February Monochromatic Challenge

Can you handle two posts from me in one day? Seeing that it is the end of the month we are supposed to show our February Challenge Quilts. The color Judy drew was Violet - which I took to mean purple..... so here ya go - here is my offering for February.

Ta da!!! Its lots of purple - with a little lavender in between.... Hope you like it.

Design Wall Monday

I love having a big front room - there is enough space to lay out a few quilts and totally dominate the room!!! I keep reminding my family that it *is all about me*... so far its working!!

So this first one is a string quilt. I did not make the blocks. They came from Pene B in OR. She made these as part of our Heartstrings group, and this will be a Quilt of Valor.

This is my other quilt on the floor. Good thing my family likes me! They just walk around these like they don't even exist. I appreciate that. And they don't ever step on the blocks!

To see what others are working on head over to

http://www.patchworktimes.com/

Stash Report and Quilt of Valor Report

I hope its okay to do one post on two different things - but I tell ya, I hope you will forgive me ;-)

First off - my Stash Report. It looks good today - but a box made it into the back of my trunk yesterday at CQC ( colorado quilt council mtg) Since it is still in my trunk it won't count for this week.... but it was kind of heavy .

So
Used This Week:                                9.72 yards - all backings for Quilts of Valor
Used Year to date:                         142.803 Yards
Added This Week:                             0 yards
Added Year to Date:                       2.75 yards ( personally)
Added Year to Date:                     94.50 yards ( Quilts of Valor)

Net USED Year to Date:               -45.55 yards

And just to pat my back a little bit - I was in a quilt shop yesterday and saw about 17 million fabrics i like - and bought NONE of them. Can you believe it?

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And NOW For the Quilt of Valor Report!!!

For the Month of January ( cuz I forgot then) 21 Quilts of Valor were awarded
For the Month of February                               10 Quilts of Valor were awarded!

If you want to check out  more of what this little Quilt of Valor project is - you can find it inthe No Soldier Forgotten Tab
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Check out what others have purchased or used at
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/02/27/stash-report-week-9-2011/

A Day at the Capitol

We got up bright and early Thursday Morning and headed down to tour the Capitol with a LOT of other students! It was quite fun, and we signed up to take the Tour of the Dome. This is a gold dome and was up a LOT of stairs. 61 stairs to be exact.... but 61 stairs from the 5th floor - did  I mention that we had to climb up all 5 floors of stairs first?

Before we reached the start of the 61 stairs?

This was some really cool scrollwork in the Sherman Place Building - I liked it... can you see it in a quilt?

and this was the roof designs!!

So now  we have climbed the 30 million batrillion stairs and are up in the dome. This is the view from one of the windows. Back in the olden days they used to let you out on the veranda, but there is some structural damage they are repairing. Which was okay - cuz Did I ever mention...

I get the hee bee jeebies in my legs when we are that high?

Here are my leetle goombahs - in one of the windows. There is a rumor that Al Capone visited the capitol - at least that is what one of the tour guides said. I can't seem to find out if that was truth or fiction.

This is the metal scrolling in the center of the walkway of the dome. I LOVED it!!! I think I took 14 pictures - and I got laughed at - but you know what? I will never forget it!!!

This is when I got brave and looked up into the dome. Did I even mention anything about heights? I think this pertains to looking up too. The poor little 4 year old girl that saw me get woozy saved my life and then ran crying to her mom.... so sorry sweetie..... I'll take you horseback riding to make up for it....call me okay?

Going down the 61 stairs ( before we hit the 14 million stairs to get to ground level)

We almost missed this - it is a pictoral quilt depicting the historical events of Colorado. Of which, I must learn more. There were some pretty interesting folks who are part of this state.

Have a good one!

Its Wednesday again - Quilters Accountability

Just as soon as I get into a routine and think I have things figured out, something changes *grin* Goombah 1 started his high school swim season on Tuesday and that changes the time and location of one of the 3 swim practices that my kids go to. At least I won't get bored!!

Last weeks goals:
*Keep working on Purple Monochromatic Quilt - It is LOADED on the QUILTING MACHINE - and now I will be forced to quilt it before I can do ANYTHING ELSE - okay sort of. Tomorrow is a field trip to the Capitol, and so we KNOW it won't be Friday till I get to see that room again!

*Cut up some other strings to make Lime green Blocks with: Can I hear a Maybe - sort of to this one?  I have the foundations cut, I have a stack of fabrics pulled ( 1 pound 11 oz to be exact) and they are on the downstairs cutting table...... its a start - I'll take it!!

*Keep sewing the Pineapple blossoms:  Oh ya baby - I got at least 10 more of those suckers done. and I have all the strips cut for the rest.......

and and and.... I got a few Quilts of Valor quilted: ( let me hear the Hoo was!!)

This heartstring quilt came from Laura in my http://www.heartstringsquiltproject.com/ group.

This beauty was made by Ethel in my local Quilt Guild.

This last one was made by Tamera over at http://tameraquilts.blogspot.com/

Hoo ya - they are all quilted and ready to be bound at our February Sew day!

We even got in a little sledding time.... in the very very cold snow!

Goals for next week:

1. Quilt the Purple MC Quilt
2. Keep on finishing the pineapple blossoms
3. CUT some strings for REAL
4. Bind UFO #10 ( maybe)

I found out this week that I may be a *gasp* perfectionist, which really makes me laugh - because seriously - have you seen how square my quilts are?

But one thing about perfectionists - they are procrastinators. I fit that category quite well - Thank you very much! So that means I may have to put the binding off until someone FORCES me to do it!!!

To see what others are up to go to:

http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/quilters-accountability-report-february-23-2011/

And have a great evening!!



Quilts Awarded

You know - I have been a little remiss in showing you some of the recipients of our Quilts of Valor. I am sorry!!

So here are a few more Vets receiving their Quilts of Valor!

Both of these gentlemen are Veterans of the OIF/OEF. They both served overseas for two tours. I can tell you one little boy was very glad to get his Dad back!!!

Design Wall 2/21/11

As you can see my design wall has not been added to  much! I have been sewing though, it just takes a little while to finish these blocks, at least for me!

I had to pick up my design wall so that the floor could be vacuumed, and then something else jumped out before I could get my blocks back down.

This beautiful Heartstring quilt jumped out. It was made by Ann G on Minnesota and sent out here to go to a Wounded Warrior as part of the No Soldier Forgotten Quilts of Valor collection I have going on here.  

I really love how that plaids looks with the black center string. Thanks Ann!!

This one was made by Harriett of Brighton and quilted by Linda V. I love the simplicity of it, and the quilting just stands out.

Thanks for these Quilts Of Valor Ladies!




I know my design wall won't grow much more today. It is a SnowShoeing day, and you all know I can't pass thatup!!

To see what others are up to go check out

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/02/21/design-wall-monday-february-21-2011/

Stash Report 2/20/11

I got to go to lunch with my buddy - just back from A-Stan and it was awesome. But we had about 20 minutes left before I had to leave to go get my kiddo, and I accidentally stopped at JoAnns - I should know better than this really. My buddy left me - I guess he wasn't quite ready for the trip into a fabric store, so my willpower kind of went kaput!

I found some cool limeish greens... and they were springy - and I am all for Spring's arrival!

So the numbers:

Used This week :               4 yards ( backing for my purple Quilt)

Used YTD:                          133.08 yards

Added this Week:             2 Yards

Added YTD:                       97.25 yards

Net for 2011:                    -35.83  Yards USED UP!!!

To see what others are up to go to:

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/02/20/stash-report-week-8-2011/

Enjoy your presidents day weekend!

Wednesday

And that's about all I have to say about that!  Just kidding, except that I woke up thinking it was Thursday and I had to get the kids to an appointment, only to find out - its tomorrow....

So lets get into the To Do list and how we did.

Goal Number on was to quilt one of my Yellow MC quilts - and I DID it...I even cut the binding for it, but then didn't get it put on. Which turns out to be okay - my friend wants to teach me to put it on correctly - and I think I might try. But.... I have a little resistance to sewing by hand. Seriously! If God gave man the ability to make machines, then I should take advantage of that knowledge right????? 

Okay here is the quilt:

 This is the full shot - I am not very good at getting the detail and I am not sure why, but I took a lot of pictures to see what I could play with on the camera.

Heres a shot of the back - can you believe I had enought yellow for 2 quilt tops and a whole back... where did it come from?????

 As I was messing around I found a way to take a black and white shot - interesting....

2. Get backing made a prep UFO #10:   Done - and you are going to have to wait till the big reveal time on Judy L's patchwork times blog. Because it will probably, seriously, really, take me that long to finish it!!!

3. Work on Purple MC Quilt:  The top is done, backing has been chosen, and there it stalled....

4. Start Lime Green String Quilt: Nope - I had the lime pulled, but then I got distracted and this is what I did instead:

All in All not to bad - I think!

So what in store for the next week?

• Keep working on the Purple MC Challenge quilt
• Cut up some other strings to do Lime String blocks with
• keep sewing on the Pineapple Blossom blocks I started.

I had kinda forgotten that with Heartstrings Quilt Project - you don't need to make a whole set if blocks, you can just make as many as you can and send them in to the block base person ( Sue). She will combine them with other blocks. So my goal is 4 String blocks for this next week.

To see what others are up to - or to join in the list making go to:

http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/quilters-accountability-report-february-16-2011/

Enjoy!!





Snow.... and Quilts to Show!

SNOW

(at least the good things about it)

Snow is cold. But the snow storm we just had last night was really cold.

Snow is just one of the most funnest things ever.

Except for the cold part.

I don't know how animals survive the cold.

The good thing about snow is snowdays.

We get to stay home from school

~~~~~Written by the Littlest Goombah

Littlest Bit wanted to share his poem with you - so there you have it!  Of course, today it was 60 - so that snow is just a memory.

But these quilts are not!! Take a look at these beautiful Quilts of Valor that have come our way!

This one is from Joan - she lives just down the highway a few miles. I believe this is StarStruck from Bonnie Hunter. Joan got a little practice machine quilting on this one and it is beautiful!!

This beauty comes from the family that I have adopted. They might not know that yet, but its official to me! Karen is in St Croix, and her sister Sandy is in the US, and they really really want me to be their sister... I can just tell these things.

Beautiful quilt!! Even better in person!!

This chain beauty comes from Alamosa Colorado - from Janice W. Beautiful!! The chain really makes a neat effect in this quilt. Thanks Janice - I sure appreciate it!

I met a neat gal over the internet - I know... meeting over the internet ... what have I stooped to  Bwahh haa haa.  She said she had two Quilts of Valor for me, could we meet at Joanns. She had me at Quilt.

So we met up, her trusty husband drove her over, my trusty kids drove me nuts - oh wait - I mean they drove with me.

And look at these two gorgeous quilts!! ( below)

Mary - you are awesome!! Look forward to meeting you again!

Hope you enjoyed our poem and quilt show today!

I am off to get dinner ready and then get to my guild meeting while Wrangler Man

wrestles with three very hyper boys ( I fed them milkshakes on they way home!)

My design wall has moved

to the Longarm machine. Tomorrow is my guild meeting and I really really want to finish the quilting on one of my yellow monochromatic quilts..... so here ya are:

Working on the borders - 

Feathering the inside.

So wish me luck that it gets done before tomorrow night. After 2pm today I was on the road... play practice, groceries, switching vehicles, taking a different child to swim practice, and now - HOME!!

I came home to sugar cookies! I have celiacs, and haven't had a good suger cookie in years - and we found a recipe online, and the boys and Wrangler Man tried it. I think I might eat them all!!

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/sugar-cookies-gluten-free/f607fd69-55c5-48ef-98ab-207082fbb376

There's the link to the sugar cookies.... yum!

To see what others have up on their design walls head to:
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/02/14/design-wall-monday-valentines-day/  And leave lots of comments!!!

Happy Valentines day!

Stash Report 2/13/11

This was a more sluggish week for sewing, but we did get some ice skating in, some snowboarding, sledding, and I made a loaf of bread! And now the snow has melted - took the dogs for a VERY long walk!

Stash Report:
Used this week : 6 yards
Used YTD:          129 yards
Added this week: 0 yards
Added YTD        :  3/4 yards
Added Charity YTD:  94.5 yds

Net 33.83 USED UP!! 

The 6 yards used was making a backing for my UFO #10 ... kind of pathetic - but at this point ... I am Taking It!!!


To see how others are doing go to:
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/02/13/stash-report-week-7-2011/

Enjoy.... I get to go sew for a little bit now - whoo hoo!

I have a disease!

It is called Quilt Startitis.... and I am not sure it is a good thing!

I was browsing blogs last night, because if I got up from my desk people would think they could ask me things, and tell me what they needed.... but if I stayed glued to my desk like I was  *working* they would leave me alone.... and then I found this post:

http://skattebo-skattebo.blogspot.com/2011/02/design-floor-monday-red-blossoms.html

And I saw Bonnie H's Pineapple blocks laying there and I went - I WANT one of those!  Well, I am working on Purple's Monochromatic Challenge, and all of my strips are 2 inches. And I cut forty billion strips.   And over on heartstrings we are Supposed to be working on Lime green center string blocks, so I have  a 2 yard piece of limeish green next to my table, and I thought - I will make ONE block.

But the thing is - I like it..... and now - I have a conundrum....

Do I make 48 of these blocks to make a a whole quilt top?

And have all of these 1/2 square pieces left over, that you KNOW I can't throw away, cuz they are a useful size, and if I was really ambitious I could use them as a border on something.

Or - do I go back to the idea of using the purples in a string quilt with Lime green centers.

Knowing how much I cut I probably could do both, but knowing that my children and animals expect to be fed on a daily basis, and that at some point in time I will have to use the restroom, What should I concentrate on?

See my disease??? I want to start them all.

Which if I do that - I would be able to participate in all sorts of UFO challenges for the rest of my life.... ugh!

Oh - and I got a cute little customer quilt quilted. I used a panto called Hearts and loops by Deb Geissler, and the little girl ( 3 years old) loves hearts!

QA 2/9/11

Last night was supposed to be my Quilters Accountability Report, when we got home from Practices ( 9:30pm) my computer locked up, and went into not so nice mode. So after we got it all figured out, I gave up and went to bed.... plus its probably not that exciting of a report....I am sluggish ;-)

Last weeks goals were to:
Number 1: is to decide on a plan of action with violet.  Did this, and actually have a top in progress. it is on the Design wall post, just under this one.


Number 2: Get out UFO #10 and get a plan for getting it done. It is out on my cutting board as we type!!

This weeks goals:
1. Quilt one of my  Monochromatic Challenge quilt's from last month.
2. Get Backing made and ready for UFO #10
3. Work on Purple MC Quilt
4. Start LIME GREEN Strings quilt!

Heartstrings is an awesome little yahoo group, and for February and March to challenge is to use Lime Green center strings in your blocks.... Surprisingly Lime Green is not a color I have a lot of, although I love it! But I found a 1 yard piece and will start with that!
To learn more about Heartstrings go to:
http://heartstringsquiltproject.com/

To see what everyone else is up to go to:
http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/quilters-accountability-report-february-9-2011/


Have a great week!!

Design Wall 2/7/11

On my Design Wall right now... okay - the truth, it was on the wall ( my floor) until 10 minutes ago, then the laundry got dried, and now the laundry inhabits that place.... so sad!!

This is the start of my Purple monochromatic Challenge Quilt.

And these are my sporty new shoes. Two boys needed new shoes, and while I was there - these spoke to me. It might have been the limesh neon yellow - but now I am told that I am cool enough for my oldest to admit that I am his mom.... good to know - right?

To see what others have up on their design walls go to:
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/02/07/design-wall-monday-february-7-2011/

Have a great evening!!

Stash Report on Superbowl Sunday

I think I have finally figured out why I start so many projects.... it has to do with cutting up a LOT of fabrics... ya think?

This weeks Stash Report:
Used this week:              38.15 yards
Used YTD:                       123.08 yards
Charity Fabrics Added:    0 yds
Fabrics Added:                 0 yards
Added YTD:                       95.25 yds

NET USED YTD:        27.83 yards - Whooo Hoo I finally hit the more used that received mark!!


But I will be honest - I cheated a little. In my fabric stash I still have some clothing fabrics, and my friend said she wanted to make some outfits for her daughter - so I FORCED her to come look at my clothing fabs first - and she took 11 yards -...... Its good to pawn things off on friends!!

All those purples that I pulled out last wednesday, After Judy issued that February was for Voilet... here they are all cut up. I weighed them before I cut, and it was 4.4 pounds. I used 3.5 yards per pound ,.... so I cut up 15.4 yards.... What was I thinking????

Here they are all pretty like, wonder how many quilt tops will become of this?

And lastly - the leftovers. These are crumbs, small strings and pieces of the purples. If any one wants them leave me a comment that you do. If there is more than one of you I will have Little Bit draw a name on Tuesday morning and we will get them in the mail to you.

Please leave a way to contact you to.....


Look what Cheryl did with the Yellow Bits that got sent her way - I was impressed!!
http://ozarkcastle.blogspot.com/2011/01/yellow-flower.html

To see other stash reports for this week go to:
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/02/06/stash-report-week-6-2011/

Enjoy the game if you are watching it!

Take a little walk with me

I thought that I would take you on a little tour with us this morning as we do chores, but then I remembered that Wrangler Man likes to do chores at 0'dark thirty - and the camera won't pick anything up!

So, like any good blogger (tee hee) I remembered my camera when we went to walk dogs and check waterer's again.

The frost on the trees. We are a pretty tree-less place because of the winds. We planted these trees ( there were 8 of them) about 15 years ago. These 2 have survived well - and have many offspring on other parts of our place.

We just liked the frost on the weeds ;-)

This is Little Bit and his puppy. I think that is as full grown as he will be ( the puppy, not the kid)

My sweet dog, she had been sniffing out the rabbits!

Puppy, Little Bit, and My shadows - the big one to the left - thats the cow hay stack -

for the roping steers.

The view across the field - Not too bad on a cold morning!

Meet Dixie. She wants to say Hi, and remind you to bundle up!

This is Mac - he is 200 years old.

Okay - just kidding, but he is getting up there in age. He was (and is) Wrangler Man's

calf roping horse. He competed with  him when he was in college.....

( see he is old, right? LOL)

Looking East from the horse corrals. It was an unmarred picture, until my sweet dog made her footprints everywhere.... she had FUN!!