Randomness

Today! Is the last day of school

Tomorrow! I will be organized ( don't die from laughter!)

As I am trekking all over the place all these yummy quilts come into my mind, and I compose these great posts - and then we have to do chores, and feed people, and start the day all over again... and I forget my amazing blog posts *sigh*

I have also been quilting ( machine quilting) like crazy - I! LOVE! It!!   Graduations quilts, wall hangings, new king size bed quilts - it is wonderful.... the more time you spend at the quilting machine... the less time online...  but you still compose things in your head!


Random #1 -My boys are not this young anymore... but I am still 29 ! I love math!

Randomness #2 - one of my favorite places to be:

Randomness #3 - Quilt top pieced By Barb W - Quilted by me.

I am in a Panto Phase.... Look up in the top right corner.... There is a DEAL!!!.. if you like edge 2 edge's and pantos... you love this deal!!!

Randomness #4 - My boys... this is more their size now... without the snow ( finally!)

Randomness #5 - Wrangler Man has forced all of us into getting up every day at 5:30 am - I think we will never sleep in again....

Randomness #6 -I may or may not have started a new project with these fabrics.....

Enjoy your Tuesday - Come back tomorrow for the QOV show - THAT I am organized for !!

Another QOV

Maybe I am getting back into the groove after our crazy week?  or maybe Quilting just soothes the soul..

This is a string quilt Quilt of Valor pieced be the infamous Al Lind of Washington:

I am not sure how many of you know about Al - Al was a POW at Stalag IIB -

He was a very prolific QOV quilter at age 89 - and he encouraged everyone to get involved. I was the lucky recipient of a box of his quilt tops. I as corny as it sounds... I want to make them last a long time.

I love being able to tell the story of these quilts when we present to groups. I love the encouragement that they get from this great man's story..

Some finishes

I am sort of proud of myself this week - we had three major things happen ( two were NOT planned) and I still got back to my quilting. Usually I just give up and say... Tomorrow...

So here is to some persistance.

Thing #1 - our Water heater went out.... I went downstairs to get something and I heard a hissing. I was a little scared at first - usually hissing is a snake.. BUT not in the house. So I checked the utility room and one of the water heaters was leaking.  We are on a cistern/well and can run it dry really quickly - so I called my amazing plumber. He had me shut it down until he could come.  We are now running on one water heater. Yes - I did get a cold shower. Tomorrow - i will be up FIRST!!

Thing #2- my colicky horse ( Tuesdays post) . Even after all that worrying - I got back to quilting ... yay me!

So... Here is my first finish.

It is made with the Scrappy Trips Blocks. Dear Connie pieced it and I quilted it.

I have a new panto - is has musical notes on it - so I tried it on this quilt.

I like it ;-)  And it will be great for T shirt quilts too - the musical ones.

And then I worked on a customer quilt.  Isn't this fun?  Of course it is the back , I like the texture that is has.

It may not seem like a lot - but I am claiming victory this week ;-)  Hope you all had a great week, and will have an even better weekend!

Quilts of Valor 2014

I can guarantee you will add a quilt or two to your bucket list! Check out all these YUMMY Quilts of Valor that been made for our Veterans!


Gotta LOVE the smiles that these yummy quilts bring to our guys and girls.

This next quilt ( below) was made by Ethel, quilted and bound by her too!!!

This one was made by Gina S's sew group in Longmont Co... those stars are SO cool aren't they?

This one was also made by Gina's group in Longmont.

The blues are so soothing!

The one below was made by Columbine Quilt guild in co 

Quilted by Abby C in greeley.

Wonderful pillowcases made by the Pride City Quilt guild!

These are so awesome - and loved too.

It is nice to have them to put the Quilts into and keep them clean as we transport them!

This quilt was made by Patricia B in AZ

Don't you love the colors?

This one was made by Nancy H in Ft Collins.

Nancy is awesome!!!

Another one made by Nancy!

She was so busy making wonderful quilts ( more to come in another show!)

Running with Scissors did this whole quilt.

If I read the label right - it is a Quilt bee.

Isn't that a great name?

This pattern is called Stars and Bars

the Pdf is here

Hope you all find some inspiration and have a new quilt on your bucket list!!!

Many Lives

We all have many lives - and in my quilting life - when something goes wrong, there is a diagnostic path to take. If my long-arm has an issue I call the wonderful folks at Nolting and they talk me through it.

But the conversation is like - "When you are looking from the front do you see a yellow light. When you push the red button does it blink?  Well then you need to do A... then B"... and BAM! It's fixed and ready to go.

In my other life .... We notice a horse not acting right and we take action. As in this morning... at 5:30 am, we find ourselves guessing what is wrong. We self diagnose that it is colic-ing and we start walking.

But then we find ourselves second guessing our diagnosis... so we call our AWESOME Vet clinic ( Countryside in Greeley for anyone wanting to know)  and they say, "What is he doing?"  and you say well... he was grumbling, then he was stretching, and when I touch his belly he is not happy.... "Alright - I am on my way."

And then they get here and You are pretty sure that everything has calmed down - but you are SO grateful the vet came anyways. And of course, they still check him out. Confirm your diagnosis, but then remind you that it always could go either way - so you were alright in calling.  ( I always feel bad to make them come out for no good reason - I am glad they think I am not a dork and come anyways)

It is now 10 am and said horse has been walked, medicated, and is looking pretty happy. Glad I work at home so I can keep checking in on him.

And then as your awesome Vet is leaving - he tells his new assistant. "Whenever we get a call from Carmins'... its a no brainer - head on out".   And I bust up laughing .....

Seriously - Best Vets Ever!

And now - back to my other life ;-)

This is NOT said horse.... I just think you needed a picture of a horse ;-)

Geometric Designs

My Client recently pieced this quilt for her son, and brought it to me to quilt.

We all just fell in love with it - you could just see designs every where!!

I already shared it on my Facebook Page - Quiltygirl.com -  but I thought I would share more photos here:

It was so graphic - I just loved it!!  From every angle!

A close up ! This was such a busy quilt we decided that a meander would be just a perfect fit for it .

It is always fun coming up with quilting designs and letting the customer choose what they like the best.

Hope you enjoyed seeing this quilt!

Have a great day!

Allegiance - A Quilt of Valor Mystery

Allegiance Quilt - desgined by Vicki Welsh


I AM SO EXCITED!!!
the wonderful Vicki Welsh has designed a mystery quilt for us!!!  Today you will get all the fabric requirements - and on June 12th the first step will be revealed.

Why so long? For you to find your perfect fabric of course!!  Please share this with all of your Quilt of Valor friends and groups! This is a fabulous quilt, and beginners to professionals will be able to make it. It would be so awesome if we could flood QOV's gates with quilts!!!

Never made a Quilt of Valor before? THIS QUILT is a great one to jump on in with!!

This quilt is designed as a mystery quilt specifically for veterans and military. It’s offered in 2 sizes.

The larger quilt is for the Quilts of Valor program and will finish to approximately 68” x 89”. 

The smaller quilt would be Great for Honor Flight Northern Colorado. That version finishes to approximately 48” x 63”. 

Instructions will come weekly for 4 weeks.

Fabric Requirements:

Fabric	Color in My Version	Veteran’s Quilt	Quilt of Valor
Fabric 1 – block background	Light Gold	1	1.5
Fabric 2	Dark Gold	1.25	2
Fabric 3	Dark Red	1.75	2.5
Fabric 4 – background	Blue	3.25	4.75 (includes binding)

This quilt requires 4 fabrics:

The background can be light or dark. Fabrics 2 and 3 are the main design fabrics and should contrast well against the background. 

They should be “different” colors instead of different values of the same color. Fabric 1 should be a different value from Fabric 3. You can easily make this scrappy by picking 4 colors and pulling scraps in those color groups.

Some possible non-patriotic combinations:

Palette	Fabric 1	Fabric 2	Fabric 3	Fabric 4
Beachy	Sky Blue	Med to Dark Tan	Med to Dark Blue	Tan
Tropical	White	Yellow	Orange	Turquoise
Woodsy	Tan	Medium Tan/Brown	Medium Green	Dark Green
Flower Garden	Pale Green	Yellow/Gold	Red/Dark Pink	Green
Black/White/Red	White	Gray	Red	Black

Want to Print out the Instructions - 
Click HERE to access the file and print!

INTERESTED in trying Vicki's Hand dyed yummy fabrics for this quilt?
Head over HERE for all the details!!  You will be IN LOVE!!! I promise

Vicki is making one - and so am I -
here are the colors I chose: - I think I may have put mine in the backwards order of hers.... But I tell you

I may have to do a Beachy one too!!

Quilts of Valor 2014 - Fremont Co Quilters

We have an awesome group of Quilters down in Fremont CO in Colorado. They have really picked up speed and momentum and are just quilting like crazy!!

They have recently finished these 10 Beautiful Quilts of Valor. They have been delivered to one of our programs and will be presented to their forever homes VERY soon.

Cathy and Jewell are the fearless leaders.

They quilt in Canon City once a week.

If you are interested in joining in with them - 

Message me - and I will pass your info along.

They took all of the quilt pictures for me to post!

Wasn't that awesome ;-)

I am so proud of their group - they have really been working hard!!

Doesn't the one below have such great texture?

Thank you to the Fremont CO Quilters in Colorado - they provided such a lovely Quilt show this week!!


Thank you for stopping by! NOW!!! Mark your calendars for tomorrow!!  Seriously - you WANT to come back... There is such a great announcement happening..... see you then!

Utilize

My word for the year was UTILIZE - and this weekend.... It came to the test!!

You know those weekends that are totally packed from the second you wake up until Sunday night?  This was one of them!! ( and remember we are one kid short right now lol)

I still Utilized my time and ta da...

Check out this fabric. I think it is reminiscent of a different era?

back in a time when fabrics actually came in 36 inch widths. Remember that?  The patterns (clothing) would be written for either 36 inch or 45 inch width fabrics?  I remember shopping with my Grandma and trying to determine who's patterns would fit on which width fabrics.  - she made PJ's for everyone for Christmas!

Anyways - this is what I have pieced. so far. And I think I am done.

Or maybe not - it may need a border - so we are testing it for a second.

I would love to tell you this is my original Design - but It is not. I got my Modern Quilts Unlimited Magazine and there is a pattern in there that just caught my eye. I changed it up just a tiny bit - and this is my Version.

What do you think? Border or no Border?  Little Bit likes the border... I am starting to believe in his design eye. You should see some of this drawings ;-)

And speaking of Little Bit - he had a pig show this weekend!

And then Middle Bit - he got put up for auction!!  I didn't get a photo of it, as I was too worried about who was bidding on him!  The whole group of FFA kids were auctioned off as a fundraiser - it was crazy!

We didn't get home until late - and Middle bit had to be back at the school for another event on Sunday... Crazy I tell you!

For other design walls head over to:
http://www.patchworktimes.com


PS!!!! Mark your Calendars for THIS THURSDAY and make sure you come back to the blog.... I PROMISE you won't want to miss it!!

Almost finished

Welcome to Finished Friday - the Almost Finished edition ;-)

My Churn-dash's!
This originally started out as a way to make a few blocks, see how I liked making them... and Make a few purple scraps in the process.  April's RSC color was purple - and yes - I had yardage of purple.... but alas - no scraps.    ( I had already used them up Here  )

I made a few blocks and was ready to make it into a top - when along came Wrangler Man and said make more!

And so I made more.... and then I realized the Colors were so varied. The boys and I worked on rearranging them, and I was ready to put it into a top ( photo below is not the rearranged edition - i forgot that photo!!)   I had used up all the scraps into my Purple Heart block, and I even had made a few framed 9 patches with the leftovers.... I was ON A ROLL I tell you. Big ego boost all around.

And in came Wrangler Man and his math ( dumb math) and he says:

"That is not big enough to keep me warm"

And so... out of the goodness of my heart,,, and the promise of chocolate

I made more blocks

And Last night he said - 

Go ahead - put it into a top, but ADD a border ! 

Sometimes it is NOT in your best interested to try to educate your family about your passion... and sometimes - they really do listen!

Now I need to finish up the new scraps that I made, into a few more Framed 9 patches and 

I ! WILL! BE!  DONE!  with Purple for April.

PS - the color value of this quilt sure has changed a long the way

 Linking up to
confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com
Crazymomquilts.blogspot.com
http://quokkaquilts.com/