Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day

I didn't intend to show my latest two finishes today, although it is fitting, I just haven't had time on the computer and my hands have been hurting a lot more lately. These are the April and May Quilts of Valor. The Quilts of Valor are made for service members who have been wounded, and unfortunately some of them do not make it through their injuries. We also present the families with a quilt if there has been a service member who was killed from our area. In early May we presented two families with quilts; their Airmen were stationed nearby, but they were in Afghanistan and were shot by an Afghani pilot during a staff meeting. So tragic, so sad. April's quilt was done for awhile and just needed quilting, I have been experimenting with fancier threads and was waiting for a nice variegated red white and blue to quilt it with and then it seemed to take me forever to bind it (as usual) I was at my wit's end with May's quilt, I knew I was already "late" so what to do . . . quickly? During May Guild meeting various members shared quick and easy ideas (with directions) and Isabell Meekens shared her Quick Lasagna quilt made with a Jelly Roll. I knew I had red, white and cream jelly rolls in my stash so I was able to make the quilt in an evening - really! It seemed a bit plain to me, so back to my stash and I added the stars, I added them during the quilting process and also put a batting star 1" smaller underneath and quilted them in place. I used my stash for every bit of these two quilts as well as the two totes in the previous post - sooooo . . 15 2/3 yds out of my stash! Happy Quilting, and God Bless our Service members (and their families) !

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

One Christmas Item



Been so busy, doing alot, but no finishing alot until . . . Quilt symposium! Our guild hosted the symposium and I took two classes. One was a wool stitching class, not finished, but more fun than I thought it would be. The other class was on how to make a "Chelsea Tote" by Lazy Girl Designs. It's a purse/tote/backpack and soooo cute! It was very easy, and I was able to finish the bag during the 3 hour class. My DD picked out the fabrics (from my stash :D) so I gave her the one I made in class. I had quilted a yard of the "cover" fabric so I had enough to make another which will go to one of the 11 people this year who have been earmarked as getting a purse/tote for Christmas!! The second one turned out nicer as I had more time. I hate throwing anything away, so from the scraps I made the sunglass cases and snap bags. I would have made the sunglass cases wider if I hadn't been using scraps. More to follow soon. Happy Quilting !!


Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day !!

Just a note while the DH and and DD go out to grab some more ingredients for a lovely meal they have planned for me tonight! I have been so busy that I don't just wish for more hours in the day or more days in the week, I want a mini me to start helping out around here! We redid our kitchen this winter and we kept the old cabinets and counter tops. My hubby is putting some in the garage and shed for organizing and I am getting some for my quilting studio! I have been feeling very cluttered and overwhelmed by all of the stuff I have accumulated and while very pleased with all that I have been able to complete since joining OPAM I have also started to realize that I will not be able to "do it all" and that I need to go through it and make some tough decisions . . . A task that previously would depress me, so I would do a bit and then feeling so overwhelmed - do NOTHING for a very long time. Not very productive. Well, I am done waiting for helpful little quilting elves, gnomes or fairies to work their magic while I sleep, I have rolled up my sleeves and have gone to work. The pictures are of some before and some during - which is why it looks like my room was ransacked! Hopefully you will see the "after" photos soon! Not today though - I am getting a pedicure from my DD and I am going to watch a couple of very girly, Jane Austenish movies and eat a yummy meal later! Happy Quilting! Poor Hermione! She walked into the studio, saw the mess everywhere (including her kitty tower) and fell over in a dead faint! Drama kitty! : )