911 Day of Service

9/11/09 is being declared a National Day of Service. They even have a cool website. I wish at times that I was that compelling in my words - but alas - thank goodness for others. So check out this website - http://911dayofservice.org Then come back. Don't worry I'll still be here.

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9/11 made a big impact on a lot of people, and in many different ways. I love how this man ( at 911dayofservice) is turning a personal loss into a nations gain. I think it is a great way to get people to realize the greatness of this country, and the freedoms that we as a nation have.
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9/11 sent my dad to Ground Zero. It sent my Dad in directions that he had not expected. He met people and touched lives, and had his life touched in ways that no one could ever expect. And it had a far reaching effect. One of those effects was the beginning of my quilting career.
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For some of us quilting is a reflection of our desire to help, to comfort, and to let others know that they are cared for. For some receiving a Quilt is one way to have a tangible feeling of love, to know that they are not alone. To know that even though they signed up for a job, getting hurt was not a job requirement.
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It is for all of these reasons that I would like to promote Quilts of Valor as a plan for spending a day in service.
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Would you consider starting a new Quilt for a Soldier, finishing a Quilt in progress, Quilting a Quilt of Valor, or finishing the binding? On Friday I will be posting the layout of the QOV Mystery Sew Along. But don't let that stop you from doing what you would like - just know that it is an option.
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Now - what do you do when you finish your top or finish your quilt?
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That is the cool thing about Quilts of Valor - there are many different outlets. If you have a top and you are not a machine quilter ( either on your home machine or a long arm) you can request a Machine Quilter at the QOVF.org website and they will hook you up.
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If you have finished a quilt - and its ready to be shipped to a soldier - again you can head over to QOVF.org and request a destination. You may be surprised at the need of these quilts.
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Or ( I always have to plug Colorado) if you are interested in your quilt going to a soldier in Colorado you can email me (alyciaquilts @ gmail.com) and I will give you my address. Quilts coming this way go to Fort Carson - to the Wounded Warriors unit.
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Do you have plans for the Day of Service?

The 2009 2010 5th grade class

I would like to introduce to you - the new 5th grade class of Quilt of Valor Makers! This last friday we started cutting a new batch of Quilts of Valor. This is a big class - there were about 23 to 24 kids in each group cutting and they did an awesome job.
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Not only did they work well together, they also stuck to the task of measuring, making lines and cutting their fabrics.
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There was also a football game looming - based on the number of jerseys present!!
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This is my 5th year doing this project - and I finally have a 5th grader again - Whoo hoo - someone to eat lunch with in the cafeteria!! ( he is in the Red and Blue striped shirt)
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Can you see the QOV hanging in the background? We try to put a new one up every couple of days. The kids get a chance to study it, check out the quilt pattern, the quilting designs and the label!! We LOVE to know where these quilts come from.




Hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend. I am almost caught up on my Sew Along Quilt. This is a good sign!! And - you will be loving how it turns out - I know it!!

Confessions

Yesterday I was supposed to post another step on our Mystery Quilt Sew along. And I had really really really planned to. But now I must make a confession.
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Are you ready? Are you sitting down?
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I didn't do it!!
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It's really not my fault though ( evil wicked laugh) I blame my children! And because they don't read my blog - they will have no clue about the havoc that they are wreaking on all of your lives!!
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And then Thursday I had to recount all of my FQ's to make sure I had enough for each and every student to start cutting, and then I had to lay them all out - because, I mean really, if you are going to play in fabric you might as well enjoy it and see it all. And when I surveyed my front room - it sort of looked like a flag factory had moved in. Patriotic fabric EVERYWHERE.
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But there was no room to lay out the mystery pieces to show you the next steps. And pair that with the fact that I am a failure, a flub, a dork if you will.... I still have 10 blocks left to make!! Wait - you ask - shouldn't you be steps ahead of us... almost finished, leading us with great skill and expertise? Well I was, and then again - the kids... again - it is ALL there fault!!
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Boy Am I getting really good at blaming other people or what? This is really a life skill I could have used earlier in life had I thought of it!
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So - knowing what this weekend has in store for us ( can you say Hay?) and knowing how much you all want to enjoy your labor day and just hang out, eating hamburgers, and corn on the cob. Oh and maybe even a chocolate cake... yum. How about we plan on the next step being posted next Friday - along with another really, really, really, cool give away - that you will so totally want, that you will love me for leading you astray and leaving your sewing tables a mess.
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Enjoy!!

and the winner is

Elaine at http://elaineadairpieces.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Elaine!! Now you can start up that QOV ( tomorrow right? LOL)
Email me with your address and I will get these 12 FQ's in the mail to you.

Thanks for playing everyone!!

When does it become a UFO?

Yesterday I spent a lot of time cutting Fat Quarters, Ironing FQ's and preparing for the 5th grade Quilt of Valor project. Of course, as I was doing this I had a little bit of time to think.
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And then I read JudyL's post
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2009/09/01/a-pep-talk/
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And then Bari started doing this in her Quilt Room:
http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/september-1st-and-what-i-am-working-on/
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It got me to thinking - do I have clear goals? Did I have a plan for the year for my personal quilting? Hmm.... went back and looked at my new years post. Not really. My big goal was to not buy fabrics that didn't have a purpose. So other than the 2 quilt kits - I did pretty good so far.
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Which leads to my question. I bought those 2 quilt kits with the goal of making them. And so far I have just looked at them. But I have them right next to my sewing table. They are "next" in line. But sometimes other quilts crowd the line. And I am really trying to be a One Quilt at a time woman. Although....
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So - when do those 2 quilt kits become UFO's .. and what is the time limit on getting them done? And how do you keep up with all the want to makes, versus already making, versus the need to finish?
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I guess I will get back to ironing. All the philosophy hurts my head (grin)

A Kids Creation

My Mom and Dad taught the Wednesday Night Kids church and for their art project they colored blocks. Two of the ladies then sewed them into this top - and now I quilted it. The kids did a great job.

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Each kid signed their block and included thier age on it. I thought that was really neat, that way the soldiers can know that even the littlest ones care about them.

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Hope you all are having a good one. Did you know that this weekend is Labor Day Weekend? Any exciting plans? Wrangler man says we are pulling weeds.... I wonder if a Quilt Shop could call to me again?? I could leave at precisely the time he decides to make me work ;-)

Quilted by Donna

Donna in Longmont volunteers for Quilts of Valor as a Long arm quilter. She graciously volunteered to quilt 2 QOV's for me. And I am so tickled!!

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This first one was made by the Miracles group in Denver. My friend Jess is the quilting teacher for this bunch of ladies - and they do an AWESOME job. The girls are really excited to make these quilts too.

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The next quilt was made by Lyn in my quilt guild. She made this twist beauty and of course it is now on my list of "have to makes" . I am really intrigued by it. I put a close up of the quilting - she did this really cool pattern that has flags and stars in it.
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Thanks Donna, Jess and Lyn - you all make an awesome team!!

There are a lot of fires burning - I think 3 here in Colorado, and numerous ones in California. The smoke is making the sun really really red this morning and it is hazy. Kind of a wierd effect. I tried taking pictures - but the camera can't "see" the smoke. Anyways - if any of you are in those areas - Stay Safe!!!

Visitors

My Uncle and his wife came out to Colorado to visit. My new Aunt really really wanted to ride horses, and we have a few - so we obliged. She had a great time, and rode quite a while in the arena. But the surprise of the day was my unlce - who knew he had some cowboying in him?
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They decided they wanted to watch some roping, so we had to gather the steers - and he jumped right in there. Even brought some down the alley way!

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And later on he even got brave and loped on the horse. I was impressed. The whole time this way going on my aunt was still riding her horse too.

Even while this big storn cloud was building. We watched it, and kept an eye on it, then when the wind started blowing we put the steer and horses away. Got into the house for dinner and 10 minutes later - it was hailing and raining!

-Have a good one!!

Save the Date

for a Quilt of Valor sew day. Jan at Quilted Expressions in Johnstown has graciously offered her quilt shop sewing space to have a QOV sew time. So we have decided on September 12th, ( its a Saturday). She is open at 10am.
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She is right behind a McDonalds and right next to a Pizza/Sandwich shop. AND the pizza shop carries Gluten Free pizza... something for everyone. So food should not be an issue.
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If you are interested in coming please email me at AlyciaQuilts @ Gmail.com . This is NOT necessary to come - you are more than welcome to come at any time. I will be there from 10am to 3pm.
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C and I went and checked it all out today. It was very,very,very important that we do this today. At 1pm. Because that is exactly the time Wrangler Man and the 2 oldest showed up with the flatbed of hay. We might have left them the fixings for BLT's as we were heading out - there might have been enough Bacon left.... maybe....
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(Okay - Just kidding, I actually made the whole lunch and dessert, and even directed the off loading of the hay a little... but then we REALLY did have to go... I could feel the shop calling my name.....)
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And we came back with a GF pizza- its gone - none left....

Quilt of Valor Sew Along Step 4

Before we get started - remember this is a mystery designer's pattern. If you think you are guessing the designer - keep it to yourself... as you will have a chance later to win something cool with that knowledge!!

So - On to Step 4

Remember all those strips you sewed early on? You need those now. The strips should be about 11 inches long. You are going to cut each strip into 4 ~~2 1/2 inch pieces.

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I kept each strip into its own pile of 4 pieces - as you will use all 4 pieces in one block.

Remember all those 2 1/2 inch pieces you cut of a Dark and of a light? Now it is time to lay them out into the block and Start sewing. I layed mine out like a 9 patch block, and chain sewed. As I got more confident - I layed out 4 blocks and chain sewed 4 at a time. I was impressive (giggle)

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After I got each of the three rows sewn together I headed over to the ironing board. I kept each block chain pieced together until I was ready to iron it.

I have no clue if this is the right way to do it or not - but it kept all the pieced of each block together for me. And because I am usually sewing and ironing to the tune of - Hey Mom... I need to be back at school at 5:30 tonite ( and it is 4:45). Or Hey Mom - I can't find a towel. ( Oh you mean the two towel closets filled with 40 towels are completely empty?)

Mommmm - I'm hungry -what can I eat? ( Oh I don't know - check the 3 drawers of snack foods, or all the fruit on the counter, or check the leftover list....)

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Oh and when I press them I pressed the top and bottom rows in, and the center row out, so when I put the block together the seams will interlock.

And tada - after this large amount of sewing you will have 61 of these little blocks that finish up at 6 1/2 inches.

GIVE AWAY

This week I am giving away 12 Patriotic Fat Quarters.

This should inspire you to make another Quilt of Valor - because - well its patriotic ( grin) But, of course, you don't have to make a quilt of valor with them... they are yours.

All you need to do is make a comment on this post by Friday the 4th of September at 8 am Colorado time. Be sure to leave me a way to let you know if you won or not. I will do a random drawing for the winner.

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Have a great weekend!!