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I’ve got row 6 of 8 done on the quilt that I’m making for Quilts of Valor. I’m only working on this one 15 minutes a day. I’m on day 21 today.
I also started the Animal block from Fandom in Stitches’ Muppet series. I think he looks sort of sinister with just one eye done.
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Saturday was the first National Sew Day for Quilts of Valor. I was in charge of monitoring Twitter and Instagram posts and giving out prizes. It was amazing. So many great tops were made that day and posted all over the place.
That night we had the first QOV meetup and sew day in our area. It was fun so we are going to make a habit of it.
I finished 2 long term QOV UFOs.
The first is the Swoon quilt.
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Then I finished the first of the tops made with the anniversary blocks I collected. I wasn’t sure about this one all the way to the end but I really like the way it turned out.
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I also loved the throne at our sewing site so I had to pose with it.
My 15 minute a day quilt is coming right along. I have it part of the way together now.
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I did a Quilts of Valor presentation this weekend. It was done at a family party. The first recipient was a WWII veteran.
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The others were for a Vietnam veteran and an Iraq War veteran. I made the St. Louis 16 patch on the left.
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I started a new project. I decided to see what would happen if I worked on a top for only 15 minutes a day. I designed a simple top of alternating and sashed 4 patches and squares with some applique on day 1. Now it is day 8 and all the blocks are made and the first row is together.
I’m posting my progress every morning on Quilts of Valor Ohio’s Facebook page and Instagram if you want to follow along. I’m surprised by how fast it is coming together.
I applied the 15 minute idea to my Swoon quilt this morning.
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I got the first blocks sashed. Not bad for not really wanting to work on it but just making myself apply a few minutes to it.
This weekend is the Quilts of Valor National Sew Day. I’m running the Twitter and Instagram portion of the day. Follow the hashtag #quiltsofvalor to see what everyone is making that day! If you are sewing that day use the hashtag throughout the day so we can come visit.
I made my 6th Swoon block. It is the one on the lower right. I’m going to set these with red cornerstones and white sashing.
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| From January 22, 2014 |
I basted some hexagons and made a hedgehog army!
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| From Jan 22, 2014 |
This was my submission to my Hexy Swap this month. The theme was red and white.
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| From Jan 22, 2014 |
My next thing on my to-do list is to get this quilt bound because it is part of a Quilts of Valor presentation this weekend. The first thing I have to do is to get Riley to give it up.
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| From January 22, 2014 |
I have Quilts of Valor pins available. They are actually silver. They are available for a $5 donation if anyone is interested.
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| From January 22, 2014 |
On February 1 Quilts of Valor is hosting a National Sew Day. I’m helping out with the social media part. If anyone is sewing that day and you use Instagram or Twitter post with the hashtag #quiltsofvalor. If you’ve ever wanted to make a quilt for Quilts of Valor this is a great day to start. If you sign up you are eligible for drawings throughout the day. The grand prize is a mid arm machine! Details are here.
I fully intended to have this swoon quilt done this week. I have the last block cut out and was going to make it all yesterday. Then I decided to be lazy. I’m still feeling lazy today.
Here’s the last block I made.
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| From 1/15/14 |
I have 5 blocks done so far. I’m only going to make 6. I know this is usually done as a 9 block quilt but I don’t like square quilts. I’m going to sash these with red cornerstones.
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| From 1/15/14 |
Maybe I’ll have it done by next week…
With the holidays I’ve had more time off than normal so I’ve gotten a few things done.
I made this easy flag quilt. I’ve had it pinned for a while. I needed to add one extra strip to make it wide enough to be a QOV.
I got my St. Louis 16 patch back from the long arm quilter. I like the pattern she did. Now I have to get this bound because it has a home to go to.
I decided that this stack of fabric was going to be a Giant Star quilt but it rebelled. The center seam won’t come together. I’ve taken it apart 3 times and retrimmed blocks to make sure they are all the same size. I’ve pinned. It still is off so this one is in time out for a while.
I worked on my swoon quilt. I made the block in the upper right corner. I don’t mind sewing these together but the cutting is mind-numbing. I think I’m going to cut the rest of the blocks out next to get that out of the way.
Now I have a blogging question. What do you use to host photos on your blog? I’ve always used Flickr but they’ve been changing it around and I’m having problems even getting on the site without it crashing my computer and I hate the new code for embedding pictures that makes it scrollable. I don’t want to self host and have to pay for more space if there is another option. I’m trying out Smugmug but it is relatively expensive once the trial is over.
I worked on more hexies this week.
Look – hedgehogs!
Hedgehogs all marching the same direction make me happy. I’m simple.
The only thing I worked on this week was some hexagons.
I’m still excited to be using some of the next batch of fabrics for my Hexy MF quilt. I’ve been slowly sewing up the first batch I cut a year ago. Now I’ve finished those flowers and get to move on!
For the English Paper Piecing fans out there I’m starting a new swap on Flickr. We will be swapping sets of 1 in based hexagons. You send sets of 6 petals and one center basted onto paper but not made into flowers. That way if you use hexagons in other things than flowers you can still play and if you don’t have time to make flowers to swap you can play too. Each month of 2014 will have a color theme and you can participate in all the months or just the ones you are interested in. All the details are here!
This week I also got a lot of donated fabric for Quilts of Valor. I’m sending out grab bags of fabric for just the cost of shipping if you make a Quilt of Valor from it.
For all the details click on the icon. It should be fun. There will be prizes!
That’s me today. I’m going on an adventure that involves a road trip, a friend I haven’t seen in a while, and free fabric!
I’m playing along with the Quilter’s Blog Hop. It’s a party! With free stuff!
Let’s get to the good stuff. I’m giving away a $10 gift certificate to Pink Castle Fabrics.
In case you are new around here, this is one of the projects I’m working on now. Hexy MF is one of my long term works in progress. That’s my polite way of saying that the quilt-a-long was in 2012 and just this week I finished the first half of my blocks. I get distracted easily – don’t judge.
I based my fabric selections on this pink Outfoxed print. I’m excited to start cutting up the second half of my fabric selections because I’m tired of hand piecing the fabrics I’ve been using for a year. In this group there will be foxes and hedgehogs to entertain me!
I hate having to do all kinds of stuff to sign up for a giveaway so I’m not making you do anything but leave a comment. The giveaway closes on November 26.
The Winner Is : Tamie!
I worked on the swap block that had been scaring me the most. We needed to make a flower block that represents our area. The red carnation is my state flower.
I worked more on my 16 patches. I have a few more blocks than this but they don’t all fit on my wall.
I made a blue flower. When I planned out my Hexy MF quilt I cut out half the fabrics. This flower finished up that first half. There are 26 flowers in that stack. I’m not sure where I put the rest…
I’m really enjoying this St. Louis 16 patch block. It is totally mindless piecing. It is made to be cut from fat quarters so there is minimal cutting too. I don’t like cutting. I never, ever use fat quarters because I am too cheap to buy them but I got this bundle cheap somewhere and I like it. I like it so much that this morning I looked for more online but realized that I was still too cheap to buy fat quarter bundles.
The blocks go together quickly. I made the two on the right in 20 minutes.
Quilts of Valor in Ohio had a few big Veteran’s Day events. I don’t have pictures from them yet but I did a presentation last night to a World War II veteran.
He told me that he was reluctant to sign up to get a quilt because he was pretty sure we were a scam. I’m not sure if he was more surprised that I was there or irritated that his wife was right about us not being a scam.
I finished up my Quilts of Valor banner. I also added a gratuitous Freckles picture. Please note how abused she is now that there is a wood floor and not a carpeted one. Therefore she can only lay down on the dog bed, the yoga mat, and a quilt on the floor – not any inch of floor that she wants – if she wants to be comfy. Oh, the inhumanity!
I made a swap block. The theme was Christmas.
I started a quilt that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. This is a St. Louis 16 Patch. It is a quick block that I made as a leader-ender while doing the Christmas block. Two FQs make two 14″ blocks.
I finished up Swoon block number 3.
I was asked by a person who is having a Quilts of Valor display for Veteran’s Day if I had a banner. I said, “Yeah, no problem, I’ll get that to you.” Translation – I’ve been procrastinating on making one of those and now I’ll have to. Here’s the top.
I did two presentations this week. The first one was for a man who lives pretty close to me.
The second one was for a friend of mine. I actually made this quilt a while ago with plans of giving it to her and then it sat unbound for months. I decided that I was getting it done this weekend. Of course it didn’t take long at all and I had an actual real live finish of my own. I didn’t think I remembered how to actually complete a project. I gave it to her after our workout on Tuesday.
I’ve gone back to an old UFO. I need nine 24 inch carpenter’s star blocks for the quilt I have in mind. This will be number 3.
I’ve had a HUGE Quilts of Valor week.
Last week I presented a quilt to a woman who was a QOV volunteer while she was in Afghanistan. She was a nurse who agreed to have quilts sent to her and she oversaw distribution to wounded servicemen and women. Now she is home so we made sure she had her own quilt.
This quilt was made specifically for a woman. The center panel shows women waving flags.
I also did a group presentation at a veteran’s retreat.
I met the women in the photos when I did a talk at their quilt guild and they invited me to come to this retreat.
This flag quilt is one of my favorites. It was a hit.
And then NBC Nightly News ran a story on Quilts of Valor on Monday night. Requests for quilts and questions from potential volunteers have been pouring in. I linked to the story here. Today there is going to be another story on Fox News. I’m spending lots of time answering emails and starting to get quilts distributed to all our new requests.
Last night there was a story on NBC Nightly News about Quilts of Valor.
This clip is a web extra that they made.
I got my first email from a new volunteer about 45 minutes after it aired. Requests for quilts are pouring in. I’m not sure how many are from my area yet that we need to fill. It was great publicity!
Hey! I actually sewed! I know, it is a surprise to me too. I feel like I spend so much time organizing other people’s quilting for Quilts of Valor that I don’t sew myself.
I spent some time catching up with a bunch of swap blocks that came my way.
The first one asked for Owls and Hourglasses.
Then I had to use a bit of the text fabric in a block with flying geese.
Next up was a fall colored star quilt.
On Sunday I drove to Dayton to do a talk to a quilt guild about Quilts of Valor. There were two people there whose family members had had quilts made for them. They talked about what it meant for them to receive the quilts. Sometimes I think we don’t realize how much our efforts can mean to other people.
Since I was going to be in the area, I decided to do a presentation.
This veteran is living at the Dayton VA. He was in World War II in Europe. He was shot through the leg. He showed me the scars. He was left in a turnip field and survived for 3 days by eating the turnips. Eventually he was found by two girls who got him to a train station. He was in a German prisoner of war hospital until the end of the war.
This quilt was made by members of the Connecting Threads guild in Columbus.
I’ve been a quilt slacker this summer but this week I actually started working on some of my hand piecing again.
I’ve even been slowly working on quilting the anchor quilt.
I went to an event last night introducing Quilts of Valor to a group of college students who going to be working us as part of a class project. It was interesting to go back to basics with quilting. “This is a quilt. It has three layers, etc.” One guy was just mystified that it wasn’t standard for women to pass down quilting knowledge to their daughters and granddaughters. He kept saying, “But WHY don’t they automatically teach them?” We can offer to teach all we want but someone has to want to learn.
I knew I hadn’t been doing a lot of sewing lately but I didn’t realize how long it has been since I had something to post here.
I finished the embroidery of the 4th Doctor.
Then I skipped ahead because Nine came out and he is one of my favorites.
I’m excited because today is the day that Ten is posted and he is my absolute favorite! I feel so geeky typing that.
I finally finished the anchor part of the anchor quilt.
Now I just need to add some more borders to get it up to the size I need.
I also worked on one swap project. This quilt is going to be made of a rainbow of monochromatic blocks. I made the brown one.
