Brown Centered Strings

Our Heartstrings group is having a Memorial Day Sew in - and I thought between Graduation, parties, and chores I might get a few done..

I have 8 completely finished, 5 more to trim, and maybe 15 in process.... who knew my string bin had gotten that full?

I also worked on my Jacobs ladder quilt - the last 2 blocks... are Sewn COMPLETELY WRONG!!! I guess I should have payed attention - so I tore one out last night and will get to the next one today,

I was Crazy Crafty on Friday - 

I made Graduation cards for the kids..

So many of them participate in the same things we do so I sort of had pictures!!

And LTC T - 

This is Memorial Day

We were priveledged to meet him

and present him with a Quilt of Valor

He has two little boys, so we made sure to get him a bigger one

He told me it was awesome - all three of them can snuggle under it!

My Early Morning walk today

I LOVE airplanes

For more design walls head over to 

http://www.patchworktimes.com

Quilts from the Heartstrings Quilters

I tell ya - for Christmas I want more hours in the day - and I want them to be light hours... not dark ones! We have just been busy, but having a great time.

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Saturday Wrangler Man's Sister invited us all over for chili and to play cards. There were 20 of us attacking their new house. It was great! The kids played cards, and the adults played cards and oh my - were they competitive!

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I am not sure where the rest of the days have gone, only that Wrangler Man is in Dallas, which makes perfect sense because it is supposed to snow tonite. It is truly a given - when that man is gone and I am 100% responsible for the chores, it snows! I think he and mother nature have a pact. They like to see me drag hay thru the snow and over the icy ground ( do you feel bad for me yet? - Didn't think so!)

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These Quilts of Valor came from the folks in my Heartstrings group. Just a great group that works so well together. I so Appreicate them! The first three were pieced by San and the Murphy NC Volunteers. There were quilted by the famous Mary! at http://blog.maryquilts.com/

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This beautiful Batik quilt was made by Nancy W in New York. I think you can click on the picture - the fabrics are just gorgeous! I think this quilt is called a Jewel Box pattern. Perfect for these fabrics.

Thanks all for the beautiful quilts. You guys are awesome. Soldiers will love these!

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Have a great evening!

Susan and Janet

This wonderful Heartstrings Quilt is made by Susan - of the Aprons for Afghanistan (http://apronsforafghanistan.blogspot.com)

fame. She sent it on to Janet in CA - and she quilted it and bound it... and now it is ready for a soldier!

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It is really striking. It got a lot of ohhs and ahhs in my family.

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If you haven't checked out the Heartstrings group - head on over there.... http://heartstringsquiltproject.com This group = boy can they get the quilts done!!

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This is my first post from my new computer, and new upgraded explorer.. and I tell ya, nothing is the same. Apparently the world kept moving on after I purchased my 2000 computer, and I did not keep up. Due to some flickering on my other computer Wrangler Man and the boys escorted me to Best Buy. I asked all the dumb questions to the tech people while my family hid. I think they can only take so much embarrasment in one day.

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Yesterday I learned what an external Memory was, and how to use it.... and I did! I even learned how to transfer some files with a stick. Tomorrow I am promised that they will help me move my Electric Quilt stuff... any suggestions? I don't want to lose any of the patterns that I have made.

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Hope you all are cutting well....

Quilts for a Sunday

These first three quilts on the right were all Made by Kathy in WI. They are gorgeous!!! And the two of them are string quilts, but the top on doesn't look like it at first. Took me a moment!
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Kathy - Thank you SO much for your hard work. I sure appreciate it!!!
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This Not So Top Secret project quilt on the left was made by Cindy P in ME. I gotta tell you, it just tickles me to see the way they can all be so different. Cindy - Thank You!!

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Next is a Friendship Star type quilt from Kathryn in MA. I like the way she used the color and the white - it is quite striking! Thank you Kathi for contributing this quilt!!

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And last - a string quilt from Sue, quilted by Janet - both in Heartstrings. Sue has her own blog over at http://susan-my2cents.blogspot.com/ if you feel like checking it out. She is up to a new project.

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Today has been a long but lazy day. We taught in the 4th grade at church, and I think all the kids came sugared up. They were great - but the don't stop.... The 4th graders move up to the 5th grade class next week, so we got to go check it out, and they had JUST AS MUCH ENERGY..... need more caffiene if we make that a regular thing!

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Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend. Ladies - Thank you for your Quilts of Valor!!

Quilts from San and Mary

San made these two quilts and Mary (http://maryquilts.blogspot.com/ ) quilted them. These two are in my heartstrings group. This group is so prolific - They just keep a quilting and sewing!!

Thanks San and Mary!!

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I got a call today! From a Sargeant. He wanted to thank us for bringing the quilts. He said that a soldier told him about getting the quilt, and that he didn't stay to talk to us. He got back and read his journal and was just loving the meaning of this quilt. Now I don't know what soldier it was - but that makes it all worth it!!

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Hope you all had a great Mother's day! Ours was great. Last night Wrangler Man decided to mow some of the grass growing awful tall around the house - and he ran over a rattlesnake!!! I was glad to not be there!

Stars and Strings oh My!

Stars and Bars! I really like seeing that finished quilt. This one came From Ellen Y in ID. Thank Ellen!!

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The colors are just strikingm and very patriotic.

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Next come five quilts from Gramma Nancy in MN.
This is a part of her label:

"When you are feeling down, or blue, or just having a bad day – I hope this quilt will make you smile a bit. It’s a “cuddle quilt”, made with love and appreciation, and something that was made especially for you -- I also hope you feel the “hugs” a quilt made with love can provide.

God bless….."

Grandma Nancy

I need to let you know that I am really trying to get all the pictures up quickly. I am amazed at how well we all work under pressure - as it is AMAZING the packages that I have recieved this last week. So if your quilt is not up today - I promise I will get it up. I want to give everyone their day on the blog. Plus it gives me great pictures to show.

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And this brings us up to 731!

What do AZ, NE and NM have in common?

Incredible Quilters!! Thats what!

The First Two are String quilts made by San in my Heartstrings group, and Quilted by Julia in NE. They are wonderful!!

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This Cool Star quilt come from Andi in AZ. What a beautiful quilt!! I love all the colors in it.

The Next Two Quilts come from Pat in NM. The fabrics came from many quilters across the US. Pat did all the work of making and quilting the quilts. She did an Awesome job!


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Ladies - THANK YOU so much! I really appreciate all your hard work. And I am so impressed that you all have the same goal - to get every wounded service person covered!!

Strings and Pillowcases

I love string blocks because I can use all of my scraps, but when my scraps get too full I really MUST sit down and start sewing! Which is just what I did this last week. My kids had a couple of days off, so I spent some time at the sewing machine while they chilled to "underdog"

...here is a picture of my overflowing scraps. They usually don't get that full - as I share my strings with some of the ladies at my guild, and with the 5th grade kiddos... but apparently I haven't been sharing enough!

This is my orgazined pile of strings... its about as organized as I get, maybe it would help to be more organized... hmm - thats a thought!

And this is some finished string blocks sewn together. I had the kiddos sew them into 6 blocks per row. Now I just need to really really really iron them, and have the strips sewn together and voila - a quilt top!

Now - Pillowcases! Each Quilt of Valor is going into its own pillowcase. These are so great!! It makes a nice presentation case, as well as a carrying case.

Many of the soldiers are sort of in transition mode, and travel to various doctors, only to sit and wait until they can be seen. And they take their quilts with them. So the pillowcase is a nice way to tuck it into and take it with them. And YES they do take their quilts with them....

These fabulous pillowcases were made by Peggy of my Heartstrings group. Here are a couple of links to free pillowcase patterns.

From Operation Support:

http://www.operationsupportfordeployedmilitary.org/PCDir.php

I have used Vickis instructions a lot and they turn out great!

http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com/field_trips_in_fiber/2007/05/pillowcases.html

If you are interested - the weekend after Thanksgiving the Heartstrings group is having a Pillowcase virtual retreat!

http://heartstringsquiltproject.blogspot.com/2008/11/save-these-dates.html