Labeling charity quilts

I know, 2 in a row - don't faint!
If you've followed me, you know that I am the co-founder of a group, Quilters for Comfort. - If you click on the tab you will find out the information. - We have a couple new members and a question has come up about labeling the quilts for donation.  
QFC started originally when we were all members of an on line machine embroidery site and someone came up with a label that simply states, "Lovingly made by Quilters for Comfort".  And because at the time, many of the quilts were made by more than one person.  Someone would send embroidered blocks, another would send 'filler' blocks to an assembler who would construct the quilt then the quilt would be sent on to someone to quilt and bind.  (yes, the postal service loves us!)  As this group has grown, we still have many quilts made by many hands but we also have some who make an entire quilt, start to finish, on their own.  I understand the 'signing' your work.  You've worked on something you're proud of, you sign it.  Here's where I get concerned --- When you're not sure who is going to receive that donated quilt, do you really want your full name on it?  I personally do not but I'm interested in if I'm a minority on this issue.
If you do quilts for charity, do you put your full name on it?  What is your opinion of this topic?

Been wondering lately if I should even keep this blog open.  It seems I rarely post anything anymore.  Lately I haven’t even been reading much, yet I do enjoy seeing what others are working on, what’s new, etc….

AZ has had a glorious couple weeks.  We’ve come close to the 90 degree temps and I don’t have a problem with that at all.  We also had a pretty decent snow storm the beginning of January that I just happened to have to drive home in!  Being from the U.P. of Michigan, I wasn’t concerned, but I was sure wishing the people in front of me were behind me!

I have been quilting some QFC quilts and also sewing up pillowcases:

The scrappy patchwork ones were tops given to me a couple years ago from a QFC member who, due to health reasons, can no longer sew.  These were part of a community service project and were a little rough but a little trimming and quilting and they will comfort someone.

In my last post I mentioned that my 14 year old fur baby was in poor health, sadly last week we had to make the very difficult decision to let her go.  It’s still raw and I can’t remember ever feeling so much emotional pain.  My first instinct is to immediately get another fur baby, but I think it’s best for me to settle and not have expectations of a new pet…
Not sure when I will post again, could be days, could be months….


Katie

A little post script here...  I usually use windows Live Writer but the last couple times, I have not been able to post... Wonder what's up with that????

It’s been quite awhile since I last posted – almost 2 months!  Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone and I’m just now getting around to posting.
I will start with some pictures first as I think that’s what most want to see:

Christmas quilt #1.  I had to show a close up of the embroidered designs.  I love these Snowmen. Each one has a ‘scene’ in his ‘belly’.   I believe they are from Ace Points.

Christmas quilt #2/  These are the cutest Santas…  These designs are also from Ace Points.
These quilts went to my two great-nephews.  The first one is now 4 years old and had never received a baby quilt.  The second nephew was born in May and by the time I got the announcement, it was late July and I had Sew Fest and my sister’s wedding, then on to Christmas sewing – so instead of a baby quilt, they each got their Christmas quilts.

The red quilt is University of Alabama and is for my step-daughter.  The navy and orange quilt are for her husband and is Auburn.  The tops are done and I hope to get them quilted over the weekend and ready to mail to them by the end of next week.  I wanted to ‘showcase’ the team fabrics, therefore the large squares.  With his, I started with the smaller squares with the white and orange ‘frames’ but it was too orange for my likes and did not showcase the team fabric.  If you look, the top and bottom is 4-patches with the small squares.  I did not have enough fabric left to cut the larger squares of fabric.  He’s a big guy and needed to have that length.  Overall, it turned out okay…

So the holidays…. Thanksgiving was a quiet affair.  My daughter-in-law usually does Thanksgiving but with her school schedule and the lack of out-of-state family, I offered to do Thanksgiving.  It was a small affair with just the 5 of them and me.  Hubby was off elk hunting…
Christmas was very nice and held at my son and daughter-in-law’s.  My preparations for Christmas was an entirely different story.  I don’t know if I was depressed or just not in the mood, but everything I made was a chore.  I didn’t decorate my home, did very little baking and “hum bugged” my way through it all.  When all was said and done, I thanked God for my blessings of a wonderful family and was glad all the hoopla was over…

Now on to a new year.  I have a few plans for the year.  Sew Fest is already scheduled to be held in McKinney, TX the first week of August.  My son gave me a white water rafting trip for Christmas.  He and I have always talked about going and so this will be that year!   My sister and new brother-in-law have informed us that they will spend Christmas 2016 with us and that is something I will be looking forward to.   On a sadder note, my little dog of 14 years I expect to lose this year.  She’s had multiple surgeries for skin cancer and bladder stones.  She’s had a stroke that has affected her hearing and her sight is limited.  She has now become incontinent and I need to keep a diaper on her.  I know she feels bad because she can’t control her bladder and often has a puddle in front of her doggie door.  It is sad to watch her decline but I thank God I’ve had her as long as I have.
I hope you all had very nice holidays and that your new year brings you much joy…

Katie

finally–pictures

I can finally show some pictures…

This is the quilt I made for my dear friend who was diagnosed with Uterine cancer.  She has since had her surgery and I’m ecstatic to say she was early stage and no further treatments are necessary after her surgery:

These blocks measured 15”.  I wanted to get this quilt done and in her hands before she had her surgery so I needed to be quick about it.  I did manage my goal!

This next quilt was for one of the Quilters for Comfort members who’s husband had a massive stroke.  The ladies from QFC donated embroidered crosses and verses from scripture.  One of our members sent me 20 blocks!  I incorporated them into the backing as well as a couple in the top.  There were a few embroidered blocks left that were sent on with the quilt as I knew our member will find a use for them in one of her “whisper” quilts:

I chose fall fabrics from my stash as I felt they had the more masculine feel… 

This  following quilt was made from ‘left overs’… QFC had another one of our members who underwent kidney surgery and again the ladies donated angels.  There were enough for 2 quilts and as it turned out – we needed those extras as another of our members informed us she was undergoing chemo treatments..  This is her quilt top: ( I did not make or quilt the other quilt, so no picture of that one…)

   I did not quilt this.  I sent it on to another of our members for quilting as I was in a ‘rush’ to get my friend’s quilt finished.  The ‘flying geese’ are made from strip blocks that I was given.  I just took those strip blocks and paired with white squares and got the HST’s.  I felt this was a good quilt to use them on and I still have a LOT of those strip blocks left….

And this is just a picture of a quilt from Sew Fest I was quilting:

at Sew Fest we had a stack of scrappy 9-patch blocks and I just stitched them all together and made a scrappy patchwork quilt.  As I looked at this quilt to decide how I wanted to quilt it, I chose the all-over swirls because I felt it needed some ‘texture’ because of all the different fabrics.  I wasn’t real fond of this quilt until it was in the ‘finished’ stage….

Okay, picture time over – now just some chit chat

Okay so it’s ‘Holiday time’ and that means I start my yearly season of chaos.  I don’t normally make quilts for Christmas gifts but this year is the exception with need to get 4 done!  2 will be Christmas themed quilts for 2 small great nephews.  The youngest was born in July and due to my busy summer he did not get a baby quilt.  I’m sure by now my niece thinks I’ve ignored her birth announcement… I didn’t want to send a card and give the ‘something later’ message – so instead I decided to make both boys Christmas quilts and send them together.  The older boy is still young enough that I would not send something without including him…  The other 2 quilts are for my Step-daughter and her husband.  They live in Alabama and cheer on different college sports teams.  They will each get their own quilts with their teams fabrics … One is Auburn and the other the U of Alabama ….

I will also be making the pajama pants that I normally do for all my g-kids at Christmas but I’m hoping to change it up a little this year.  I’m hoping to find some heavier jersey knit to use instead of flannel. The kids today wear so many T’s and stretch(ier) fabrics than before and so I think they will appreciate the knit…. Guess I’ll find out….

And – I’ve been asked to work with a committee at the local Elk’s lodge to put together the Kids Christmas party this year… QFC has donated Christmas stockings in the past and had enough to last a couple years.  We’re needing at least 60 more, so this morning I put a shout out to the amazing ladies on the QFC Yahoo group for help….

Anyway, I had a relatively busy summer and now it’s looking like I will be staying busy through what’s left of 2015… 

If you’ve made it this far, I thank you for taking the time to read and comments are always appreciated.  I know I’m not real consistent in posting on my blog, but I just don’t figure my general chit chat and day to day is of interest to everyone….

Katie

That’s over!

Sister’s wedding was beautiful:

They said their vows as the sun was going down and the professional photographer was able to get pictures with the sun setting. ( This is the happy couple as taken by my hubby.)  It seemed as though God had his hand in this as everything was just perfect….

So that’s over and the long days of driving are done and I was very happy to be home.  I think I’m still playing catch-up on my rest.  Another nice thing about the wedding was being able to spend some time with my son without the interruptions of his being a husband and father.  With his wife in school and the kids in school, they weren’t able to attend the wedding, but my son flew in and actually escorted his aunt to her groom.  Okay, sorry, as usual I tend to side track…..

While I was gone had some unhappy things going on with friends.  One dear friend’s hubby had multiple strokes and one was considered massive…. QFC (Quilters for Comfort)  is coming together to make a quilt for her husband as he (and she) have a long road ahead of them.  A member of our QFC team has been diagnosed with cancer and the team is putting together a quilt for her.  And one of my very dearest friends has been diagnosed with uterine cancer and will be facing surgery soon.  I’m scrambling to get a quilt done for her prior to the surgery.  Fortunately, the doctor is saying it’s “early stage”.  When I look around and see the trials my friends are dealing with, I’m thankful for just  my sore knees and back….  Life is good and I thank God for my many blessings.

Until next time,

Katie

Not long now….

One more week to go and my sister will be a married lady.  I know you’re probably very tire of reading about it, but I’m so over-the-moon happy for her.  I live across the country and I so often worried about her being alone and not having anyone for her if she should get seriously ill.  Friends are great, but it’s not the same as having someone who lives with you….  Anyway, heading out this morning and I should be getting the last minute stuff done but decided I’d rather drink a peaceful cup of coffee before I wake up the hubs and start issuing ‘orders’.

We decided to rent a car for this trip rather than take our 9 year old 100K plus miles Hyundai.  I wanted to take our 10 year old GMC truck because it only has 65K miles on it, but hubby said no, it needed brakes and the gas mileage isn’t great.  Okay, pick up the car (2015 Nissan Altima) -  it rides very well; get it home to start packing it up – oh crap! smaller trunk than I figured.  I guess thank goodness neither of us have long legs and we will have room on the floor in the back seat!  I don’t know how my parents did it with 3 kids and 2 dogs traveling across country every summer….  I know my sister has said she has some stuff she wants to send home with me, sure hope it’s not a lot.  One of the ice chests we’re taking will stay with her, so guess if it doesn’t take up any more room than that one ice chest, we’re good…

I’m hoping to make a couple stops along the way and visit some quilt shops.  I rarely buy quilt store fabric as I can’t justify the cost of the fabric when it’s being donated for charity, but I still love stopping and looking.

Okay, I’m off and going to get busy… Sorry, no pictures and not really quilt related…

Katie

Never Again!

This was the first and I’m swearing will be the last time I ever make a King size quilt!  My quilting frame will only quilt 84” … it says 90, but that’s the length of the rails.  Put a machine on the carriage and it will not go the full  length of the rails! 

Okay, so I knew this as I have done quilts that were larger.  I knew I could not get this fully assembled quilt on the frame.  I decided to quilt the ‘body’ of the quilt and I knew I would still have to turn it to quilt the side.  I knew I would add the borders after the ‘body’ was quilted.  I had this all planned.  I knew what I needed to do….

What I didn’t know was that when the needle tore a small spot in the backing while I was loading the quilt and I just advanced the backing that it would leave me short on the bottom!  Oh yes, about 4” short to be exact… So off the frame comes the quilt, trim the sides off and use that across the bottom so I can finish quilting the quilt.  So that’s back on the frame to quilt the bottom.  Off – back on the frame to quilt one side.  Off – back on the frame to quilt the other size – oh great!  Nope, not so great… I have a small pleat in the backing.  NO, I did not rip it out.  I love my sister.  She loves me and will understand my patience level at this point is non existent…. and .. it truly is small….

On to the border – oh wait – it’s planned to have a narrow inner border.  This isn’t going to work the way I planned…. Yes it does have the narrow border but  it’s not how it’s usually done.  I stitched the two border pieces together, attached the sides, then attached top and bottom.  The narrow border instead of framing the body of the quilt, goes edge to edge across the top and bottom…    And binding – I used just about every bit of the fabric I bought to construct this quilt so it has a two color binding – I do have a few inches of the dark brown left…..

So here it is – finished at 102” square:

 The pictures aren’t the best, but I hope you get the idea…  It was wet outside and I really had no space large enough to lay this out …  Maybe I can get a picture of the bride & groom holding it up when I gift it to them…

So now I’m quilting the quilts I brought back from Sew Fest.  If I can get them quilted, I will only have to label and bind them when I get back and have them sent off by Nov.  1st..

two weeks from tomorrow and my dear sister will be a married lady – I’m beyond excited for her.. 

Okay enough of that… I hope things are cooling off in your part of the country.  AZ has been a bit ‘warm’ and I’m ready for cool (not cold!) temperatures.  We’ve had more rain than usual this summer and the mosquitos have moved in … I’m ready for them to move out!

Katie who will run along before she gets too chatty about stuff that doesn’t mean squat to anyone else….