We are a go

The community prep day is a go!  I spent yesterday loading the car with all of those sacks of fabric.  Late last night I managed to also load my mats, rotary cutters, rulers, tape measure and pencil in a bag.


This morning I need to make a quick trip into Des Moines for groceries...and then the afternoon is mine.  I so hope that you will be able to swing by and help out....even if it is not for the whole afternoon.

Thanks!

OH MY!

Do you know the old saying that goes "A picture is worth a thousand words?'

Take a look;

 

here is a shot from further back....

Count them that is 9 sacks of fabric that needs to be sorted, measured and possibly cut into precut strips or squares.

Needless to say I can use all the help I can get on Tuesday afternoon.  We have the large room in the Adel Library from noon to 4:00 pm.  First order of business will be to sort by color and then size...only fabric less than a FQ  or less than 1/4 of a yard by WOF will be cut.

Please check back on Tuesday morning to make sure it is still a go....I don't anticipate any problems but we all know how unpredictable life has been for me.

What do you need to bring, most importantly yourself, rotary cutter, cutting mat, measuring tape and a pen or pencil.  Those larger pieces we will be measuring and putting a label on them for future use.

Well it is time to go load the car with all of those sacks....hope to see you on Tuesday.

donation fabric

Over the weekend I received another donation of fabric to Iowa Comfort.  The generous quilter wishes to remain anonymous, but I can tell you that this fabric traveled at least two hours to get to me.


It was actually quite sweet.  The quilter said that they went thru their "GREEN and BLUE" tubs and came up with a sack of material for Iowa Comfort.  Take a look.....

Now this particular sack is not going to be that difficult to sort next Tuesday at the community prep day.  Mostly we will be sorting  this sack by size. Then we will be cutting down into pre cut squares or putting the fabric aside if there is enough yardage to go on a bolt.


Here are some pics from the second sack she sent along;

Check out these brights....I saw these fabrics and I immediately thought of the hope quilts....

And then there were these floral pieces...

This piece is very bright.....but not cotton.  We talked about it being used for a doggie bed for the animal shelter.


This gives you a glimpse of what I hope to accomplish next week at the community prep day....sorting all the bags of donations by color or theme (florals, kids prints ect....) and then hopefully there will still be time to get our rotary blades out.


Hope to see you on the 31rst at noon.

Community prep day

Yes I know that my post is a day late.  Remember Tuesdays post about the universe giving me a head smack?  Well it was just preparing me for Wednesday.  Wednesday my father passed away, and the last several days have been a blur..... but life does go on, and there is comfort in knowing that Dad is no longer in pain.


That being said, my longarm is fixed....the service department at the factory in Carroll had me in and out in no time at all.  And I have completed the quilting on all but one of our Comfort quilt tops.


Of course that means it is time to get organized again, and I am asking for your help once more.  Back in April.....before life decided to take over my schedule.....we had planned a community prep day.  I have SEVERAL bags of scraps, that need to be organized by color/theme so they can become usable in quilts. 


I have also made a commitment to the center to make quilts for their larger beds, so if there is time I would also like to kit those tops.


So here is what I have planned.  A community prep day at the Adel Library on Tuesday July 31 from noon to 4:00 pm.  First we will tackle those sacks of donations, then time permitting we will start cutting 3 1/2 inch squares for the scrappy 9 patches for those larger quilts.


So if you can help out on that day, please bring yourself, a cutting mat and a rotary cutter.  

I know that it is short notice, and I really hope that we will all be able to meet up on the 31rst. 

Smack down from the universe

I feel like I have been smacked upside the head by the universe.  I had a plan, I was working that schedule....all was good.  You know something is going to throw a monkey wrench into that wonderful feeling of bliss....


I had my sisters quilt on the longarm over the weekend, stitching away hoping to have it done by Sunday afternoon.  I get to the bottom of the quilt, and it is time to baste the bottom of the quilt.


For those of you who do not have a longarm, basting the sides and bottom of the quilt allows me to go slightly off quilt top, and come back on the quilt without having the hopping foot get caught under the quilt top.  Remember I am not watching the quilt top when quilting, I am tracing the panto with a lazer on the back side of the table.


Anyway back to the story....it is time to baste the bottom of the quilt to the backing and batting material.....except my needle positioner button is frozen. IT WILL NOT DEPRESS!  I called my husband up to see if he could figure out what was wrong with it.....nope he can't.  It is Sunday so no help available from the factory.  I pull out the DVD that came with the machine (probably should have watched it a year ago...there are some very helpful things in there) but this problem is not addressed on the video.  


Terry finally realizes that there is a second switch on the back of the machine, tries it and it is working just fine.  So to finish basting my quilt, I have to work from the backside of the table, lean over the take up bar, use my left hand to keep the fabric flat, as I take single stitches with my right hand and guide the longarm to the left. 


We will just say that it was awkward at best.  I did get her's finished and off the longarm, but the machine not working properly is putting a crimp in my schedule for this week.


I am waiting for APQS to return my call, hopefully there will be a quick fix and I can get back on schedule.  I have two comfort quilts that I want to do this week, and a customer quilt.  I think I will go piece a couple of backings together while I wait for their call.

new camera needed

I'm pretty sure that I am going to need to purchase a new camera soon.  I have had this one six years now.  It has been a good one....but I am going through batteries like running water, and the color is no longer true in my pictures.  One more expense, but so what it is only money...right????


Dian Wakefield has been working her magic again for us, and this camera is not going to do them justice.  But just know that  they are all beautiful.

  As you can see from looking at the labels, I am a little behind on my schedule.  But it is looking like I will be right on track by the end of the month.  Both of Joyce's quilts are quilted, the first quilt of Leslie's should be on the longarm next week.  Ruth's will go on after that....I need to find backing material for it before it can be loaded.

Hope everyone has a great day.

More Fireworks

Over the weekend I finished quilting Joyce's second donation quilt.  It has several of the same fabrics in it that the first one had.  The quilt also had several strips of white and blue fabric in it.  Lets take a look at the quilt top.

This is a jelly roll quilt, and I really love how you never know how the strips will fall together in this project.  I really like how the white fabric is at both ends of the quilt, with the stars and flags nestled in between.


I used a white backing material on this quilt.  I am 99% confident that it was donated by Jacque Johnson from Adel Quilting and Dry Goods.  I used Sew Fine 401 (white) to quilt just a gentle meander on this quilt.  I hope to get it trimmed today, and find a binding for it this afternoon.


The rest of the week is dedicated to finishing piecing,constructing, and binding my sisters quilt for her birthday. August 7 th is fast approaching and it needs to travel to San Jose, Ca.


Everybody have a good week!

A red, white and blue week.

I see flags and fireworks everywhere!  I could not have scheduled it better had I tried.  On the 4th of July I spent my afternoon working on one of Joyce Scott's donation quilts. 

 

All those flags and stars, and the outside border was navy fabric with exploding fireworks. Just a perfect project for the day....and since it was so hot outside, these are the only flags and fireworks I saw all day.

I quilted this quilt with navy thread, and you can only barely see the quilting in it.  The backing was from donation fabric, I'm fairly confident that Joyce donated it also....but I could be wrong.  Any way the backing fabric is navy with white stars all over it.

This quilt has already made its way to Nancy Hagleberg for binding... yippee one down and only three more to go for the month.  (PSST by the way Nancy no hurry on the quilt, but when it is done just bring it to your office....hubby reminded me that we make the trip to Adel every other day for sweet corn.  I can just swing by and pick it up. :-) )

Next quilt is loaded on the longarm and I hope to be able to work on it yet this afternoon.  Hope to be able to show you that one on Tuesday.

Hope the heat breaks like the weatherman is promising....stay cool everyone.

completed quilts part 2

Here are a few more pictures of recently completed quilts.


This quilt is was donated by Diane...and I am pleased to say that all of the quilts tops that she donated are now complete.

I love the secondary patterns in this top. I also find myself trying to figure out the pattern.  I think I have come up with at least 3 ways to make this quilt. ( Does anyone else do that???)

 Here is a close up of the blocks.

 I backed the quilt with the donation fabric that Trish donated.  I think it was a very good match.

This next quilt was donated by one of my customers who did not want to be identified on the blog. I still want to show the finished quilt.

Isn't it bright and cheery?  I can see this quilt pattern being used for the Hope Quilts.  It would be easy to kit, and go together very quickly.

And the close up of the blocks.

I used some more of that fabric from Trish to back this quilt also. I think I may have enough of that backing fabric to do a small quilt, if not it will use the rest of the fabric in a quilt top in the future.

Time to do the paperwork on these quilts and get them to the center.  

Thank you all for your generosity!  We will just keep plugging away.