Quilting Quilting quiltin....

There has been a lot of quilting go on around here. So I thought I would show you some that I have quilted in the summer....

 The blocks in this quilt were made by gals in her sewing group, then she put it together. I saw it at the fair yesterday being judged - so I will have to take a full picture when it is displayed. I really liked the blue and yellow.

This is just a part of another customer's quilt. The backing is the picture on the right. Both of these customers wanted feathers to be used somehow some way - so I had fun with them. And I got to do a LOT of feathering *grin*

This one was just cool.... I love the use of the colors and the crazy blocks. The more I looked at this quilt - the more I realized that it probably took her forever to make. It was so detailed and WOW! it was cool.

This is a wall hanging that will be going into a cabin. I think I want to see the cabin - I think it would be only right LOL. I used a Baptist Fan on it with crosshatching in the borders. She wanted a more traditional look and I think we achieved it.

I loved this quilt too.  The apples are pieced, and did you see the green one in there? This one got quilted with ladybigs, and grasshoppers and ants. Just like a regular picnic!

Have a good one! 

Competitions

Saturday morning was another bright and early morning as all three boys needed to be in the middle of nowhere for a shooting sports competiton. The boys compete in .22, archery, and air rifle.

We headed out early - got set up and proceeded to roast. By 9am, I think it was 100 degrees. Good thing there was a breeze. Our (notice I include myself as part of the *team*) first competitions were over on the .22 and air rifle ranges. They boys had a good time, and mom took pictures.

Next we headed over to the archery range, where they were waiting on one of my sons to start his rotations. I must tell you - it is MUCH quieter on the archery side of things. My ears were relieved.

We finished the archery and my oldest son asks if he can get a chair out of my car. I say sure and hand him the keys..... (can you see where this is going) He comes back and I stick my hands out for the keys - and she - bang - he does NOT have them.

He and Wrangler man head back over to the car just in case and come back to tell me - nope - its locked up tight. Now - I have a new vehicle. It came with ON STAR. So I am thinking - wow - I put the on star number in my cell - I will call it and voila. Two problems = one - I mentioned we were in the middle of nowhere right? And to get cell reception you have to be standing just in the right spot. Which is quite unimportant - because my CELL phone was LOCKED in the car!!!

Wrangler man says - Oh I stuck my phone in the shooting bag - what's the number? And of course I laugh - because the number is IN my phone, not my head. He uses his fancy technology, gets into our email - finds the number and calls OnStar.  5 minutes later - seriously folks - 5 minutes - our car is unlocked!! I am totally renewing this thing when my free time is up.

I do have AAA - but it would have taken them 2 to 3 hours to get to us, even if I could have given them the right directions. Not many people drive to the chicken tree, go North to the dairy, and then turn at the roping arena .... ya know?

Having an unlocked car was good, as we needed to drive back over the the .22 range for the awards ceremonies. Two of my children made the state competitions, and one is a runner up - so we thought that was pretty good. My oldest made state in 2 disciplines ( the other 2 made it in 1) all in all not a bad day. Except the for 100+ degree Heat, and the key thing. That did kind of worry me.

By the way - a friend said he would take me home to get my extra keys, but , um, well, the house keys were LOCKED in the car - and I don't have a spare, because ...hmmm I don't have a good answer for that one....

Firehouse Quilt Show Judging

On Friday morning the boys and I loaded up and headed south to the Firehouse Quilt Show - http://www.firehousequilts.org to be a celebrity judge. I am still a little worried about the celebrity status tho - I have to say, it was nice to be among the first to look at the quilts.

As we arrived we ran into ( not literally - cuz we could have hurt her) none other that Vicki A of Machine Quilting Unlimited. (http://www.mqumag.com) - She was also a celebrity. But her celebrity status I can understand. **BTW she told me they are offering a huge sale for new customers - so if you do not subscribe to this magazine , you should go check it out***

Back to the show:
Here was my first problem .... there was more than ONE quilt!!! How in the world do the real judges EVER pick a favorite? Each quilt I saw I would say - Oh I like that one! Oh and that one... so much so that the boys told me to be quiet. I was ruining their thinking> 

And then there were lots of categories, and lots of quilts in those categories, and it took me forever just to look at the number of quilts there.... and then I saw they had fabrics for sale - Excuse me.... I did not see anything for sale right????

The Winner

We perservered, we looked quite a few times, and then we picked a winner. It was a smaller quilt made by a gentleman. I read his card after choosing his quilt, and saw the he had Macular degeneration, and had put a magnifing glass on his machine so he could sew. How awesome is that? On a side note, my grandfather in law, and a gal I went to High school with both have this macular disease.

I then bribed my children and took them to the Olive Garden. And Ms Vicki joined us. Good thing - she kept the boys in line for me, so I could concentrate on my food!! ( Gluten free of course!)

I loved this one too -the colors were just my style!

This was another favorite. My middle son was in charge of the photography.

A mini Quilt show for you

I have some more great Quilts of Valor that have arrived for you to look at. I thought maybe some of you were looking for some inspiration, or maybe a chance to sit down and rest. I am all for the rest part today. Seems like when you get up every weekday morning at 5am, its too hard to sleep in on the weekends! At least today I tried, but alas - not happenin'

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So the first 4 Quilts of Valor that I am showing you today come from the First Lutheran Quilters in Ault CO.

These Ladies meet monthly and sew at the church. They make quite a lot of quilts for various causes.

The next three Quilts of Valor come from Rona in MO. Her quilts were peiced from her stash, and the backing was donated from Machine Quilters Exposition http://www.mqxshow.com/ . Her husband was a Navy Seabee, and this is her way of saying thanks to those that are in the services now. Thanks Rona!!

If you will notice - the first two are Not So Top Secret Projects ( pattern can be found in the side bar) and the third one is made with some leftover blocks and other blocks she created.

And the last four quilts for todays quilt show are from the Northwest Surbaban Quilt Guild in Arlington Heights IL. This group is AMAZINGLY prolific!!!

And that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed seeing what all these marvelous quilters have made. And maybe got a little inspiration and relaxation too!!!

Quilters Accountability ( late)

These were my goals for last week, and just so you know - I am not late!!  In my mind it is still Wednesday - except that I am heading over to the quilt show in a little bit that I know doesn't start till Friday...

So On Wednesday How did I do?

Finish Quilt that needs black borders ( and obviously a name) Well, I found the fabric that I want to use as a border, and it is all ironed and laying right over the quilt top.... sort of progress I hope!

Quilt Remembering George Quilt ( Judy L's pattern) Totally Done!!! And I have even cut the fabric for the binding, and I have decided that I CAN NOT take a finished picture until the binding is on!! Torture I tell ya - pure torture!

Work on Stalled out Quilt #2 ( We will call it Wildlife - for lack of a better name)  The top is DONE!!! Whoo Hoo - It went to gether so fast, I am impressed. But I am sad to say that I stalled out on it right after cutting it out - such a dork!

When I was grocery shopping I saw a Gluten Free Bisquick! And I was so excited I got it, Strawberries and Whip cream - I haven't had a starwberry shortcake in TWO years. I was ecstatic!!It turned out VERY Yummy and even my two wheat eaters thought it was fabulous.

The boys are making progress on their Fair Quilts. I have no clue if they will make it on time - but they are certainly trying - when they are not doing all the other *stuff* that needs to be done. They keep saying - we should have started earlier. Wise words for munchkins!!

For next week :

• Help the boys with there quilts.
• Bind my Remembering George
• Survive the heat!!

To see what other are up to - and who reported on time *ahem* go to:

http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/

Firehouse Quilt Show

This Friday and Saturday there is a QUILT SHOW put on by Firehouse Quilts.

Http://www.firehousequilts.org

And I will be there on Friday - I get to be a judge .. they are calling me a celebrity judge.I  don't know about the celebrity part - or the judge part. But I get to pick the quilt I like best.

So if you are in the area - COME AND SEE ME!!! I should have 3 boys following me around ( and probably embarrassing me behind my back!)

Whiter Than Snow - Sandra Dallas

I have to tell you it has been crazy around here. Somehow the days go faster than we do! We just realized that fair entries have to start be entered next friday - and WE ARE NOT READY!!

The house is a zone of fair projects, boards here, quilts there, guns over in that area, bows on the other side. I can't wait to see what happens when the vegetables, and cake decorating have to start happening. ( Wish me luck on the cake thing)

Anyways - in all of this crazy chaos - I have made the time to read a wonderful book - because it is one of the only ways I can stay sane. And escape into a life that is of another time.

Lucky me, got to give away a copy of this book, and then got the chance to read it myself. First off, I have to tell you I LOVE Sandra Dallas' books. So I was not surprised to love this book as well.

The Book is Whiter Than Snow and it is about an incident in a mining town here in Colorado. I have no clue if it is true or not, or based off of an event here. But I have to say that the way Sandra writes just totally draws you into the story, and you feel as if you were there. You feel as if you know that characters and can identify with them , even if the events in their lives never happened in yours.

If you are looking for a book to read, I do suggest you pick this one up.

But I also suggest setting a timer when you are reading, so you don't look up and realize it is 1 in the morning. And that the alarm will go off at 5am - whether you want it to or not, and that if you accidentally hit the snooze - your 15 yo son will get mad at you, and then think that you are Irresponsible. But all that is hypothetical , as you know I would never do such a thing as that....

You can read more about the book and about Sandra at http://www.sandradallas.com/
( and also read Prayers for Sale)

Pillowcase Post

Pillowcases!!

These are from the Junior High Kids

These Came from Mary of http://blog.maryquilts.com/

These came From Roz M on Michigan

These are from Susan in Loveland CO

These are from Marky K in Wisconsin

And these last pillowcases are from Linda R in Orchard NE

I want to Thank you ALL for these pillowcases. It helps so much to have these around and ready to go when I have Quilts of Valor needing them!

You all are awesome!!

The Other House

I have been accused of doing nothing around here - so I thought I would show you some  pictures of things that happen. Oh - are they not pictures of me working??? Huh??? That just means I am smart and hold a camera so I simply can't hold a hammer for very long......

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A long time ago, prior to building our house, we lived in a mobile home, that was wonderful until my maternity clothing business took off, and I had 6 employees, a dog, and almost 2 children in a 700 sq ft space. So Wrangler Man and his crew ( oh that was me and a 2 year old boy) built on to the mobile home. Then Said home was moved out, and we had "the other house" with 2 door holes in it. So over the weekend - since the in laws were here - we re paneled the side and now have NO holes!!

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I did this panel, and the oldest turkey wanted to do the high stuff! Far be it from me to argue over the ladder..... it was ALL his!!

Little Turkey just plumb wore himself out.... and had to keep the tractor company!

This is my gratuitous shot for Judy L - she likes landscapes - so this is the view from the other house going east. It used to have stairs, and my car parked there. But I was allowed to move my car to the new house.

Quilters Accountability 7/7

First off - for QA - I have to tell you - I haven't figured out this new fangled blog stuff yet. I guess I kind of liked the old way of doing things, but the new way of what it looks like.....
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Last Weeks Goals were to:

1. Finish 24 String block and trim them up .   DONE
2. Put string blocks into a top .                         DONE
3. Help sons continue to sew on there ( hope to be this year) Fair quilts  Still Working on it

The String Blocks were part of a Heartstrings Challenge over at http://heartstringsquiltproject.com/  to be very Honest - it was the April/May Challenge, and, well, at least I finished it in this year!!! I like the way this quilt turned out, although when I go back to blue string bin - I am dissappointed that it didn't make a bigger dent!
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The kids are working on their quilts, but I told them that they have to be motivated to get them done before fair - I am not going to be a taskmaster ( wish me luck with that one).

So here two of them are working away on their projects. This year they each designed their own quilts in EQ6/7. A little bit of a challenge for me, since last year they all made the same pattern. Didn't challenge my brain as much!

Goals for the next week:
I have decided that I am going to finish things. I have a pile behind where I sew, and I thought I should finish them up. So I pulled out the first stalled project after finishing the string quilt. And then I remember why I had it stalled. It is very patterny - and I wanted a small solid border before I added an outer border. Which I didn't have at the time. So I bought the fabrics for the outer border and forgot the black. Tomorrow I will go on the hunt for black - because in ALL of my fabrics there is not one single SOLID black.... go figure!

1. Finish Quilt that needs black borders ( and obviously a name)
2. Quilt Remembering George Quilt ( Judy L's pattern)
3. Work on Stalled out Quilt #2 ( We will call it Wildlife - for lack of a better name)

My goal is to eventually finish the stalled out projects in this white bucket, the strings next to it, and then get to the NEW project in the black bucket. I have NO idea how long that will take, or even what all is in the bucket - so it should be fun right????
To See what others are doing go check out
http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/ 
and be sure to leave lots of comments for folks!