Monday, January 27, 2014

Warm And Cozy

Baby it is cold outside, and if I have anything to do with it I am going to stay warm and cozy in my house!

I did have to go outside earlier today.  All the wind that we had last night made my yard look like a tree limb graveyard.  My neighbor's tree's were no match for the wind, and I had limbs, branches and twigs littering my yard.  No, that in itself would not have gotten me to go outside....but Hawkeye got his chain caught up in them twice this morning.  So I had to go out and free him, and remove the offending clutter so I don't have to do it every time he goes outside. 

I probably should have waited a little longer to do it, though.... I had just completed my first walk of the day on my treadmill, and was quite sweaty when I went out.  If any of my neighbors saw me I am sure they had a laugh on me.  I'll paint the picture...winter coat, yoga pants and hair in a messy ponytail, wrestling 8 foot limbs.  I would have laughed if I saw me....

Speaking of Hawkeye he finally let me complete the binding on that quilt I was working on. Here it is.



Joyce S. put this little quilt together for us at one of our community sew days.  I love how she was able to take two different fabrics with the same theme and put them together.  I would have never have even thought to mix them....but it so works.   

It is projects like this one that makes me love the community sew days....other people bring their creativity to the table and the center gets an adorable quilt for someone.

Thank you so much Joyce for sharing your time and talents with Iowa Comfort!

This week I will be sending a quilt out to a binder ( LOVE my volunteer binders) and I will be quilting another twin size quilt.

That is what I have on my schedule for this week.  I'll have more show n tell for you next week.

Have a great week everyone!


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Wrong!

I should know by now that I really can not rely on my memory like I use to.  Things just fade, especially details.  Luckily I have friends that keep me on the straight and narrow.   

I made a mistake in my post on Jan. 7, 2014.  I had posted that I thought the quilt top had been donated by Jacque J.  I thought it was her shop sample from strip club.  I was correct that it was a strip club project, but Jacque sent me an email telling me that she had not donated the top.  Jacque even remembered who might have donated the top.  With her clue in hand I went back over my posts and verified that Judy B actually had donated the top.  And I remember the day that she did it now so clearly!

Judy contributes to Iowa Comfort so generously.  She has me quilt tops for her (which allows me to purchase batting, backing and thread) she donates fabric, and of course she has donated several tops to Iowa Comfort.  I so appreciate her generosity and giving nature.  I hope she will accept my apology for my senior moment!

I had hoped to show you a completed quilt this week.  I managed to get it quilted, but I wasn't able to get the binding completed by the time I wrote this post.

Can you guess why I might have trouble completing my binding?

Hawkeye thinks that if I am sitting in that chair he is suppose to be right by my side.


And he loves to lay on fabric! Such a silly dog!
Of course battling Hawkeye for space so makes me appreciate my volunteer binders also.  So I want to take a moment and say a special thank you to the gals that have volunteered to save many of our quilts from dog hair!  Nancy, Celia, Joyce and Jan you all have been life savers!  Thank you so much for all of your help over the past two years!

Hope to show you a completed project next time.



Tuesday, January 14, 2014

On a cold Iowa winters day

Last week was brutal outside! Some of the coldest weather we have seen this year.  Luckily for me I am retired and don't have to go out in nasty weather unless I choose to.  And I had to, I suffered for several days first, then headed out to get antibiotics for my respiratory infection.  I spent half the week in bed....but the other half I spent working on a quilt.

Here is one of the tops I had in the closet waiting to be quilted.

 As you can see it is another scrap quilt that was donated to Iowa Comfort.  It is a bed size quilt and will be given to the center for their housing unit.  

One of the things I love to do is to figure out the construction of quilts.  This one stumped me for a long while.  You might say I couldn't see the forest for the tree's.  The scrappiness of this quilt has a bit of chaos to it, but in reality it is very organized, and simple.

When I zoomed in I saw it is a 4 patch...it is a fancier 4 patch, but it is still just a four patch.  The trick to this quilt is to keep alternating the blocks between the split corners, and the solid corners.  Each block has two patches that are light with contrasting darker fabrics.

Some of the blocks are light/medium, light/dark, or medium/dark combo's.  The quilt design was an excellent use for all those scraps that we have held on to because we might need them sometime.


The quilt was quilted with large loops.  Just enough quilting to stabilize the layers, and yet stand up to everyday wear and tear.

I used a soft cream fabric for the backing.... mainly because it appeared to be the right size for the quilt top, and I had it on hand.

As I started quilting this one, my mind began to think of binding.  

Initially I thought blue, the quilt top reads blue to me or possibly a brown.  I pulled out several possible candidates from the closet only to have that little nagging voice in your head say...."No, not that one, it just doesn't match"... have I ever told you that I hate that little voice in my head?

I was really amazed that my best choice was a dark green (I think it was actually a Christmas fabric).  It didn't clash with the top, and married well with the cream on the back.  


I was glad that I was able to complete this quilt this past week.  This next week I have a smaller quilt that was donated by Joyce to work on.  Hopefully I will be able to show it to you next week.

Enjoy your week!



Tuesday, January 7, 2014

First quilt of the new year

So here it is the first post of the new year.....and I am 12 hours late posting it.  Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Most recently a nice little viral infection got in the way.  I babysat Little Owen last Friday when he wasn't feeling well enough to go to the daycare, I also had him New Years eve so his parents could go out and have some fun.  Not exactly sure when he shared his little virus with me, but he did.  Saturday night I had a fever and chills, I slept 36 hours straight. Sunday is a mere blur....but then again I was only conscious 6 hours of it.  I thought Monday I was getting better...at least there was no fever but I still took it easy.

This morning I got up and I have a scratchy throat, and a nice little cough.  I did manage to will myself into the shower, so at least I am a little fresher now.  

And then I remember it is Tuesday....and I didn't have a post in the que to auto-post.  I didn't even have the quilt photographed yet. Panic sets in and then I remember this year's resolution is to not freak out, and take a more leisurely pace with Iowa Comfort. So yes this post is late, and I am sorry, I will try to do better in the future.

Before I got sick this past weekend I did manage to quilt the first quilt of the new year for Iowa Comfort.



 Here the quilt is just waiting for it's label, and the corresponding paper work to be completed.

I am 90% sure that this top was donated by Jacque from the Adel Quilt Shop.  I vaguely remember her giving it to me and saying that it had been a sample for a strip club project they were working on. And I recognize so many of those beautiful fabrics.

I think it will make a great quilt for an older child to snuggle in.  I could see a tweener cuddled underneath it in front of the TV.



Such a simple block made out black and white fabrics, with that little splash of color.  I love quilts that go together quickly and yet have that pop of color!

With it being the new year, I know that Jacque has all kinds of new projects on the books, including strip club so make sure to head over to her website to see if anything calls out to you. Here is a link to her website http://www.adelquilting.com/

I broke one of my own rules with this quilt.  I vowed I was not going to be picky about what I used as backing material....even if I had to piece it together.  But this quilt screamed that it needed a red backing ( I know! I know)  I headed off to Jacque's to find a red backing, and I couldn't find one that was just right.... but the purple backing kept calling my name and it is what I took home.

There was enough backing left over that I could use it as binding also, always a plus! 

I love the finished quilt, and I have no doubt whoever gets it will love it also.

The plan for the rest of the week is to work on a bedsize quilt for the center, and to get a couple of pillowcases sewn up for them also.  We will see how that works out.....

Thank you Jacque for all of your support of Iowa Comfort! 

Until next week stay warm! Only 67 days until March 15th...and then you know spring will be just around the corner.