Coloring Quilt Blocks

Well I have been working on more charity quilts. I went to two elementary schools last week and am putting together 6 baby quilts for ABC Quilts (http://www.abcquilts.org) . I am an area coordinator for them and really enjoy working with the kids in the classroom. This is the third year I have done it. My youngest son is in 1st grade and I of course had to include his classroom in the project. I have 4 of the 6 tops sewn together and plan on finishing up all six of them by this weekend. Saturday I am hosting a scrapbooking/project night fundraiser for the orphanage in Morelia Mexico (http://www.ffhm.org) I believe I will be bringing my sewing machine and not my scrapbooking to the event. We are making dinner also so will have some interuptions but should be able to get them all quilted that night.

I took some blocks to my community Women's Bible study last Wednesday and they colored in some sunbonnet sue blocks. I wanted to post the picture of the quilt top as I think it looks great if I say so myself. Some little girl should really love this quilt.

Purple is my favorite color. I am taking the top to my Bible study tonight to show the ladies. I think this one will be sent to someone else to quilt for me and then forward onto Wrap Them in Love (http://www.wraptheminlove.org)

I will post pictures of the kids quilts next week when they are completed. I think I am going to enter a few of them in the fair this summer. The kids will enjoy seeing them on display.

Well I finished quilting the NYE mystery quilt that I posted a picture of earlier. My picture is not the best but the quilt is so big and hard for one person to hold up. Does not help that my house is small! Oh and the one peeking out is my youngest son, Peter! Cute isn't he?

February 8, 2006

Time sure does fly! I started a spanish class online and have been spending alot of time learning to speak in spanish. I am hoping that it will help me to communicate better when I am down there this summer on my mission trip. I know I will be able to read and listen to spanish but actually being able to communicate my thoughts is questionable. You really have to think quickly to be able to do that.

I have been working on some UFO's the last week. One is over a year old. I added borders and then quilted it. I am still hand sewing down the binding. I found the perfect backing fabric for it. The quilt is red/black/white. My husband likes it so I will be keeping this one. The other one is my NYE mystery quilt from just a month ago. I wanted to finish that one and use it on my bed. We bought a brand new bed this last weekend and so far it has been very comfortable. Our bed was only 5 years old but was really worn out. It is possible it would have been under warranty but we did not save the receipt so could not look into it.

Matt and his girlfriend were over last night picking up my old computer. They stayed for supper. It was really nice. It is amazing how his attitutude has changed drastically having a girlfriend! He actually told me he loved me as he was leaving! This is quite an improvement. My husband informed me that he is actually calling me Mom now instead of "your wife". Raising kids is sure tough work!

January 17, 2006

Worked on some quilting over the weekend. I had to work Saturday morning but then was able to sew all afternoon. I have a pile of 7 quilt tops made from orphan blocks and crumb blocks. These are going to Wrap a Smile and Wrap Them in Love.

I registered for an online Spanish course this weekend also. It is a 6 week course and is suppose to teach you how to speak in Spanish quickly. I am sure there will be alot of work on my part but I am ready! I am headed to Mexico again to an orphanage in Morelia. http:///www.ffhm.org This will be my second year going and I am really excited about it. I am going in June with about 10 other people. I am in the process of organizing the mission team now.

My youngest son participated in his first Cub Scouts pinewood derby. He placed third in the entire pack and boy was he excited!! He almost placed 2nd as he tied a few times for that place but the other car finally ended up winning. He was really excited to place third place! He will get his picture in the newspaper.

Well that was my weekend in a nutshell. Back to the cutting board to make more charity quilts. So far I have worked on 16 quilts for January. My goal this year is at least 100. That would be about 8.33 quilts a month so I am a little ahead for those months I may not be able to do as much.

My Anniversary!

Well today is my 20th Wedding anniversary. I probably won't see my husband all day as Wednesday is our busiest day of the week. He always works late and we have kids activities on this day.

Well yesterday I was able to do some quilting as I had the day off work. Although I wanted to spend the whole day at home I had to do some running in the morning. I miss my stay at home days. The house is so peaceful and quiet during the day when the kids are at school. I worked on some more preemie quilts and now have a total of 8 quilts to send off. I also worked on some baby panels I have had in my stash for a long time. These are for ABC Quilts (http://www.abcquilts.org) I am the local area coordinator for this effort. Last year I was able to collect about 150 or so quilts for them.

Here are a few of the preemie quilts.

I am trying to use up some orphan blocks and the preemie quilts are a way to put them to good use.

I went to Joann's yesterday as consolation for having to run into town. I bought myself a sewing machine case on wheels. I quilt at church about once a month so it will be nice to be able to cart all of my stuff including my sewing machine in one bag. And it is on wheels! I told my DH that he did not need to buy me an anniversary present as I had taken care of it myself. I originally wanted to buy some recliner chairs but he didn't want me to so I guess that will wait. I really don't have time to shop around anyway.

January 8, 2006

Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go as planned? Well today is that day. Actually the whole weekend has gone that way. Today I wanted to do some quilting but it is already 5 PM and I have not been able to even start!

Yesterday I went shopping with my son for a few things. Well big purchases actually. I finally got fed up with my computer and decided to go look for another one. I am now writing this from my new, not very expensive(after the rebates) computer. It is really nice but boy does it take a long time to get everything set up and software loaded to get back to where I was before. I still do not have everything done that I need to. My son also spent all his money on an Ipod.

So today's plan was to go to church, then make a quick grocery shopping trip and then sew! Well the shopping took longer than expected and then when I got home DS could not get music downloaded onto his Ipod. So I spent awhile trying to figure that out. Still have not figured it out. He bought an open item Ipod and I think there may be something wrong with it. I have to call the store and try to figure it out.

Well I wish I could get to that sewing but other duties are calling me. Whatever happened to Sunday being the day of rest? Oh thats right that was when I was not working a job! LOL

January 5, 2006

Well I finished up a total of 5 preemie quilts so far. These quilts go together really quickly when you already have orphan blocks to work with. You can see some of the finished ones at http://photos.yahoo.com/tjgray2 in the new photo album. I am working on one more now and will then decide if I want to complete others or wait and work on another project. I have put out a challenge with my online charity quilt guild to make some blocks that I will sew together with Bonnie's pattern called Smokey Mountain Stars at http://www.quiltville.com. Her site is full of scrappy quilt patterns that are wonderful. Some of the blocks have started coming in already.

I have confirmed the dates for my next Mission trip to Mexico. I will be going in June 2006 for a week to a christian orphanage that is home to about 30 children rangeing in age from birth - 16 yrs old. Last summer when I went with a group of 13 we worked on the nursery and finished it so they are now able to take in babies. Don't know what we will work on this year but I am hoping we take someone with us that can help install an industrial sink in the kitchen. I hope to take lots of quilts with me for the home or possibly their outreach or hospital ministry. Better get back to that sewing machine if I want to accomplish something!

January 4, 2006

Well the kids are back to school and I have to work extra hours this week as a coworker is out for a few days. This always cuts into my quilting time. Although my job takes away alot of quilting time every week! I have been working on some preemie quilts and have about 5 of them done so far. A few of these were done before Christmas. I want to finish up enough to fit into a flat rate box and get in the mail before the postage goes up on the 8th. I am sending these to a friend for the hospital she works for. Most of my charity quilting is done for an online quilt guild at http://sunshinequilts.hypermart.net/. I concentrate most of my quilting for children overseas and here at home. Tonight is the kids activities so I am headed out the door again. I will try to post pictures of some of the preemie quilts I have done so far later.

January 2, 2006

Happy New Year!

I decided to try something new this year and this is it. I have been keeping a personal journal for the last few years and will continue to do that. With this blog I want to record my quilting journey along with some day to day events. Christmas was nice but I am glad that things can now settle down and not be so busy. Well at least I hope it will settle down. The kids will be back in school tomorrow and we can get back to the regular routine.

My husband had off work all week and was working on finishing up the basement family room. It is just about done being painted and then we can roll out the carpet and start moving into it. This is where my machine quilting frame will be plus the pool table and other table games for the kids. Oh and also the exercise equipment that is being used.

I worked on a Mystery quilt over the New Years weekend. It is a queen sized quilt. I will be keeping it for my bed. This will be the first quilt I have ever made for my own bed. The pink ribbon should have read light purple but I like it anyway. It is not quilted yet. I will have to get that done next after we get the basement back in order.