Quilt of Valor

Awhile back I made this Quilt of Valor with a mystery group online and Alycia and pals has now got it quilted and soon will be off to one of our soldiers!
Alycia Quilts has a blog post about it and several other donated quilts.

Sewing with Kathy, then Becky and Bonnie

Today was a really stressful day.  A relative of mine phoned to tell me that he has cancer.  I think I am still in shock about this and can't believe so many of my family members keep getting and dying from cancer.  My mom is still in remission but hasn't been feeling at all well lately.  Kathy has no insurance and who knows what is going on with her cancer.  Now this.  UGH.  I was sewing when he called and continued to sew off and on through the stress of the entire day though I was not my usual self.  I skipped going to the PMQG meeting too.  Just couldn't muster the strength to smile and be social.

There are things going at at my work regarding a student I haven't even met yet.  Things have been completely blown out of proportion and my good intentions were not taken as such.  I can't tell you what a mess all that is, and how stressful it is to me.  I feel like I try my hardest to be the best I can and in two seconds one person who misunderstands can destroy things.  No fun, not what you are here to read but some of what I am going through and why I NEEDED some sewing time.  

Kathy sewed this morning and got her border on her mystery quilt.  Looks great!

 Last night I ordered a free collage from Walgreens and Kathy picked it up today.  I made it of the quiltville quilts I have made so far.  A few are missing, but I taped it up in the sewing room and it made me smile before my phone started ringing.

 I got all the blocks put together from night and day earlier and today I added the borders.  I really like how this one turned out and Coleman likes it.  So I need to make a backing and get it sent off to the quilter.  I also made the binding for the Thirties Quilt History quilt and put it away for later.

 Other than that, I sewed up bow tie blocks all day.  Becky came over and finished up her Nines Surrounded quilt (which I have planned to make too) and I was so distressed I didn't even get pictures of anything she worked on!  We put Bonnie on the webcam and that distracted me for a bit which was nice.  My bow ties are not as perfect as previous bow times--I hate the anxiety that makes me crazy.  The good news is DJ didn't cross my mind all day, HA!  Well, til now, ha!

I made TONS of bow ties and hope when I get them all put together there will be enough for another row.  This stack includes fabric BJ gave me last time I saw her and it was fun to see it become bow ties.  I am so glad I am blessed with so many sewing friends.  

Productive Saturday Sewing!

 Finished listening to the Edwards short stories and dug Dreams of Joy out of my car (been there for like 6 months, I was on disc 8) and am most of the way through it.  I was inspired by Amy to piece a border for Star Path QOV.  I didn't add an inner or outer border as she did, but I am happy with this one.

 I also pieced the backing from the last of the Anaheim discount fabric from when we went to Disney.  It is the perfect backing for a QOV.  I also made the binding.  Now I will ship it off to Alycia and she can get another volunteer to quilt and bind it and it will be ready for a soldier.  Thanks Nancy for a great mystery!

 I took some of the quilts outside to get pictures in the Arizona sun (seriously it is 100 and something out there) but I see my shadow made it into this picture.  Doc Schnibbles for Rachel's baby in Norway.

 and the back.

 Star Path in the sun.

 Kathy worked on the parts of these Night and Day blocks and finished them off and sewed them into this tablerunner.  Found a cute border fabric in my stash (thanks June) and it is now ready to be quilted.  This will go to my cousin Tara since it matches her quilt and her birthday is later this month.  We also made a quick trip to JoAnn's to buy a Kaleidoscope ruler (half off plus 25% off for educators) to use up the other leftovers from Night and Day.  Waste not, want not.

 I bought the other three Denyse Schmidt fat quarter yard thingys too.  Figured I had a coupon and I had money from my mom for my birthday so they are now mine!  Oh, and two skeins of dishcloth yarn as I am almost running low!

 Here is what Jack in the Box is looking like now that I have added the aqua colors.  I took it down to make room for my quilt history block UFO.  We cut sashing and cornerstones for it but that is as far as it got today.

And last here is a picture of baby Caleb snuggling in the quilt DJ and I made for him on our Prescott Staycation awhile back.  His parents are good friends of hers in Vegas.  What a cutie!

Quilt of Valor Mystery Solved and Schnibble Progress

Today was my birthday!  Kathy and I went out to lunch at Benihanas.  It was practically free because we joined the birthday club and since our birthdays are three days apart we each used our certificate.  We had sushi!  After that we went over to Bath and Body Works and used another coupon for a buy one get one free deal.  Kathy picked out some Ocean Men's cologne and I got the Sleep lotion that smells so good!  A few days ago our big gift to each other arrived and we already love it!

 Today while watching Man on a Ledge and Gone we did a bit of squaring up and sewing of the Quilt of Valor Mystery Quilts.  Here is the one I did.  Still needs a border.  It is called Star Path.

 This one is Kathy's.  I like the scrappy look better.  This one was made from leftover bits I still had even after making a full size quilt and a schnibble from this fabric.  This is finally the end of it, and I still love it!  There might be enough bits left to cut up for bow ties!

Dimestore Schnibbles is slow to see progress.  This sucker is a bit of a pain.  The directions say to use a scant quarter on the pieced border strips, but then the cornerstones don't wind up in the right place.  So I am painstakingly adding in extra seams to make things line up better.  It is half way done and I am finally getting some sort of a rhythm to it.  It is not one I will be making again!  I like the look of it though..sort of like a huge window and the colors remind me of Monet's paintings.  So it is all good Carrie!  I am sure other quilters are having no problem with getting things to match up.  I will say that my normal quarter inch is finally perfect on the featherweight!

Olympic Progress-Not Really!

 Well I was accused of ruining a mystery on a new group I recently joined because I posted my blocks and someone thought I was guessing at the layout.  I had forgotten to take pictures like these two so I just used the ones I had put on my blog not even thinking that I could be revealing a layout.  I meant no harm, but had my feelings hurt by those who seemed to think I was out to ruin their fun on purpose.  PLEASE.  I felt like telling them my recent life story.  My heart has been broken several times in the last few months and I am doing all I can to just put one stitch in front of the other.  I am not my usual sharp self and just wasn't thinking at all when I posted the pics.  But knowing my story doesn't really matter to the masses and some people just look for something to be pissy about I apologized and let it go.  I was so excited to find the group and have a more fun way to make my Quilts of Valor donation quilts--I love mysteries but now I will finish up this mystery and quietly take my fabric and go home.  Sigh.

 We have been watching a lot of the Olympics and I did some knitting last night while the USA's girls gymnastics team was winning!

 I also unpicked my bow tie cheddary challenge and then today I took in some seams, did some trimming and made it fit.  I noticed that some of the previous row was also a little bigger and I hadn't see it before.  I am over it.  It looks better and so too bad if it isn't perfect.  My perfectionist tendencies are leaving me, my give a damn is busted.  I am happy with this one and really should do one more row on it to see if it is big enough.

This morning, I also did some fast quilting on this little dolly quilt and have put it on our ottoman for a doggy quilt.  It will serve its purpose.

Blissful Sewing Day!

 Started off by making my sister's crown quilt binding...her birthday (and Kathy's) are next Friday...I need to pick up her quilted quilt from Ros and get it bound to give her next weekend.  Where does the time go?

 Here are the blues I cut the other night.  And today I added all the browns.  (Still need to cut the muslin so I can start putting the last units together!)

 Since I was tired of cutting I decided to play around and sew some bags.  This led to organizing all my zippers by color (see Amy there is another page for our book!).

 Meanwhile Kathy finished up her clue for the mystery.  Loving the look of this one.  She can hardly wait for the next clue.

 Then I made a few more modern looking bags.

 All while listening to Isabel Allende's "The Sum of Our Days" which was good.  Finished it tonight so it can go back to the library.

 I cut into my modern fabrics and sewed squares together.   I am sure you can guess where I am going with these blocks.  Always a dog in my pictures...

 And the border...

 And tada another Lil' Twister.  This is the first one I have made with the tiny, tiny ruler I bought awhile back.

 See how small it is?  Love it!

 Kathy continued to sew the leftover bits from the Night and Day quilt I made almost two years ago into these blocks.  She isn't too happy with the centers, so she insists I do that part on the remaining blocks.  There are lots of seams that come together and we haven't followed Eleanor's directions to spin the seams or whatever..but maybe I will try to figure that out.

So most of the day was spent in quiet company with Kathy and our audiobook while sewing and cutting to our own beat.  It was really relaxing.  Tomorrow I plan to cut the muslin and start sewing that last unit.  Megan is coming over again to work on her little quilt so I will have a companion.  Kathy thinks she will make some dog biscuits with Ayla.  Speaking of that...Kathy has launched her new website where she sells homemade dog biscuits.  The dogs love them (even June's dog who is quite fussy about what he will eat!) so if you are interested check out http://shop.jandrdogtreats.net/ 

:)

QOV Mystery Blocks :)

 I took a sub job today for most of the day (and it started early!) then I got a quick haircut and went to Kathy's sister's house for a visit and a swim.  We then came home and working on the QOV Mystery.  Here is the start of my blocks and then them turned into stars.

 I then did the other block and guessed on a possible layout for a picture.  I don't think mine is super exciting but it is red, white and blue and maybe borders will perk it up a bit..or maybe I guessed the layout wrong!

 Kathy is doing hers scrappy with scraps I LOVE.  So this one appeals to me much more.  She did all her centers and stars and is working on the second block..here is a sample of what they will look like.

I did a few more baby burp clothes too.  That was today's sewing...tomorrow I need to get back to cutting the rest of the pieces for Smith Mountain Morning.  I can't wait to see some more progress on those blocks!

Sewing Day with Becky :)

 Becky and I went to the Phoenix Modern Quilt Guild Meeting today and then we sewed away the late afternoon and evening!  First I worked on clue three for my QOV Mystery...here is is along with bonus hsts.

 Becky kindly offered to help me get my quarter inch right on my featherweight.  I think I am set now, thanks Becky!  Becky finished up her Anita's Arrowhead blocks and I managed to snag a picture of them, but not a picture of her Auntie's Anvil which she quilted and half bound!

 Kathy eventually joined us to do her mystery clue.

 Here is hers.  She is still working on the bonus hsts.

Meanwhile the reason I needed help with my quarter inch seam was these pesky blocks.  Do you remember Smith Mountain Morning?  I know, it has been a LONG time!  I think I put these away last fall when I started doing Orca/Green Bay because two complicated Bonnie projects at a time is too much for me.  And because I had discovered that my seam wasn't great and with these log cabinish blocks that is REALLY important.  Becky and I looking things over and came up with a plan of action and it seems to have worked. The picture above is the stack of blocks which are waiting for the last two blue logs and cornerstones to be added to them.  The logs are now together and the next picture is the four blocks that are done.  

 They will be set with another block alternating so this isn't how it will look.  This is one of my UFO's and I am trying to get a jump on it before its number comes up because there is still alot of work to be done on it.  This was supposed to be for Randy but since he got Orca/Green Bay, Coleman will be getting this one.  Would be nice to have it done in time for his birthday in December.
Randy gave DJ her quilt today but I haven't heard if she likes it or anything.  Hope it brightened her day anyway.

Some Miscellaneous Sewing!

 I made another bow tie block (and cut a bunch more too) and then sewed the row together and added it to my top.  Unfortunately my featherweight has a smaller seam and so my row was a bit longer.  I eased to fit with lots of pinning but think I may have to take the row apart and do some block trimming before I put it back together.  Sheesh, I will never quite get that down.

 I was in a puttering mood so I sewed my pinwheels together in the colors of the rainbow.  These will eventually become the border on Jack in the Box.  I did some organizing of leftover bits and pieces and sewed this together leftover from about six years ago when Kathy and I made a Jewel Box quilt in a mystery.    It is likely to get made into a dog quilt or dog bed.

Kathy decided to join in on the fun of the mystery I am making online.  She needed fabric so we went with the leftover line that I have made two different quilts out of.  I prefer these fabrics to what I went with...mine is a QOV and hers we aren't sure yet but the colors are right.  She has already sewed up clue two and is caught up for tomorrow's clue!