The End of Summer

The official calendar doesn't say it, but yesterday was the end of summer.  Those of you who know me, know that my husband, Greg, teaches high school. That means we have been together all summer.  That is not a complaint. We have had a wonderful summer together.  But yesterday was his last free day for awhile.  School officially started for him this morning.  That means I get back into my routine too.

This summer has been eventful.  We have traveled with our kids (that was great fun).  We found out that we are going to be grandparents (that's even better).  Greg and I have also done some traveling for the speaking engagements I am doing regarding the medication Gilenya that I am taking for my multiple sclerosis (and that is awesome).  However, through it all and thanks to all our piecers and quilters, the quilts have continued.  I am glad to say we have now donated 125 quilts this year.  Add that to last year's count and we are at 200!!!  How great is that!  Who would have ever dreamed we could achieve that milestone?

Speaking of that, last weekend my sister, a cousin that we absolutely love, and I had a cousin weekend.  We spent 3 days eating great food thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, talked non-stop and sewed till the wee hours.  It was fabulous.  We got tons of stuff done and I suspect it won't be the last cousin's weekend we have.  Our cousin Terri has a couple of great sisters too.  They couldn't make it--one has sons that keep her constantly on the go and the other sister, well shall we just mention that while we were busy making quilts she was....well, just busy.  And Florida to Kansas is a bit of a commute. 

Speaking of Florida, last week Greg and I flew to Orlando for 4 speaking engagements for Gilenya. We got to see 4 different cities in 3 days.  Right.  We didn't see that much of them.  However, here is a shot of Daytona Beach, just to confirm we were actually there.

Daytona Beach is advertised as the world's most famous beach.  We didn't have any time to spend on the beach but at least got to eat and walk on the boardwalk. I am looking forward to all  the places that I'll be speaking about Gilenya.

We need to take a look at some quilts!!

This is a fun quilt.  It is a friendship star block but if you look at the color selection, it also has a dark blue large friendship star.  The lighter blue actually has multi-colored bubbles on it.  My friend Missi was very generous to share this great fabric with me.

Karen quilted this for us and used a bright sea animals print.

Here's another of our large I Spy blocks with sweet yellow and pink sashing.  A hot pink binding really sets it off.

A pink and yellow flower print for the backing finishes it.

Patriot red, white and blue rail fence is always a good choice.

This quilt is good because you can give it to a boy or a girl.  And yes, Missi, you will recognize some of this fabric too!

Here's another fun but fast quilt from Judith.  Be sure you notice Karen's great quilting.

Karen added a green backing with fish for a fun look.  Striped binding is always a good choice.

Since we live in Kansas, we just had to have a disappearing 9-patch quilt featuring sunflowers.

Of course you can't have flowers without a few bugs!

Shelly pieced this flannel quilt that I call Zoo Animals.  Greens, golds and blues make a good combination.

This backing makes a whole zoo of animals!

My sister is the queen of cammo.  Here's another great one from her.

(We had lots of cammo fabric donated!)

The blue backing is perfect on this quilt. It brightens the cammo without overpowering it.

We have more zoo animals from Karen.  She pieced and quilted this gem.

Dr. Suess was the perfect choice for the backing.

Here's a close up of the animals and the fabulous quilting.

You've seen eight awesome quilts.  All different, of course, but all adorable.  The hospital tells me how the kids' eyes light up when they walk in the room with a quilt.  What a reward that is!  Don't forget to check back.  We've got more awesome quilts on the way!



Exciting News

I am very excited to tell you all that I am going to be a grandma!  My son Joel and his wife Cara are expecting a baby in January.  This is my first grandchild and I couldn't be more excited!  Of course, I am hoping this is just the first of many.  I can't think of anything that tops a new baby.  The way they snuggle into your neck, smelling fresh from a bath is just a thrill. Or looking at you and cooing while you say goofy things. I could go on and on.  I have lots of things planned to do with this little one and future ones to come.  And of course I am already thinking of quilts this baby will need!  Being a good grandma is at the top of my list.

In the meantime, I'll keep practicing on the quilts for the hospital.  Let's look at some.

 

This quilt is a disappearing 9-patch.  It is a great blend of brown, orange, yellow, green and tan fabrics.  When it was time to add the border, I was stumped.  I couldn't imagine what I had that would work.  A piece of fabric more or less fell off the shelf and it was perfect for the border! 

In fact, it was so good, we used it for the backing!

Pink dots and black cats.  Does it get anymore fun?

It does if you put a gorgeous purple backing on it!

If you like bright quilts, you'll love this one.  Purple, pink orange, and yellow makes this quilt almost neon!

These fun bugs on a white background calm it down little bit and show off the amazing quilting by Karen.

We have some great quilts that we are busy put the bindings on.  I hope you will come back to check those out.  And don't forget--I'm going to be a grandma!!  I can't wait!!

The Heat Is On!!

It's summer in Kansas.  That means heat and this year is hotter than usual.  That means one thing for me--staying inside.  The heat makes my MS decide to remind me it is around.  Fortunately, my husband is great about running errands for me or cooling off the car before I get in. The best remedy, however, is to just stay in the house and sew.  Okay, I like that remedy for everything.

For those of you who don't know me well, in addition to sewing the kids' quilts, I also sew shop models for Quilters Quarters in Leavenworth, Kansas.  I love doing that because I get to use fabric that I didn't purchase and it satisfies my need to "Do it and have it all".  I made a run this morning to Leavenworth with a model I had finished.  I love heading into the store.  Everyone is always excited to see what I finished and give me the next project. Of course while I am there, I get to do a little shopping and laugh with the shop girls--not to mention Angie who was referred to by a customer as "that cutter girl".  They are all fun and great gals to be around.  Just spending a little time there motivates me and I can't wait to get home to cut and stitch!  It was definitely worth getting out in the heat!

It's quilt time!!!

Does this remind anyone of the 70's???  This "mod" fabric made great windmill blocks.  But wait.....

The backing is almost as wild as the front!

 

This orange and yellow charmer is made from blocks that are so fun to do.  They are easy and can be turned many different ways to change the look of the quilt entirely.

The backing is green with a leaf pattern and goes well with the green in the gorgeous border. This is a great quilt for a teenager.

This picture is a little fuzzy, but the quilt was too good not to let you get a look.  Sandy put it together with scraps and orphan blocks.  What a wonderful job. 

The backing adds to the brightness in the quilt.

Here we have Yoga Cats.  We've used this before, but this time we added a hot pink inner border to make it pop!

The purple and teal backing was the perfect choice for these cats!

Judith had the idea to take various squares and add some red strips.  It gives a fun and unexpected look to this quilt.

And in the spirit of being scrappy, we put together leftover bits of binding with polka dots on it to complete the quilt.  (I told you we use everything!)

This bright and fun pinwheel quilt is just the shot of color someone will love.  Kathy did a great job of putting it all together.

The turquoise bubbles on the back make a perfect combination for this happy quilt.

And speaking of happy, I hope seeing the quilts today makes you happy.  I know they make me smile!

Cauliflower and Assorted Items

Remember how you used to hate cauliflower and then all of a sudden you loved it dipped in blue cheese dressing?  No?  But you have had an experience of liking something you used to hate, right?  Well, I love  raw cauliflower in the blue cheese dressing. But what about yo-yos? No, not the toy with the string.  You know, the little circles that you gather up and it makes the cutest little decoration to sew to something.  Nope.  Don't like them.  Can't stand them.  You guessed it.  Something happened and all of a sudden I decided to make some.  One became two and then a whole bunch more.  More colors, more sizes.  Suddenly I was hooked on them.  I am not sure exactly what I am going to do with them, but keep your eye out for them.  They'll show up sometime, maybe when you least expect it.  Maybe we should just move on to some quilts.

!

We've used this setting alot.  It is very basic and versatile.  You can use up a lot of scraps that way and still have a fun quilt.

This bright striped backing has a summery "Caribbean " feel to it.  Add the awesome quilting and this quilt is a winner for sure.

Shelly--our flannel expert--took very limited scraps that she had and came up with this beauty.  Bright and graphic fun for a little girl.

The light purple flannel dot finishes this off nicely.

Here is an example of Shelly using some of the same flannel but coming up with a totally different look.

The same backing was used for this quilt.  The lesson is "Don't mess with a good thing!"

This is a panel that Judith took and added to it to make it a great size.

Here's a close up so you have an idea what the alphabet blocks look like.

We used this wild fabric that I had for a backing.  With all the color in this quilt, some little one will have a great time picking out objects that they recognize.

Feel free to leave me a message.  I love hearing your comments.  Your enthusiasm is what keeps us going!  Check back--we'll have more great ones to see!

Things Are Swirling

You are plodding along day to day. Things may seem a little hectic, but all in all, life seems pretty good.  Then all of a sudden the wind changes and things begin to swirl.  No, I'm not talking about the weather.  Boom!  Your life starts to get crazy.  You know, you've been there.  May was good, a few days were hectic, but life was good.  Then it happened.  School was out.  That means my husband is home for the summer.  A good thing, but a difference in my schedule.  We had planned a trip with our twin sons and their wives.  We left a few days after school was out and flew to Cancun.  We spent our time on the beach and at the pool sampling the tropical beverages, enjoying the water and the great company.  The food was nonstop and so was our fun.  A few days after we returned home, Greg's father passed away. We were all back together much sooner than we had planned.  Two days after the funeral Greg and I flew to Orlando, Florida.  I was being updated on some changes in training for the speaking I will be doing for the new medication I have been taking for my mulitple sclerosis.  We spent a couple of days in a wonderful hotel and I was able to reconnect with the others who will be speaking as well.  We arrived home late yesterday and were simply exhausted.  But life is still good.

This is a picture of the beach in Cancun from our hotel room.  Nice, huh! I will spare you the photos of me in my swimsuit.  The quilts are much more fun to look at!  Even though I've had lots to keep me busy, the work on the quilts hasn't even paused.  Everyone has continued doing their part to keep us going.  Here's some of our latest.

This is one of my favorite quilts.  A couple of friends gave me their leftovers from a quilt they made.  The pieces were originally 16 patch blocks.  I passed them to my sister and she put them all together.  We added a couple of borders and came up with a really cool quilt.  It shows what a few scraps can do.  It doesn't have to be fancy to make a great quilt.

The quilting really shows up well on this golden yellow backing.  Although this quilt has some brightness to it, it also has some softness too.  Looking at it makes me happy.



There is certainly nothing soft about this one!  This was a panel that Deb took, cut up and added some sashing.  She added a blue outer border and off it went to a quilter.

The hot pink backing is perfect for the bright flowers.  The quilter used several different colors of thread to match the front colors.  I can see a girl of any age liking this one.

This quilt may look familiar to you.  You just sew together 4 1/2" squares and add a couple of borders.  Although it may look familiar, it is still unique because we used different fabric for the border.  And it is great to use those scraps of fabric!

The backing for this quilt is a field of daisies.  Although you can't see it well in the picture, the quilting is wonderful.  Our quilters are full of talent!

Cats, cats, cats.  All these squares are full of cats.  The border is little blue mice everywhere giving the quilt a little sense of humor.

You can see the mice a little better in this close-up.

And what is better on the back of cats?  More cats!

Remember I mentioned my husband is home for the summer?  His new job is holding the quilts while I take the pictures.  Thank you to him.  I think he may be counting the days until school starts sooner than he thought he would!

More quilts to come!