Aunt Nancys Quilt

Last year at a quilt retreat I started this Sew Many Pieces quilt. I knew I was going to make it for my Aunt Nancy so emailed her and asked her for her favorite colors. Purple was in the list ( shew - I could find purple!) It turned out to be just smaller than a twin - but perfect for her couch. I finished it in October - I was sooo ahead of the game, and then forgot to mail it till December 11th... oh well. She did get it in time for Christmas.

I quilted it with light lavender thread. This is my Cousin Julie and the Quilt.

And then of course here is a small pic of the whole thing.

Happy New Year!!

Moms Christmas Quilt

I made my Mom ( A breast Cancer survivor) a quilt using the Heaven Can wait fabric line. It turned out pretty neat. I used the Turning 20 Again Pattern by Tricia Cribbs, and Quilted it with a Hodge Podge All over. I even got it bound before I gave it to her. She took a picture at her house.

We had a very white Christmas this year, and today are getting some more White. Should be cold for a while - which is good - I have 3 rows done on my Stack n Whack - my goal is to get it done by Sunday - wish me luck

The Blizzard of 2006

Or so they are calling it! We have gotten a lot of snow - but it is hard to tell what is new and what has been blown in. The south side of our house is almost impossible to get to. But I took a few pics from the west side looking out. My car almost totally dissappeared - its nuts. The drifts are as high as 6 feet in some places - one is 10 foot tall on the south.

Getting to the barn and the horse corrals was quite a work out! I think I burned enough calories to get carmel corn tonite - and maybe a fruity tropical adult beverage ( lol).

Anyways here are a few pictures - they are taken from inside as I don't like the blowing wind !
This first one here is from the beginning - they said it would snow and this is about 30 minutes after it started.

This one is of my buried car and the garden - this drift is 6 foot high and there is no place to go around it. The trampline is to the left and it is missing too!!!

Hope everyone else is staying warm!!

Christmas is almost here!

My littlest boy thinks that if he could just open one present it would be cool. My Middle son can't wait for all the Christmas parties, and my oldest wishes there was no more homework. They really make me laugh. We finally got all the presents mailed off to one family. We got our Candy Cane families present delivered - imagine the surprise on that Moms face. She didn't know we were coming, and we arrived with two huge trash bags full of presents for her kids. She cried - It was wonderful for my boys to see how lucky we really are.

Today very early was an orthodontist appointement, then I am finishing up the last Christmas Customer Quilt. It is Beautiful, and very detailed.

Schools out on Thursday and we can't wait!!! We went to the zoo in October ( the picture) and the boys are ready to go again over break - so we are trying to plan that.

Merry Christmas!

Colbys First Quilt

My littlest guy was looking thru one of the library books we checked out - Kids Can Quilt - and found a small Blankey that he thought would be perfect for his stuffed horse Wilbur. So we went downstairs and chose some fabrics, came upstairs and started working.

He had a great time, he wrapped his horse in the blankey and promptly declared his duck needed one. Lucky for me it was time for dinner so he will have to make that one another day.

This is him in his jammies with his new quilt that he made on his lap. Wilbur is the brown thing ;-)

Another Quilt of Valor

Another Quilt of Valor has been sent out! This one was Made by Kim and Quilted by Alycia ( me) It is a Stack n Whack Quilt in cool florals. It went to Walter Reed in DC.

I liked this quilt so much that I took a class at the LQS - Quilters Stash - to learn how to make it. As of today I have all of my pinwheel blocks done, and about half of them are ready to set.

My sons ( 2 of the 3) have started Basketball . One has already started games and so it slows my sewing time down. But thats okay - I love watching them play.

Decembers first post

We had such a great Thanksgiving. We got to go to the in-laws in Northern Wyoming, and of course have fun, eat well, and find the quilt shop in the area! On Tuesday I met with the 5th grade teachers and we came up with a plan to start making Quilt of Valor. So many wonderful ladies from my Stashbuster group graciously sent us fabric.

On Thursday I made it to the local womens shelter with 5 little quilts and was able to give them to them for the kids. It was a wonderful feeling.

Then Friday I woke up with the flu - yuck!

This quilt is a breast cancer quilt that the local Quilt shop - Quilters Stash made and I quilted up for them. It was really a neat quilt and will be auctioned on ebay in January I think.

Mystery Quilt of Valor ( #5)

I joined a group called Quilt Mystery and the goal is to make quilts for the Quilt of Valor program, but it is a 6-7 clued mystery. Well they just finished Mystery #7, and I being the ever so slow one just finished Mystery #5. I really like how it turned out. My guild is also doing this quilt. There are 12 of us.

My goal is to quilt it over the Christmas Break, and get it sent out at the first of the year.

I was really proud of myself too - all of this fabric came from my stash - that has rapidly grown, and not so rapidly dwindling. Although I think I might just start considering myself a one person fabric museum of sorts. Then maybe I can justify the fabrics I keep - Ha! Do you think my husband will buy it?

Stack n Whack

This week I took a class at the Quilters Stash on making A Stack n Whack quilt. It was a blast and I have almost all of my blocks done! We made a reunion date - so hopefully this will keep my project from becoming a UFO!!

I used a zoo animal print with stripes. I can't wait to see it done.

The New 5th grade class and there Quilts of Valor

Last year I got to help the 5th graders at my sons school make 9 Quilts of Valor for wounded soldiers and we got to deliver them to Fort Carson. Although I have no 5th graders this year - I have been asked to help again, as the teachers want to do this project again. I am so excited. I love seeing the kids get excited about Quilts and about helping others.

So Monday I went to the 5th graders and took 3 finished QOV's and 2 QOV tops. I was so surprised - this group had a few more kids that had parents that quilt - this is exciting!!

The kids were great - they listened well and asked wonderful questions. They are very excited to get started - so we will start getting fabrics together and move forward.

I have photos of last years project in my webshots http://community.webshots.com/user/jakeandmecom

and if you are interested in making a quilt for a soldier - go to http://www.qovf.org

Have a great day!!

Quilting up a storm

I have been quilting up a storm - it is fun! I finished this beautiful Calla Lilly quilt - It was made by Mary L and will be in a quilt show this next month.

I just loved the colors in this quilt and the way she layed it out. I put lots of feathers on it.

Now that I have figured out how to use my camera you might be seeing lots of posts ;-)

Delivering the Quilts of Valor

School got out on the 15th of May and on the 17th 10 children from the 5th grade, 1 teacher, and 2 moms headed down to Colorado Springs Colorado to deliver 9 Quilts of Valor. We were met by the Chaplain Jeff Cartee and were escorted on to the base and into the Evans Hospital Chapel. There we had a short ceremony and dedication of the quilts. We were spoken to by the Hospital Commander. He likened himself to a quilter - as he was a surgeon and stitched a lot!!

We spoke to a soldier who had been wounded and did recieve a quilt of Valor when he arrived at Walter Reed in Texas - we asked him where his quilt was now, he said it was on his wall so he could see it every day.

They had a lunch for us and after the lunch Sgt Frank G. arrived. He was a soldier who had been wounded and had been at the hospital for rehabilitation. He had not recieved a quilt of Valor and our class was able to present him one. It was quite an honor. I got to speak personally with him as I helped him fold up the quilt. He was an amazing man of character and strength and I am honored to have met him. But let me tell you how important these quilts are. This man served his country, did his job, and did it without expecting anything. He was so amazed that anyone even cared about the job they did. He was so humbled to receive a quilt it brought tears to his eyes.

The Greeley Tribune - our local paper followed our progress and had a neat story come oun on Memorial day - here is the link if you are interested.
http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20060528/NEWS/60528001&SearchID=73255048144175

So any of you who are thinking of doing a QOV Please do so - they are so greatly appreciated. and to those of you who have made one - Thank you!!!

Happy Saturday

Well , Yesterday I spent the day and the Doctors office, The park with the 5th grade choir, and taking pictures of the kids to put on the Labels of the Quilts of Valor - so today I am getting a little quilting time.

I had a lot of scraps left from our QOV project so my boys and I have been working on this one -

Now we will start working on the back and get it into our quilting Que!

Happy Saturday everyone

My Challenge Quilt

A group of 4 of us joined in a quilting challenge at Mountain Prarie Quilts in Berthoud and made 4 individual quilts. Our group had the winning quilt - it belonged to Daisy. Hers was completely finished - mine was just a top.

Well now it is a secondary challenge - as I don't know exactly how I want to quilt it. So if you have any ideas - feel free to let me know.

My First Post

Well, This is my first post to my Blog - so you can bear with me as I learn. I am a long arm quilter in Colorado, and have a passion for quilting. Just recently I have been working with my oldest sons 5th grade class to make 8 quilts for the Quilts of Valor program. If you are interested more information can be found here http://www.qovf.org

The kids have done all the cutting, most of the sewing, I did the quilting, and the binding. It has been a great project and we are about ready to deliver the quilts to wounded soldiers.

All of our quilts are in Patriotic colors.We started our project in November so we are pretty proud of ourselves for the work we have done ;-)