Monday, October 31, 2011

Design Wall - Halloween Edition

Okay - I know this is last minute... but sometimes that is how one has to operate ;-)

A few weeks ago when I was in the Springs I purchased a Jelly roll and some pumpkin fabrics. Yesterday - as I was comtemplating fixing fences or not, I decided it was probably time to put that quilt together....

When I opened the jelly roll thought I was surprised that there was 2 strips of each kind of fabric, but I think the body of the quilt turned out okay.   Now I need borders....

the pumpkins in the corner are what the border will be....

just a close up of some of the strips

I thought I would time myself and see if I went faster than the last one I made, but I got sidetracked.

Friday night there was an accident ( yes, the driver is fine) but he rolled a big semi into our north fence, and happened to hit the corner post to the north/south fence, and well as taking out about 25 feet of the east/west fence.... all of that means....

We can't keep any thing in that pasture until CDOT fixes there stuff, and we fix ours. and we have just best unlucky this month, with the oil/natural gas companies.... and fences, and gates, and animals.....

For more cool design walls go to : http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Sunday, October 30, 2011

A little late - but never too late

JoAnne over at http://nappinnanaquilts.blogspot.com/   Sent me a Quilt of Valor top a little while back ( Okay maybe year ago) and she emailed to see if it had been finished..... I so brazenly said - I bet it is.... and you know what? It wasn't.... and I hung my head in shame...

But at the same time I decided she was phychic... because I had sent it to a volunteer long arm quilter, and on tuesday she passed it back to me, and a dear lady took it to bind.... and now it is in the washer and will be ready to go to is destination....

So - here it is!!  And JoAnne - will you still like me?



Thank you for your patience!!! I am trying as fast as I can.....

Oh and for a stash report - I made a million gazillion miles of binding, and I can't take any of it out of my stash, because it is all from the trimmings of the backings, and that was already counted when I sent the quilts/or quilted the quilts.... bummer

Fabric In YTD:    220.795 yards
Fabric Out YTD:   394.422 yards

Total Used so far this year:  -173.627....   and counting  LOL

For more stash reports go to
http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The winner

is Melanie - over at  http://myfifteenminutebreak.blogspot.com/

What a cool idea! I, too, had grand plans of scrapbooking when I was pregnant with my first child. After all, I was quitting my job to be a SAHM, so I was going to have plenty of free time, or so I thought. Little did I know I'd never have a free moment again!!




I love the lot's of bots set. My oldest is fascinated by robots lately.

Here was her comment. We drew her randomly , but what strikes me as funny, is she had planned on having lots of free time... *cough cough *sputter*.... and her kiddo loves robots

we just came home from a First Lego League Robot tournament that two of my kids participated in.... eerie  LOL

Thanks all for entering!

Oh - and if you are interested in purchasing this software go to
http://www.mymemories.com/

at checkout use the code STMMMS80310   THANKS!!

Power outages

Tuesday evening, the beautiful rain began falling, and Tuesday about chore time, it changed to snow, and when we woke up Wednesday morning.... there was SNOW .... everywhere.   And our poor trees were drooping, and the poor garden was flattened... and of course I have no pictures.

But! I did decide that I should go shake the snow off of the trees, and I did, from underneath the trees, and then I wore the majority of the snow.... but the trees are safe.

About 9 in the morning we lost power, and heat, and running water, and lights..... and I just assumed that the power would be on rather quickly. And I. was. wrong.

And do you know what country people with no lights what-so-ever do to entertain themselves?? Beware - I did take a few photos...


We told stories of Donkey and Shrek in the dark.... but the flash worked well!

And we pulled out the guitar and sang songs that we didn't quite know. I even have a video, however it is pitch black.

and we put longjohns on under our clothes and curled up on couches trying to stay warm.

Did I mention that it got to 13 degrees outside?
Thursday morning it was 45 in the house.
Thank goodness I am a quilter.... we used them ALL

And just about the time I was ready to give up and drive to town to sit at a starbucks, or the library, or even in the car to stay warm....

The power came back on!
Ta da

Don't forget - today is the last day to enter in the

I'll be back.....

Friday, October 28, 2011

Another Jelly Roll QOV

I think I might be getting to the end of the Jelly Roll tops we made.... maybe.... don't get too excited okay? Cuz there really might be more.....

This one was made by Janet and quilted by me - I love these - with the borders and the coordinated color schemes.....

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

On a roll

My quilting machine is fired up, and its owner has seen some quilting time - YAY!!

This quilt was made by Miracles in Denver. Jessica teaches quilting there -

And here it is all quilted!



It is also being bound and getting ready to go to a soldier.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Quilts from Judy

Judy - a prolific quilter- just south of me has been at it again.... and boy how I love it when she is at *it*!!!

Look at these lovelies!!

This one is from the pattern
I love the colors Judy did it in! Striking!!


And check this one out - I can see it being made with scraps as well as jelly rolls.... I love them!!

Thanks Judy!!

Don't forget to enter in the Giveaway over here:

Monday, October 24, 2011

Design Wall Monday

Ha ha - I got to sew - I have no clue how - but I did!!! We had a Quilt of Valor sew time Sunday - and for three hours I concentrated.... yay!!


So here is the updated progress on my JL QAL
I am making a little album about it too - thought it would make a cute journal
You can check out your chance to win it at:


and this is my progress from what I sewed at our QOV day...all of these little flags shall be squared up to 9 inches... and this will be a baby quilt.... a mini QOV if you will... and yes, there is a story!

L was a patient on the PTSD floor and he recieved his QOV - right about a year ago. Well a couple of weeks ago, he let me know that he will be a father soon, and was thinking of passing his QOV onto his baby... We talked that maybe, - since I knew how to quilt... and maybe, since I knew him, and had kept track of him.... maybe , just maybe, I could hook him up with a baby quilt that was similar to his QOV......

I'm thinking I might possibly be able to do this!

For other design walls - head over to http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Saturday, October 22, 2011

My Memories Giveaway

Oh My Gosh! I am in Love!!! Way back in the olden days when I had my first child, I had dreams of making creative photo albums, and keeping up with his life in pictures, and being super mom. And then I went back to work, and then I started my own business, and then I had two more kids, and then..... well thank goodness for digital cameras.

I have all sorts of great pictures on my computer, and had planned to start making photo albums for the boys... and then I decided I would do it when they left home, and then I figured that even then, it might not happen..... but that;s getting ahead of myself - none of them are leaving me until they are 90!!!

Anyways - this new digital Scrapbooking software was introduced to me, and I THINK. I. LOVE. IT!!!  I have already made two small photo albums of sports for the boys, and am working on one for my quilts - and it is SO COOL - its all on my computer.

So.... what is this you ask?  It is called My Memories Suite. And you have a chance to win a free copy of the software! Right Here!!

To enter this drawing for a FREE Memories Suite V 2  

1. Go To http://www.mymemories.com/   and browse.
2. Tell me your favorite digital paper pack, or layout in your comment. 
3. Make sure you leave me a way to contact you
4. This drawing will take place on Saturday October 29th at 5pm

I look forward to seeing what your favorite item is - who knows - I might NEED it.

Here are some ( a very few) of the layouts I have done.


In this one - I changed the color pictures to sepia toned ( which you can do in the suite) and then loaded them onto a faded background.  In case you didn't know - this is my oldest on homecoming night. He escorted a darling!!

 This one - I was seeing how I could rotate pictures, lighten them, darken them, etc.

As I was playing - I figured out how to use a photo to be the background for the  page. I LOVE THIS!!! Can you imagine how awesome this will be for the Quilt of Valor Journals?

I seem to make a lot of journals for our QOV's and I think this will be an awesome way to personalize them, and include even more info for our veterans.

Hope you all like this giveaway!!
Don't forget - leave a comment before Saturday the 29th!!

Friday, October 21, 2011

The Little Monster's QOV

A while back I took my Little Monster with me to a QOV sew day, and of course the turkey made me look bad, and he finished a whole top!!  He finally got the borders on it, and now it is all Quilted.   He is hoping the binding buddies will bind it for him, as he doesn't like this part at all.....

Kinda reminds me of someone else I know....

Anyways - here it is - all finished up!!




He kind of wanted swirly quilting - so that is what I did.   And below - is the back.


Now its off to be bound and out to a soldier!

Look at me..... I can't wait to show you what I am using to do this cool stuff....

Thursday, October 20, 2011

More Northwest Suburban Quilt guild Quilts of Valor

Ohh La la - check these babies out!!! 



I LOVE these!!! Thank you so much NSQG!!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul Quilt

Check out this quilt. it is made of flannel, with Hobbs 80/20 batting in it, and I tried to steal it from my customer - but she wouldn't let me...



It was quite fun to quilt.
And it made me want a flannel quilt NOW!!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Art - in action

our local Micheals does an Art in the Store type thing, and another Mom we know set up a field day for our kids. It was way cool. They had a treasure hunt throughout the store looking for the Elements of Art. 

When they finished the treasure hunt they came back to the classroom and got to create some works of art!

The only downside was - there was no fabric.... well maybe that is an upside - I didn't buy any fabric, so my stash report will still look good - right?

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Sunday Stash Report

I think my stash report is looking okay - not much done this week as compared to others - but I will take it

Fabric In this Week:    0
Fabric Out This Week:   6.5 yards ( my Jacobs ladder quilt a long - found here)  and 1/2 yard for center of string blocks.


Fabric In YTD ( Purchased by me)    56.8 yards
Fabric in YTD ( given to me)             164 yards
Total Fabric In                                   220.795 yards
Fabric Out YTD:                               394.42 yards


Total fabric BUSTED YTD:         173.62 Yards


I have been rearranging my Long Arm Room a little bit. Because I am downstairs a lot, I thought maybe I could set up a little sewing area down there and set it up with strings. That was it doesn't have to be moved when another quilt project comes up. I'll let you know how productive it am   ( plus its next to the fridge that has the Dr Pepper!!)

                     
We have been spending a bit of time North East of us, and I thought this was a cool thing to take a picture of.....


To see other stash reports go to
http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Northwest Suburban Quilt Guild

The Northwest Suburban Quilt guild of Arlington Heights IL - is an AWESOME Group!!! They made a ton of Quilts of Valor, and they had a quilt show to show them off.... but the best part is - they sent some of them this way for me to ohh and ahhh over!!

Probably you think this might be work - but I assure you - IT IS NOT!!!






Now - here's the deal - this is NOT ALL of the Quilts - but I decided that I wanted you to ohh and ahh over each one, so you will have to come back for part 2 Of these awesome quilts.   Thank you NSQG - you people ROCK!!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Pillowcases from Barbara

I think Ms Barbara W in Minnesota got on a pillowcase making tidal wave.... check these babies out!!


She also sent a top to be quilted ....but I'll show you that when it is done!

Thanks Barbara!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Janet and Ruthie's Quilt of Valor

Janet B in Indiana made a cool Quilt of Valor and sent it to Ruthie ( http://threadsofmine.blogspot.com/ ) to Quilt - and then it came to me to deliver to a Wounded Warrior - what a cool process!!

Thanks Ladies SO much for your work!!


and the back....


This backing fabric looked really familiar - and then I realized I have some of it!!!

Thanks so much ladies!!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Quilts of Valor from Pat

Pat - over at http://bellcreekquilts.blogspot.com/ has been really really busy!!! Check out these beauties!!

She had her own jelly roll race!!

the backing

Isn't this a cool string quilt?

I love this scrappy stars - the have the spinning effect!

And lastly a Star sampler!!!

These are awesome quilts!! I am so tickled!!! You all make covering our soldiers totally cool!!!