Ready to load another ICQ

First I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.  It was very quite and peaceful here in De Soto.

I did take Joyce's bedding material up to Aheintz 57 dog shelter.  I made hubby help me. I did have an ulterior motive, thought he might fall in love with a puppy....but he knew what I was up to and had none of it. 

Amy and her mother was there on Saturday.  When the first arm load came in, they said thanks.  When Terry brought in the second load their mouths dropped just a bit....but when I headed to the door for the third load they were almost speechless. 

Amy is truly appreciative of the bedding material.  They currently have a dog that has parvo in the shelter,  and they just throw away the bedding after a couple of days use.  Some of what Joyce donated will be cut down to be used for him and future puppies like him.  Others will be used in making dogs comfortable during transportation from one shelter to theirs.  I know that all will be put to good use.

BTW they have the cutest little puppies in right now..... I'm just sayin.....

Last week I had several customer quilts....but I am all caught up now.  So later today I will load ICQ 21 on the longarm.  Here is a reminder of that quilt:

Last week at Circle of Friends Trish Snyder caught me before the meeting and made a donation of fabric.  Take a look at this.

The color isn't perfect on this photo....it is kind of a salmon color. The good news is.....

Trish donated almost a whole bolt of this fabric!  More than enough to  be the backing of the quilt that I will be loading today.  Probably enough to back the next quilt after it also.

Thank you so much Trish for donating this fabric!  I promise to put it to good use.

Well I am off to get my miles walked and then to the grocery store this morning.  Then back to working on our next donation quilt.

Have a great day everyone.

Joyce loves to move......NOT

Joyce Scott is in the process of moving to a new house.  Joyce has lived in her previous house for over 30 years.

I heard a story at Circle of Friends last Monday that Joyce made the mistake of allowing her husband a peek at her stash.....we will just say that men do not understand.  I know this to be the case because my hubby got a peek at my car trunk today.  It was full again (second time since the 12th of this month).  As luck would have it, everything in the trunk came from Joyce!

As Joyce has packed for moving she has found items that she has no intention of taking to the new house.  She is purging.....and Iowa Comfort is benefiting.  The picture up above is of blankets, sheets, mattress pads etc. that will be donated later today to AHeinz 57 dog shelter to be used as bedding for our four legged friends.

I received all of this on Monday night.  Wednesday I received a call from Joyce saying that she had some plaid flannel and wondered if we could use it as backing material.  Backing material is GOOD! She said she would be right over...... but I really wasn't prepared for this.....

That stack is almost 20 inches tall..... I have no idea how many yards I have....but I know that it will back a lot of quilts!  Luckily for me I am getting over the need, for the backing to match the quilt top.  I also thought this fabric might make some wonderful lap quilts for wheel chair bound citizens at the local care center.

Joyce may not like moving....but with gifts like these, I'm kinda glad she is ;-) !  Thank you for sharing with us Joyce. And I hope the rest of your move goes smoothly.

I have a couple more donations to show you one Tuesday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.

Next

This month has really gone by fast.  Unfortunately pressing matters kept me from getting much of this months goal done.  I decided that there was no benefit to fret over my lack of productivity or to beat my self up, I just am going to have to go with the flow of things until things calm down in my life. 

A good friend also reminded me that the original goal was to do 12 quilts in a year.....and we have donated over  22 already this year and it is only May.

That being said, last week I did finish IQ#18.....well almost I have 10 inches of binding to complete hand stitching.  This quilt had the backing donated by Lonnie. 

I originally planned to use the left over backing material as the binding.....but I didn't like it. What to do....what to do.... I actually grabbed the quilt and was heading for the door to drive to the local quilt shop when I channeled Bonnie Hunter.  I thought wait a minute girl, you have 5 bags of donation fabric you haven't taken a serious look at yet.  So I put my keys away and went to the quilt room.....and you know what, there in a bag of material that Lonnie gifted us was the perfect binding for the quilt!

Yesterday, I pieced a backing together and loaded ICQ# 19 on the longarm.  I thought I would go with a black back.....but then I remembered this wonderful dark blue that Jan had donated.  It was perfect for the quilt.  My batting order still hasn't arrived, and then I remembered that a customer left me an extra roll of batting last week as a donation, so it is going to be the one that I use on this quilt.

I'll keep sewing along, and hope to get all of the quilt tops that I currently have quilted by the end of June.  There I go again setting goals......I hope that things settle down enough that I can be successful.

Next post is Saturday.  I should have at least one picture for you by then.

New format starting today

Starting today I am going to only commit to two scheduled posts a week.

The scheduled posts will be on Saturdays and Tuesdays.  So today is the first one.

I told you yesterday that I met with the volunteer coordinator at the center earlier this week.  Tina actually called the meeting and I wasn't sure why, but I was happy to go and spend a few minutes to find out why.

First Tina thanked us for all of our hard work, and was truly amazed at what we have accomplished so far.  A good many of those quilts are already on the beds at the center.

The second reason she asked to see me was so I could fill out paper work for a back ground check.  Although there is no reason for it....this one gave me a little jolt of "what?"  The Center takes confidentiality very seriously....and when I am delivering quilts there is the possibility that I could come into contact (ever so briefly) with one of the residents....so for that reason they need to have the information for the back ground check.  That reminds me I still need to send three character witnesses.... anyone want to be one?  

The real reason I am even telling you this is because the center is wanting me to coordinate drop offs for the group.  They are trying to limit the traffic at the center and I totally understand, and hope you do also.  So if you are wanting to donate, please do it through me.  That way I can get a label on the quilt and we can keep the traffic down at the center.  I also understand that you may want a receipt for your donation, if you do check out the tabs at the top of the page.  Click on the IRS tab, download that form and fill in the information and pin it to the quilt.  When I deliver the quilts I will also deliver that form to the center, they will sign off on it and mail it back to you.  Remember you only have to do that if you are wanting the receipt for your income taxes.

Lastly and probably the most important reason for my visit was that Tina had an idea. She recently was at a conference with law enforcement and they talked about what happens when law enforcement removes a child from a home, specifically from a drug house.  The child is not allowed to take anything from the house, no clothes no toys ......nothing.....because those things are probably contaminated with drug residue.

Tina asked if we would consider making "Hope Quilts" these quilts would be given to children by local law enforcement at the time of removal so they have something to hold on to give them comfort.  Although it is still in planning stages, I think it mirrors with my original goal for Iowa Comfort.  To start out with, we would be supplying Dallas and Madison County law enforcement.  If we can help out other counties we will. 

I have added a new tab at the top that reads "Hope Quilts".  The guide lines for these quilts will be posted there.  I have had several people ask about making kids quilts in the past, I even have a few panels out for kids quilts.

I'm sure we can get some kits made up as soon as we reschedule the community day... hope life slows down for me soon so I can get that day on the books.

More Pic's

I met with the volunteer coordinator yesterday morning from the center.  She has a special project she would like us to consider doing.  I'm still mulling it over, but I think it may be something we might champion.......but that will wait for another post.

Lets take a look at some more of the goodies that Jacque gave Iowa Comfort.

I picked around a little in this tub just to check out what was in it.

I found a bunch of 5 inch charms in pinks and reds.  Perfect for an upcoming project.

We have country charms, civil war charms and novelty charms.

I have a four inch stack of these blocks... I haven't measured them but they are bigger than a charm and smaller than a layer cake.  Soft blues, pinks and cream.....VERY PRETTY!
Now remember I just kind of picked thru the tub.  Tonight I am going to get the whole tub sorted out by color or block size.  Maybe that will be my project each night this week.  I have about 5 bags of fabric that I need to sort and put away for projects. After all I really can't schedule another community day until I know what I have. ;-) .

Wish me luck!

Major Donation

Last week when I stopped by open sew for a few hours, Jacque Johnson gifted me some things.  She said that spent a day cleaning up her sewing room downstairs, and this was the stuff that she decided not to keep.

My trunk was empty before I went to Adel.  That large sack is full of batting scraps.  Those scraps will be used in the quilts for Aheintz 57, no kill shelter.  The dogs will enjoy there bedding even if the batting isn't one piece.

This tub is full of fabric of various sizes.  I briefly looked in it when I brought it in and  saw, strips, charm squares and I think layer cake squares in addition to left over yardage of fabric.

This tub is full of remnants of backing material.  You know the stuff you cut off the end of quilt when you are using 108' wide fabric.  But I also think that there are some end of the bolt pieces in there.  So tonight I will go thru this tub and get a sticker on each piece of what the measurements are....trying to keep organized.... LOL.

I know I will have a couple more posts once I start in to the other tub also, so check back.

I bad

I promised you a picture yesterday......and I didn't get to it.  I BAD! I'll try again soon.  Seriously I don't know how Bonnie Hunter does it...three posts a day?????

Actually I was recently told that quality was better than quantity....and I'm thinking seriously about posting on set days...maybe two days a week.  That way I can update you on the progress of a project.....but not rackin my brain on what to post each day.

The format will not be changing on the appearance of the blog.  But if you didn't notice there is now a photo gallery on the right hand side of this post.  I will be posting finished projects there in addition to a regular post.  That way anyone who wants to browse finished projects will be able to do it quickly.  I should have a picture of ICQ # 18 by the end of the week on that page.

More tomorrow....hopefully that picture I promised yesterday.

New format for the blog.....maybe

I had my IT person working on my blog yesterday.  (He is a good son!)

I want to add a gallery button (one that will actually work and open up to finished projects), and a few other things.  I know nothing about these things, and he is having to research.  So don't be alarmed if the blog changes some over the next couple of weeks.  We will try to incorporate what I want with what I have....but some things may have to change.

Its grocery day, and I'm taking my daughter in law out to lunch today.  She is not doing well with the whole bed rest thing.....I'll be glad when March 21rst comes and she is sprung from doctors orders.

Tomorrow I'll have pictures of a recent donation.  Thursday I meet with the center, I think they have a special project in mind for us.  I'll update you on Friday.

Hope to quilt

I finished quilting ICQ # 18 over the weekend.  I have it off the longarm and hope to get the binding made and applied to it yet today.

I have a customer quilt to finish this week, but I hope to also quilt ICQ 19 this week also.  This quilt top was donated by Diane Larson.

Jan donated a several yards of a blue fabric....that I am hoping will match close enough to the blue in the quilt top to allow  me to use if for backing material.  If it does, and I have enough batting left on the roll I may get it quilted yet this week.

It is going to be another busy week for me this week, which includes a meeting at the center on Thursday. 

Everyone have a nice week. 

Happy Mothers Day

Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very happy Mothers Day.

I was thinking about my Mom and Grandmother early this morning.  I don't remember my mother doing a lot of sewing when I was growing up.....and yet I know she could.  I remember when my aunt got married my two sisters were in the wedding.  They couldn't get the dresses in the right size for my sisters.  So mom took an adult version of the dress, deconstructed it, and made a dress for each of my sisters that mirrored what the other attendants were wearing.

I know that Mom really did not have time to sew when I was growing up....she normally had two jobs, helping support her family.   But there is a part of me that also thinks that she was trying to give her children something that she didn't have growing up.

I have just recently started tracing my family history and asked for old photo's.  Mom gave me a copy of a picture of her at age 13.  She had the grand champion bunny from the state fair that year.  Her and several of the other grand champions were having their picture taken by the Des Moines Register for an article.  Mom commented how that dress was her first store bought dress.

My Grandmother could sew or mend just about anything.  I remember as a child wondering how she could run that machine at such a fast pace and have those perfect results.  Think speed demon.....if Grandma was doing it, it was going to be done fast.

So I find it a little odd to now realize that my love of quilting comes to me honestly.  Although my Mom and Grandma didn't quilt, they had the skills to....and luckily those skills got passed down to me along way.

Almost but no cigar

Yesterday I set the goal of quilting Iowa Comfort Quilt #18.  I thought I might get the quilting finished on it.

I got a later start than I had planned.  I had trouble locating the fabric I was going to use on the two side borders.  At 4:30 I ran out of my last wound bobbin and decided it was an omen that I should be done for the day.  I promptly shut down Lennie and closed up the quilt room.  I have about an half an hours worth of quilting to do to finish up the quilt.  I'll get it done this weekend.

Today is open sew Friday, and I didn't get to go last month.  I'll spend most of the morning there.  In the afternoon my Mom and I are hitting up a garage sale that has baby boy clothes.  With this weekend being Mothers Day, I also need to shop after I drop off my mom for her present.

Life is busy, I'm sure glad that I am retired or there would not be enough hours in the day. Make sure to enjoy your day.

Todays goal

You know I have to take it one day at a time, there is just so much that can change my schedule right now.

Today I hope to work on ICQ # 18. It was donated by Diane Larson. Here is a refresher of what it looks like.

Here is a close up of the blocks:

This quilt was just a little too narrow to be a bed quilt.  So I am going to add a brown border to the sides and then get it loaded on the longarm.  If my luck holds I might get it quilted yet today.

Feels good to get back to work.  Hope that I actually get to spend the day as I have it planned.  I did get an hour in the quilt room yesterday afternoon, plugged in my I pod and just tuned the world out.  It was bliss!

Quilts delivered

Yesterday was a day of errands both inside and outside of my home.

I was able to deliver the quilts to the center yesterday morning.  Along with the hygiene products and gently used clothing that was donated thru Iowa Comfort to the center.

Once I can get my IT person to help me (that would be my son that is due to have a baby any day....so it may be a while) I hope to have pages available on my blog.  One page would be dedicated to things that the center could really use....believe me I have learned that the need is much greater than I thought.  I think a dedicated page would make it easier than having to back through posts.  I also plan to have a gallery of finished quilts on one page.

I need to give a special thank you to Dian Wakefield.  Dian has been making all of the labels for the Iowa Comfort quilts.  I spent yesterday afternoon battling with my embroidery machine......it took me 4 hours to make four labels for personal projects of mine. I remember why I hate making labels......the computer and sewing machine keep letting me know what a DUMMY I am.  HATE it when that happens, hate it more when the machines are right.  I am so happy that Dian makes all of those beautiful labels.  I am pretty sure that if I had to make them, I would be missing all of my hair from the frustration of the process. 

Dian's is so much prettier than what I can do anyway.....so THANK YOU Dian for your contribution!

Finished quilts for April

Thought I would show you the finished quilts that will be heading to the center.  I know I only finished 3 this month....but given all that is going on I think that is pretty good.  And thanks again to Wanda Hickey, and our other donor for donating finished quilts.

I know that is the same quilt....but this is a close up of the binding.  We could not find the right green.  So we tried to pick up the pinkish purple out of the paisley fabric.

All three of the quilt tops were donated by Diane Larson.  Thank you so much Diane!
I also want to thank Nancy Hagelberg for donating the time and effort to bind the  green quilt....you helped me out a bunch!

These were from Wanda Hickey.  Thank you again for your generosity.

Last but not least, this quilt was donated by someone who chose to remain anonymous.  I thank them for their generosity anyway.

I also have some clothes and hygiene products to deliver to the center.  Hopefully yet today.

Comfort for my sis

This weekend I dedicated my time to finishing my nephew's quilt.  I had finished quilting it early last week.  I had pushed myself to finish it, the little voice in my head told me that I needed to, although I didn't know why.  Then my week went crazy.

So I spent Saturday and Sunday nights putting the binding on and then stitching binding down.  I found myself thinking of my sis and her grief, and found how grateful I was that I could help her in this small way.

Today I will make a label for Davids quilt and find a box to ship it to her.  I know that for a long while it will be her most precious treasure, for it will always  be a reminder of her gentle giant.

Not a lot

So this week has been very busy away from the house.  I had two family members have surgery this week.  One was an out patient, the other was a very serious surgery that had a real potential for a fatal outcome.  Fortunately both surgeries went well.

While waiting in the waiting room for the out patient surgery, I received a text message that my grand baby, who is not due until June 18, had decided to try to make an early arrival.  The hospital has done a great job slowing contractions down, and taking steps to boost respiratory functions for baby Owen.  My son and daughter in law are hoping that they will get to go home tonight and sleep in their own bed......even if it is only for one night.  We will see how she does after she is off the medicine.

I did get my paper work done for Iowa Comfort and I tried a couple of times to get the quilts delivered.  My schedule and the centers schedule never quite synced up.  I will try again next week.

I'm not exactly sure how much work I will be able to do on Iowa Comfort quilts this month.  It really will depend if I am needed to assist my daughter in law during the days while she is on bed rest. 

I have been in touch with the center and they totally understand, and I know you do also.

So I may go a couple of days without a post, don't worry I'll be back.

binding tails

So tell the truth.  When you do binding are you like me and save the left over binding tail for future use?   I do and of course I never did find  a use for them until now.

When I make the doggy mats for Aheinz 57, I use up all of those binding tails to finish the mats.  I don't care that they don't match....I just sew a bunch together and put a scrappy finish to the mat.

I must have told that story before because look what I got from Jacque Johnson:

Yep a whole AQDG sack full of binding tails.

And check out this from Nancy Hagelberg. Yep more binding tails.

Nancy also gifted me short pieces of batting....you know what you cut off the bottom or sides.  Jacque informed me she has a sack full waiting for me also.

These pieces of batting will just be slid in between the top and bottom layers of the fabric when I am making the doggy mats.  The doggies won't care if it doesn't lay absolutely flat.

Thanks ladies for the donations..... I know the doggies will love their new mats when they get them.

Fabric donation # 2

Yesterday I showed you fabric donated by Peggy in Winterset.

Today I show you fabric from Dallas Center/ Minburn.

Nancy Hagelberg is another one of those strong supporters.  She has donated time, she has pieced quilts and if I'm not careful she will steal a quilt from me to bind without me even knowing it. (not really but you get the picture...she is always willing to assist)

If I remember the story correctly, recently someone in her church was cleaning out their house of things they would no longer be needing.  Her ears perked up when she heard there was fabric....and thought of us.  She sorted through all of the fabric and found some that we could use.  Here is a few shots of what she whisked away for us.

Isn't that some fun fabric?????  We have checks, florals, stripes and paisley fabric.  Oh so much fun!  These fabrics will bring a lot of depth to a scrap quilt in the near future... I just know it!
Thank you Nancy for rescuing these fabrics for our cause!

Fabric donation

Quick note to let you all know that things are hectic again.  I'm writing several posts in advance because I have two surgeries for family members, one on Wednesday and one on Thursday.  I only tell you because my lack of post caused concern early last month.

Now on to the fabric donation.

Penny White has been a supporter of Iowa Comfort since it's early days.  Not only did she piece and bind quilts, she also spread the word of the group.

Penny is moving out of the area this week.....but not before telling quilting buddies in Madison county about us.  One of her quilting friends brought her 4 yards of fabric to pass on to us.

Isn't it pretty!  And oh so soft!  I would like to thank Peggy Freligh from Winterset Iowa for this beautiful fabric.  Not sure exactly how it will be used yet....but it will be used in a comfort quilt.  Thank you again for your donation and support.

I'm going to miss Penny and all of her creative ideas.....but I wish her well in her new home and I'm sure she will find lots of new quilting buddies up in Marion.