Christmas Greetings

Thought I would share some Christmas wishes through my son's Christmas Concert.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my readers! I finished up my semester at school and am currently enjoying my break until January 12th when I will start up once more. I was hoping to get some quilting done during this break but of course have been preparing for Christmas. We are unexpectedly traveling about 6 hours away to be with family. This will be a good thing but takes away time from the sewing room. I have been trying to get some prayer shawls knitted so now I will have plenty of time for working on those. I am enjoying the knitting lately as I can relax on the couch or with family and knit away.

I pray that everyone stays safe during the holiday's if you are traveling!
God Bless!

Quilts to the Ukraine

A picture is posted at http://www.fireleann.blogspot.com/ of the quilts that the Sunshine Quilt Guild helped me make to send to my missionary friend in the Ukraine. Check out her blog for pictures of the kids with the quilts and also the kids with clothing that was donated from about 4 of our local churches. Don't know if we will be able to do that again this winter but I would really like to if possible.

Some quilting done

Managed to squeeze in some quilting a few weekends ago. (took me this long to get the pictures done!) The top quilt was pieced by my coworker with some of my flannel strings and I finished it up. I have quite a few quilt tops like these waiting to be quilted. Next is a top done by a Carol E. from the Sunshine quilt guild. The third is more strings and then last blocks from a Sunshine block challenge I hosted last winter. I still have more of these blocks to get sewn into tops. Hopefully this winter I can manage to squeeze in some more quilting time in between classes. All of the quilts are going to WAS which is for kids overseas who get cleft lip/palette surgery.

Ukraine orphanage clothes

I received word that the clothes were handed out to the children at the Ukraine orphanage. We sent 11 boxes of clothing and quilts to Leann serving as a missionary in the Ukraine. She has listed pictures on her blog at http://www.fireleann.blogspot.com. You can see the kids with their new duds!

I have had a few minutes of quilting since class started the end of August. I did finish quilting a charity quilt and now have 4 quilts waiting for the binding to be completed. When I am not doing homework and taking care of family I am sometimes too exhausted to think about sewing.

I have registered for Spring semester starting in January and now that it is winter I may be able to find some time for sewing but we will have to see how it goes.

School started

Well, school has started for me. I have been busy this week with school work. I have two online classes. American Government and Politics and Interpersonal Communications. It is not easy taking online classes. You spend just as much time working on the computer as you would be in class. I already have to write a paper for communications this week with a group (not easy doing this online!) and also next week one by myself for communications and another for American Government. One of my writing projects for communications is blogging! As fellow bloggers you all know that I have experience in blogging! I just have to blog on specifics and not just random thoughts like this blog!

I got some sewing done last week before school started. I don't think I will be sewing much if my schedule is going to be this hectic with classes and working. Well I just have to keep my goals in front of me and remember that it will be all worth it in the end!

Non-Quilty

It has been a wild summer of no quilting. I have lots to get done here but decided I needed to enjoy the summer with my family for the most part. Also in the last two months or so I have been researching going back to school. I believe I have finally narrowed it down as to where I will be going and what degree I am pursuing. As of right now, Monday I should be registering for a few classes at a local Communtiy College where I believe I will be finishing up my AA degree and then I will transfer to a four year college to finish up a bachelor's degree in Social Work. I know it will be a tough schedule but I believe I am up for the challenge. I just know that I need to do something to move forward at this point. I am sure it will take me longer than the typical four years but I am looking at accelerated learning options to move it along faster. I am excited about going back to school as I really enjoy the learning process! School starts next week for my online classes I am registering for and my kids go back after labor day so maybe once we settle into our routine again I can squeeze in some sewing time. I have blocks waiting for me to turn into quilt tops for Wrap a Smile and Wrap Them in Love.

Heartstrings quilts.....

Ishowed a quilt picture to one of my co-workers using 2.5" strings and she really liked it and decided she wanted to help me by making some quilts for the orphanages. She has since given me 10 quilt tops for me to finish and send on. I provided her with some of my strings and the foundation fabric and she sewed the tops together. I have quilted four of them and that is these. Two of them are in flannels. She really liked working on the flannel quilts. Flannel is not my favorite to work with but these will make really warm quilts for some child in a cold place.!

Time goes swiftly by...

Time really flies when you are having fun(or just plain busy in my case)! I have been working on some quilt tops that need to be quilted from my sunshine online quilt guild. Last count was 25 quilts for Wrap A Smile and Wrap Them In Love combined. I have been having tension difficulties on both my long arm and my off the frame machine. I finally gave myself permission to do some stitch in the ditch quilting to get these quilts started. I have about 8 of them done and ready to go. The pile is starting to look a little smaller. I don't have any pictures to post right now as I am at work. That will be one of my projects this weekend, taking pictures. Tomorrow I am headed into the cities to pack food for Feed My Starving Children so most of Saturday will be used up. I don't mind though as it is suppose to be raining out and it is a VERY good cause and I am happy to help. Well lunch break will be over soon!

Newsworthy....

Wrap Them In Love is in the News in my hometown! If you are following my blog you have seen that I have been going into the classrooms and quilting with the kids. A week or so ago I went into 4 second grades classes and we did more quilts squares for four more quilts. These are all going to be donated to Wrap Them in Love when they are done being displayed at the local library in June. Well here I am with some of the students and one of the quilts already finished. One of the teachers submitted it to the paper and they ran it. It references the website for Wrap them In Love and also says that I accept donations of 100% cotton fabric for all the quilts I make. They did not give any contact info for me but I am in the phone book so if someone really wanted to find me they could. I was glad that these pictures of me actually are not too bad. At least acceptable for me considering almost the whole town will see it. I have submitted photos of the quilts in previous years but never with me in the picture, only the kids and the quilts. So this year being the fifth year of this project ended with 13 quilts and 13 classrooms visited. So I am pleased with the end result even though the process was a little more time consuming this year.

Working diligently....

I am continuing to work on the quilts from the kids at school. I have a total of 13 quilts that will need to be done by mid May and so far I have 6 completed, one that needs binding and 6 more that need to be pieced and quilted. It is starting to get busier as it is getting to be spring. Although spring is very late coming in the midwest this year. I never know what I should wear for the day , spring or winter clothes! These quilts are looking really scrappy but I don't think the kids in the orphanage will mind too much! I helped to get some quilts over to an orphanage in South Africa and was told that the kids loved the quilts and could not believe that they could keep them even when they were old enough to leave the orphanage. Getting that kind of information is what keeps me going! These quilts will be donated to Wrap them In Love which hand delivers quilts to the orphanages. So, if you are ever taking an international trip and know that you can visit an orphanage check out that website and you could take some quilts over with you also!

I have not been able to work on the Orange Crush mystery quilt hosted by Bonnie lately and am hoping I can get back to it at some point. I have most of the 4 patches completed but have not even started on Clue #2. And, I suppose the next clue has been issued but I am afraid to look as I will feel like I am very behind.

Hope you have a great day!

Knitted Hat..

I finished my first knitted hat. I used to use the loom but decided I wanted to learn how to knit with needles. I am planning on knitting up a bunch of hats to be donated next winter to various causes. Don't want to think about winter at all but it will be a good summer project for when I am too tired to sew at my machine or for take along projects. I am really enjoying the process. I printed out a bunch of different easy hat patterns from the internet. This hat is slightly too small for me but I am thinking about modifying the pattern and making more as I like how it looks. Gotta run to work now!

Frame on the move!

My frame was on the move this last weekend. We are doing some remodeling in the basement adding a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom. The bedroom that my frame was in lost a wall in the process. So I needed to move my frame to its new home in the other half of the basement. This is a room that is about 14 X 28 or so. The back half still has the family room stuff in it but my frame now sits in front of these wonderful windows. The light is so great and now quilting is so much better than when I was stuffed into that small bedroom. Plus I can turn on the TV to keep me company as I quilt. I have a charity quilt loaded on the frame and will be quilting it after I am done here. The lighting is not the greatest in these pictures right now but that is because this is a southern exposure which is why the view is so great. As you can see I am excited about my frames new space. I will post some pictures of the quilts I am currently trying to finish as I get them done.

Janet

Mystery Revealed!!!!

Here is the Library Mystery Quilt that I have been working on for a few months now. The lighting is not the greatest on my bed but it is too big for my design wall. It took me all afternoon to finish up. Sometimes I think Borders take just as long as the quilt blocks do, or at least it feels that way. Some of my bed quilt is peeking out the bottom and is not on the new quilt. I still have to quilt it but it feels good to be done with the top. I have until April 29th to quilt it for our Show and Tell meeting at the Library. It will be fun to see the other fabrics in this quilt. There were two layout options and I liked this one best. I think after seeing this I am going to keep it for myself. You can never have too many quilts, right? I really like purple so it does not surprise me that I would want to keep it. All of these fabrics came out of my stash as I did not want to go shopping for any fabric considering I have tons to use up at home first. They suggest a diagonal quilting but I will probably load this on my frame and do an overall meander of some sort. There are stars in the quilt so I would like to star meander it but I am not good at that freehand yet, so maybe I can find a pantograph to use instead. I was thinking I could even freehand the stars on some paper and then just photocopy that until I have a pantograph long enough for the frame. I have some books so I might have something already.

HS Graduates quilts for Church

Here is one of the graduates denim quilts that we are making at my church. We have 4 out of 6 done. Another gal is helping me work on the last two and then I will get them back to finish up the binding. They finished up at 50 X 80 and will be a good size for a dorm bed or where ever they use them. The denim is all jeans donated by congregation members. We had a sewing day this last Saturday and 8 ladies showed up to help out! I was excited as in the past it has not been easy getting help. The answer I always hear is "I don't know how to sew". I keep assuring everyone that there is lots to do that does not require you to know how to sew! Apparantly it finally sunk in. It was encouraging to me as I have been struggling with it.

Library Mystery Quilt

Well I am making progress on my mystery quilt hosted by our local library. We are up to Clue #6 and I am caught up. I think the next clue comes out the end of this week. I was a little behind so spent the last few hours catching up. I have been accomplishing quite a bit today with my day off. Next I need to work on my "Nesting Robin" that my local guild is doing this year. It was going to be a round robin but instead of passing along your block for someone to work on it, we keep it ourselves and do the next required step. I have also worked on some more of the split 9 patch and animal blocks. Will post more of those pictures when the quilts are completely finished.

One finished, 8 To Go

I put together one of the quilts from the blocks from the kids at school. I used some challenge blocks from my split 9 patch challenge I hosted with the Sunshine Quilt Guild (at http://www.sunshinequiltguild.blogspot.com) I really like the results. I have probably 15 more quilts to make with these challenge blocks so I am getting two projects done at the same time! This feels really good considering how little time I have these days. I think I am spending too much time on the computer and not enough at my sewing machine. I need to get these quilts finished by mid May to have them back to school for the kids to see. These quilts will be going to Wrap them In Love which donates quilts to orphanages around the world. You can read about that program at our Guild blog also.

Bonnie (http://www.quiltville.com) is starting a new mystery quilt and I am also going to start that project. I think I am an overachiever! But all these projects are soooo much fun. Well I better get busy and use my day off to its full advantage!

Need Motivation!

My Son's block is the whale, or is that a dolphin?
Here is my son coloring in his block.

I have been lacking in quilting motivation the last few days or so. Today I went to my son's school and had the kids color in muslin quilt squares that I will then sew into quilts to be donated to http://www.wraptheminlove.org/ to go to orphanages overseas. This is my fifth year working on this project. I think so far I will have to make 9 quilts as I do a quilt for each classroom.

I have started knitting a baby sweater and I enjoy doing that when I watch TV or want to relax and do nothing. No babies in my house, but the church I work for puts together layettes so I am planning on donating there. I just like to have my hands busy, I guess.

I started working on some UFO projects today. I have miscellaneous blocks in ziploc baggies that are waiting to be made into quilts. I really need to get these done and out the door. I made the mistake of counting how many I actually had laying around. My guild is having a challenge of how many UFO's you can get completed and when I found out you can also include any charity quilts I decided to play along. I finished up one top and got the backing ready to go and now am working on another set of 4 patch blocks. I have four days off over the Easter weekend so plan on getting some serious sewing done then, hopefully.

Grand Prix winners!

My son won 1st place in his Awana Grand Prix race today! He also won 3rd place

in Design! He did all the painting himself and the design was all his idea. My car placed 4th in the open class race. No trophy but my car ran a very good race and all four cars in the final race were very close! We had a very good day today.

Janet

Awana Grand Prix car's

Well here is my finished car for the Awana Grand Prix race on Sunday. The painted car is my son's (3rd grader) and the kind of quilted car is mine. I used some fabric scraps that I rec'd from someone (sorry can't remember who sent it to me) Purple just happens to be one of my favorite colors and of course I love to quilt! My son spent alot of time painting his car and is very pleased with how it looks. Our race is this Sunday so I will let you know if either of us wins!

Fabric Panel

I went to a quilt guild meeting yesterday. A guild that I am considering joining. They have meetings on Saturday mornings and now that I don't work Saturday's anymore this may work. I do belong to a guild but this guild has alot of members and it seems to have some younger members. Anyway I did some shopping while I was out. I saw this panel and decided I had to buy it. I have no idea what I am going to do with it but I am thinking I may just make it into a lap quilt for myself somehow. I like the colors and of course what it says just sings to my chocolate heart!

I retaught myself how to knit yesterday also. I have tried knitting in the past but could not coordinate my hands to work with the long knitting needles and always ended up getting my stitches too tight on my needles. I watched a video on how to knit online and I am starting with a prayer shawl. We will see how far I get before I have to rip it out. I have started and stopped only about two times and luckily I was only a few rows into it when I hap to start over.

Janet

New Job and progress...

Well I started my new job last Friday as a Church secretary PT. It is going great and any hesitation I had about the job is gone. I am doing alot of computer work producing bulletins, monthly newsletters and power point presentations among alot of other miscellaneous clerical duties. My official title is "Communications Secretary". This picture is what I have been working on for the last week or so. I may have mentioned that I rec'd 644 blocks of the disappearing 9 patch block. I have 8 tops completed with one of those being completely finished. These will all be donated to Wrap Them in Love organization which donates to orphanages overseas. You could check them out here http://www.wraptheminlove.org if you want to see a fabulous quilt gallery and see what they do.

I have started collecting clothes for a missionary who serves in the Ukraine. We are collecting clothing for the orphanages she works in over there. Last year she did this clothing drive in five different churches and she ended up collecting 600 LBS of clothing. This year I told her I would help ship the boxes to her in the Ukraine. It will be lots of work, but God willing, many orphans will be blessed with new to them clothes! I guess in the Ukraine clothing is very cheaply made and what is available is very expensive. I will let you know know everything goes.

Janet

Awana Grand Prix race car...

My son attends Awana club that holds an annual Grand Prix. This is similar to Cub Scouts pinewood derby cars. Anyway they have an open class where adults can make and race these little cars. I will be making a car this year again and I have decided that I want to make a quilt block and glue it down to the car. Now I just need to find a pattern that would work well. I have lots of scraps and could just do a scrap block and cut it to the proper size to attach to the car. We don't have the cars yet so I am not sure what size it is exactly but it is rectangle. I would guess it is only about 1 1/2 inches wide by about 7 inches long. Here are some cars from previous years.

So if anyone has any idea's on a quilt block that would look great on a car please let me know!

Library Mystery Quilt

I am participating in a mystery quilt with our local library. These are my fabric choices. The quilt will finish at 70 X 84. I am thinking about doing a second one with christmas fabrics. I have holiday fabric in my stash that really needs to be used up. We are getting two clues a month and are suppose to be finished by April 29th where we will all meet at the library to show off our creations.

Below are the fabrics I am thinking about using for the second quilt. I could always shoot for getting two done in the time allowed but my concern is that it is taking on too much.

I start my new job as PT church secretary on Friday working 28 hrs a week. I have been home yesterday and today with my youngest son who is sick. They did not like it at my old job calling in but it can't be helped. I am not sending my son to school running a fever and trying to fight off a chest cold.

Small Arm Quilting setup

Here is a copy of my quilt setup. I own the B-line quilting frame which is set up at 10ft and just recently purchased the WOW IV stretched Singer 201 while on vacation. I have completed one quilt top and some practice pieces on the new machine to date. I have owned the frame for three years now. I used to use the Babylock Quilters Professional Choice sewing machine which has a 9" throat. I am keeping that sewing machine to use when I want to quilt smaller quilts off the frame. Right now I have the mystery quilt that needs to be quilted by Thursday to put in my guild's quilt show. I am struggling however as there is tons of open space and I don't know what design to use. I am not good with quilting under pressure!

Signature Quilt

Here is my brother opening his quilt that I made for him for his retirement from the Navy. I think he likes it. All the family signed the center of the stars.

Home from Vacation

We are home from vacation. We went to Florida where the weather was warmer than in Wisconsin but a little on the chilly side for Florida. But when you think about it even at 50 that is much warmer than below freezing at home! We went down for my brother's retirement from the Navy after a 26 yr career. This picture is of my family and my Brother and his wife. We combined this family visit with some family fun. We had a good time visiting different museum's and a few beaches. One morning my youngest son and I were in our winter coats on the beach collecting shells. And that was a Gulf of Mexico beach. My family and I are sandwiched between my brother (in uniform) and my sister in-law.

I came home with a stretched sewing machine for my quilting frame. I bought the WOW IV machine that has an 18" arm. I am going to have to modify my carriage on my frame slightly to get the full 18" but I put a practice piece on the frame already. I want to do one more practice piece before I put a real quilt on but I may just put a baby quilt for donation on and give it a whirl. As long as I make sure to check the stitches when I get started I should be okay.

I also now have DSL and am loving it! I can't believe how long I sufferred with that slow dial up. Now I will have tons of extra time for quilting! Good thing too as I have lots of projects that I would like to get done.

Mystery Revealed

Here is the New Years Day mystery quilt top finished. The quilting is not done as that will have to wait until after vacation. I already entered it into a quilt show in February so I will have to get it done when I get back. I used fabric out of my stash so it is not the colors I would liked to have used but I did not want to go shopping. My bedroom is purple so it will go well on my bed as I think I will save this one for myself.

Sewing Room

These are pictures of my newly reorganized sewing/computer room. I spent pretty much all Saturday afternoon moving everything around. I have my computer desk on one end of the room and the cutting table/book shelf on the opposite wall. My room is fairly small so it still looks quite messy even though I know where everything is. Except I was making some pantograph's for my machine quilting frame and I can't seem to locate the rolls right now. I know they are somewhere but just can't remember what I did with them. I will find them eventually. My 9 year old son was watching me tracing stencils and he wanted to help so he is working on one for me. He is doing a good job also. I am going to finish up my last two borders on the New Years Eve Mystery and then will post a picture of it. We are leaving for vacation this Friday and then when we get back I have two quilts to finish quilting because I signed them up to be in a quilt show in February. I know I may regret committing myself but I really wanted to participate in the quilt show.