March recap

Today is my dear hubbys birthday so I won't write a book today, and I plan to spend the day with him so I also won't be quilting or binding today.

Thought I would let you all know how we did this month.  I finished quilting all of the quilts that we worked on at the community sew day in January. Plus the quilt top that was donated by Nancy.  If you want to check out which ones were completed this month they are ICQ's 9 -13.  Each of these tops will be delivered to the center on Monday if all things go well.  In addition to these tops I have three quilts that were donated to Iowa Comfort that were completely done and only needed a label.  They are ICQ #15, which you can find on the March 3rd post, and ICQ's 23 & 24. 

I also plan to deliver the 8 dog mats and three dog beds to Heinz 57 this Sunday.  I believe they are open on Sundays for possible adoptions....or at least I hope that is the case.  If not I will have to give Jean a call and arrange a good time for drop off.

On a personal note I have to say I am really pleased. I set a goal at the beginning of the month....and by the skin of my teeth, and with a lot of help from friends, we meet that goal.

I'll check back in with you tomorrow.

Comfort for our 4 legged friends

I will be making our first donation to aheinz 57 this Sunday hopefully.  Aheinz 57 is a no kill shelter for dogs that have had a tough time.  Many of these dogs need special attention before they can be adopted into families.  Most have had a terrible life, and the loving people at this shelter nurture these poor animals back to loving animals that families can welcome into their homes.

Sometimes fabric is donated to Iowa Comfort that is just to heavy or unstable to go into quilts.  That fabric is used to make doggie mats or beds for Heinz 57. 

Here are a few pictures of what we have so far:

Here are several of our mats.  I did a lot of practicing my freehand quilting on these pieces.

The pillow/bed up above was left over fabric that I made a quilt out of for my brother in law.  I stuffed it will all the left over strings when I cut fabric.  You know that little sliver of fabric that is really to small to save....but I did anyway and it makes nice stuffing for animal beds.  (Mork and Mindy were my testers.....they gave me two paws up.)

Nancy Hagelberg made 4 pads, and I have made 4 along with three beds. 

Did you notice the binding we are using......found away to use those left over binding strips.  I'm sure the doggies won't care that the binding doesn't match.

If you would like more information on aheinz 57 here is a link to their website http://www.aheinz57.org/ 

 If you have plans on adding a new pet to the family, please think about looking first at this shelter, or any shelter that is close to you.  I know that I will never regret adopting Mork and Mindy from the ARL...they bring me so much joy!

Pillowcase challenge

Adel Quilting and Dry Goods set a goal of 80 pillowcases for the center. They have 40 beds total so that sounded like a good goal. Well, guess what??!?!!!?!!  They made the goal yesterday when Terry Byer of Adel brought in 5 pillowcases.

A Great Big Special Thank You to all who contributed:

Nancy Hagelberg
Jackie Orton
Fran Cleary
Betty Wicks
Jan Mueller
Deb York
Marilyn Gonseth
Renae Godberson -- special note - - Renae contributed 30 pillowcases to this project!

They plan to continue collecting pillowcases even though the initial goal was made.  Check out Adel Quilting and Dry Goods blog for more information and to see a picture of the rest of the pillowcases.

Tangled

This weekend I quilted 3 little quilts that a local quilt group had put together.  This group of women get together and create quilts for a NICU at one of the local hospital.  They are usually appliqued and I have agreed to quilt them, it gives me a chance to practice working from the freehand side of the machine.

I managed to bind the dog pound quilt.  This evening I applied the binding to quilt #12....but I got all tangled up.  Check it out:

I was wondering why I was having trouble applying the binding.

 Ten years of applying binding and I have never sewn the opposite side of the quilt while attaching binding.  Check out my master piece.  Time to find the seam ripper.

I spent most of last night hand stitching the binding down, it is three fourths finished.

weekly update

I've had a productive week and thought I would give you an update.

I have been busy on the longarm this week.  I quilted comfort quilt 11, 12 and 13 this week. They will all bound and labeled by mid week.

Ready for delivery either Thursday or Friday to the center.  Quilts 9, 10, 15, 23 and 24 will also be delivered at the same time.

And officially we will have met the our original goal of 12 quilts.  It brings me great joy to have met the goal with help of so many of you.  Your generosity is appreciated by myself and those who benefit from your hard work.

Next week I have a couple of customer quilts to do so updates may be sporadic. 

I Spy Comfort Quilt #24

Check out this precious little quilt donated by Theresa Hane!  I know Theresa from Cirlce of Friends hosted by Adel Quilting and Dry Goods.  At show and tell last Monday she showed this little beauty.

So bright and cheerful!  With all of this fun fabric in it....take a look.

I spy  Sponge Bob, and flowers.

I spy pink elephants, pink cows....and cupcakes!

I spy the cookie monster and a monkey riding on an elephant. 

All of these fabrics are so very cute! Making such an adorable little quilt for a little girl at the center. This quilt also has a wonderful pink Minkee backing, so soft and cuddly.  This quilt will be delivered to the center at the end of the month with the rest of the comfort quilts that were completed this month.

Thank you again Theresa......I can already see the smile on the little girls face that is gifted this quilt.

Donation quilt ICQ#23

I told you yesterday, that while at Circle of Friends Monday night, there were two quilt donations to Iowa Comfort.

Jacque Johnson owner of Adel Quilting and Dry Goods, and wonderful supporter of Iowa Comfort donated the quilt below.

Originally this quilt was destined for another home, but do to circumstance beyond any ones control it ended up finding its way back to Jacques house.  So Jacque has generously donated it to Iowa Comfort hoping that is will bring someone warmth and comfort in a time of need.

I love the quilt because it is a little more manly, and there are occasions when families are residing at the center.  This quilt would be great for a teenage boy or a father.

Thank you so much for your donation Jacque.  Officially it is quilt #23.  Although the center will be receiving it before some of the other quilts that I have not quilted yet.  I hope to deliver this months quilts the first week of April.  Should have at least 7 for them again.

Today I get to quilt!

I've been busy the last two days.  Between the warm weather and my guilt about how bad I let my quilt room get, I decided it was time for DEEP spring cleaning.  There wasn't a shelf that wasn't emptied or a baseboard not dusted.

Hope you forgive me that I didn't post.....but I didn't even turn on a computer until last night.  I did go to my Circle of Friends quilt group on Monday night.  I had two quilts gifted to Iowa Comfort.  These two quilts are already complete, the only thing I'll need to do is get an Iowa Comfort label on them.  They will be delivered at the end of the month with our other quilts.  I'll have pictures of each of them in tomorrows and Fridays post.

I do have a couple of pictures to show you.  I figured that since I showed you the before picture of my room, I can share the after.

Here are the next three comfort quilts to go on the LA.  I hope to get all three quilted by Sunday. (remember in the before pic....you couldn't see the floor)

Here are a couple of shots of the inside of my closet.  Any fabric that has more than two yards goes on a bolt.  On the other side if I have a project in mind and have the fabric pulled for it I have placed the fabric in one of the baskets along with the pattern.  No more projects on the closet floor

This is what the space under my longarm looks like now.  BTW that yellow blob is the cats bed.  Mork knows that where ever that is he is allowed to be there.

I can actually sew at my domestic machine now!

Here is all of my thread organized by color. 

I'm still not done with the room.  But the next part requires my husband to build the shelves for under the longarm.  I found the baskets that I will use this weekend. I think I'll need 12.

I promise to get back on track now that I have gotten the spring cleaning out of my system.

Way to much of this going on

http://karencombs.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/quilts-stolen/

Please check out the attached web address and pass along to as many people as you can.

I hate it that I now live in a world where quilts are not safe in our cars!

I have seen about three of these kinds of posts in the last few months. 

Note to self.....do not use car as storage for Iowa Comfort quilts.  Find a home for them in the house....or deliver them more frequently.

Please pass along the information any way you can. Hopefully one day we will rescue and be able to return the quilts to their rightful owners.

spring cleaning on the horizon

Earlier this week I showed you how my room had become a disaster. 

My dear husband was aware that it was a mess....and as long as I kept my door shut he could live with it.

Being the wonderful man that he is, he started thinking about the design for my new shelving unit. Unfortunately that meant that he had to spend time measuring in my room, and I had forgotten to shut the closet door!

Terry left my room and started clearing out a closet that we use mainly for storage in another room.  I keep my batting in that closet but I don't use all of the space for batting...so now I can keep 6 more baskets of fabric in that closet.(just need to buy the baskets)  He told me that when I get it filled he will clean out some cabinets downstairs and I can have that space also.

I feel a spring cleaning come on fast........ Which means I need to get the scraps under control!

Pillowcases challenge 3/4 completed

Just an update on Adel Quilting and Dry Goods pillowcase challenge.

For those of you who might not know.  Jacque learned that the center had been using the same pillowcases for the last 20 years....and those pillowcases had been used at the time of donation.

So she issued the challenge to see if we as a community could make/donate 80 new pillowcases to the center before May 1, 2012.  We made good headway in Feb. collecting 50 pillowcases, which have already been delivered to the center. 

When I was in the shop this last week Jacque told me that she has had another 10 come in since our last delivery.

If you are like me...you have probably never made a pillowcase before.  Jacque has made it easy for us.  She has kits already cut from sale fabric, and provides a free pattern.

Please stop by the shop if you are interested in helping us meet this goal.

Oh its bad!

In an earlier post I told you that my creative space is a PIT!  Today my husband confirmed that my room is a pit.  I reminded him that I really want a room addition so I can be more organized.  He has started designing the custom shelves that will help with that organization.

But right now......its a pit!

 

These are all fabrics that have a designated projects.

I have small pieces of left over batting in the crate.  I'll use those pieces when I do the doggie beds for Heinz 57.  That is the no kill animal shelter located in De Soto.  In the bag I picked up 4 doggie blankies from Nancy today.  I have four made also.

And here is the inside of my closet.  Believe it or not I do know where everything is......as long as I don't move anything!  Hope this makes you all feel better about your creative space.

I have a plan, and I'll share it soon.

Deb

Goal?????

That word has been creeping in to many of my conversations lately.  People want to know what I am going to do since we have already met this year's goal.  Actually we met that goal at our first community sew day in January. Well almost....I'm still quilting but we will have 13 completed by the end of this month.

I have done a lot of thinking about it and the new goal is.....we will just keep doing what we are doing, and see what we end up with at the end of the year.  I honestly thought that 12 quilts was going to be a challenge, my son thought I was setting myself up for disappointment. I'm pleased that we were both wrong....

I know that the center has a need beyond the 22 that we have in the que for them right now.  I also know that if need be I can find homes for our quilts.  There may very well come a time that we will have the center well stocked with quilts. At that point I will reach out to the local hospice workers and nursing homes or any other organization that would benefit from our passion and we'll focus on that need.

When I first envisioned this project, I wanted to quilt for my community.....and hoped that the project would grow to a point that if asked I would be able to provide a quilt to someone in need.

I really didn't expect to the project to take off this fast.....but the journey is extremely satisfying.

So when it is all said and done this years goal is going to be.....to wrap a quilt around as many people as we can.

just and update

I've been so busy showing pictures I have had no time to update you on how our finished tops are coming along.

I set the goal of getting comfort quilts 9, 10, 11, 12 & 13 quilted and bound for March.  As of yesterday quilt 9 is ready to go, quilt 10 is quilted and ready for binding.  Quilt 11-13 are scheduled to go on the longarm next week.

Yesterday Jan stopped by to drop off some more fabric for the cause..THANK YOU AGAIN JAN, and we got to talking about binding.  Jan made a very good point about the heavy use these quilts will be getting at the center....and how machine binding might be a better fit for our quilts.  After much consideration (about 2 minutes worth) I'm pretty sure that I agree with that thought.  Jan gave me a quick tutorial on how to do it, and I hope to practice on some doggie beds for Heinz 57 this weekend.  That's called multi tasking there....I have beds ready to be cut down for them....but no time for getting them bound....now I can practice the new skill and not worry if it isn't perfect.

That's a WIN WIN situation!

Tomorrow we will talk about the new goal for the year....since several of you have asked. :-)

Get out and enjoy the weather if you can, it's going to be a beautiful day!

I know I'm late!

I promised you a post on Monday.....and then sickness hit my household.  My husband took ill on Sunday evening and by yesterday afternoon I thought I was getting it also.  Luckily for me I started taking some counter measures as soon as I realized he was sick.  I might get off lucky and not get the full blown version of what he has.

It was a busy weekend here and I didn't get as much done on my schedule as I had hoped.  Including getting our next reveal photographed.

So here I am today up at 4:00 am sitting at the computer (trying to be quite so I don't wake my sick hubby) attempting to get caught up on all the things I didn't get done this weekend when Lexi was here.

Last week I got a call from Jean.  She told me that she had a quilt for me.  Now Jean is a customer of mine so the first thing I asked her was how soon do you need it done.  She then told me the quilt was a donation quilt for Iowa Comfort.  I let out a sigh of relief, and told her she could bring it any time she wanted.  I will get caught up.....someday. LOL

Lets take a look at what she brought us.

Isn't this quilt bright and cheery!  Here is a close up of the blocks.

Such a simple yet beautiful design.

Four patches sashed....it would be a great quilt for scraps.  I'm going to have to remember this quilt when I get ready to start kitting projects for a future community sew day.

This is officially Iowa Comfort Quilt # 22, and it is only March 13th. 

I want to express my thanks to Jean for this quilt, and to everyone else who was contributed to the group.  You are an amazing group of women!

Diane's last treasure

So here it is Friday morning and I can't sleep, guess I had to much on my mind today to stay in bed. In a few minutes I will be in my sewing room working on green dinosaurs for my future grandsons quilt and later today I'm going to open sew Friday in Adel. I'll only be staying a couple of hours this morning....so I think I will just take fabric to cut for my 3D flower quilt that I need to have completed for the LQS  quilt show in June.

Lexi, my granddaughter, is coming for a visit this weekend, which means cookies need to be made this afternoon. The next couple of days are going to be busy, but I digress....so lets get to the reveal!

Here is the last quilt, officially quilt # 21, from Diane....and as it happens it is the largest quilt in that box of treasures.  It may be a double.

And here is a close up of the block and fabric.

Just to satisfy my own curiosity, what design do you see first when you look at this quilt?  Do you see X's  or squares?  For me I saw the diagonal lines created by the solid fabrics.  My husband saw the X's.  The more I studied the quilt the squares became more dominate.  I just love a quilt that has the ability to have several dimensions to it.....I'm not sure that is the right word, but I'm sure you get my meaning. 

This is the last quilt from Diane and one last time I would like to thank her for all of her generosity! 

With Lexi coming this weekend, I probably won't post until Monday.....but I do have another quilt to show you then......and it will be worth the wait. (now that was just plain mean wasn't it)

Here's # 20

Still working on Diane's box of treasures.  I'll have a post today and a post tomorrow then all of the quilts in that box will have been revealed.

Yesterday on facebook, Diane said she was just so glad that these quilts are finally out of the closet she kept them in, and that they will be put to good use.  I can pretty much guarantee that they will be put to good use.

Even Mork had to come down and check out this bear claw quilt.....no worries though I shewed him away right after I snapped the picture.

Here is a close up of one of the blocks.  I need to measure this quilt....I think it might be just slightly narrow for a bed, but not to worry!  Adel Quilting and Dry Goods has a perfect match to the dark green sashing material.  I may just add some side borders and then quilt her up.

ICQ #19

Time to reveal another quilt from that box of goodies that Diane sent me.  This one is so bright and cheery....or at least that is the emotions it invokes in me.

The colors in this quilt are great! I see this quilt brightening up a little girls bed.......yes I know the quilt is predominately blue and black......but it reads girl to me for whatever reason.  The one thing that I do know is that this quilt will warm someones bed at the center and definitely brighten their room. It couldn't do anything but that.

I haven't decided how I will quilt this one yet.....but that's okay because it isn't scheduled to go onto the longarm until April, so I have a few weeks to think about it.

Still more quilt to reveal from that box, so check back again tomorrow.

Until my next post.....

Quilt # 18

Wanted to show you the next quilt from Diane's box of treasures.  This quilt reminds me of a quilt that I remember at my Grandma's house when I was little.  It had the same colors in it, and big  Ohio stars.

I know that these stars are not Ohio stars......but I love how quilts can take you back to a time and place that may have not been remembered for a long time.  That is what this quilt did for me.  Took me back to a time when my grandmother would try to get all the cousins together at her house for a weekend.  She wanted us all to know each other. Grandma would always give us chores to do mine and my cousin Teri's job was usually to organize her 15 jewelry boxes.  Find the matches to all the earrings. Match earrings to coordinating bracelets or necklaces.  It was an all day chore, grandma figured that it wasn't important to get them all in the same box when she was done wearing it, only important to get it into a box. So Teri and I would dump all of the boxes on to the bed that adorned a the quilt and together we would spend the day sorting and matching jewelry for Grandma.

Here is a closer look at the quilt.

Thanks Diane for the quilt and the trip down memory lane, it had been a while since I had remember those weekends with my cousins at Grandma's place.

More quilts to reveal through out the week, so keep checking back in.

Until my next post........

Iowa Comfort Quilts 16 & 17

Yep that's right I'm showing two quilts today from that box I showed you yesterday.  Now I will admit that these two quilts were picked first because they will be little people quilts......which means they will quilt FAST!

I have these two scheduled to quilt the first week of April, but since they are both lap sizeish ( yep I'm making up words now) I will be able to quilt another quilt that week also.  At this point I just don't know if it will be a comfort quilt or a customer quilt. 

January and February have been a little slower for the customer quilts, but I have had several calls in the last week.  My day planner is going to be my best friend!  The comfort quilts get scheduled just as if they were customer quilts.  This month ICQ'S # 9,10, 11, 12 &13 are all on the book.  Nine is done and being bound by Nancy.....THANK YOU NANCY.

Any way back to the reveal, here is comfort quilt # 16

Sorry about that I forgot to turn the picture before I inserted it .

And here is ICQ#17

The fabric in these two quilts are very similar, and I plan to take some time and dissect the pattern settings of both quilts.  I have this little voice in the back of my head that is wondering if both quilts were made from the same blocks and just set differently.  I love mysteries especially those that are quilty.  I love to examine a quilt and find the block construction and see if I can duplicate it.

I want to thank Diane Larson again for her amazing generosity.  These quilts will be well loved once they make their way to the center.

Until my next post......

Camera fixed!

I'm so embarrassed!  Do you know that your camera will not work if you put one of the batteries in the wrong way?????  Wish everything could be fixed that easily, wouldn't the world be a great place if it could.

I realized yesterday, when I was half way to the Amana Colonies, that I failed to assign a number to the quilt.  So here it is Colleen Eckhoff has donated Iowa Comfort quilt # 15 to us. This quilt was pieced and quilted by Colleen.  Thank you so much, it will make its way to the center at the end of this month, with the other quilts completed this month.

When I started to think about this project my loving son felt the need to remind me that not everyone was as OBSESSED as I was with quilting or as community minded.  He was afraid that I would be disappointed if I couldn't make my goal of 12 quilts for the center this year.  I sometimes take pleasure in being right. LOL  I knew we would make the goal.....but even I didn't know that we would make it before April first.

Which brings me to why I needed to figure out what was wrong with the camera!  Take a look at this.

This is the box that I received in the mail from my online quilting buddy Diane Larson.  She went through her UFO closet and found a few quilts that she knew she would never finish and asked if we would like them for the center.   Here is a look at what I found inside.

That box is FULL!  When Diane and I talked I thought she was sending me two tops.....there are six in there!  So that puts us up to 21 quilts!  I'll be showing pictures of the individual quilts over then next several days along with assigning numbers to quilts.  I have these 6 quilts scheduled for the longarm in April, and hopefully they will be delivered to the center at the end of April.

Until my next post......