Scarves and Grocery Sacks

So - I am reading on Beths Blog beths blog about these fleece scarves that she made and I thought - AH I want one. See I just got 8 inches cut off my hair and it is cold on my neck.... So she emailed me how she made them - and voila - I made one. My embroidery is just an A . But it is warm!!

Then I get this very Cryptic email from my mother in law " Do you think you could make me a fabric grocery sack?" See how Cryptic she is! LOL - I love direct requests - I can't go wrong this way!!!! So C and I made up something. I think it is okay - but I don't think it is perfect. Since I am not really short of fabrics I think we will try another style or two then send them to her for testing.

Today was nice until about 4pm, now the wind in howling and blowing snow all over the place. The dog refuses to budge off his warm pillow - I identify with this - and I am about ready to sew!! I just finished step 3 in bonnies Mystery - need to iron them first....

Have a great one!!

UFO #2 and #5

Well One month ago we rearranged our house and I unearthed 8 UFO's. I am so proud to report that I am making progress, and all in the same year!!! ( I have 3 left) This quilt is the cowboy quilt. I had purchased these 12 FQ"s in a pack and I am sure I had a plan in mind, but then I saw this pattern and went that way. My hubby helped pick out the borders and I think he did a good job!

So that was #2 on the list!

Then there was UFO #5. It was the BQ pattern.... I had already cut the 12 1/2 squares and had pulled the other 2 fabrics to go with it, and then it was in a pile next to my sewing table. Surprisingly that is not to hard of a quilt to make - I started cutting the other fabrics on the 23rd, and finished the blocks yesterday. I finished the top today - not too much time at all. Of course it is 12 blocks and will be the perfect size for a Quilt of Valor ( surprise LOl)

Now on a funny note - I bought a present with my son in tow - yes - it was for him, and he promised he would be surprised. So we are all done opening presents on Christmas day and he very quietly comes up to me and asks where it is.... oh my... well I told him we will have to search after everyone leaves. Well we searched and searched and no such luck. Just about 10 minutes ago i picked up my fabrics to start Mystery step #3 and there was something hard in there..... well I found the little video game!! My son is 6 - I was proud.

Have a great day - Its blowing snow and snowing hard here! Must go quilt.....

Mystery Quilt Steps are getting done

Just when I thought I was keeping up the world got in the way! I need to stop that from happening as I really like doing this mystery. But if you look on the bright side I have steps 1 and 2 done. I have clues 3 and 4 printed off. I have step 4 hidden so I can't peek - but I don't think it really matters. I am sure I have NO idea what this will look like. Its a Bonnie mystery - I am not worried. I haven't seen any quilts of hers that I don't like!

Christmas has come and it snowed. My parents were here, and then hubbys sister and her family came for dinner. Her two boys are right in the middle of my 3 - so all 5 went sledding and running and chasing each other every where. oh to have there energy so late in the day... I need to figure out how to tap it!!

Hope you all had a great day and continue to enjoy the days!

Back to cleaning and sewing ( I hope I hope I hope)

UFO #3

Well I am slowly but surely making progress. Remember back to my list of 8 things I found? I can now successfully cross of the Log Cabin 4 patch top. I put the rows together this weekend, and last night finally got the rows together.

One of my boys did the layout as I even had them pinned and ready to sew. So now it will go into my que. I will get this one quilted and bound and ready to be delivered with the rest of my quilts from the 5th grade. Our goal is to have all of our quilts ready by April 1st for May delivery.

We only have one more day till Christmas break!!!

Have a great one!!
Alycia

Another Week

I think I am so busy and always doing things, but I think in reality I am running around in circles, and doing things dicatated by other circumstances...

I finally got my truck back last wednesday. It was so wonderful to have it fixed. When we have snow the truck is really helpful in getting up our road to our house. I had borrowed my Dads truck. It is very nice, but I always worry about having someone elses vehicle.

Friday I sewed with my 5th graders again. We got all the blocks made - each kid got to se a block. So we now have 8 quilts worth. Then they got in there groups and layeds out the quilt tops. Do you think I took my camera? No - I forgot !! How dare I. Anyways we pinned them all and will start sewing again in January. They all have parties this friday - so I gave them the day off (ha ha)

Friday nite, my kids and I went shopping and to the library - and as we came out of the last stop .... my pick up wouldn't start!!! I was so not happy. So I called DH and said come get us and quick - its cold. ( and of course my cell phone battery was almost dead, the charger was sitting at home on the piano bench!!) So he came, and they diagnosed it with a dead fuel pump!

Saturday was Basketball games, Truck towing and a little bit of shopping. Sunday the boys had friends come over and Sled down the hills. They had a great time.

So where did monday and tuesday disappear to? Apparently I need to write stuff down!!!

Oh Hey - I remember monday nite my oldest son had a band concert. They were amazing - and I got to pick up my truck again.

And I have finished my last customer quilt! Just in time!! This little quilt is a study in warm colors. A customer is taking a color class and every month has something new to study. I liked this one!

Have a great day! We are off to the dentist, Grocery store and basketball practice!!

Stashbusting Report

This was a good stashbusting week, althought I didn't sew all the stash I busted!

I quilted two tops for Quilts of Valor, and provided the Backing from my stash - so 7 yards out. I pulled fabrics from my Stash for the Mystery Quilt called Carolina Crossroads - I think I pulled about 6 yards, don's know if it will all be used - but I will try!! And then I sewed with my 5th graders - I had a huge box of Red White and Blue Strips. I had each kid grab two and sew them as there practice pieces. A pretty good dent was made in that box.

I even went into a quilt shop. I went in to pick up a ruler and I cam out with the ruler and the ruler only. This was impressive!! Of course I only had ten minutes, so I think that helped!

Have a great Day!!
Alycia

Finishing UFO's

Today is a snowy blowy day. One of my sons needed to go to a Basketball Tournament in the morning, to watch , not play. So he and DH left early for that. Then I had till 10am till I needed to take middle son to his basketball game. So.... I sewed! I have all my strips sewn for Step 2 of the mystery. Will need to cut them and put them into 9 patches. All of the fabrics from this mystery are from my stash - so I am glad.

We went out at 10am and there was 6 inches of snow and ICE on my windows!!! A lot of defrosting was needed!! We got to the basketball game and my sons team won! yay us. As we were coming home my truck started to billow steam. I blew something in the radiator! I am so bummed. I know so much about vehicles that I left it parked and will have DH look at it!

Now that I can not drive ( okay I could take hubbys car , but lets pretend I can't) I settled down at the sewing machine and FINISHED the binding on UFO number 7 from my moving day list!! I can't take pics becuase this is a complete surprise quilt - but it is DONE! It will be mailed monday.

Oh~~~ and with my 5th grade kiddos - we sewed all day Friday in rotations of 4 kids at a time. We have all the blocks sewn for 7 of our quilts. I was quite proud of the progress. I had two other moms helping - they were so awesome! So we are making great progress!

I leave you with another picture from the Johnstown Quilt Show -I think the string and bright quilts really caught my eye!

Mystery Quilt

I have decided to do a mystery quilt that is on Bonnies site - http://www.quiltville.com/ It is called Carolina Crossroads. I think I am nuts, as I never can keep up. But maybe just this once I can. I have already finished Clue 1, have Clue 2 printed, and in my head will start on that tonite AFTER I bind #7 on my UFO list. It needs to be shipped by Monday - so I am still on time right??

These are my fabric choices so far. The Cream is in the dryer. I guess I need to press that too.

I also have 4 more quilts to prep for the 5th grade to sew tomorrow. I don't know how far we will get, but if I have all of them ironed and ready for sewing I should be prepared.

Yesterday and today I quilted Quilts of Valor, so i will have to get a picture of them. They were made by Barbs groups in California. And I am proud to add that the backings came from my stash - so far 7 yards have been removed!

String Blocks ( scrap busting) Part 2

Since we rearranged my front room and unearthed my projects I decided that I MUST finish them!! My goal is before January ( please note I did not state what year!!)

This weekend I sat down and finished the last 2 string blocks, and trimmed them up. Last night I sewed them into a top and ( big drum roll here please) I added 2 borders. My oldest son decided I needed a small yellow border. We headed downstairs to the stash.... and were shocked to find only 1 yellow. It was not what we wanted. So I was digging thru a scrap box, and Viola we found a bright yellow. And there was more than enough to create a small border. So I have finished with Number 1 on my 8 item list!!! It does need to be quilted , but that doesn't count. I will put it in my queue and get to it.

Oh and it measured at 50 x 60 , so perfect lap size quilt.

Moving, rearranging and a lot of work!

So this weekend we learned that we are getting a new TV.... the one in the corner was pretty cool I thought - but my dad is upgrading and so now is my Husband Well - in the first picture this is our current TV. The new one will not fit across the diagonal - so this corner is becoming my new sewing area.

My Current sewing area is next to the Fireplace. Keeps me warm, but makes me nervous with all the fabrics that I (sometimes) keep up there. So this could be a good move. Now I have been trying so hard to keep my upstairs sewing area really organized and only have 2-3 projects at a time. I also have a downstairs for keeping stuff - next to my LongArm Machine. The Pic to the right was my current sewing area - I thought it looked pretty good, until I took the picture. So I took everything out of here and put it on the dining room table. At this time I was still thinking that I had done pretty good - not too much "stuff", not too many projects. Of course, everything is piled so what do I really know???

After a lot of moving, vacumning and whining - my desk had to be moved too and it was heavy ( did you hear the whine with that), my new sewing area was born.

I thought it looked pretty nice, and as I started taking things off the dining room table to organize them in my newly expanded sewing area I found stuff!!! I thought - WOW I will have so much more room, hope I don't pack it to full, and come to find out I HAD ALREADY packed it full!! I found 8 ( read that 8 - not 4) Quilts in Progress. Now I knew they were all in progress - I just didn't realize that I had left all of them Upstairs. Good thing my husband is a forgiving man, and really excited about his new big screen TV!!! Distraction worked in my favor this time!!

So the 8 things I found:

1. The string quilt that was on the cutting table/ironing board ( I knew this was here I have been working on it)

2. Cowboy Quilt - I have the border fabric washed a pressed....then stalled.

3. 4 Patch Log Cabin - 12 blocks ready for setting!! ( what happened, when did I stop??)

4. Lessons from Mama quilt - again Knew this was here - my goal is 1 block per month - I have two blocks left to do - then start the borders.

5. All the fabric cut and ready for a Big Quilt ( the BQ) - how & when did that happen???

6. Carrie Nation Quilt of Valor - Well I remember thinking I could really use this block for a leader ender project - but again - who cut the fabrics??? They came from my scrap bin.. I recognize them!!

7. Binding on a Gift Quilt - to be bound by Christmas ( knew this was here)

8. Reproduction Quilt - I knew this was here too - I have just been trying to finish the other things before I start - all the fabrics are ready, the pattern is here, I AM planning it - and well, again I stalled.

I guess I have a clear list now - I must make a clear plan right ......

Off to plan!

Have a great day

Alycia

Little Bits Quilt of Valor part 2

Just real quick - I have pics for a different post - but this just came to me.... My little boy was interviewed in Golden for the Rocky Mtn Quilt Museum and the article is here!! You can find it by going to http://www.tinyurl.com/3xcwnv Have a great afternoon! If all goes well I'll post again tonite! Alycia

String Blocks ( scrap busting)

I had all these 1 and 1 1/2 inch strings left over from another scrap project. I kept thinkging I should just toss them - they won't make much. Then one afternoon the kids and I sat down to watch a movie. I thought well I'll just sew them into strips and make a rail fence type quilt out of them. So I sewed them all into 4 string strips. It then dawned on me that if I cut each strip up to make it like a rail fence quilt I might give up before I got anywhere.

Theeeeeen I remembered that I love to do string quilts so I bet I could just use the strips as "big" Strings and make some of those blocks. The first few blocks went together awful quick as the strips were anywhere from 3 to 4 inches.

But then I had lots of little pieces left, and I wanted 24 blocks total . Because if I am going to go to all this effort - I really want a useable size quilt right? So I spread everything I had over my cutting table and started sewing up some really little crumbs into strips that I could use. My hubby thought I was nuts ( he may be right).

So I kept sewing and sewing and pressing - and Voila - I have come up with 24 string/crumb blocks our of really bright fabrics. I do need to trim the blocks now, the can sew them together into a top.

My curious man just had to know what they would look like - so he layed them out for me.

But you just can't stop with 6 - you need more to really "see" what they will look like. I think this quilt will be very bright. The center of every block is a royal or navy blue, so it may need a blue border to draw it all together.

Now I am done with that scrap pile - anyone want the extras? I bet there's enough for another block or two, but to tell you the truth, I think I am tired of these fabrics now. And since I am on a mission to stash/scrap bust as much as I can - I volunteer to pass them to someone who would love some pretty bright colors. You can leave me a comment and they are yours!

Stashbusting, UFO's and Snow

The kids have today off from school and when we woke up this morning there was about 5 inches of snow!! Yay!! So as they warmed up I headed downstairs to quilt for an hour or so. So technically I have my "work" done for the day ;-)

After breakfast we headed out to the hill to go sledding - it was a blast and of course I did not take my camera - but after an hour we were cold. So as they watched "surfs up" I finished block number 10 on a quilt that has 12 different blocks. I started this quilt in January and you would think I would be done - but alas it became a UFO. It is sitting in a nice little box with all sorts of scraps just patiently waiting.... So now there is another blocks finished.

Then I got a book at the quilt shop - an Atkinson designs one. I just love her stuff. So I grabbed 12 FQ's from my fabric cubbies and cut them up. I got all the blocks done and had to go in search of some border fabrics. Found them and they are now in the dryer. So if I stay motivated I might actually get the borders on and have this top finished before 2008 :-)

I leave you with a picture of a quilt that was displayed at a quilt show last month. It was in Johnstown and was a fun day. I really liked this one because it was a string quilt and was really random, yet really drew your eye to it!

Thanksgiving at the School

The school has a Thanksgiving dinner the week before Thanksgiving and the kids get all dolled up. They invite the parents. They also invite the folks from the senior center. The 5th grade kids get to help serve the meal. Its kind of a neat thing.

My first grader got to be a pilgrim - so of course Mom had to join him for lunch.

Today it has just been my little guy and me, the other 3 are off in the great wilderness. So we watched cartoons, made chocolate chip cookies, went to the fabric shop (I had a gift certificate that expires monday!!), went Christmas shopping for the brothers, went out to dinner ( he is easy to please - McD's) and watched Surf's Up. And now he is quizzing me over all sorts of things I don't know - it is scary how much I don't know .....

We are almost off to bed - and maybe Mom can sew a few minutes ;-)

Have a great one!!

Quilts of Valor and our crazy day.

Today was a wonderfully busy, crazy, wonderful, amazing day....

Our 5th grade class had delivered our Quilts of Valor to Fort Carson in May. We never expected to hear from a soldier, let alone get to meet him when he was able. But in September Specialist Kyle was injured from a morter attack while on a misson. He was flown from the field to Bagdad for treatment, and then on to Landstuhl in Germany, after a brief trip to Walter Reed he found himself at Fort Carson - Evans Hospital. Fort Carson is where he recieved one of the quilts our kids made. We also sent a photo album with each quilt.

He was able to get convalence leave to head home to Wyoming, where he sent us a letter and offered to come to the school. Well today was the day. I had the priveledge of taking him, his mother ( an AMAZING woman), and father to lunch( VERY cool dude!!). They were the neatest people. After lunch they went with me to the school and he talked to 108 5th graders and many parents. 12 of the 6th graders came as well, as they were the group who delivered these quilts. And of course my son ( a 7th grader) came, as he was in the first bunch of students that made quilts, well and also he is MY son

Specialist Kyle entered the Elementary Cafeteria to a standing ovation and took the stage. The kids had prepared about 10 questions to ask him. He was wonderful - he answered every question and had the kids amazed. He is one brave soldier. He is into year 3 of his 4 year term. He is 22 years old, and entered the military right out of high school. When his term is over he thinks he will probably go to college to become a teacher.

The class presented him with a gorgeous quilt rack, that another veteran had made especially for him. ( I want one!!) Another group presented him with a book. I think his mom might have had a tear in her eyes.

After the family left I got to tell the kids all about QOV, and how we would be making quilts again this year. These kids are SOOO excited. They had many many questions, and I think I might have been able to answer them all.

Then - school was over - I loaded my 3 boys up and went straight to Golden to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. My youngest son was being interviewed by the newspaper. He wore a tie, and was a camera hound! We talked to the reporter a lot about QOV's and really tried to explain quilting in general to her. We were done around 6:30 and headed home. My Hubby was just flying in from chicago so we were able to meet him for a quick burger and looong drive home.

I tell you - after a day like that - although you ( okay me) are tired, your brain is still mulling over the events. I was so impressed by the young soldier that came to see us, especially about how he handled himself, how he handled his injuries and his attitude in general. He is 1 of 3 boys, all 3 are military as of this moment. I told you that mom is Amazing. I told my boys they will now live with me until the are 100.......

Hope you all have a quilty day!!

Alycia

Artwork by kids

My middle son is very into art at the moment - well that and science experiments. He is currently doing a chemical experiments with Lemon Juice, Baking soda, Olive oil, and Vinegar. I am worried about what the kitchen will look like when he is done. I figure if I close my eyes I can pretend he is making sugar cookies....

Anyways - this is the art they have been working on at school. I thought it was really neat and is now on my wall. He thinks I ought to make that design into a quilt. He thinks highly of my abilities (grin)

Okay - Off to work - Have a gReat Day!!!
Alycia

Fabric! For Quilts of Valor

An aquaintence ( that is a friend of a friend) told me she had some fabrics that she didn't want - could I be interested in them for quilts of valor. So I headed over and she had a whole BOLT of red and of blue!! I was so tickled - now I have my backings for a lot of quilts!!

Then in the mail I got this box of fabrics - they will be so awesome for string and scrap quilts of Valor.

I just love fabric - and I love seeing the different ways we can make a quilt - so this is fun.

The Great Outdoors

Besides Quilting, one of my other favoritist things to do is be outdoors. For some reason winter hasn't really hit here, yes it is cold in the mornings and evenings. We have ice on the water to prove it, but the days are warming up to between 50 and 70. So we have been taking advantage of this as much as possible.

We hiked into a little stream waaaaay back in the mountains and this is my crew. They caught 8 fish and daddy ( good man that he is!!) came home and fried them up for dinner for them, and (this is the best part) they ALL cleaned the kitchen up while I sewed. See two loves in one day.

Then MY dad got a new dog - so we took him out and tested him in the back pastures. He is a bird dog and he is awesome. It was much colder that day as we started in the morning - so in our pics we are pretty bundled up, but towards the end of the day we had shed our coveralls and ear gear.

We must have walke about 20 miles this day - my legs were so tired when we came back in. We don't live close to a town - so pizza delivery was out. I had some soup - so we had hot soup and salad. A great ending to a gorgeous day.

I know this isn't quilt related - I promise I'll be back with a quilty thing next.... maybe ;-)

Alycia

Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

My youngest son had a quilt that he submitted to be in the exhibit "Quilts by the Hands of Men" at the RMQM . Last night was the reception and a meet the artists night. So we headed to Golden to attend. We got there a but early ( mapquest said 1 1/2 hours - they were off, or dh sped.... we'll go with mapquest being wrong). So we had about 1/2 hour to kill so we went down to the river and went for a short walk. There are all these really neat bronzes - so the boys swam with the fish.

Then we went into the museum and it was a blast. C is the youngest quilter to have a quilt at the museum - he is 6. We went in and he got his artist name tag and right away E. Bostick a very well known quilt artist came over and shook his hand and congratulated him on his quilt. C was so very excited and honored. Then we went into the exhibit. He gave us all his best pose in front of his quilt.

We looked at that exhibit and at the one by Teddy Pruitt, had a little snack, and then met a lot of artists. They had a little announcement of all the artists and called C's name - he was so proud and he was so little they made him come up front so he could be seen... and he never came back. I think he is a glory hound !! He enjoyed himself so much, and so did my other boys. There was a quilt there called tinker toy and the man who made it must be a math genious. He explained it to us and my oldest son was so taken with the process.... hmmm. On the way home he asked if he could use some of my camo fabrics and black....

Gifts for the 25th October

I did it! I made a gift for the 25th - although I think it is my gift!! I really like it!! Its a little smaller than I thought it would be. I think I will make another tote but add some size to it, so that maybe I could carry my planner in it?

I have quite a few tote patterns but I need them so detailed I just usually give up - but this pattern was soooo easy - I did it in 1 hour maybe 1 1/2. It was in Terry Atkinsons book Happy Hour. I of course like the quilts in the book too and pulled 12 FQ's from my stash to start one of them .. hopefully tonite after the LAST child gets in bed.....

Fall Leaves Quilt of Valor

Here is another quilt of valor from the very prolific group in Buena Vista CO. I did an overall meander on it. I took the picture outside as I hear the lighting is supposed to be better - but no one warned me that the slighest breeze could make it move or come down off the rail. So it took me a few trys and some help to get the picture

Cool Pillowcases

My oldest son was on the Pheasant Run Cowboys football team. Saturday ( in the cold drizzle and blowing wind) was there last game and afterwards we had a potluck. You know the team usually always gets something for the coaches and this year I wanted to be different and get them something they could use and rememeber there team - so I made Pillowcases! And I took Gelly Pens for the kids to sign the bodies of the pillowcases. They were a hit! The coaches loved them and every player wanted one too.... ha only my son and his best buddy J got one - theres are the navy with white. The other white on white is what I made for the coaches.

After the pot luck we were such football Die Hards we drove to Fort Collins to watch CSU lose to Air Force - there was a half hour rain delay and it was sooooo windy my umbrella turned inside out. We found seats blocked by the announcers stand that protected us from the cold, but only managed to stay thru half time. We were frozen. So I guess this means that winter is on its way. I had hopes that maybe it would wait a few years LOL.

I took in Sues String Quilt to the 5th Grade class to hang up, to inspire them, and they just LOVED it. It really brightened up the room! A picture of her quilt is in another post and I have no Clue how to link to it - so Its called Sues Heartsting quilt.....

Have a great day!!

Alycia

Pink for October

Okay - did you know it was October already? Where did the days go? I have been keeping busy but I didn't realize the time has gone so fast!! Last week one of my sons got tackled really hard and sustained ( medical term there) and Stage 2 Concussion - so today he is all cleared to go back to activity - today is also his last practice, and Saturday is his last game. My inlaws came down last weekend and stayed with us. It was fun, but they didn't get to see my son play - as he was out with a concussion. Oh well - at least they helped entertain the other two during the game .

I have been working on Pink String Blocks - My goal is 24 to send to Jennifer for her to assemble them and get them to the cancer center(You can see more at heartstringsquiltproject.com)

I also finished quilting a quilt for a customer. It is a braid quilt - very cool. I used really full fluffy feathers as she didn't want dense quilting on it. In the center of each strip there is a feather medallion quilted.

And I finished adding binding to the heartstrings quilt from Sue. It is now hanging in the 5th grade classroom as inspiration for our Quilts of Valor project. I will bring it home Friday and wash it and get it ready to ship out to where Catherine deems it to go. I finished quilting Melvas Heartstring Quilt of Valor, made the binding and will get it done this weekend.

Annnnnnd I made the binding for my Gift for the 25th Quilt - so on the 25th I will be ready to bind it, if not before, I may get energized! Okay - now I must go and seam a backing so I can get the next quilt onto my Longarm.

Have a great day

Alycia

Heritage Days

The Centennial Village in Greeley hosts a heritage day and lets schools bring there children in for a taste of historical life. Our guild was asked to bring in some quilty things and represent the quilting arena. I was asked to chair one of the days - and I laughed. This is why - I cut with rotary cutters and rulers, sew on my electric powered machine, Quilt on my electric powered Longarm, and do ALL bindings by machine. ( yes I have heard you should stitch the binding down by hand - but I have 3 boys so I win!)

Anyways I recruited people who knew how to do things the "olden" ways, and A quilter sewed on a Treadle Machine, 2 people Hand Quilted, and one Hand embroidered so all I had to do was sit and smile. Okay - I made a ton of rail Fence Red White and Blue blocks and invited ids to sign them to be made into a Quilt for Soldier - I bet you are surprised!. I don't think one child said no - they had fun signing them and adding hearts and stars.

It was an interesting day. Some of the kids from the school that my children go to were there - so I recognized faces. Most of the docents from the museum dressed in costume, I wore jeans, I did not fit in.... who knew?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Alycia

Sue's Heartstring Quilt is Quilted

I had fun with this one - I used the Deb's Swirls Panto ( From Deb Giessler) and it looked really nice. I will finish the binding this weekend and get it to a soldier.Its a Quilt of Valor. It's good timing to be putting bindings on - the temps are cooling down in the mornings and the evenings, so it feels nice to have a quilt on your lap.

This quilt is part of the Heartstrings Project. You can find out more at http://www.heartstringsquiltproject.com/ . For the month of October there is a Pink String challenge, the guidelines are at that site. I already have 3 Pink Blocks made.... this is an accomplishment for me this week as we have been running like crazy!!

The Quiltholders are my youngest two boys. They are usually pretty happy about doing this, as the think is means they will get paid - HA they have another thing coming to them.

Have a quilty day!

Alycia

Gifts for the 25th - September

Well - I know today is the 26th but yesterday was NUTS!
I got up really early , did all the chores, got the kids to school, picked up a friend, spent most the day in Denver, got back home - threw dinner in the crockpot ( a 20 min stopover) picked the kids up from school. Took them to the orthodontist, football practice, left the younger two with Dad, and took the older one to Parent Teacher conferences..... came home, ate dinner, packed up my bucket for Wednesday. It was Heritage Days at the Centennial Village ( like a pioneer village) . Loaded the car, helped my son with algebra and ...... Sewed the backing together for my GIFT of the 25th - No pictures yet - because it is a gift, and I don't keep secrets all that well ;-)

at 10 pm I was asleep.......

organized chaos

......Abounds at my house on football weekends! Saturday was my oldest sons game - they WON! Yea team. And then I got the bug to finish things. I have been working on 4 different quilt tops at the same time ( yes I know stupid) and of course all four of them are at the top stage at the same time, and I want to see them ALL and the same time.....

So glad the Broncos played on Sunday. My Hubby watched the game while I took over the rest of the house. He didn't even seem to notice until it was time to meander to the Kitchen. He just weaved, twisted and turned different directions each time. And never said a word about the amount of "things" on the floor!

One of the tops I can't show you - it is top secret - but this is my floor. This is the heartstring quilt I have been working on . I found 4 wonky star blocks that I had learned to make in a cool class. So thought I could use those as cornerstones. But now I need a border to go in between - so there are three different choices on the floor - I think we are leaning toward the cream with the pledge of allegiance on it. This will be a Quilt of Valor ( http://qovf.org/)

And here is the rest of the floor. I have finished all the Wacky Log Cabin blocks and went thru a bunch of my scraps - althought the scrap bin still has enough for oh say another quilt!! So my youngest son layed the blocks out and we have 2 - 50 x 60 quilt tops. I think we will add a border but, will see. DS3 gave me strict instructions to not start sewing them until he comes home from school..!

We left a little walking room thru the tops - and nobody complained or even gave me a hard time - what a weekend!

Hope you all had a good one!

Alycia

My cutie patootie

This is DS#3 pretending he is rushing for a touchdown. He is a little young for the 12 yo team though - but he was having fun at Big Brothers Football game. We had a scrimmage last night against the broncos. We are the Cowboys. They did well and learned a lot. The coaches could stop play at any time and discuss the options/strategies etc. I think it taught the kids a lot.

Wednesday Hubby and I got to go to a Rockies Game - vs the LA Dodgers. Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley was there at the beginning of the game. And the Rockies WON - we were 20 rows back from home plate - great seats, until the 6ft 6in guy sat in front of me. He was cool and moved over one ;-) He also taught kindergarteners and said that sometimes the kids are in such awe of his height they forget to speak!

People are fun to watch, some dress up for the games, some need to go shopping. I had fun watching the folks walking up and down the stairs. One lady couldn't figure out if she should tug her shirt down to cover her tummy or pull it up to keep the upper parts covered. Such a conundrum - me ~I would have opted for a shirt that fit to begin with!!

I have FINALLY finished my wacky log cabin blocks and will have the boys lay them out in a pleasing presentation this weekend and get them sewn into 2 tops. I am 3 blocks shy of my first heartstrings quilt - so have been working on those today ( in between getting my truck tire fixed, laundry, ironing for dh and goofing off a bit) . All three of these will be Quilts of Valor. I also got a Heartstrings quilt that came from Sue in MN all prepped to quilt this next week.

Have a great Day! Keep Quilting.

Alycia

Its Tuesday!

Our weekend just flew right by us! We had football Pictures early saturday morning, followed by a game. 3 Kids got hit hard ( at 3 different times) and we had delays of the game. They are all fine now - but ...shew that stuff gets me.

I am preparing lots of Pink Fabrics for the October HEartstrings project - for breast cancer quilts. You can find out more at http://www.heartstringsquiltproject.com/ . My Aunt and my Mom are both Breast Cancer survivors - so it is close to my heart. I found a really neat pink at the fabric store AND it was ON Sale - so I got it for a backing for a heartstrings quilt.

This quilt is the quilt I quilted for a customer who is a math teacher. I highly suggest quilting for math teachers - she is very precise, all seams are accurate, I think this is the first perfectly square quilt I have had for a while.
I did lots of feathers in the open spaces, some croshatching and lots of SID - she liked it.

I have also been sewing 6 1/2 inc 3 rail fence blocks with a cream in the center for an autograph quilt. I will be helping at heritage days in Greeley next week. In the quilting area, we will have lots of things to show kids - and hopefully they will have time to sign a block for a quilt for our soldiers. Of course - Quilts of Valor.

Have a great day!

Alycia

My life in a Shampoo Bottle

I have three boys - I have three boys who are wonderful, caring, absolutely too fun kids! But I have three boys that are all complete opposites - how can you have three complete opposites you ask? I have no clue - but I have living proof that it can exist! Its here in my house!

So My oldest son comes home from football and want to take a shower - he yells from the bathroom - MOM there is something blue in the shampoo..... mind you the original color of the shampoo was yellow. So I head in there - yep - something is in the shampoo. Call the other boys - okay who put what in the shampoo - Not me, Not me, and Not me - are the responses.

Whoever this Not Me kid is - I DID NOT give birth or adopt it - so he must leave. He shows up at the most inconvienent times, and he is Very messy, eats all the chocolate, and leaves sticky stuff, but I digress. So I go into another bathroom, get another shampoo and let the poor child take a shower. Of course I left the original offending shampoo there in hopes that Not Me would have this guilt over take his heart and come confess....

Dear Hubby comes home and the first thing he hears is - someone put something in the shampoo... now my husband has the ultimate amount of patience - me I just don't care - it looked like a science experiment and I figured it kept one of the boys in the shower long enough to get clean, so it worked! Anyways DH gathers the boys and patiently ferreted out the dirty rotten scoundrel, who came and confessed, and then I hugged him. I said Thanks for telling the truth. His reponse - Mom it was so cool to watch the stuff crystallize - see Einstein in the Making!!

Okay - now this leads to today - they did throw the offending bottle of shampoo in the trash - but they forgot to consider that it is a liqued, and as such it might possibly leak, and drip thru the offending holes in the grocery sacks that we use for trash bags. So when the chore of emptying the trash occured this morning - there was a pretty bubbly trail from the bathroom to the mudroom. When I offered paper towels to the trash taker outer , so that he could clean up the mess - oh boy - He was not happy and proceeded to tell me it wasn't him that did it in the first place, the one who messed up the shampoo should be cleaning and it just wasn't fair. I smiled - and went back to making the lunches for the three boys that eat them..... ( see I am so generous - cooking for others when I don't cook for myself...until noon)

They sat at the counter all grumbling at each other as I proceeded to tell them that they had better have real good jobs when they grow up cuz I am going to bill them for the new carpet, new bathroom floor, and probably a new toilet ..... that made them laugh!! Go figure!

So now - I have squeaky shampooed carpet *grin* and a new bottle of shampoo in the bathroom!

I know this isn't quilty at all - and I have a picture of a quilt for you someplace - I just can't find where it got downloaded - so now I have a good excuse to post again sometime!!

Bound to the Prarie

A group of ladies took a class on the Bound to the Prarie Quilts, and oh my are they beautiful. Here are some pics of the way I quilted them. It was kind of nice - they wanted them all done the same way, so it made my planning a lot easier!

I did a lot of McCarmining ( okay its really McTavishing - but I don't know that I am as perfect as her - hence the new name) in the middles. They have more embellishments to add to it.

The borders were crosshatched. Note to quilter top makers - it is much easier to corsshatch if the borders have an even measurement to them, less of a fudge factor. These borders were really even and flat . It was a nice treat.

They were very happy with them and had them bound the next week, and are now working on the embellishments. So I was tickled.

My Photo

I am trying to update my blogger and add a photo of me - apparently I lack computer skills so I am going to try to do it again!

So this is me - I am at a Broncos Raiders Game in Oakland - hence the Black - so I don't get attacked by the diehard Raider fans - yes I am a Bronco fan - the sun sets Blue and Orange here (grin)

Today was my sons football scrimmage - they had fun. He got hot, I got sunburned - and now I am lazy and playing around on my computer. I figured out how to drag it and the phone line over to the couch - and I think I may Never leave!!

My guild has been invited to help out at a heritage day in Greeley and I have been made a chairperson for a day. I am thinking of bringing in lots of quilts, blocks for the kids ( mostly 4th graders) to look at, batting samples, and they will have a treadle machine there. I thought maybe I coud make up some Rail Fence blocks with white in the center and have the kids sign the blocks to be made into a Quilt of Valor - there should be about 100 kids - what do you think? If I just sew 2 1/2 strips together - 3 of them - should be a 6 1/2 inch block......

I got Judy Laquidara's book in the mail Wedesday and it is pretty cool - I think I could make a few of those ( not want - I mean actually do the sewing!) It was a nice thing to have arrive - as I have bonded with my couch this week. DH also went to the library and got Gwen Marstons Liberated Strings book and a quilting book for me to look at. All this inspiration - When I finally get up off the couch I should be sewing for a month!

Okay - well see if I have followed (or can follow) the directions and get a picture in my file of me - that way if you run into me on the street you won't be tempted to run away !!

Augusts Quilt of Valor

I got a Rail Fence Quilt of Valor in the mail the other day - so I put a Panto on it called Debs Swirls. I think it turned out really nice. So I will get it sent back to the topper - she likes to do binding and labels - gotta love folks like that!!

DS#3 is my faithful quilt helper - he loves to hold them up!

We have almost made it thru the first full week of school, and I was informed this morning that it could be over now. They are done! It cracks me up, becuase during the summer they have NO problem waking up early, but somehow the word "school" induces sleep!!

And it is snake season again - I took the kids to school, pulled up to the gate ( to our house) , stepped out to open the gate and as I had one foot on the ground I heard a slither, looked down and jumped up on the top of the car! There was a baby rattlesnake slithering across. A trucker pulled over and checked on me - he thought I looked stranded up on the car. I said - No Just cautious - who knows if the snake had brothers and sisters under my car. I thought I was giving them ample time to GET OUT FROM UNDER MY CAR!!

We are much more observant now when pulling up to the gate from either direction!

Thanks to Betsey in Denver for letting me raid her fabric stash for my school QOV project, and to Judy in Illinois - for batting. I haven't opened the box yet as the boys are looking forward to the batting exploision. Its packed pretty tight in there!!

Have a good day!