Design Wall 1/31/11

This weekend was our Quilt of Valor sew day. We got 5 quilts bound, and 3 more quilt tops started. I was so inspired that I came home a stitched a little bit more on my quilt kit.  It is the rail fence (found here:
http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/01/scrappy-rail-fence-pattern-for-jan-30th.html

and it is very very scrappy. So scrappy, that I just sewed darks together until the strip reached 42 inches, so some of the strips consist of a few colors.... we will see how it turns out!

 This is all of us *girls* quilting. We moved all the tables close so we could talk too - I LOVED it. These ladies are the BEST!!!

And they brought chocolate and Gluten free crackers. - see just AWESOME!!




****GIVEAWAY ALERT*****

I have a postcard quilting book - yes - I had a few of them - but it wasn't my fault..... I swear!

So - If you are interested in a book about fabric postcards - leave me a comment , (and a way to get in touch with you)  and at 8pm on Wednesday I will draw a name and get it in the mail to you.

This is a picture of one of the postcards inside. It is a cool little book.












To see what everyone else is up to this week go to http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/01/31/design-wall-monday-january-31-2011/

There are some cool quilts in progress!!

Stash Report and Fun!!

This weeks stash report is looking good!!!

Used this week:                             25.3 yards ( wowser!!)
Used YTD:                                      84.93  yards
Charity Fabric added this week:  0
Fabric Added  This week :            0
Added Year To Date:                    95.25 Yards
Net Used:                                        -10.31 Yards

I am getting there - my goal was to use up at least as much fabric as came in this month - but alas - I didn't quite make it. Oh well, Lots of Quilt of Valor Quilt kits got made up, and some were even worked on at todays sew day!

Now for the fun!!! Guess where we went this week? Every January Greeley has a big Farm Show, so we were able to go check it out, and of course, the BIG attraction to the kids was the tractors.

They bought 4 of them - just kidding.... but they were trying REAL hard to negotiate. Apparently they figured that their allowance wouldn't even cover the gas charge to get the tractor home!!

But they had a great time. We were able to meet up with some friends from town, so we impressed them with all our farm knowledge. Took us 2 minutes to tell them everything we knew LOL.

Hope you all have a great evening!!

Yellow Monochromatic Challenge

I read all about Judy's Monochromatic ( hereby known as MC) Challenge and I thought - oh man - that will be cool - and then she chose Yellow.... ugh. It's not that I don't like yellow, I think I just don't like yellow in large quantities!  Well, And I thought I didn't have much yellow, as that is not something I thought I bought. 

You see where I am going with this right? That maybe I should just stop thinking and quilt!

I pulled all my yellows, ( oh my - there were a LOT!!)  made a plan in my EQ7, and went to town.

And then I had strips left...and so I decided that I really wanted to use them up, because ... if I didn't, then I would have to add them back into my stash - and I really really didn't want to do that!....

So here is the finished Top #1

I have to be honest - it is not my favorite top. The picture does kind of blur it up. But - Wrangler Man likes it..... so it must be okay.

And this next picture is Top Number 2

I like it a LOT better... I don't know really why, but I think it has to do with the contrast.

And now - I am ready to move on to another color!!

Oh, and quilt these!!

January's UFO #6

The UFO chosen over at http://www.patchworktimes.com/ this month was UFO #6 from our UFO lists. Well at first my list only had 6 UFO's on it - so I thought that was cool. The list has grown to *gulp* 10!!!  And who knows, with my great ability to hide things from myself I might find 2 more!!

Anyways UFO #6 is all done - I put the borders on it, and quilted it, and Chryl S Bound it for me!! Whoo hoo - off to the Quilt of Valor land it goes!!

Here it is all bordered.

Here is a close up of the quilting. It is a panto called Starburst by Jodi Beamish.

Here is a picture of it with its backing - all flag -ish!

And this is the lowly little block that started it all.

Directions can be found here:

http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2010/09/quilters-accountability-92210.html

And Now I will very very patiently await Vince's ( I am assuming that Judy will let Vince draw again) Draw of the next UFO to work on for February!

Enjoy!

Beautiful Quilts

Some days I am the luckiest girl in the world!! The most beautiful quilts come thru here to be given to soldiers - and lucky me - I get to see them up close first!!!

This quilt is the Veterans Day Rail quilt from our sew a long - it was made by Rebecca in Maine!! Rebecca it is so beautiful!

The pattern can be found

http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/search/label/Veterans%20Rail%20Quilt%20a%20Long

This beauty was made by Alberta in IL - Click on the picture to see it up close - it is a work of art!! Thank you Alberta!

Judy V in Broomfield started quilting with the kiddos at Mountain View hard of hearing school. This was one of the quilts they made. She provided fabric pieces and the kids got to make a design, then the design was appliqued down. These two quilts are just gorgeous.

This is a close up of one of the blocks - cool huh?

Judy also participated in the Veterans Quilt a Long - and this is hers. Oh - and she quilted all three of these Quilts of Valor.

Sewists - you all are amazing. I appreciate your time and your abilities being used to cover our servicemen and women. And they so appreciate the hugs that are made into quilts!!

Take Care!

Quilters Accountability 1/26/11

I had lofty goals for this last week:
1. Keep working on the Yellow Quilts, putting on the borders, and choosing backing fabrics.

And I am glad that was all I did. 3 of my days were taken up with a beautiful thing called Jury Duty. I have to say I was not opposed to the jury duty as much as I was surprised that outside of my bubble SO many people have horrible heartaches. It could almost kill a person to hear all of it! So lucky me, I am back in my bubble where the unicorns fly and the butterflys are pretty.... okay well, maybe that doesn't happen, but I truly have a blessed life!

I worked on my two yellow quilts, and one is completely finishes, the other has borders cut and laying next to it..... and the bonus.... I got a quilt quilted

This is a small bit of it - I used a floofy feather pattern on it.

Next week Goals:

1. Finish the borders on Yellow quilt #2 - the challenge was just for January so sheesh I should have it finished before the 31st right?

2. Bind the quilt I just quilted

3. Work on Scrappy Rail Fence

4. Load up for Sundays QOV sew time!

To see what others are up to:

go to Bari's

http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/

Design Wall 1/24/11 - well Table

Today has been one of my least favorite days, but I am not at liberty yet to tell you why. Let's just leave it say that my life is pretty dang charmed compared to others, and I LOVE the bubble that I live in!!!

That being said - This is what it being worked on - on my design wall/table. It is a Scrappy Rail Fence in process: The pattern can be found here:
http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/01/scrappy-rail-fence-pattern-for-jan-30th.html

On Sunday I finished up with the rest of my crumbs of yellow - I kept some and sent the rest off to other sweet quilters - who wanted them ( whoo Hoo)

Some of the little pieces were like 1/2 by 1 inch little triangles and bits and oh  my - I can NOT believe that I took the time to sew them together - but I did!!!


Too see what others have been up to go to Judy's
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/01/24/design-wall-monday-january-24-2011/

Oh ya - and my boys thank you all for wondering how they did in the spelling bee... they got 5th and 7th place out of 22 spellers - so they were happy. Plus they outspelled their mom and won a milkshake....

Stash Report 1/23/11

Stash Report

Used This Week:   11.583 yards

Used Year To Date:    59.33 Yards

Charity Fabrics Added : 0 Yards

Fabric Added : 3/4 Yards

Added Year to Date: 95.92 Yards

Net for 2011:   35.617

My Kiddos had a spelling bee over in Loveland, and there is a Quilt Shop on the way, and coming home it started talking to my car, and the car just turned there!! I got a cute little charm pack Called Sugar Pops... Good thing they didn't carry yardage of that line!

Okay - now tell me the truth - aren't these just the cutest little spellers you have ever seen? I mean come on.... they just are so cute!!! 

Here's a sunset from Thursday night. It was cold, but so very clear, and the colors were so rich, much better in person!

Go to Judys

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/01/23/stash-report-week-4-2011/

To see how every one else did!

Scrappy Rail Fence Pattern for Jan 30th Sew day

On January 30th - in the big town of Greeley I will be hosting a Quilt of Valor sew day. A few of you have asked what we will be sewing, and can you join in virtually - and the answer is OF COURSE!!

Now let me show you what we will be sewing. I have 3 of these kits already made up, so I think I  might be prepared.

Tada ; The Scrappy Rail Fence!

I used my Accuquilt Go Cutter and a bunch of scraps and started cutting. And then I measured. I think that might be backwards -  but it has worked so far!!

To make a scrappy version you need

48  2 inch by 42 inch Dark Strips

32  2 inch by 42 inch Light Strips.

You will then sew them into 16 strip sets - Dark Light Dark Light Dark

I pressed them all to one side, because that is the way I roll.

Then I sub cut each strip set into 8 inch blocks.  From this I got 80 blocks total.

Set the blocks, alternating directions in an 8 x 10 setting

Sew

And Voila - a scrappy rail fence!!

Now - if you want to do yardage and make a more color controlled quilt, you will need

1 yard each of 3 darks and 2 lights - for a total of 5 yards. ( make sense?)

Oh - and the finished size should be :

60 x 75 inches -

which is perfect - because QOV is now asking that quilts be a minimum of 55 x 65 in. So this will totally fit the bill......

Hope you like it - let me know if you have questions, or I need to be more clear.

Quilts from Pat

Pat in Wisconsin said she would send a Quilt of Valor or two.... She must have been snowed in for a while.... cuz there are more than that!!!

http://bellcreekquilts.blogspot.com/ 

I have watched some of these quilts come to finish on her blog, and have been in awe of them. And them when I got to actually touch them and see them, and admire them, I fell in love with them even more!!

 I think this one is a Bonnie Hunter pattern - maybe called Boxy Stars? Isn't it cool?

I like this one a lot - I think it is like a Bento Box style pattern? But I love the overall look of it!

And this - I have to be honest - is my overall favorite. She made these crumb blocks and then set them in this quilt - and it is just gorgeous.... but the blocks are so amazing. They are just cool to look at!!!

Thank you Pat - for all your work, and for letting these wonderful quilts go to comfort a soldier!!

Have a great day!!

Quilters Accountability 1/19/11

These were my goals for last week:
 1. Finish Yellow String Blocks :  Done! They are set in a top and now I am working on the borders.

2. Finish the Yellow MC Top and choose a backing  Nope - the top is done, and then I decided it needed more so I am still working on it. You can see it here:
http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/01/design-wall-116.html

3. Cut borders for UFO #6 Done - put on... and are you ready for this? It is quilted, and Chryl took it last night at guild meeting to BIND it for me!!! Whoo Hooo ( it is going to be a Quilt of Valor!)

This is a close up of the panto I used - it was kind of starry.

4.  Quilt Customer quilt - its a food themed quilt - I get hungry easy, so wish me luck!! Done - here is a little clip of it - and yep - it made us all hungry!!

5. Finish cutting the lights for the 3rd QOV kit.   Done with this too.

Which is good our sew day is Jan 30th - so its coming up sooner that I will imagine!

All in all I think I did okay.... we seem to have something every night to attend, and that really slows me down. So I think this next week is the same. Who ever said that when the kids got older it was easier was not remembering all the drive time!!!

Next week's goals:

1. Keep working on the Yellow Quilts, putting on the borders, and choosing backing fabrics:

Sadly enough that is probably all I will get done , So if I have no other goals everything else will be icing on the cake right?

To see what others are up to - and to join in go to:

http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/

The Girls get Quilts too!

Most of the time I get invited to Men's Veteran's groups, or units that include men and women, but this time I was asked to visit a womens only group!

It was cool!!! There were 10 lady Veterans that are in this group. this is a picture of a few of them. One even had a very cool service dog! He was a hit with my boys. I am finding that these dogs are very very helpful, and a lot of the Vets that we meet have them.

They were very grateful, and surprised. I chose the girliest of quilts, and jokingly told them they had better like girly stuff... and one of them cried. She was so excited to have something girly, just for her, and that was made just for a female. Made my day!!

I thought it would yours as well. These Quilts of Valor are making huge differences in Veterans lives and outlooks on who appreciates them!! We sure do!

After our Veterans date - the boys went Ice Skating and I went to watch them!!

Have a great day!

And thank you SO much for making Quilts of Valor!!

Design Wall 1/16

I am still working on my Yellow MC Quilt. I know that it is not all yellow... but I was using the black as an accent color. When I was done with what I thought was going to be the top - I didn't like it..... so Wrangler Man and I looked at it, and he said - more black!!! I have added a little black border, and an working on a yellow bigger border.....

Since I had my yellow out, I had started making yellow string blocks. I DID NOT want to put the yellow back into my stash - especially now that I am doing the stash reports..... LOL  I figured that I might as well add borders to the string quilt as well.....

This was my EQ drawing of the Yellow MC quilt - I liked it in the drawing, but I think that by going as scrappy as I did, I probably lost a lot of the color value that I liked in the drawing.

Color Values are not my strong point, so I have learned something - just don't ask me to tell you what at the moment!!!

To see what others have up on their design wall go to

http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Stash Report 1/16

No fabrics followed me home this last week - but here is a picture of what I reported Last sunday. I was still in a state of shock, so didn't even think of taking a picture for last weeks stash report!!!

And look - there is yellow!! I wonder if I should make even another yellow Monochromatic quilt ??? ( just kidding - I am good with the ones I have made!)


So - How did I do this week?
Used This Week:                        -26yards
Used Year to Date:                    -48.05 Yards
Added This Week:                      +0 Yards
Added This Year:                        +94.50Yards

Net Used for 2011:                    +46.45 

So there may be a chance I actually use more fabric this year than I buy or recieve!!!
I put a back on a baby quilt for a customer. She provides quilts to the National Guard for new babies born while servicemen are overseas. I had a little top, so put a backing on, quilted it, and sent it to her with her own quilts.....

I sent out a box of scraps to another QOV'er - Yay!!!

I cut up fabric to put a border on my UFO #6, and I made a backing for it!
And lastly - I pulled out a yard fo fabric to make small borders for my Yellow MC quilts -

To check out what everyone else has busted go to:
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/01/16/week-3-2011-stash-report/

Have a great one - there are 2 football games on today - so Hopefully I see A LOT of sewing time!!!!

A Quilt show!!

Are you ready to see some Cool Quilts of Valor?

This one at the top was made by Gina S out of Longmont. Gina and her husband so kindly drove up to Loveland and met me at one of my boys' swim meets so that this quilt could get to a soldier! Thanks Gina!! It was great to meet you!!

The two above are actually one quilt. Jessica in Denver made it and pieced the flag for the backing of the quilt. She brought it up at one of our QOV sew days, and Ms Ethel took it home to bind it. She was so tickled at the back that she made me show it at guild - it got a lot of Ohhs and ahhs!!

Now - I will have to be honest - the next 5 quilts were quilted by Ms Pat in Peyton, but I can not remember where this top came from? I should have it on my list, but apparently I forgot this one - I am sorry. I will assume it came from one of our heartstringers!

I know the next three came from Sue F of our heartstring group ( you can check us out at http://www.heartstringsquiltproject.com/ )

And it was quilted by Pat

Don't you love the patterns that the string blocks can make?

This little one here, is going to go along with the other Blue string one. It will be accompanying it as a child quilt - a lot of these Vet's have kids and Sue thought this would be cool - so my VA contact and I have found the right vet for it to go to.....

This strippy quilt was made by Marlene from my Quilt guild. Again - Ms Pat quilted it for us!!

These lovely pillowcases came from the Pride City Quilt Guild in Pueblo! They are awesome pillowcase makers!

The very last one for today is still a top - but it came from Laura Jean - another heartstringer!! So I thought I should put that in there.... seems to be a theme!

Thank you all for your help!!