Monday

What a great weekend! My oldest son's Cross Country Team made it to the RMAC's - the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Championship - so the family and I decided to take a little drive to go watch..... it was a day that started at 3am and we arrived back home at 8pm ish

Family Selfie!! We all fit!!

 We had a great time. Their team won 4th overall in the conference ( there were 16 teams - or maybe 17)   It was a gorgeous day. This time of year you never know what you will get - this one was about 45 when they were running, almost 60 during the rest of the day!

The night before it had snowed and the temps dropped. We were going to leave at night, but we figured it would be less scary on these roads to leave early and have the sun start rising.

We were right;-)

The clouds were SO low - you just drove straight into them.

 This is the team warming up. Don't worry I only took 450 photos so I can  keep letting you know that I got to see my son....

And then there was an elk.  I think it is a little elk farm along the trail that they ran on - but I am going to prefer to say he was wild and he wanted me to take his photo. ( never mind the fences that are keeping him in)

Sunday we were all a little beat - so it didn't take much convincing of the troops to finish chores, clean the house and then have play time!   So these blocks......

Became these blocks ( I switched up the layout)   and then kept ironing and trimming.....

And this is where I left it last night when I decided it was time to go catch up on sleep.

Other design walls can be found at:  http://patchworktimes.com


PS - I'll be back with more Cross Country photos.... don't worry there ;-)

Starting to Finish Friday

I can't say Finished Friday.... because nothing is 100% finished.... but I am sure getting there!

I have the binding made for my string quilt!  For those of you who don't know me - this is huge!! The binding process is where I always stall out!!

I finished pieced EVERY! LAST! BLOCK! on my pineapple quilt!  I would be ironing them right smack now....except - wrangler man is ironing clothes... and I will NEVER stop him from ironing... nope - I am totally smart!

(there are 40 more finished - I promise.... )













But I may have started another something in the process....

I am so QDD!   I was ironing, and then I looked at a bin and I thought - oh - I should probably sew that down a bit... and now 12 ( yep really 12)  12 1/2 inch blocks later, The bin is still not empty!!

And the last thing that really is finished is this Quilt of Valor:

For other finished Fridays head to:
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts
  and enjoy!!

A little Throwback Thursday

Every once in a while I get a harebrained idea.... and today I am going to run with it...

Back when I first started blogging I was new to the quilting world, and just so amazed at all the talent out there, and truly I still am. I wonder sometimes where all the creativity comes from. And then I will see a quilt and go - Oh! I did that... ( or something similar) and I wonder where it went....  That is when I am thankful I have my blog!

My middle son and I were talking about the things that he most remembers so far from growing up, One of the things was doing Quilts of Valor with his 5th grade class. Well you know that made this mom happy.

He said that working on Mr M's quilt was the most fun because there was no right and wrong, I just let the kids play and we worked with scraps, and we learned about the machines.

I decided to see if I could find that quilt and get inspired again - Here is the original link on the blog:

http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2010/04/quilters-accountability-14.html

( blogger has compressed old posts - so it really was prettier at the time)

The Quilt that Mr M has is this one:

Who knew about modern Quilting back in 2010 - and who knew that improv piecing would become so popular.... This quilt was really ohhed and ahhed over -


I know the next one is blurry - but here is a lot of the kids on stage showing off their quilts to their whole families and guests.

I may read more of my old blogs - it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy!

Quilts of Valor 2014 and Block drive blocks

Wow!!! Blocks are already arriving in my mailbox!!! That is so AWESOME:

Pat in Fife Lake MI

Norece in TN - thats 45 blocks there!

 And - Oh My Goodness!!!  One of the prizes - this is a Fat 8th pack from Vicki Welsh!!  IT IS GORGEOUS!!! You will swoon .....

So - are you ready for some Quilty Goodness this week? I am so in the mood to snuggle up and quilt - must be that time of year!!

 First - the smiles always make it worth it right?  it seems that this year the smiles have just been brighter - and the love is always felt!

So - Our first quilt today comes from Elsie and Quilted by Lois K in Broomfield ( ish) Lois is so awesome - and Elsie - she is a piecing machne!!

It is called Colorado Autumn - pretty fitting I think!

This is another Elsie and Lois Combo - it is called Hot Sauce. There might be a hot sauce bottle or two in there! Surprise!

This is the 3rd pairing of Elsie and Lois for this show - this quilt is called Starry Skies. It is really beautiful. The picture doesn't do the colors justice,

The fourth and last quilt from the dynamic duo of Lois and Elsie - it called Sapphires and Rubies.

I love that they have named their quilts - do you do that? Sometimes I do - and sometimes they get real fancy names like - the orange quilt.

Machine Quilters Exposition did a Block drive and Colorado was the recipient of a lot of them. They had a great turn out and so generously shared with Quilts of Valor groups - this is one of the Modern Quilts made with those blocks.   it was quilted by Connie in Loveland

This yummy quilt (below) is flannel and was pieced by Deb P, and quilted by Dawna in Thornton

This gorgeous patriotic quilt was pieced by Sheryl K and quilted by Bonnie in fl. They made a wonderful team!

The last quilt in today's show was pieced by the University of Northern Colorado's Softball Team, and quilted by Me. ( Alycia just in case you forgot already Tee hee hee)

All three of these guys were so tickled to be nominated to receive a Quilt of Valor. quilters - our quilts made their day. They sat and chit chatted and were just so happy to be thought of, and to be honored this way. It was really cute!

So that is today's show - be sure to check out the block drive:
http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/p/2014-block-drive.html

I have also written it up as a pdf pattern on Craftsy :
http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/other/zig-zag-rails-quilt/119559

Enjoy!!!

Find more Time Update

When I posted about Finding More Time and asked for suggestions - you all had great ones!! And I loved them.  I am trying to incorporate them all.....  My middle son - the brain child... said don't forget all the goodies on your phone!

So Cynthia  at Quilting is More Fun than Housework  said she keeps a white board list by her machine to keep track of what supplies she needs to order. SO!! I made a list on my phone! With a reminder. Since my Long Arm is downstairs, and my computer is upstairs - I thought this would be a portable list!!

Vicki  said to think about your purchases and where you are going to put them.... Not to bad!! I made sure I had space for chocolate!!

Terri said to put things back where they belong. Okay - this is a hard one... My family is really good at just leaving things where they are.. But we are trying.

I went into my quilt studio and spent a whole hour just organizing. I do a great job and then all of a sudden A LOT of stuff ends up in my car and I just put it into my *mudroom/entry* of my studio.  So.... I took the time and put everything away and sorted.

Kate  Suggested making at least 15minutes a day and just do what you want, or tackle something 15 minutes at a time.

They are growing so fast!!

I took 15 minutes and re organized my sewing table. Oh My Gosh!!! That was so helpful. I put my projects in order, and then..... on my phone -- I made a list. You can set reminders on my phone, so for each project I set a reminder as to when I wanted to focus on that project. So far so good.  My secret project for our guild challenge - is a lot farther along then it would be if my phone didn't beep.

I made progress on my scrappy log Blocks, AND!!! I am getting some of those scraps tamed!!

So thanks for your suggestions, and thank you to my son for showing me the Lists on my phone!

A Lovely Year of Finishes - November Goal

Have you all seen this?  A Lovely Year of Finishes?  I am joining in this month ... maybe setting goals will help me to stay focused....    and keep up with my Finish Along plan....

I have three goals for November:

 Bind this string quilt ( above) and take a better photo. This one was taken with the power out, and the boys held flashlights so I could get a not black photo ;-)

Finish the Borders on this one.  

And three  - will have to be revealed on December 3rd.

We have a Guild Challenge - and we have to reveal our creations at our Guild meeting.

And I would share what it is at this stage, but I think I might be making changes to it...

Linking to 

A lovely Year of Finishes

Brown Scrappy

I am getting this block done just under the wire!!!  Brown is the October Color for RSC Scrappy Challenge... yay me....

Here is my tutorial:

Heart Tutorial

Brown was a little tougher - I didn't have many brown scraps - this is one of the only quilts I have made that had a lot of brown in it.... or at least that I can remember.

Quilts of Valor 2014

If you haven't read all about it - Quilts of Valor Colorado is hosting a new block drive!! And!! Of course there are prizes!!

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/vickiwelsh  Is providing a prize!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE her fabrics..

http://www.waterpik.com/shower-head/  is providing a great shower head. After all of that stitching this is a total bonus....

So head over and read it real quilt;http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/2014/10/2014-qov-co-block-drive.html I will wait.....

Perfectly easy block right? I designed it myself - and THAT is how I know everyone can stitch it!!!

On to today's yummy goodness!!

I tease that these quilts will make our soldiers feel like super heros.... and.. it worked!!

This quilt below - is a first time quilters quilt - it was made by Carol's Granddaughter. The borders - PERFECT!! I quilted it, and when I brought it back to sew day - I asked Carol for lessons. She sort of laughed - but I may have been serious!

This quilt was made by Donna L - And I quilted it. I had fun with all the variety of blocks!

This lovely beauty was pieced and quilted by Lynn W in Alamosa. I love the controlled scrappy!

This is Pat R's Allegiance Quilt. OH MY GOSH - this is beautiful. But the quilting.. oh my - to die for!

Margie P sent in a great box of pillowcases - and fabric!! The fabric is on the right!

This group of Pillowcases comes from the Pride City Quilt Guild!

The last quilt today comes from Sharon D. It is beautiful!!

And because I know you need to see some extra smiles today!!

Here you go! 

 Don't you just LOVE the smiles?

He wanted you all to see the beautiful quilt rather than him.... little did he know - we want both ;-)

I hope you will all get a chance to participate in our blog drive. Last year we made close to 100 quilts - and they are in all sorts of stages - so it helps us keep our Quilt Flow going. Just a quick note - this year here in Colorado we have presented 778 quilts.... so we appreciate all the help and support !

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Scrappy Quilts

This is my Entry for the Scrappy Quilt Category.... although sometimes I wonder if the quilts made from the scraps of these scraps will get done lol!

So... This is my Plaid Quilt. It is a Jacob's ladder pattern, I used the Floribunda instructions from Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.com

It is called Better with Cheddar

It started out as a Jacobs Ladder Quilt a Long - and then everyone else finished theirs and I was still going,,,,,

And then one day - I had 4 plaid projects in motion - so I thought I had better finish one.... a girl has to feel accomplished somehow!!

And now! It is done!! and I am still working on the others

Go check out all the other entries in the scrap quilt category