Its Jackie Day!!

This incredible lady is really involved in Quilts of Valor. And Lucky me - I got to meet her and MQX in 2007. It is cool to put a face with a name - and actually make a contact! ~

Her name is Jackie and she is from New York. These quilts were made by her group according to the labels - which are wonderful!

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All of the quilts are so cool - and patriotic. The backs are really neat too. And of course I have the ruler to make the quilt on the bottom Right hand side - I have just never seen one made... Isn't it gorgeous!!

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Today in our neck of the woods it is 105deg - a little warm for us... and very very dry. There have been 2 grass fires around us and the smoke stinks. So I am keeping my fingers crossed for a little rain.

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Hope you all are having a quilty day!

Its Tracye Q Day

These Patriotic quilts came in from Tracye Q in ... Colorado!! She is a neighbor to the south ( way south) of me. How cool is that? The one on the left just really jumped out at me .. and one of my boys wants to make one like it!
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The one on the far left has really cool spiral quilting on it, so I tool a picture of that too - it looks awesome!
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This morning it smells really smoky here, it started last night and woke me up - so I went and checked all around to make sure nothing was on fire, and I couldn't see anything. So this morning I did it again - just to make sure and there is nothing at my place , but it is smoky all in front of the mountains, so something must be burning. Maybe I should watch the news sometime - but well - there is just

no time for that... I have quilts to quilt and quilts to oogle
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Have a great day.. quilt a lot and be happy!

Its April and Carolyn Day!

April and her friend Carolyn in Ames IA sent these lovely quilts to me! That is Carolyn with the horse. That horse looks very friendly! We used to have a horse very similar to the one in the picture. His name was Will, and we loved him.

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If I have the story straight - Carolyn is a fairly new quilter and made this quilt to the left. April W. then did the Long Arm quilting on it. They make a great team don't they?

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The other three quilts were made and quilted by April. April's LA business is called the Quilting Den in Ames IA.

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Back in my Pre quilting days I worked for a company and traveled all over - I spent a lot of time in Iowa and think I even went thru Ames.

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Anyways - Back to Quilts. I hang the quilts up in my living room to take pictures and it is so fun to get to look at them for a while. My Hubby came in while the stack n whack style ones were hanging and he had such fun trying to figure out how they turn out like that.

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Truly - they are all stunning and wonderfully pieced and quilted! They will make 4 soldiers very very happy!

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Thanks ladies for contributing, and thank you for your photos too!

Have a great day!!

Its Naomi Day

I recieved a wonderful box from Naomi and the Magic Valley Quilters. The Virtual MQX quilt I already posted was in it and then there were 4 More!!! It was great fun hanging them up on the curtain rod and taking pictures. The second one looks very string like.

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Each one of them has a cute little crocheted bookmark made by one of the ladies in the group. All of the quilts are so comfy , patriotic and soft. A couple of them came in tote bags that were really neat too.

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Today it is pretty warm here and I can see the Thunderstorms building.

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We had swim practice in the morning and there was an empty lane. Another mom and I swam in it... we tried to beat the kids.. didn't happen ;-) Well she might have beat them once or twice - but I sure didn't. Oh to be in shape again (giggle)

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Then it was off to sports physicals - I have one Swimming and One playing Football this fall.

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Today is also my parents anniversary - 41 years and they still like each other ;-) We called them as they were going to town for an anniversary lunch... or maybe it was the early bird special (tee hee)

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Have a great one!!

Sunday is Catch up Day

And oh boy have we been working! Last week I recieved 10 pillowcases from Nann H in IL and 15 pillowcases from Jan B. So today I got all the unpillowcased Quilts of Valor pillowcased. They look so nice. I have been printing the pics of the quilt and pinning them on the outside. If they are female quilts they also get a pink ribbon. And... I used ALL of the pillowcases - isn't that awesome!

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These first two pics are the cases that came from Jan. I think I need a bigger couch!

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The next pics are the cases from Nann and some yardage that she found for me to use. I have the perfect quilt top for it too...

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It was made by Jan K right here in Colorado. Now - Jan was a 4-H leader and taught sewing. She was a great teacher and her daughters are great seamstresses to. But they hadn't made quilts. So of course NOW they are hooked. Jan also made a cool pillowcase to go with her quilt.

We decided to do a rail fence for the first quilt with this group, and they were much better than they let on, and defineatly could have handled a harder quilt! So next month... tee hee ... they are in for it... I am going to show them 1/2 squares! It will open a whole new world in quilting!

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Okay - back to catching up. I already did a load of laundry, folded it, ironed enough clothes for my hubby to wear next week, did the dishes, finshed quilting a quilt, loaded the next one, got my cutting table all cleaned off... Now I think I might need to vacuum - but then again - no one is coming over for a day or two.... hmmmm my Carolina Crossroads is still next to the machine....

Later ;-)

Virtual MQX Quilts

Way back in April there was a Machine Quilters Exposition in New Hampshire, and some of us were unable to attend. So a challenge was made to the group to create patriotic blocks and see what we could make out of them. They were sent to Sandy in TX and she made them into tops. Seven Tops were made in all, and now 3 of them are here for our delivery!

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The first one on the left was quilted by Jill B in Alaska... isn't it cool? And you will note in each quilt there is an embroidered block that says Thank you or Virtual MQX. These were sent in by Kalli in Mi.
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This next on on the right was quilted by Naomi A in Idaho. She also sent along 4 other quilts fro the Magic Valley Quilters. I will show them in another post!

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The last one is done by Dianne D of Bluebonnet Quiltery, out of Texas. Her website is http://bluebonnetquiltery.com . I think these turned out exceptionally well. I am always amazed how 12 different blocks turn into such a cool quilt!

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You know if any of you others have a blog or website I would be glad to put it in the post about your quilts! Just email it to me..

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Have a Quilty Day... After I pay a few bills ( make that very few lol) I'm heading down to the quilting room!!

Quilty Things

Every once in a while during the summer I have had a few minutes here and there to sew. I kind of wish I could take the machine to sports events - but well - thats not smart around water ;-).

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I started doing the Carolina Crossroads mystery way back around Christmas when Bonnie - over at Quiltville.com started it. I think I may possibly be the last person finishing. I finally finished all the the blocks, and the pic shows how far I have gotten on getting the tops together. Now mind you - those are just rows - the rows are not sewn to each other ..... yet!

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The quilt is pinned to my curtains in the front room, and when the sun shines in the afternoon it kind of looks like stained glass. And I have a very understanding husband - he just smiles and says... have fun!

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A friend of mine brought me her flower basket quilt and said she likes feathers.. so here are a few pics of it. I use the over the top feathers that I learned in Kimmy Brunners Class. She has a DVD out called Machine Quilting for Beginners - and I think that anyone could benefit from it. ( kimmyquilt.com) and she is making one about feathers... can't wait for that!

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The first two pictures are of the back, and the third is part of the top. When I brought it back to her she was very excited, we took and put it on the bed immediately. Even her Hubby gave us a thumbs up! I got news that she entered it in the county fair.
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Have a great quilty day... Alycia

It's Rita Day

I recieved two very lovely quilts from Rita P. in IL. Today one of the teachers at the school came over and we ohhed and awwed over them - a LOT! So Rita if your ears were burning - sorry - it was us! They both came with Great matching pillowcases. You can see them hanging in the top right hand corners. My quilt holder helpers were busy - eating ( again).
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Beautiful workmanship! Thanks so much for sending them our way. The teacher - Mrs D was as overwhelmed by the generousity as I am !
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My quilting studio is taking on a whole new look with these finished quilts and tops, and its really fun to look at!
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Have a great day

Alberta's Quilts

Aren't these quilts lovely? They came from Alberta in Ill. The floral one is a group quilt. Her sister made the blocks and she did the setting. The one on the left is all Batik. Beautiful colors.

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I recieved an email asking if I was stressed yet... and you probably don't know this - but I rarely stress. I figure God gave me the day and I will use it to the best of my ability and then try again the next day. So .. nope - no stressing here. More like amazement. I truly can not believe the generousity of all you wonderful people.

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I took the kids to Cheyenne today and they had a lot of military planes at the National Guard hanger at the airport. We were talking with a C-130 pilot. One of his main missions is to fly in 2 times a month to Iraq and take wounded soldiers to Ramstein Germany. I started talking to him about Quilts of Valor, and it brought tears to his eyes. He said it is very humbling to take the soldiers out, and makes him so grateful that somebody is thinking of them. So give yourselves all a great BIG PAT on the back!

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Have a Great Rest of your day - I also got to go to Sams club and oh my! the counters are full... bet it takes about a week for the crew to eat all this, but I still gotta put it away so I can make dinner. Which is Pancakes with Chokecherry Syrup we got at the farmers market last nite - YUM!!

Al's Quilts

There is a 90 year old WWII Veteran and former POW, who has been making string quilts for two years - ever since his neighbor June showed him how. She told us about his story and not only have my kids been enthralled with him... so has my husband.

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We were the lucky recipient's of two of his quilts to quilt and get ready for our own QOV delivery. I love the way these turned out. My kids and I have been making string blocks too. I even taught some of the ladies from my guild how to make them, so a few ladies are making some for us to put into quilt.The right is the detail in the center of one of the quilts!
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So I got the horses shoed, and even survived the heat but just barely. Then as I was coming in there was a HUGE column of smoke to the south so we called my dad ( a wildland firefighter) and found out it was about 50 miles south of us, and was a 2000 acre grass fire. Glad they got it put out, the wind was blowing our way!! And there is almost nothing but range land between the fire and us.

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Have a great evening. Hope you are enjoying all the pictures!

Its Marilyn Day!

I got a great big box from Marilyn at http://northhillsquilter.blogspot.com/ and they were full of QOV's! I already showed you one in a previous post - it was a not so top secret project quilt in blues and whites. Well here are the others:
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Three of them are from a pattern at Buttonberry - but I can't remember the exact address. You basically cut all the pieces from a Fat Quarter and there is no wasted fabric.
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I should be back and posting a lot of cool quilts. I have quite a few boxes on my table and am getting pics of them today. I was really lucky and got to go to Fresno to see my uncle get married. So OF COURSE I have some pics from that as well. My oldest and second oldest son took the camera and they got some of the most hilarious shots, and well - a lot of them are of the youngest son... go figure!
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Have a quilty day... I am off to shoe some horses and get back to QUILTS!!

Dales QOV and String from Bosnia

Did you miss me? Well I haven't really been gone , just away from a computer. We had two swim meets - one friday for the two youngest boys, one saturday for the oldest boy. We had Bibleman Saturday nite. He is a superhero - and it was a great show - the kids loved it... we got there early enough to sit in the 4th row! It almost gave me hero status too!
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I am not sure where yesterday went. We had church, lunch, grocery shopping, chores and then the next thing we knew it was dark. Early this morning my youngest came in and said "mom - there are horses on the lawn" Good thing that child is a light sleeper. We really didn't want the horses on the lawn - they are supposed to stay in there pastures - which apparently they broke a wire and got out. Oh boy!
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This top quilt is from Dale in OH - It is really soft and cuddly. I love the fabrics used! I think I might even have some of a few of them ;-) Imagine that!
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The string blocks came ALL the way from Bosnia! They are neat and perfect timing. J is ready to start another string quilt - I think I have enough blocks. If not we will make a few to get 'er done!
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Hope you all have a wonderful day. Our plan is to get some quilting done! I am working on a beautiful custom quilt - but only have about 12 inches of it done... it may take a while (grin)

Not so Top Secret Project Quilts

Oh - Have I told you before how much fun this is? Look at these great variations of the Not So Top Secret Quilt!
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This first on is from Jeanne in Mi - she did hers in light blues and dark blues. Isn't it pretty? Her blog is:
http://luv2stitch.blogspot.com/
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The next one is completely finished and came with a great pillowcase from Maria in Upstate New York. I love scrappy quilts, and this one tickles my fancy too. She is a longarm quilter and she quited circles on it - just perfect!!
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The last one comes from Marilyn in CA. She is quite a prolific quilter - I am not sure how she gets so much done. She sent me a box of quilt tops and backings for our Quilts of Valor.. I will share the rest of them too - but since this was a NSTSP quilt... well it fit here fine!. Her blog is
http://northhillsquilter.blogspot.com/
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It is really awesome to see how many people are interested in showing our caring side to our soldiers. I am constantly amazed these days at the desire to help out with this project! Thank you so much for helping!!!
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On another note - we got to see WallE today. It was a cute movie and it was airconditioned in the building. Then we went to drum lessons for J - and it wasn't Air conditioned, and now we are home and it is not Air conditioned.. I think I like the movie theatre the best - Tee hee!

Oldest Sons Finished String Quilt

My Oldest Son J finally finished his quilt. He and little M from a sew day spent a lot of time laying them out. He got a little sewing done that day - but the basketball seemed more fun after a while.

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Now it is all finished and ready to quilt. Most of the blocks came from the Heartstrings group - and a few from us. We have another pile of finished blocks so will be working on another string quilt next week.

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Surprised to see me twice in one day? I got lucky and we are home this evening. I am sewing and watching Madagascar with my kiddos - a nice relaxing evening...

Dissappearing 9 Patch QOV

I don't know why - but lately these quilts have really intrigued me. I have always liked them but now I am thinking I must try one soon. I just love the way they look!

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This one was made by Nancy E's group. http://quiltingquandry.blogspot.com/

This quilt was put together by a group of church ladies (ranging from their 40's to their 80's), who's job was to make a 9-patch and bring it to the mtg. We sliced and diced them, spun and re-sewed them, then one of the ladies added the border. It took a long time to do, since we only meet once a month for 2 1/2 hrs. (started this in Nov 2007).

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So I looked up some tutorials!

http://quiltsatcs.blogspot.com/2007/04/disappearing-9-patch-tutorial.html

http://www.myquiltblog.com/nancyrose/4624/

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Maybe I will get one of those started soon.... In addition to my other projects.!