From Pat in NM

Pat is in one of my quilting groups. She is a wonderful talented quilter, and volunteered to make some Quilts of Valor. Little did she know how busy she would become! She sent in these three completely finished quilts for us. I hope you like them! I love them.

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Some of the fabric comes from all over. She asked some friends if they wanted to help out - either by making quilts or by fabric - and she recieved some lovely fabrics. And she sent in matching pillowcases for each one, if you look in the corner of the pictures you can see them. Thank Pat - for all your hard work, and for the phone call - that was cool!!

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I am noticing the blogger has removed some of my pictures from past posts and I can't figure out why.

I have searched the help and haven't found anything - and of course can not find out where to contact them! So I apologize for this.

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Hope you all are having a good weekend! Anyone planning to sew during superbowl? Or do you have parties?

Wednesday

I have three quilts here that were tops - and now they are finished!! I have to tell you, one looked vaguely familiar, but until I looked at its original picture, I didn't quite recognize it. It is amazing the difference the quilting can make!
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April W in IA quilted all of these for us. The boxy stars came from Sherrill in Texas.
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The next two tops that April quilted came from NJ. Agnes made them, and her daughter Sandi Sent them in. I just love the quilting on them. They are perfect!!
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Thanks ladies for the whole group effort!


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Now - did I tell you I went and spoke to adults on Saturday? I was invited to a PEO meeting. It was there founders day meeting, and they asked me to come speak about Quilts of Valor. I was quite honored, and scared. This was my first "real" group of adults. Well, I guess I have spoken to small groups(like 10) of adults, but there was about 100 to 120 of these ladies. Oh - they were so sweet and gracious. And they were really interested in Quilts of Valor. I love it when people are interested!! Thanks ladies for inviting me!
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Hope you all have a good evening. I am going to put my feet up for a minute, and then go sew. See ya!

The Tuesday after..

There was snow yesterday, and apparently a lot of it. I never realize how lucky I am to live where I do, until I have to go into the "big city". My house, while out in the middle of nowhere, is actually right on a Highway. A state highway - but one none the less, that gets plowed... often, as the big rigs need it to be, so they can get our food to the stores. Anyways, my biggest challenge is getting to the highway - and then it is pretty smooth sailing. Unless you go into the "big city" where they have more traffic, and less places to put the plowed snow!

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I got stuck behind lots of accidents... it slowed down my progress, a lot, and I had to be nice to everyone as we all fought for the lane of traffic. I won - I drive a big pick up - scares them little cars * evil grin* . Okay not really - I had my manners on.

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I made it in time to meet up with all my girls! It was great. We bonded. I then met up with my other girl on the way home. She gave me some quilt tops for Quilts of Valor, from the girls she councils. Beautiful!! I shall never be bored. Okay - I wasn't ever worried about that anyways.

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Okay - so the beautiful quilts in this post came from Illinois. From the Northwest Suburban Quilt Guild. They were some very very busy folks! And I am glad they were! I think they are all so beautiful. The one that really caught my eye was the stars in the 30's print on the black background.

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Thank you NSQG for all the lovely quilts!

Gifts for the 25th

A day late! Every year I start strong in January, thinking I will get my gifts sewn up before December. And... It works!!! So yesterday, after church, lunch, sewing backings for QOV's for this week, and starting a load of laundry... I sat down and sewed on my gift for the 25th. The picture at the right is a peek. DO not guess what it is, I think the recipient might possibly read this blog... possibly.

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I finally got one picture of the quilt I quilted on Monday. It is one if the VBS quilts that we made this summer. I actually finished all three of them, So if you want to see the tops go to:

this post . I did the panto called Deb's Swirls by Deb Geissler. I like that it is open and I don't think it detracted from the kids artwork.

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And last but not least - we finally drew names from our Monday post, for the Starbucks Gift Card. And Lori in SD - you won!! Yay - You also volunteered to quilt a qov... so maybe I will combine them in the same package????

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Oh and just so you know - I did jinx the warm weather. It started snowing friday, and hasn't quite stopped yet.

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Have a great day!!

Northwest Suburban Quilters Guild

Has made Illinois proud!! I got this HUGE box that my UPS man brought up, and even he was staggering a little. Don't tell him I said that - he may start making me come to the truck instead. But look at these beauties in that big box!!

Aren't these wonderful? But just so you know this was not ALL that was in the box. You will have to come back tomorrow to see the rest. I don't want to overwhelm your eyes with too much beauty at one time. Plus I have been told its time to cook dinner....

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Thank you all for your concern about my little bug. He had a rough Thursday, and sore Friday Morning, but he is up an moving today - like a wild child! One thing I did learn though is that I really like my sleep. I had to wake him up all thru the nite on Thursday - and on Friday I needed a LOT more caffiene to stay awake!

And there's more

I had great plans for today... and I was a rockin' and a rollin' and just getting ready to load a quilt. I had bread baking(gluten free raisin bread), and dinner in the crock-pot, and then I got a phone call. My little bug was running and turned his head and ran smack into a basketball pole. And - poor little dude has a concussion. So instead of quilting, I checked eyes, and breathing, and color. Ugh.

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But now is the happy part! I get to show you some wonderful quilts!! And the little dude is all propped up on pillows watching Brother Bear. I love the Moose - they are my favorite.
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So this beautiful String quilt came from Canada - from Ann C. She is in my heartstrings group.

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My UPS man is certainly building muscles! He brought this HUGE box from Illinois. These 5 quilts are From Elizabeth C. I believe she is part of the Northwest Suburban quilters Guild in IL. It was such a sunny day - we took pictures outside! I love it when the sun shines!!

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Hope you enjoy these quilts. And are enjoying the day. Although my little bug's head hurts - I enjoy hanging out with him!

Pillowcases and Battings

Monday Morning when I assumed that No Postal/UPS service would be running, my UPS man Brought me a Box. The Box is from Fairfield, and has no other persons name on it. Inside there were 4 queen sizes Batts!! I am assuming that this batting is for the Quilts of Valor. If you sent it to me Thank you!!
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This batch of pillowcases on the couch was sent in from New Jersey. There are 10!!! Thanks Jane M!

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These cute little baggies are also Pillowcases. They were sent from Chris S and Naedean B in New Mexico. Thanks Ladies!!

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Denise V from Denver Noticed a sale at Joanns and brought me some battings too. I am so excited - how did she and whoever sent the fairfield know that I used my last piece of QOV batting Monday? Perfect timing!!

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Denise also brought me two quilt tops which I will show you when they are quilted and 3 pillowcases!!
Thanks Denise!! Ps Give those cutie pie kids a high five for me!

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This last photo of pillowcases was sent to me from Loretta in LA. She also quilted some quilts - and has a few more on the way to her (grin). Thanks Loretta!!

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Have a great evening!

Finished Quilts

"Its springtime in the rockies", la la la la.... Okay - Not really. I know it is January - but it was 70 degrees yesterday. I opened windows. Its supposed to be 70 again today!! This is awesome. And I know, I am probably single-handedly jinxing it. We will get 17 batrillion feet of snow now. But I am going to enjoy this sunshine while it is here!







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As you know - I have had a wonderful group of Longarmers volunteer to quilt some of these Quilt of Valor tops. And I am so appreciative. They have totally sped up the production of these quilts.



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Today I am going to show you Three that Tammie in Maple Grove MN quilted. She owns Quilting Artisty.~
So the very top one comes from Barbara in Florida. Original Post

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The Next one comes from the Livermore Quilters - from Barbara. She is a prolific quilter now. She had quilted before, now we have her addicted! And the Nine Patch quilt comes from Audrey - of the Livermore Quilters.

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Tammy - Thank you for quilting these!

Last nite was my guild meeting. You should have seen me! I took a ton of quilts. Seriously - I think they weighed a ton! And my wonderful guild ladies took them home to bind. I think this is so cool how everyone is helping in any way they can. My son and I were talking about if it's even worth it to give $1 towards something, or should you wait until you have lots to give. He was thinking about the national debt ( big thoughs for a little kid) And I was so proud - I could use this project as a great example. If everyone waited till they had lots to give, we would have no quilts for any soldiers. But by giving what you can - look what we quilters have collectively amassed! My son, of course, said I used to many words - but he understood!

Day of Service Update

I, of course, do not have pictures yet of what I have done today - because the camera cord is upstairs, and if I go up there I will get sidetracked by the kitchen or the laundry or something like that. Not that I am admitting that I do laundry - its just that I would see it, (maybe have to climb over it), and it would probably depress me.

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So .... instead I will tell you what we have been up to. I have a little guy at home with me today, so we have ironed a LOT of strips of fabric for our strip twist that we will ALL work on tonite.

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We have quilted one Quilt of Valor, and are currently loading another one. Of course it may not get finished today - I still have to get 2 other children, go to play practice, and do chores. I think it might be my turn * bummer *

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But in reading thru my own blog last nite, I realized that I did not share enough photos with you of soldiers recieving there quilts. I want you all to know, as I do, how appreciated they are, and how they can totally make one persons day, month, even his/her whole life. Just to know that someone wants to offer them comfort as they struggle to recuperate. And to sometimes adjust to life in a way they never expected to have to adjust to.

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So let me tell you what I know! I know that the soldier in the top left picture recieveing his quilt from one of the high schoolers can not tolerate light without migraines. I know that he is trying to figure out how he will see with limited vision, and a super sensitivity.

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I know that the soldier on the right, recieveing his quilt has a Tramautic Brain Injury, and his memory will never be the same. I know that the 5th grader giving him his quilt, made that quilt on his own with his mom, to present to a soldier. I know that his mom is just as busy as the rest of us, if not more so. She has 4 boys ( I can learn so much from her!) Yet the two of them gave their time. I know that by meeting this soldier, R had a whole new perspective on WHY he wanted to make a quilt.

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I know that the picture with the group of students totally made those two soldiers' day. I know that they had struggled with Physical Therapy, they had already been to 2 doctors, and I know that they were tickled pick ( notice her shirt) that people took time out of their days, and busy lives to think of others.

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I also know that starbucks wants to thank people for there community service, so if you are helping out some way - go enjoy a cup of coffee on them. http://pledge5.starbucks.com

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Let me know what you did today in my comments. And I will throw in a $10 Starbucks card - just for the fun of it - to one deserving person. I will have the kids pick a number out of the number of comments. So leave one telling us what you did by Friday... 7pm... and you will be in the drawing.

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Okay - back to the quilting machine!! Have a great one!

We have more than 300!

These three Quilts of Valor came from Rebecca in WI. She and I have been internet friends for a few years - and she is so sweet. She is also a great resource of patterns. All of these are quilted , bound and ready to go!





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Thanks Rebecca!!





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The next 3 quilts were tops. two from Colorado and one from New Jersey. All three went to Louisana, to Loretta, to get quilted, and are now back here to be bound. The kids at school are graphing where all the quilts come from, so I am not sure how they will classify these. May be a little challenge.
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This first quilt top was made by Erica of the Livermore Church Quilters. I showed you the top in a previous post. The one with Stars was made by Julie, and freehand quilted. Loretta did a beautiful job!










Lastly - this red quilt was made by Grace G from New Jersey. She is a member of the Wind Rose Quilt guild. in Somerspoint NJ. Loretta chose to quilt a Baptist Fan pattern on it - and it is so appropriate - it looks wonderful!



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This challenge is gaining Noteriety. We have been on a few other blogs..
KimmyQuilt.com

Amys Blog ~

http://rosewillow.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/heartstrings-quilt-top-qov-stash-buster-report-3/

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http://www.patchworktimes.com/2009/01/15/glad-to-be-don/

Very Cool huh!
I am all planned for quilting tomorrow. I will be quilting QOV's and when my kids come home from school - they are going to start sewing strips for a strip twist quilt ( from http://www.quiltville.com/ )

Saturday stuff

Well a day without internet sort of changes your perspective on a few things. Last night about 7 pm my internet connection went off, and didn't come back. I was worried - cuz I like my email and surfing around on Saturday mornings. It was not meant to be. Instead we played baseball, swept the porch, worked on vehicles, and basically had fun. I even sewed a row or 2 together on a quilt. As you can guess - its back now ( and we are watching Wall-E)

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We live kind of away from town and have well water. We don't have a lot of well water, and last nite at 10pm we had NO water. I was obviously was really concerned. I sent Wrangler Man to see if we had left something dripping and I fell asleep. One of our spickets had frozen open a few weeks ago, and with the 60 degree day yesterday, it defrosted - allowing water to pump thru it.... a lot of water.... so we ran out. By this morning the water was back. Very helpful... all this to say - I could not do laundry either - as we were waiting for the cistern to fill back up!

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But I could Oogle quilts.... Let me show you a few!!

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This cream one at the top left, with 4 patches hails from Louisana. Gayle W made and quilted it! She siad she was given some small scraps and this is what she came up with... I am impressed. I usually faint at the sight of small pieces *grin*

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Next we have an Orange Crush top from Amy In Colorado. ( http://notalwayswiththread.blogspot.com) The Orange Crush was a Mystery quilt from Bonnie at Quiltville.com . She also has a pattern on her site called the Strip Twist. My kiddos and I are making that one out of Patriotics! Oh And Amy had 3 pillowcases for us as well!

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Next - we have a quilt made and quilted by Kris B in PA. She also quilted tops for us ( see http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2009/01/finished-friday.html )
I love how the fabric made the blocks so geometrical!

Thanks Ladies - for all your help. We sure appreciate it, and I know the soldiers will too!

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Enjoy your evening. I am going to do a little surfing now. I missed it this morning. I need to see all the cool quilty stuff!! Leave me a link to your blog and I'll come visit!