Visitors

My Uncle and his wife came out to Colorado to visit. My new Aunt really really wanted to ride horses, and we have a few - so we obliged. She had a great time, and rode quite a while in the arena. But the surprise of the day was my unlce - who knew he had some cowboying in him?
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They decided they wanted to watch some roping, so we had to gather the steers - and he jumped right in there. Even brought some down the alley way!

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And later on he even got brave and loped on the horse. I was impressed. The whole time this way going on my aunt was still riding her horse too.

Even while this big storn cloud was building. We watched it, and kept an eye on it, then when the wind started blowing we put the steer and horses away. Got into the house for dinner and 10 minutes later - it was hailing and raining!

-Have a good one!!

Save the Date

for a Quilt of Valor sew day. Jan at Quilted Expressions in Johnstown has graciously offered her quilt shop sewing space to have a QOV sew time. So we have decided on September 12th, ( its a Saturday). She is open at 10am.
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She is right behind a McDonalds and right next to a Pizza/Sandwich shop. AND the pizza shop carries Gluten Free pizza... something for everyone. So food should not be an issue.
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If you are interested in coming please email me at AlyciaQuilts @ Gmail.com . This is NOT necessary to come - you are more than welcome to come at any time. I will be there from 10am to 3pm.
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C and I went and checked it all out today. It was very,very,very important that we do this today. At 1pm. Because that is exactly the time Wrangler Man and the 2 oldest showed up with the flatbed of hay. We might have left them the fixings for BLT's as we were heading out - there might have been enough Bacon left.... maybe....
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(Okay - Just kidding, I actually made the whole lunch and dessert, and even directed the off loading of the hay a little... but then we REALLY did have to go... I could feel the shop calling my name.....)
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And we came back with a GF pizza- its gone - none left....

Quilt of Valor Sew Along Step 4

Before we get started - remember this is a mystery designer's pattern. If you think you are guessing the designer - keep it to yourself... as you will have a chance later to win something cool with that knowledge!!

So - On to Step 4

Remember all those strips you sewed early on? You need those now. The strips should be about 11 inches long. You are going to cut each strip into 4 ~~2 1/2 inch pieces.

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I kept each strip into its own pile of 4 pieces - as you will use all 4 pieces in one block.

Remember all those 2 1/2 inch pieces you cut of a Dark and of a light? Now it is time to lay them out into the block and Start sewing. I layed mine out like a 9 patch block, and chain sewed. As I got more confident - I layed out 4 blocks and chain sewed 4 at a time. I was impressive (giggle)

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After I got each of the three rows sewn together I headed over to the ironing board. I kept each block chain pieced together until I was ready to iron it.

I have no clue if this is the right way to do it or not - but it kept all the pieced of each block together for me. And because I am usually sewing and ironing to the tune of - Hey Mom... I need to be back at school at 5:30 tonite ( and it is 4:45). Or Hey Mom - I can't find a towel. ( Oh you mean the two towel closets filled with 40 towels are completely empty?)

Mommmm - I'm hungry -what can I eat? ( Oh I don't know - check the 3 drawers of snack foods, or all the fruit on the counter, or check the leftover list....)

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Oh and when I press them I pressed the top and bottom rows in, and the center row out, so when I put the block together the seams will interlock.

And tada - after this large amount of sewing you will have 61 of these little blocks that finish up at 6 1/2 inches.

GIVE AWAY

This week I am giving away 12 Patriotic Fat Quarters.

This should inspire you to make another Quilt of Valor - because - well its patriotic ( grin) But, of course, you don't have to make a quilt of valor with them... they are yours.

All you need to do is make a comment on this post by Friday the 4th of September at 8 am Colorado time. Be sure to leave me a way to let you know if you won or not. I will do a random drawing for the winner.

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Have a great weekend!!

More from the Quilt show

On Saturday I was pleasantly surprised when Judy V from Denver stopped by. You all might remember her. She worked with the Deaf school in her area and had those kiddos make a quilt. Well she also followed along with the Not So Top Secret 2... and here is hers! Thank you Judy!!






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Then a gal that had emailed me showed up and I was lucky to meet her. Claudia from Loveland brought me 2 lovely lovely quilts. The scrappy one looks very complicated - but after staring at it for a long time I think I might have figured it out. Thank you Claudia!

I met a lot of quilters at the Quilt show and many expressed interest in a QOV sew day. So mark your calendars for September 12th and stay tuned for more details. I am coordinating with an awesome lady that owns a quilt shop ( FUN) and is making her room available. So... write the date down....

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What was waiting for me?

24 Pillowcases!!!

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There is a group of quilters in Pueblo - called the Pride City Quilt Guild and they made pillowcases. They wanted to get them to soldiers. I volunteered to put a quilt in each one and get it off to a soldier!!

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I tell you - it was perfect timing. I was just about out of pillowcases to case the Quilts of Valor. Isn't the timing amazing?

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Ladies - Thank you so much, and Cathy -thank you for sending them!! You all are angels.!

Quilt Show

The Rocky Mountain Quilt show this weekend at the Ranch was wonderful! Saturday, I had my oldest son in the booth with me, and he was quite excited at the amount of people that came by. He is a teenager ya know - and he even let a couple of quilters give him a hug. I was impressed!

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Of course we were handing out information about Quilts of Valor. And we were encouraging everyone to get involved somehow. Of course, we mentioned our goal to be able to meet the needs at Fort Carson. It was so amazing how many people always wanted to get involved they just didn't know where to start. I think we pushed 'em ( grin)

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Now - you all know I can talk - but my my - I don't talk that much in a month. I used up all of my words!! it was so awesome to meet people, many of whom had gifted quilts to us already, and many who have read my blog. I loved putting faces with emails and names.

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Sunday my youngest two were with me. The middle child is a 5th grader this year, so his class will be the ones sewing this year. He was quite pleased to explain our school project to everyone who would listen. And seriously - all but one lady stopped to listen.

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We had String blocks out to have people sign. It was quite humorous to hear people ask ...really ? I can write on the fabric? I think we had over 125 blocks signed. Should make a few quilts! I think 48 is an average quilt and borders.

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And Saturday night - it was my Dad's birthday. So we went to P.F. Changs for dinner. I pretended it was my birthday dinner too - and I had their flourless cake. It was yummy! They cater very well to those of us that can't eat gluten.

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When I got home there was a package waiting for me... wanna know what was in it? Then come back tomorrow......

Quilt of Valor Sew along Step 3

***Shameless plug***
This weekend is the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival (http://www.rockymountainquiltfestival.com )at the Ranch in Loveland. I WILL BE THERE!! So come and see me. I will have a booth for QUILTS OF VALOR. So come sign a card, a block, or just say Hi to me.
It is Sat 10-5 and Sunday 10-4
*****Back to our regularly scheduled program******




So when we last left our sewing table we had a lot of half square Triangles. - Now we are going to make them into hourglass blocks.
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I kept all of my pairs together. I don't think that is necessary, but I did just because (grin)





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I paired one Half square Triangle and layed it on another one. Right sides together, BUT opposite colors together. I then pinned the pairs - because on that day I was all into accuracy.








~Then I placed my ruler diagonally across the pair and drew a line.









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After all the marking are made, then sew 1/4 inch away from the line on EACH side of the line. Once they are all sewn, I headed back to the cutting table, layed my ruler back on the line and sliced with my newly Bladed Rotary cutter.












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And when you open them up - this is what you get! Take them to the ironing board and press them open. Mine all measured at
6 1/2 inches. Hopefully yours will too.


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Isn't this a lovely pile. I did mix a few of the pairs - just to see what the hourglass blocks would look like. They are the 3 on the right. I liked them!

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It has been brought to my attention that you all can sew faster than I am posting the instructions. So if you are bored - you may come clean my house, or make us dinner... is that a good compromise? Just kidding... I don't want anyone to stress out ;-)

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Quilted by Suzanne

These three beautiful Quilts of Valor were quilted by Suzanne Earley - of the Knots and Bolts (http://shop.knotsandbolts.com )fame. Thank Suzanne - you did an awesome job!!
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The first quilt was made by Sherry - our CFS High school teacher. I love it - it has the tiniest logs in it!
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Next quilt was made by Rubydell. She is the co-president of our guild... I suckered her into it (giggle).


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And last was made by Jackie M in NJ.... I LOVE it! The colors really make the pattern stand out!



Thank you all for collaborating on these quilts~!
And Thank you all for the Birthday wishes. I think my horse is going to be okay. Wrangler Man had to rig up a small stall for him. Our corrals are all big - as 4 horses or more can live in each one. Today he was putting a little weight on his leg - so thats a good sign.
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Now maybe tonite we can have Birthday Cake !!! I finally found the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devils Food Cake mix that I have wanted to try.....

Wednesday

I had planned on posting last night, after I got home from my guild meeting, but I got a call instead.... one of those -Honey we are heading to the Doctor. Gurgle gurgle sputtt... So I immediately call back. And after I realized they were taking my horse to the vet, I calmed a little bit. But then I realized it was my horse, and I panicked again.
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Wrangler Man had been roping off of him, and he stumbled and wouldn't put any weight on one of his legs. He is a big horse, and they couldn't tell where exactly the pain was coming from. So I met them at the Vet's at 9:30 pm.... Nothing is broken as far as we can tell. So its Rest and no laying down for a few days. Wish him luck would ya? I hope it is just a strained muscle. If it doesn't heal it is off to the Vet Hospital and they will have to do some serious ( read expensive) X rays!
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Last night I won a door prize and it was fabric and I cracked up. I hope you can read the sayings... they were very appropriate as today is my birthday. And it is my 29th in case you were wondering (giggle)


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Have a great one!

Number 5

I just did my 2 1/2 inch strips drawing.. I went to Random.org and put in 12 comments and number 5 won.... so.....

So QUILTIN TRUCKER.... you are it!! When you can send me an email at AlyciaQuilts @ Gmail.com ( remove all the spaces) and tell me where you want your strips sent to.

Thanks for playing!!

Quilts from Geneseo

I swear these ladies in Geneseo are a bunch of prolific quilters! I got a call from Jean - she lives in Colorado. She says I was just back visiting my sister and they gave me a few quilts for your Quilt of Valor Project.
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She wanted to know if we could mee up someplace. Well.... ya!! There is a quilt shop called Tomorrows Heirlooms between her and myself. - Sounded like a great plan to me.
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I loaded up 2 of my 3 boys and headed out to meet up with Jean. Adn of course - right next to the door I had a quilt top that I decided needed borders. I was planning on taking it with me to find borders. - Note the planning part !! I FORGOT it!!
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No worries though. Since it is about an hour away I had to use the restrooms at the quilt shop - and on the way to the restrooms they have a clearance rack... and what should I find on the clearance rack - 2 ( count em 2) bolts of some of the fabrics in the quilt. So now I could do a small inner border and a larger outer border and maybe even a pillowcase. I was tickled! And was proud that I could remember some fabrics in the QUILT!!!!

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After we left the quilt shop with my 3 large bags of quilts.... THIRTEEN in all, we headed to Golden to go visit the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. About half way there I realized that in my excitement to find fabric for the forgotten quilt - I had forgotten to use the restroom....

The RMQM was in the process of closing one exhibit and opening another. They were also moving buildings so both exhibits happened to be open. It was a Twofer!!

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They had some quilts from the original Eugenia Mitchell donation hanging - and my were they gorgeous.

After the Quilt Meseum I promised the kids I would take them to the Lego Store. It is in a rather large mall. With a lot of people. And you probably don't remember this, but I live outside of a small town, and converse with animals that don't argue, animals that move out of your way ( mostly) and that depend on me for food. NONE of the people in the mall resembled those animals.

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At times we felt it was a fight for our lives - or at least our feet - my my are there a lot of folks out shopping on a Saturday. We survived, and were glad to get home.

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And then we got to look at all these beautiful quilts from the geneseo guild. I am so tickled that they did this, and how it works out to have angels coming to my state! Thanks ladies!!!

Quilt of Valor Sew Along Step 2

Step 2

This week we will be working on our 30 7 1/4 inch squares. You should have cut 30 Dark Squares and 30 Light Squares.

First - Take the 30 Light Squares and on the wrong side of the fabric draw a line diagonally on the fabric. I place my ruler on it, and use a light pencil to make the line.

~Next Lay the Light Fabric Square on Top of the Dark fabric square. Right Sides together. Then sew 1/4 inch on each side of the pencil line that you have drawn. You will then have a nice pile of 30 blocks with two seams on it.

Place your ruler on the line and slice the blocks. I kept them in their pairs as you will sew them again. If you will want a more scrappy look - don't worry about keeping the pairs together.

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After you have sliced them all - take them to the ironing board and press them open.

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Well - I have to tell the truth, I don't do them all at the same time. I did them in groups of 10 because I am easily distracted.

Questions:

Laura asked how many steps the quilt would be. Truthfully I am not 100% sure. There is probably 4 more steps in putting the top together. But you can't hold me to that - because sometimes I just don't know ;-) Plus I want to leave you in suspense as long as I can as to the identity of the designer.

Give Away:

This give away is my 2 1/2 inch strip bin. It is not large - but there is enough to make 1 or 2 more 50 x 60 quilt tops. They are all patriotic strips, in varying shades of Red White and Blue. And quite possibly it will grow between now and when I send it out. They would be a great addition to anyones 2 1/2 inch strip bin, and add some new variety!

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How do I enter for this?

Leave a comment and a link to your blog. If you are participating in the QOV sew along - link to your post about it ( ify ou have one) If not just leave me your blog address - so that I can come and visit.

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Leave a comment by Monday Night at 8 pm so I can do a random draw and notify you the next day as to where to send the strips to.

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Have a great Quilty Weekend!!

Thursday Quilts of Valor

Stephanie in Windsor sent these 3 quilts over. They are truly gorgeous. The Hearts and Stars one looks a little complicated to me, but it sure is striking. Thanks so much Stephanie!

This quilt cam all the way from Dover PA - Thank you Pamela. I really like this one. The pattern is very cool. Anyone know where it came from?
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One of the things I like the most is taking a photo of the quilt. It always brings something out that I don't see when I first look at the quilt.

This last one came from over the pond. It was made by Dianne in the UK. I love how it turned out. The center strings that she used are sure striking, and really pull the whole quilt together. I had a backing the exact same colors as the center strings... so naturally they were made for each other!
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Dianne has a blog over at http://rosewillow.org

We have one week left until school starts - so have been packing in lots of stuff, so I am slowly getting to emails and my"stuff" . I feel a little unorganized, so for the next hour - I am organizing... before we have our evening activities!