Quilters Accountability 2/2/11

So, yesterday I had to go to a new doctor - and he asks me - "Do you work outside?"  I thought that was an odd question - but I answered  "well - Yes" . He says " What do you do?" 

Umm - really? - well - "In the winter I feed a lot of animals, run a little ranch, and work dogs...." he says -" I meant do you work outside the house - like a real job? "

I wanted to explain to him that his *real job* in a heated building with running water that isn't iced up, and needing to be broken so that the animals in the freezing cold temps can survive - Does. Not. Count.    But I didn't, I was nice and smiled and said - "oh, umm, well, No"

That said, I have spent a. lot. more. time outside these last two days!!! And I am liking quilting when I am inside!

So - Last weeks list -

1. Finish the borders on Yellow quilt #2 - the challenge was just for January so sheesh I should have it finished before the 31st right?  Done!!! Cheek it out here:
http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/01/yellow-monochromatic-challenge.html



2. Bind the quilt I just quilted  : Done ( see the right picture, and the binding even matched!!)

3. Work on Scrappy Rail Fence Yep - I got it to the layout status. I now have it pinned in the rows, with numbers on them, and back in its ziploc bag for our February Sew Day.

4. Load up for Sundays QOV sew time!  Done - we sewed on Sunday and had a great time!

For this next week:
The Color for this Months Monochromatic Challenge is Violet - so I went an looked for all the purples/violets that I have - and here they are. Now I need to figure out what to do with them. I have about 3 ideas, but NO focus!!!

So TO DO's

Number 1: is to decide on a plan of action with violet.

Number 2: Get out UFO #10 and get a plan for getting it done

Number 3:  - well - I guess I am not very ambitious this week - I can't think of what else I had on my to do list - we have quite a few kids' activities, so maybe that is my goal - to get every kids where they are supposed to be, and not lose them!!

 

To see what others are up to, or to join in , go to
http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/quilters-accountability-report-february-2-2011/

Remember you have till 8 tonite to get in on the drawing for the postcard book if you are interested:

http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/01/design-wall-13111.html

Quilts from Meredith

Meredith told me that she would be cutting back a little on her Quilt of Valor making - I think she fibbed!! Look at these beauties that came my way! These were made by her, and Quilted by Ron in New Mexico. He is up to over 1000 Quilts of Valor quilted - amazing!!

Meredith - thank you VERY much for these beauties!!  Hope you all enjoyed the mini quilt show!!

Design Wall 1/31/11

This weekend was our Quilt of Valor sew day. We got 5 quilts bound, and 3 more quilt tops started. I was so inspired that I came home a stitched a little bit more on my quilt kit.  It is the rail fence (found here:
http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/01/scrappy-rail-fence-pattern-for-jan-30th.html

and it is very very scrappy. So scrappy, that I just sewed darks together until the strip reached 42 inches, so some of the strips consist of a few colors.... we will see how it turns out!

 This is all of us *girls* quilting. We moved all the tables close so we could talk too - I LOVED it. These ladies are the BEST!!!

And they brought chocolate and Gluten free crackers. - see just AWESOME!!




****GIVEAWAY ALERT*****

I have a postcard quilting book - yes - I had a few of them - but it wasn't my fault..... I swear!

So - If you are interested in a book about fabric postcards - leave me a comment , (and a way to get in touch with you)  and at 8pm on Wednesday I will draw a name and get it in the mail to you.

This is a picture of one of the postcards inside. It is a cool little book.












To see what everyone else is up to this week go to http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/01/31/design-wall-monday-january-31-2011/

There are some cool quilts in progress!!

Stash Report and Fun!!

This weeks stash report is looking good!!!

Used this week:                             25.3 yards ( wowser!!)
Used YTD:                                      84.93  yards
Charity Fabric added this week:  0
Fabric Added  This week :            0
Added Year To Date:                    95.25 Yards
Net Used:                                        -10.31 Yards

I am getting there - my goal was to use up at least as much fabric as came in this month - but alas - I didn't quite make it. Oh well, Lots of Quilt of Valor Quilt kits got made up, and some were even worked on at todays sew day!

Now for the fun!!! Guess where we went this week? Every January Greeley has a big Farm Show, so we were able to go check it out, and of course, the BIG attraction to the kids was the tractors.

They bought 4 of them - just kidding.... but they were trying REAL hard to negotiate. Apparently they figured that their allowance wouldn't even cover the gas charge to get the tractor home!!

But they had a great time. We were able to meet up with some friends from town, so we impressed them with all our farm knowledge. Took us 2 minutes to tell them everything we knew LOL.

Hope you all have a great evening!!

Yellow Monochromatic Challenge

I read all about Judy's Monochromatic ( hereby known as MC) Challenge and I thought - oh man - that will be cool - and then she chose Yellow.... ugh. It's not that I don't like yellow, I think I just don't like yellow in large quantities!  Well, And I thought I didn't have much yellow, as that is not something I thought I bought. 

You see where I am going with this right? That maybe I should just stop thinking and quilt!

I pulled all my yellows, ( oh my - there were a LOT!!)  made a plan in my EQ7, and went to town.

And then I had strips left...and so I decided that I really wanted to use them up, because ... if I didn't, then I would have to add them back into my stash - and I really really didn't want to do that!....

So here is the finished Top #1

I have to be honest - it is not my favorite top. The picture does kind of blur it up. But - Wrangler Man likes it..... so it must be okay.

And this next picture is Top Number 2

I like it a LOT better... I don't know really why, but I think it has to do with the contrast.

And now - I am ready to move on to another color!!

Oh, and quilt these!!

January's UFO #6

The UFO chosen over at http://www.patchworktimes.com/ this month was UFO #6 from our UFO lists. Well at first my list only had 6 UFO's on it - so I thought that was cool. The list has grown to *gulp* 10!!!  And who knows, with my great ability to hide things from myself I might find 2 more!!

Anyways UFO #6 is all done - I put the borders on it, and quilted it, and Chryl S Bound it for me!! Whoo hoo - off to the Quilt of Valor land it goes!!

Here it is all bordered.

Here is a close up of the quilting. It is a panto called Starburst by Jodi Beamish.

Here is a picture of it with its backing - all flag -ish!

And this is the lowly little block that started it all.

Directions can be found here:

http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2010/09/quilters-accountability-92210.html

And Now I will very very patiently await Vince's ( I am assuming that Judy will let Vince draw again) Draw of the next UFO to work on for February!

Enjoy!

Beautiful Quilts

Some days I am the luckiest girl in the world!! The most beautiful quilts come thru here to be given to soldiers - and lucky me - I get to see them up close first!!!

This quilt is the Veterans Day Rail quilt from our sew a long - it was made by Rebecca in Maine!! Rebecca it is so beautiful!

The pattern can be found

http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/search/label/Veterans%20Rail%20Quilt%20a%20Long

This beauty was made by Alberta in IL - Click on the picture to see it up close - it is a work of art!! Thank you Alberta!

Judy V in Broomfield started quilting with the kiddos at Mountain View hard of hearing school. This was one of the quilts they made. She provided fabric pieces and the kids got to make a design, then the design was appliqued down. These two quilts are just gorgeous.

This is a close up of one of the blocks - cool huh?

Judy also participated in the Veterans Quilt a Long - and this is hers. Oh - and she quilted all three of these Quilts of Valor.

Sewists - you all are amazing. I appreciate your time and your abilities being used to cover our servicemen and women. And they so appreciate the hugs that are made into quilts!!

Take Care!

Quilters Accountability 1/26/11

I had lofty goals for this last week:
1. Keep working on the Yellow Quilts, putting on the borders, and choosing backing fabrics.

And I am glad that was all I did. 3 of my days were taken up with a beautiful thing called Jury Duty. I have to say I was not opposed to the jury duty as much as I was surprised that outside of my bubble SO many people have horrible heartaches. It could almost kill a person to hear all of it! So lucky me, I am back in my bubble where the unicorns fly and the butterflys are pretty.... okay well, maybe that doesn't happen, but I truly have a blessed life!

I worked on my two yellow quilts, and one is completely finishes, the other has borders cut and laying next to it..... and the bonus.... I got a quilt quilted

This is a small bit of it - I used a floofy feather pattern on it.

Next week Goals:

1. Finish the borders on Yellow quilt #2 - the challenge was just for January so sheesh I should have it finished before the 31st right?

2. Bind the quilt I just quilted

3. Work on Scrappy Rail Fence

4. Load up for Sundays QOV sew time!

To see what others are up to:

go to Bari's

http://crossroadsquilts.wordpress.com/

Design Wall 1/24/11 - well Table

Today has been one of my least favorite days, but I am not at liberty yet to tell you why. Let's just leave it say that my life is pretty dang charmed compared to others, and I LOVE the bubble that I live in!!!

That being said - This is what it being worked on - on my design wall/table. It is a Scrappy Rail Fence in process: The pattern can be found here:
http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2011/01/scrappy-rail-fence-pattern-for-jan-30th.html

On Sunday I finished up with the rest of my crumbs of yellow - I kept some and sent the rest off to other sweet quilters - who wanted them ( whoo Hoo)

Some of the little pieces were like 1/2 by 1 inch little triangles and bits and oh  my - I can NOT believe that I took the time to sew them together - but I did!!!


Too see what others have been up to go to Judy's
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/01/24/design-wall-monday-january-24-2011/

Oh ya - and my boys thank you all for wondering how they did in the spelling bee... they got 5th and 7th place out of 22 spellers - so they were happy. Plus they outspelled their mom and won a milkshake....

Stash Report 1/23/11

Stash Report

Used This Week:   11.583 yards

Used Year To Date:    59.33 Yards

Charity Fabrics Added : 0 Yards

Fabric Added : 3/4 Yards

Added Year to Date: 95.92 Yards

Net for 2011:   35.617

My Kiddos had a spelling bee over in Loveland, and there is a Quilt Shop on the way, and coming home it started talking to my car, and the car just turned there!! I got a cute little charm pack Called Sugar Pops... Good thing they didn't carry yardage of that line!

Okay - now tell me the truth - aren't these just the cutest little spellers you have ever seen? I mean come on.... they just are so cute!!! 

Here's a sunset from Thursday night. It was cold, but so very clear, and the colors were so rich, much better in person!

Go to Judys

http://www.patchworktimes.com/2011/01/23/stash-report-week-4-2011/

To see how every one else did!