Heart/Hug Blocks

I belong to a small sewing group that meets every other Tuesday evening. I also go over to sew every Tuesday with my good friend, Cat, since she is retired and I am unemployed and have the time. When my Tuesday sewing group has a loss such as the death of a mother, father or spouse, everyone makes a "hug" block for them to make a memory quilt with. You would be surprised how many of these blocks get made. Last year one of our ladies, lost her husband suddenly and not soon after, she lost her father. We made a friendship quilt for another gal in our group who is battling cancer for the second time. We are making blocks to make a friendship quilt for one of the gals in our group who is leaving us and moving to Texas. We really just want to tie her up and make her stay, but instead, we are making her a quilt. (that is what my string blocks are for.) Anyway, I made some heart/hug blocks. One to give to Carolyn, who lost her husband and 3 extras to have on hand. (since I had everything out already)

A Gift from Jo

You know about my mini long arm group? Well 3 of the gals, Nancy, Linda and Jo came over to sew last week and while they were here, I noticed Nancy's little thread catcher/pin cushion. It was so cute! She had won it as a prize at MQR. You will never guess what I got in the mail yesterday!
Go ahead, GUESS............................Give up?

Jo sent me this along with a little thank you for a fun day. She is so sweet. I love this little bag and am already using it. I have the best friends!

I've Discovered Strip Blocks!

I have seen plenty of strip quilts and always thought they looked cute. I've never made any, although I am collecting blacks and whites to make one in the future. One of the ladies in my Tuesday quilt group is leaving us and moving to Texas.....THE NERVE!

We will miss her a lot and all making strip blocks to put a small memory/farewell quilt together for her. I didn't realize how FUN these are to make. I had a blast and when I laid them out I loved them!
Here are my blocks:

Now I'm fixin to make some strippy hearts appliques for memory blocks for a few people...I am really behind on this. Here the reds I cut out to make them:

Stash Report-Week 9

Well, I fell off the wagon.....but it is Suzanne's fault. She had a fabric sale at Knots and Bolts and I needed fabric for a new strip quilt for my niece. I will fill in with other fabrics from my stash. I will count the new fabric in my stash when I get it, UNLESS, I am able to pull all the fabric for the new quilt and in that case, I won't add it in and I will have more stash busted for that week. I count the fabric when I pull it for a project. Easier for me that way. So this week I don't have much to report. I used 4.5 yards for a quilt backing and binding. I made a few strip blocks from my scraps but I'm not counting that because I can't measure it. Other than that, nothing until the new shipment comes in.

Fabric Added this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 0 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 3.5 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 29.25 yards

Total 29.25 yards busted

Payton's Quilt

Payton is one of the children I babysit. She just turned 10 last week. I asked her if she would be interested in quilting a quilt and entering it into the "Kids can Quilt" Contest at MQX. She was excited to do it. I explained the quilting only is judged so she agreed to use this small pink log cabin quilt I had here. Pink is not her color, but she agreed. She chose a design and I showed her how to work the machine and gave her some pointers.

She diligently practiced every chance she could for two weeks.

She came over yesterday to quilt for real:

Look how serious she is:

Unfortunately we had some tension problems and we called it a day. She was dismayed to learn I had to remove the stitching she already had done. Not as dismayed as I was however. Her 40 minutes of stitching took me 5 hours to frog. I went to bed at 2am, my fingers raw and my eyes burning.

She came over this morning at 11 to give it a go again.

She got right to work:

She noticed that the machine didn't feel right and said it was catching at some points. She described to me what sounded like thread in the wheels so I looked and sure enough....there was thread wrapped around a wheel. When I did a deep knee bend to take a good look I heard my husband say from behind me, "I didn't think you could still do that" (smart ass)
Anyway, I started getting the thread out and Payton took over. She did a good job and cleaned it up and got back to work:


Last row:

Finished at 2pm...NOT BAD!

She wants to make a quilt herself. I told her we will do it this summer when she doesn't have homework most nights. She makes me proud!

Quiltathon-Feb 22, 2009

I participated in Judy's quiltathon yesterday but didn't post because mostly what I did was cut material and organize. I still need to finish cutting some but I will be sewing today. My goals for today are:

• Make 8 strip blocks for a farewell quilt (sewing friend)
• Make 192 HST, press and trim for Judy's Quilt along quilt.
• Make heart memory block for Carol
• Make border strips for Jess' quilt
• Cut pieces for new Carpenter's Star quilt (sewing Wed)
• Backing and binding for Mystery quilt
• Put all fabric away NEATLY

It is 8:45 am. Time to get started!

It's been a long week

My Jess has been pretty sick for about a week now. It started Monday when she was doubled over in pain and vomiting. She looked bad and we didn't know what to do. We ended up taking her to urgent Care where they decided she most likely had a kidney stone and sent us to the hospital to get it checked. Several hours later it was confirmed and she was sent home with 3 Rx and has been sleeping mostly all day long. Supposedly it is a small stone and will pass. Everyone says she is too young to have kidney stones, but apparently that isn't true. She finally took a shower and looked almost herself yesterday. I'm glad she is starting to get some color back and eat a bit.
This too shall pass!