Its Barbara B Day!

These two beauties came from Barbara B in Ft Lauderdale. I just love log cabin quilts. We ( my kids and I ) read quite a few stories this summer about the quilts myths and lore behind them. It was quite interesting. And how the centers represent the home and hearth.

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The next one I named Firecracker. I just loved how the colors exploded - so thats what I came up with . C told me each block could be a firecracker too.

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Heres is a link to Barbaras Blog

http://justalittlezizzy.blogspot.com

Have a quilty day!

Alycia

Pillowcase Progress

Look at all these cool pillowcases that are ready for quilts. And - well I have the quilts for them. So will be loading the quilts into the pillowcases for a while!
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Lets See - the Right pillowcases came from California - from Robin M and she sent thos cute blocks too. they are 8 inches and *surprise* I was in the middle of sewing a quilt with 8 inch blocks - so these are going in it!!!
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The ones in the center ( or at least it is center on my screen) are From Jan in So Colorado. She doesn't know this - but we may come visit her when she least expects it! We haven't explored much down that way....

The individual picture is because I LOVE cowboy fabrics - and I have not seen this one. So I took a close up of it - for me ( giggle)


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These pillowcases on the left came from Laura in Georgia . She is in my heartstrings quilt group too - aren't they the greatest. So - it looks like I have a lot of loading up to do! Keeps me out of trouble right?
Have a great one!!

Its Sue and Carol Day

These are 4 of the quilts sent in by Sue S and Carol S and there WHOLE group. They sound like they have this quilt making thing down to a science!

Carol cut out the flannels as kits and one of the ladies from the guild pieced them together. Carol sent backing flannel and binding strips. Sue S volunteered to quilt 8 of these tops and provided the batting. She had her guild ladies do the binding and ta da..............

So let me show you these beauties! And they are flannel. I have to tell you I was VERY tempted to lay down with one a snuggle, maybe even take a nap! They even came with really cool pillowcases ad labels!!

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Don't know if you noticed but we have reached 100 quilts as of yesterday. I didn't think it was unattainable - I just didn't think it would happen so fast! This is AWESOME!

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Hope you all have a quilty day.... and come back again - I have more pictures in my camera ...

Grandpas 95th Birthday

We took a break from real life and headed up to Wyoming for my Husbands Grandpa's 95th birthday! It was a great great time!! We got up there Friday evening and hubby had a chance to get in some roping, sons helped work the chutes and move the steers. Then Saturday we all went golfing. His Mom and Dad are avid golfers - so they knew what they were doing and helped me and 2 of the kids out... we had no clue! Hubby and the oldest have played before. But I think we now have a new hobby. It was a blast.

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The top picture is Grandpa surrounded by everyone but me ( I had to take the pictures cuz that is my camera LOL)

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The next is my kids Grandpa showing little bit how to drive. I think they all did a great job!

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We had a cookout and a cake called a pig picking cake I think. My MIL had it one time and loved it, so made it for us - seh was right it is GOOOOOOD!

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The kids and I made Grandpa a quilt a few years ago - and of course you always want to know that someone is using it... so I snuck a picture of it! Its on his favorite chair in front of the TV. We are pleased!!

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Hope you all have a great day!

LCC Day at the Fair

A little bit ago the Larimer Co Fair and the Weld Co Fair were going on. My Moms groups got invited to do a demonstration of Quilts of Valor at the Larimer Co Fair... so we did! We set up for 4 hours in the quilt/cooking building and set up our sewing machines. We had a cutting board, a few quilts, some flyers that I made, and a few quilt patterns to convince people to help. There were a lot of folks interested. Sherry made this poster board explaining QOV and had a sample of qome quilt blocks . That is me in the White Tank top.

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One of the ladies - Anne - Made this Americana Quilt. It is really neat - each square has something different in it that reminds her of America.

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This Brown and Green Quilt is full of Horses. The center squares are all horses. This one is made by Willa. This was her second quilt.. EVER.. and now I think she is hooked - stay tuned for what she gave my mom this last weekend....

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This is my Mom and my Oldest son working on cutting some squares. He cut, three ladies sewed, another girl ironed - it was quite a scene!

And just to be onery... I put the picture of the back of me in so that if you look real hard you can see my swimsuit tan lines. This will PROVE that I made it to the pool to swim laps a few times ( all you doubters - you owe me a chocolate LOL)

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Today is the first day of school - So I got them all dropped off and it sure is quiet around here. Already got over an hour in on my quilting machine. Poor thing is worn out - it hasn't seen that much continous use for a few weeks!! Hope you all have a good one!

Alycia

A quilt from Norece

Isn't this a cool quilt? It came From Norece in TN - and it is ALL patriotic. I think it is an Atkinson Designs pattern. She is one of my favorite designers.

This quilt is completely finished - quilted and all! It is QOV 98 - WOW - This just totally blows me away. Can you imagine this many soldiers getting quilts in one day? Wow!

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School starts tomorrow and the boys are bummed. They call it the 'S' word. I kept thinking that I would start making sure they were going to bed early and getting up early and getting into our school routine... didn't happen! So I guess tomorrow it will be a cold turkey event! Just get up and Do it right?

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We got 2 1/4 inches of rain over the weekend so it is foggy this morning. A great morning to catch up and play all at the same time!

Have a GREAT one!

Its Tracie Day

These two Great Quilts came from Tracie in OH. She is very tied to military - her Husband is Retired Navy and her son is currently in the military.

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Both of these are made with some really cool fabrics! I liked them hanging in my living room/kitchen!

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I thought I would give you some close ups of the quilting. In the Strippie quilt she quilted something different in each row - It is REALLY neat. On the other one - well - you can see for yourself. They are wonderful!

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Today is basically our last day to hang out before school starts. We will be busy fri-sun with relatives, so today we woke up and watched Nim's Island. It is a pretty neat movie - my kind of action.

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I am also working on my next quilt... It's turning out pretty good so far~

Have a Quilty Day!

My New Quote

Okay - this isn't really quilting related ...
But I read this and I thought I need to have it written down and remember it..
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"I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow." Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind.
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I have decided to apply this new quote to my life...because you see - certain things are getting in the way of my quilting and fun - such as , well, Food, Laundry, Groceries - you know the boring stuff of life. So last night when my husband asked if I had payed the bills... I quoted Scarlett! Unfortuneatly he has a mind like a steel trap - so he asked me again this morning. Bummer!
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On the fun side - I am working on another quilt pattern. This is really so fun. I am not perfect at it, and I assume everyone knows more than I do - but its turning out really cool. Of course it is another Quilt of Valor. I am doing mine in Patriotics , but I think it would look good in lots of color ways. My goal is to have it all worked out and unkinked and ready to post to the blog on September first. So if all your munchkins have gone back to the "S" word by then and you are itching to start something new make sure to check back.
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Want to gather some fabrics? Well the main body of the quilt ( not including the borders) will take :
Blue: 1 1/4 yards
Red: 1 1/4 yards
White or Cream: 1 1/8 yards
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I will also have some scrappy options available - if you like scraps?
Have a great one!

Quilt Tops from Jackie M

Of New Jersey. I have already posted one of her Quilt tops under the Orange Crush Quilts. And here are TWO more!

I don't know if you've noticed - but sometimes I make up names for quilts. And then of course that name sticks and it just sounds good to me.. Okay I even make up names for people. My husband and I were in Mexico and we met a guy in the group with us. He was so cool. And I am not sure 100% why - but I started calling him strawberry... still do - to this day.

Back to quilts - Isn't this one lovely? The Top Left one we called 9patch and blocks - catchy name right LOL? The one of the right is really pretty and detailed. The last picture here is the backing for one of the quilts. Pretty cool huh!

Yesterday was one of those marathon days where you don't get to see your home. We left early to go to swim practice, School shopping , the library, and then on my way to my guild meeting I stopped at The Quilters Stash in windsor and.... they had the cutting mat I wanted. I have been looking for a June Tailor mat. I don't know specifically why I wanted that one - but I have had a JT mat for 12 years and LOVE it. My new one is Teal Green and looks VERY good in my house! I also got a jelly roll for my mom. It was her birthday. The Boys got her chocolate - so we had to go with the food theme!

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Hope you all have a great day!

LCC Quilters

I think I told you before, one of the ways I was spreading the word of the need for Quilts of Valor was to get my Mom involved. These are SOME of the quilts from the ladies she recruited from her church. Some of them had done some sewing, only one ( I think) of them had done any quilting. And Voila - they are all quilters now!!



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This Top Left one was made by Erica. She couldn't make it to the first sew day - yet she showed up at the second with a finished quilt top - you gotta LOVE that! The Top Right one was made by Julie. This is her second quilt. You can see her other one here: http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2008/07/quilts.html


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These 4 rail fence type quilts are made by Barbara. Now Barbara is a quilter - and she is a hand quilter at that! She does gorgeous work. At the first sew day she brought a quilt she was working on for a Great Grandchild. It was a tumbling blocks quilt and it was about half way hand quilted - beautiful!




















I like this Blue and White version. It is a really soothing blue. I am thinking some kind of swirly quilting on this one.. any suggestions?
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Then the Two quilts here on the right ( boy I hope I get my left and right correct. I hold up my hands and look for the L... but sometimes ..ugh!)
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Anyways they are the 3rd and 4th quilt from my Mom.. Sue. The rail fence one had a boo boo so she came up with a new design and it is great! I like the way it turned out. She went with the - "if you make the mistake 3 times it becomes a design element" theory. Works for Me!





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Today has been a nice cool day so I have been baking. Our garden has been growing well and we have a few vegetables. I have been shredding Zucchini and making muffins and bread!
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Here is a pic of our garden harvest on Saturday.