Boy's School Raffle Quilt

I have five children in the public school system, all in elementary school. That statement alone is knee jerking enough. It conjures up phrases like snow day, school lunch, bus driver, field trip, picture day and summer break to name a few. But the most disturbing phrase to the mom of school aged children...fund raiser. I get the full body shivers when my kids bring home those giant envelopes with the photos of all the fabulous prizes they could win and the kids are all hoped up on the MLM selling vibe. Imagine that feeling you get times FIVE! Plus they all go to the same 2 schools so they all rep the same stuff at the same time. I can't buy 5 buckets of cookie dough for $20 a pop! I am more than stocked up on gift wrapping supplies and I can only use ONE Entertainment book. I will say that I am the 'coupon queen' so I do break down and buy one of those each year but don't tell which kid I get it from so as to not start a revolt. All that being said, I do understand that the schools NEED the funds and there are many parents who work very hard to raise said funds. I always donate $$ directly to the school each year {I am sure more than they would get from my kids selling any products}.  My kids are all in elementary school but go to 2 different schools. The three youngest children go to a school that offers Kindergarten through fourth grade and my 2 older boys go to a school that offers fifth and sixth grade. Last year I made a quilt for the younger kids school to be part of a raffle event for their Fall Festival. They could have easily used it as it's own drawing but instead folded it up and added it to a basket with other items. I am sure the people buying tickets had no idea there was even a quilt in there so I hope someone appreciated it. Since I did the quilt for that school last year, I offered to make one for the boy's school this year.

When I started this quilt I was on a 'fabric diet'. I hadn't planned on using it as a fund raising quilt, just wanted to make something using fabrics I already had. 'The Man' picked out the pattern (which I changed quite a bit) as well as the fabrics. I had to purchase the light colored background and the border fabric but the rest I had in my stash.

The center blocks have 2 patterns that alternate and the sashing is accent quilted. The border (isn't that border fabric tasty) has oak leaves and acorns quilted in it. I was trying to keep the fall feeling going.

I named the quilt 'Fall at North Windy Ridge'. I hope that it finds it's way to a good home where someone will love it as much as I loved making it.

If you would like information about purchasing a raffle ticket, let me know I am sure I can get my hands on some, oh wait, the boys will no doubt be bringing that 'big envelope' home for this one. ;)

3 More Finishes

I can't say much about these 3 except that they are UGLY!!! Well, this one is not too bad and I learned a lot about quilting on minky so it's not a total loser...

This was my first attempt at hand quilting was also an epic fail. So it has been in a box for about 8 years...finally just bound it so I can make it go away. I think this will be a play quilt for the kids to take outside for picnics or something.

When I first got my longarm I bought some quilt tops on ebay that are ugly as sin! I still have 2 more that are on the 'to quilt' hangers. I thought 'who cares if I ruin this mess, it's already trashed'. But it was great to practice on. I closed the binding up on this one and will donate it the charity quilts at the next guild meeting...

So even though it is embarrassing to post these picks, I will still claim them as finishes for February and I am happy to make more room on my 'to do' shelves.

DAFFODILS!!!



    

This is very much what it looks like where I live...isn't it beautiful?



Daffodils make me happy! These delicate little flowers are the envoys of spring. Once you start seeing these little beauties it is like nature is telling you 'hang on with this cold just a little longer, it's almost over'.  Well guess what? I was clearing out old brush in my garden this weekend and look at what I found busting up through the ground...

That's right, it was my mini daffys! I started doing the happy dance and yelling for 'the man' to come see. I know they don't look like much yet, but trust me, in about 3 weeks this is what they will look like...

 And with any luck, they WON'T look like this:

The thing that amazes me about these flowers every year is that it's like they have a calender. I know that flowers follow the natural cycle of things but these guys show up the same time every year. It doesn't matter if it has started to warm up or not. They will pop up through the snow if it is still on the ground at the end of February and you can bet your woolly socks that by the second week in March there WILL be daffodil blooms somewhere near by. I LOVE spring!

Friday Night Sew In

This my first time participating with the FNSI. I had planned on finishing a list of things that just need that last step to be finished. I need to make a backing for a top I finished this week, make a binding  for one I finished quilting this week and do 'quick finsh' bindings on a few quilts that I was planning to donate to Project Linus. I opted instead to make kits for PL instead. One of my yearly responsibilities for the guild is to oversee making those charity quilt. I bought a TON of fabric this week from a local store that not only gives us a great price for these projects but they also donate fabrics that are not 'sellable'. I picked the disappearing 9-patch pattern that I like making because it is so easy and so fast, plus you can make it with just about any fabric you have. So I spent HOURS cutting up the fabrics for blocks, borders, bindings and backings. I don't have battings yet but that will be a project for next week.

HUGE stack of 6 inch blocks...that fell soon after this pic was taken. lol

Kits laid out



Bundled with pattern



32 Kits packed up and ready to go to out next Guild Meeting

My hubby surprised me with a 'date night' last night so I made sure my 'Friday Night' started very early so I could be done by 7:00 to make our dinner reservations. ;)

Iron Carry Bag

I picked up this pattern at Fiddlesticks Quilt Shop when we were in Las Vegas a few weeks back. It is the cutiest little shop in Boulder City, NV. It is meant to carry your iron when it is still hot. They had a sample made in the store and I thought, even if you don't use it for your iron, it makes a cute bag.

I needed something use for a crafty swap, it just so happens that my assigned 'buddy' is a rock hound. She is a geologist by education and a quilter for fun. So I collected some 'rockish' type fabrics and set out to make this. I think it came out pretty cute. I hope she likes it. ;)

The 'Rocky' Bag

Lining

And while I was at it, I made a little card hold to go along with it:

Friday Night Sew In

I have been watching what people have been doing with the:

I figure it is time to stop lingering and start working. If you would like to join in, you can find the rules here.

Queensland Charity Blocks

I got an email a few weeks back from a quilting buddy of mine in Australia. She asked us to make QAYG (quilt as you go) blocks and then send them to her to be sent on to other quilters that will stitch them together. The benefit to making charity quilts this was is that there is no need for 'quilting' as the blocks are all held together on their own. The finished quilts will be given to victims of the floods that have been tearing that state apart as of late.  Many people have lost their homes and possessions and there aren't many things more comforting that wrapping up in a handmade quilt. If you would like to to contribute, or just what to know how to make them, you can find the tutorial here. So far, I have about 20 made, I had a stack of muslin pieces that were too small for the linings I use them for but too big to throw away so I cut them up and decided that I would just sew strips until I used up all my squares.

Shipping to Aussie-land is stupid expensive so I think I am going to see how many more squares I can cram  persuade into the box.

Wallets

Once I make something that is cute and easy and decide that I like it, I can't make just one. I made one of these little card wallets for secret gift exchange that I do with my quilting buddies each year. I can't show you the first one because she hasn't gotten it yet and I don't want to blow the surprise. But I can show you the other 6 I made...

One of my customers spotted them on the table waiting for the snaps to be added, so I only have 5 left. Add 6 more to my February finishes. ;)

Liebster award

Mary over at outsidethelinedesigns has nominated me for the Liebster Award. She sent me an email asking if I would like to play, I was just so happy that someone (I don't know) is reading my blog! Yea Me! Being the naturally skeptical person I am, before I said OK, I started Googling. Apparently this award is a sort of 'pay if forward' type of thing. Someone, somewhere (it seems like originally it was from Germany) decided that in the spirit of promoting small blogs, individals would be nomintated by other bloggers. Once nominated you are asked to nominate 3-5 other {less-well known} blogs for the award. It is interesting to see who is 'up-line' from you. Of course now I am follwing a number of those folks too. So, without further ado, these are the people I would like to nominate:

Michie-is a pattern designer, and wonderfully creative quilter, she also makes fabric shopping extra fun. ;)

Mary Lou-has a very funny blog that makes me feel better about the crazy stuff I do.

Ann Marie-tries to quilt with critters... the answer is in the question.

Elizabeth-is entirely at fault for a number of the blogs I follow.

Myra-is the great person who is hosting the PhD Challenge that I am attempting to keep up with (again, E's fault).

I hope you check out these great quilters, I know I have learned things from them and just enjoy having my morning coffee with them.

Angie

Mrs. Penny's Baby Quilt

Mo has this GREAT teacher! She is one of those people who goes out of her way to make sure your kid not only learns but learns WELL. She is also one of those amazingly gorgeous pregnant people. You know the ones, radiant glow, perfect skin, hasn't gained a pound anywhere except for that glorious giant egg that fits perfectly in her size small maternity clothes...anyway, you want to hate her but you just can't. I have made it a tradition to make small quilts for my kids teachers as end of the year gifts each year. As soon as I found out she was preggers, I decided that I would make a baby quilt instead of the usual 'teacher' quilt for this one.  I had a panel that I bought a few years back that was really cute but I never got around to doing anything with it. Once we found out the baby was a girl, I was sure this was the one to use. I joined up for Myra's PhD Challenge and this was one of the quilts I committed to finishing. I figured that since the baby is due in March I should get on this one first.

UPDATE:

Baby Emaline Likes her quilt: