the kids slam the door open bringing groceries in.

 

And, maybe I can figure out a way to add weather stripping around the door to plug up the gap so I can leave the door open and let the cool breeze blow in. 

 

 

I sewed and sewed and sewed flannel together this morning while waiting for the door guy to show up, the appointment was sometime between 10 and noon and he showed up at 11:45.  I sewed from 10 to 11:30.  I loaded all of this backing onto the quilting machine.  I love having a ton of backing fabric on the machine so I can just load quilt top after quilt top and it only takes about 10-15 minutes to quilt the little guys.  I can get a lot of quilts done in a day if the backing fabric is already loaded on.  I wonder how many quilts I can get done from this round of backing fabric.  The problem with this much backing fabric is when I have another big quilt to do, I have to either take off the backing, or work on it until it is all done.  I have several other quilts in the works, the memory quilt, the wedding quilt and now a comfort quilt for the neighbor of a friend.  She lost her son in a motorcycle accident two months ago and is very depressed.  My friend is hoping a quilt will help her.  I'm hoping to start that tomorrow after I finish the wedding quilt top.  I worked on that a lot today too.  I'm 2/3 of the way done with the top.

 

Mr. Migraine showed up this morning and had been keeping me company most of the day.  It seems like I get more quilting done when he is around.  Weird right?

 

 

Something to show for the day

I got the memory quilt top done, a wedding quilt for a friend's son started and this little quilt.  My friend Rebecca came over and quilted 4 more.  I have 47 more so still ahead of goal, but running out of time before school starts.  Today was the first day back for administrators and I found out my schedule for the year has changed again.  I wonder how many more times it will change before the actual school year starts.

Another memory quilt

I actually enjoyed putting this quilt top together today.  I used the book Too Cool T Shirt Quilts and was able to organize the shirts and do the partial seams.  I am happy with the way it turned out.  I'm actually looking forward to the next tshirt quilt I have to make. I have a TON more clothes and I'm thinking of using the rest as a backing.  I'm just going to cut them as big as I can and piece them together for the back.  I will see if I can make it work.

July's Walking totals

Jan 75.78
Feb 54.13
Mar 82.85
Apr 40.9
May 39.6
June 27.36
July 74.67

Total 395.29

And my weight is finally going in the right direction...down!  Getting off the Propranolol has helped with the appetite, I'm not starving all the time and can control my eating again so I've lost 6 pounds this month :)  Happy dancing here.  Today I will go over 400 miles for the year.  Wow, that's a trip to Los Angeles.  To think, if I started January 1st, I could have walked to Disneyland by now :)