Not so Top Secret Project Two Part 3

Are you ready for Step 3? Please Remember - this is set on point because that is a challenge for me. Well Sewing straight is also a challenge some times - but I won't always admit that!

~

So we need setting Triangles. I used all the same fabrics and used 7/8 of a yard of red.

*First cut 3 ~12 1/2 inch squares of red. Sub cut them into 2 diagonals. ( Picture the square with a cut where the ruler is, and then a cut going the other way diagonally)

* Next cut 2 ~6 1/2 inch squares. Cut them once on the diagonal. These will be your 4 end caps.

~

So, because on point gets me sometimes I went and layed the first row out - so I could visualize. I will tell you how I did it, and immediately you all will figure out 7 bazillion ways to do it better. Please share if you do!
*First I layed out one of the endcaps pieces.

*Then I layed out the second row.
One setting triangle, one post, one 16 patch, one post, one setting triangle. I took that row to the sewing maching and sewed it up.
~
When sewing the setting triangle to the post, look at the picture - that is how I matched the ends and sewed. See how the bottom pieces line up? Match them that way ( trust me, it works)

I continued on and layed out the second row - blogger put it upside down, but the layout is the same.

I continued sewing the first three rows, and then I needed another piece. I needed a setting triangle with a post sewed to it. So I layed the setting triangle out where it needed to go, and layed the post on top of it. This way I couldn't get the post in the wrong place.
This picture the top is the 3 blocks, and I am working down from right to left ( so look at the picture a little sideways) ( Blogger is annoying me - I can NOT change it!!)
~
This picture shows how I lined the post up with the setting triangle. Then I layed this piece out with the rest of the row and kept going.

Remember I told you that one 2 1/2 inch x 8 1/2 inch piece would have 2 red squares sewn to it. This is where that piece comes in. You sew it to one of the 6 1/2 inch half triangle end caps. Here is how I did it. I put a pin in the center of the end cap, and a pin in the center of the post then matched the pins and sewed.

And this... it is the center of the top. We will add borders next - and you will still need your 2 1/2 inch strip box.

~

Please please please - if I missed something or said it wrong please tell me. I did a lot of laying out of pieces and thought it looked right - but sometimes the words don't come out properly. I really had fun trying to figure it out - and have a lot of respect for people who can "see" the on point layouts so easily!!

~Oh My center of the top measured 44 x 59 so far.

Quilted by Gail

I met Gail thru a friend in Denver. Turns out she has a longarm machine, and she likes to quilt! She is from a warmer place ( Hawaii I think) but married a guy from Colorado, and so she is learning to adapt to the cold weather. Instead of trekking out in the winter - she quilts!! And Quilts of Valor was the reciepient of this quilting!!
~
This first quilt was made by my Mom - Sue.
~
The next quilt is a Not So Top Secret Project. It was a group project. I did the cutting, Rubydell made the blocks, Sue ( not my mom, another Sue in my guild) put the blocks together. Daisy put the borders on , and Gail quilted it!
~
And the last quilt was made by Shari - one of the teachers from the school.
~
Thanks Gail for quilting these for us!!
~
I apologize for not posting more, but between the tornados, thunderstorms and childrens events - the computer has been lonely. I unplug everything as soon as I hear thunder, and some of these storms have lasted for hours.

~

They are playing havoc on our fun!

See ya tomorrow for step 3 of the NSTSP2... my mom has even asked for the next step - gotta do what Mom says right??

Tired of Tornados

It is day 4 of tornados - and quite frankly - they can go away!!
Sunday - we had tornados to the east and the west of us. All the guys were in Laramie - so I told them to stay there... My dog and I stayed in the basement.
~
Yesterday they cropped up just as we were getting ready to load up horses and head out.... right into the eye of the storm. Needless to say - we unloaded and stayed put.
~
Today was much more fun - we watched 2 tornados from the Dentist's office, and watched them move east ( towards my house). After our dentist appt. there was still a tornado warning for my town, so we went to Coldstone Creamery and killed time. While we were hanging out, and amusing the staff, the power went out. The manager says - oh boy - now what. And my boys said - give us spoons - we will eat everything that melts. Sadly for them the power went back on.
~
We made it home to some incredible flooding and lots of hail on the roads. For us to flood is quite a feat - we live on sand, and on a hill... a good sized steep hill. I am probably not the only one to wish that the weather pattern would change. No tornados touched down here - but we hear of where they did.
~
On to quilts!!
These two beauties came in from Vancouver WA. Form Susan G, Claire B, and Rose Ann L. The pattern is from Quilts and More - Winter 2008. They are really beautiful. Thank you ladies for all your hard work!! They are perfect Quilts of Valor!!

~

My Dove Chocolate quote for the day: "Do not look back and ask Why, look forward and ask why not?"

~

Have a great one!!

Not so Top Secret Project Two Part 2

Back to your 2 1/2 inch bin.
I used creams for the "posts" and Red's for the squares. I thought of using all the same cream, but I ran out - so now it is a lot of creams.
~
From the Cream - cut 48 2 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch posts.
Pick a red or 2 or 3 - cut 31 2 1/2 x 2 /12 inch squares.
~







Next - Sew one 2 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch post to the top ( just pick one side) of your 16 patch block. And Press the seam. I wish I could tell you which direction to press, but I didn't pay attention - I just pressed.


~


Then
Sew 1 ~ 2 1/2 inch red square to the top of 30 posts. You will have one red square left - Do Not Throw this away!! Or if you are a plan ahead type quilter - sew it to the other side of one of the posts. You will end up doing this at some time - but since I don't plan to far ahead - I did it last.




Thats the end of step 2.....

~

Do you want to see what the inside of the top ( before borders) looks like? I had a few comments and emails that some were treating this like a mystery. I of course am still playing with the borders. But I got the whole center sewn together this weekend and I really really like it.

Quilt of Valor's in soldiers Hands

There were smiles all around. And a line forming to get their quilt!
~

I have heard back from some of the coordinators in the Company. They still can not believe that people care enough to comfort their soldiers. And that we did not pick and choose which soldier was deserving of a quilt.
~
Now you know that it was raining/drizzling that day. And the ground was wet. NONE of them wanted to get their quilts wet. They were very respectful of them!

These two were helping - they were surprised that a few quilts could weigh as much as they did. Made me feel good, I wasn't as wimpy as I thought I was.

~

Hope you all have a good day. Mine is quiet - all the boys are at a basketball thing, and I have the house to myself. It is quite strange actually.

~

But I am off to sew and watch a girlie movie - one I know that no one else would appreciate watching.

It's Finally Friday

Although it feels like Thursday to me.... ;-)
~
These first two quilts were sent to me by Lisa in TX. But... they were made by 7 year old Rebekkah and her Grandma Sara. I have to say that Rebekkah and I share the same taste in Fabrics. These are just cute quilts!! The Pig Fabric is just funny, and the horses are wonderful!
Thanks Sara and Rebekkah!!

















The next two quilts were quilted by Liz D in Broomfield Co - on her Statler Stitcher! The Rail fence was made by Audrey in Co and the other was from Heartstrings. I included a picture of the backing so you can click on it and get a close up - I loved the pattern.

This quilt to the left was quilted by Wavalene W. She did feathers thru the blues and they look awesome on this quilt.

~

And the last quilt came from Texas by an anonymous quilter. But is sure is wonderful!

We were supposed to have tornados and rotten weather last night. We even got a call from the weather service to be on the lookout. Needless to say when the first black cloud arrived I got the dog and everyone inside. Nothing happened. Best dissappointment of my life! We got some lightening and Thunder late in the evening, but I could handle that. I assumed that we would be tucked up in our little tornado cubby.... but no. I appreciated the call - and was glad that nothing came of it!

~

Today is Thursday

But you all probably knew that. I on the other hand was operating as Tuesday all day yesterday. Imagine my Surprise this morning when I found out I missed a day!!
~
These beautiful quilts come from all over! The first on one the right was made by Linda in Loveland, quilted by RoseAnn in South Dakota and is ready to go to a soldier. Thanks ladies!!
~
The next quilt comes from Trish K in Monte Vista CO, and was quilted by Peg C ( I think she is from Alamosa but not 100% on that). I have included a picture of the back..Check it out - my boys fell in love! Thanks ladies for the group effort!!

~

And the last quilt for this post comes from Sandra D in West Virginia. You can check out what she is up to on her blog - http://sandyquilts.blogspot.com .

This quilt is from The Quilting Bee Forum at QuiltPox. The rail fence part was made by Roslyn A at Http://ros-the-quilter.blogspot.com and was quilted by Sandy on her Nolting.

~
I love it when stories come in with the quilts. Not only can I share with you - but I can include the information with the quilt in the journals.

~

My boys bought me a bag of Dove Dark Chocolate. I think it is a bribe to continue to use my machine. See I do have another - it is a cheapy from walmart - I use it rarely, and mostly to fix jeans and canvas things... it is a tough machine, but it is also tough to sew on and they don't like it. Anyways my bribe has little fortunes on the packages.

`

Todays quote is: "Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can"

`

Pretty good huh - and I will have to since I thought I was still going to wake up to Wednesday!

I have been replaced!

It has been raining all day. Swim Practice was cancelled so the boys thought they would work on their quilts for 4-H. They sort of commandeered my sewing machine. You all probably don't know this - but I don't share well. I do share - I just don't always do it well.... but I gave up my machine for the day.
~
Little bit watched big bit for awhile. I think he was actually making sure big brother was doing it right - as he has 2 whole quilts under his belt already. He finished 3 blocks.
~
Then Middle bit took over. He got 2 of his blocks done.
~
After heading to shooting practice ( they do archery) and getting rained out we came back - and Little bit finally got to the machine. He finished one block before bedtime... not bad for a rainy day. Although I did NOT finish anything of my own....
~
Maybe tomorrow?? They are kind of on a deadline - these quilts need to be done by July!!


~

Now let me show you some Gorgeous Quilts of Valor!! These Three came from Carolyn J in PA. The fabrics are wonderful.


~
I love the Dissappearing 9 Patches. They all turn out so differently... these color combinations are great! Thank you so much Carolyn.

~

Is anyone a fan of The Beverly Hillbillies? We found a lunchbox that had 2 DVD's in it at the grocery store of all places, and I picked it up. So far we think they are quite funny!
~

Have a great evening!!

Not so Top Secret Project Two Part 1

My 2 1/2 inch scrap bin was overflowing. So I decided that I needed another pattern that used the 2 1/2 inch scraps. This is that pattern. I shall call it the "Not So Top Secret Quilt #2"
~
Especially since I can not keep a quilt a secret - this seems to be an appropriate title. And it can be the second in a series, Since the NSTSP 1 used 2 1/2 inch pieces too!
~
I am not showing you the finished quilt as of yet, because - well mine is not finished. I am having a border conundrum... so I may have to show it to you with the choice of 2 borders.
~
So Step One:
The 16 patch Block.
~
I grabbed my 2 1/2 inch bin and pulled some strips out. Now I have a rather Patriotic looking bin. I randomly pulled strips that were approximately the same length. I sewed four strips together, and then cut them into 2 1/2 inch subcuts. ( Picture 2)
~
You need 18 ~ 16 patch blocks.
~
If you are going to make a 4 color 16 patch you will need approximately 3/8 yard of 4 different fabrics. If you want to use Fat Quarters - you need 288 ~2 1/2 inch squares, and a Fat Quarter will yield approximately 56 ~2 1/2 inch squares each. Which means you need about 6 FQ's... see why I used my bin?
~
After I subcut them, I chose 4 pieces and sewed them together to make the block. I did not try to determine a pattern, I just sewed the strips together and came up with some pretty random, and unrandom blocks. I liked them.

~
Then... are you sitting down for this? I squared up each 16 patch block to 8 1/2 inches in size. I normally don't do this - but I was avoiding chores - so I did, and I will be glad that I did too!

~

Here is a picture of my squared up blocks, and the trimmings. Do NOT put your 2 1/2 inch bin away. You will need it for the next step.

~

So .... it doesn't look to hard so far does it? I will post the next step next Monday... so get to sewing!!

Answers to Questions

1. So what's next for you? Something new and different? ( From http://kimzquilts.wordpress.com/ )

~ Finding new ways to encourage everyone to make a Quilt of Valor. Talking at guilds around Colorado, and.... having a booth at the Quilt show in Loveland on the 22nd of August.

~

2. Did you take a pic of the pile before you started distributing? Does the chaplain say I need x quilts and you take that many or did you somehow deliver 700 quilts at once? (from http://swooze.blogspot.com/ )

.... You know I did take a picture - but I don't know where I downloaded it to. I will have to look. The second deployment filled an entire van.... and part of a surburban and I forgot to take pics of it. It was raining - I don't look good in the rain, my hair frizzes, it embarrassing....

~
We took what was asked of us to take. The first trip took a van and a trailer, the second the van and a surbuban.

~

3. Are we doing this again? ( from Sue S in AZ)



yes Ma'am - I am up for it if you all are!!


The Numbers needed are a hard thing to keep up with. I will tell you about this base, as all other bases may be different. But the Wounded Warrior unit houses soldiers from lots of units, not just those deployed out of Ft Carson. But every time a new Battalion deploys the wounded number surges. So they try to keep up. So we will just be communicating and doing our best. They think that there will be approx 200 new soldiers to be coming into the unit by Sept/Oct...... so we are off to a good start at quilts to meet that number.


I tell you -they were Truly blown away that any group would even try to do what we did. And that we want to try to get a quilt to every incoming injured soldier.

And the soldiers -they try to be tough, they are tough. They are really shocked that someone wants to thank them, of give them this gift of a quilt - but I know that they are so touched that someone cared enough!


~

Hope I did okay?
Come back tonite for the start of Not So Top Secret Project Two!!