Serenity Prayer...

God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The stash to make a quilt to help me cope,
A quilt to give to comfort those I love in times of hurt, fear and uncertainty.
And the courage to keep on sewing when life itself seems held together by a single thread of hope.
Bonnie K. Hunter, 2014

After hearing about the tragic mudslide in Alaska and the loss of friends Bonnie modified the prayer to her own skillset.  It is one that we can all use when we hear of events, illness and tragedy that are beyond our control. We always want to do something to help.  

Prayer will always help.

Dancing 9s

Yesterday my friend BettySue and I drove over to Oliver Springs, TN to meet with the Ritzy Thimble Quilt Guild and take a class with Bonnie Hunter.

Bonnie's classes are always so much fun and so informative.  She begins by helping everyone find their quarter inch mark.  We test sew some strips and then we are off!

I was so busy having fun and sewing I forgot to take pictures! 

But first, the inspiration for my color choices for this quilt is my brand new great-niece Brooke Lynn.... just 17 days old in this picture.  This will be a gift for her once complete.

 

I was able to snag some pictures from Bonnie's post that she took in class.

These are the border blocks we cut from the strips we sewed.  I cut one border block from each strip set followed by a bunch of 2in strip sets to form the 9-patches.

Here I am at the end of the day with my first completed block.

When I got home I pulled out the remaining pieces I had stitched up in class and put together a total of 3 blocks, a good start on this quilt.

 

Pathway of Valor

We have all heard about Quilts of Valor...quilts are made and given to those brave men and women who have served this country.   Here is a request for blocks which will be made into QOVs.  A simple tutorial and where to send your blocks.


http://kevinthequilter.blogspot.com/2014/03/kevin-quilters-big-announcement.html


How many blocks will you make?

2014 UFO Listing and Totals

This morning I realized I have not been keeping up with my blog lately. It is already March and I haven't even posted my UFO list or my totals list.  The polar vortex has thrown my schedule into a tizzy!  Icey roads, some snow and the extreme cold weather has kept me busy with caring for my grandson due to school closures.  And now, this week began Spring Break!  Since he has been with me more than in school with his friends, I paid for daycare for him for the two week break so that I could get a rest and have some time to myself.

I was able to finish up all my customer quilts; working in short spurts around entertaining the grandson and working into the night.  I have made progress on my personal quilting projects too. 

Much of my handwork hours have been spent de-boning and cutting up shirts for Celtic Solstice.  I have also just finished de-boning an additional 22 shirts in shades of pink-orange-purple for a Dancing 9s class that I will be taking with Bonnie on March 16th.  I intend this quilt to be a gift for my new grand-niece!


I have also worked on my Spring Wall Hanging and have all of the daffodils and tulips blanket-stitched on.  I am currently working on the hyacinths.

I have also begun a project of making monthly ornaments to fill my Christmas tree next year... so far I have made red/white Bow-ties and mittens and am working on hearts next.

I struggled at first, but once I discovered my coordination and slowed my pace just a bit I began to enjoy sewing on my treadle.  I am barely half done with Step 1 of Celtic Solstice, but having slowed down, I find my piecing is more accurate and I am really having fun!  My poor electric Singer is gathering dust!

I have finally moved Orca Bay to flimsy status...almost. I have decided to add an extra solid black border to frame it.   I am rushing to make a pieced backing with the remaining fabrics and get it quilted in time to share with Bonnie during the show and tell portion of class.

Silly me, I started a blue/white strip quilt (Cracker Barrel) to use as a leader/ender as I worked on piecing my Celtic Solstice. What was I thinking!  I have plenty of UFOs that I could have used... but no, I just had to start one more project! 

WORK COMPLETED IN January-February 2014
 ....08.....customer tops quilted (YTD  8)
.....03.....customer quilts bound (YTD  3)
.....00.....flimsy completed waiting for quilting (YTD )
.............quilted flimsy (YTD  )
.....40.....hand-work hours (40 YTD )

Bonnie Projects in Progress

....done..Orca Bay
...............Orca Bay piece backing, quilting


.....350.... Celtic Solstice Step 1 blue triangles cut( 350 of 380 pairs)
.....380.... Celtic Solstice Step 1 white and orange star points cut (380 of 380)
.......50...  Celtic Solstice Step 1 orange star point units sewed (50 of 140)
....100.... Celtic Solstice Step 1 white star point units sewed (100 of 240)

.....00.....cheddar bowties blocks hand-pieced (YTD  6  of  81in 2013)   ...  (81 of 162 in 2012)
.....00.....cheddar bowtie rows stitched (YTD  0 .... 9 of 18 in 2012)
.............. Talkin Turkey..... 2 blocks complete plus parts
.............. Midnight Flight....1 block complete plus parts
.............. Winston Ways... 2 blocks complete plus parts

UFOs – WIPs

2006 Barn Blocks
2009 1950s Santa

2009 Sunbonnet sue …prairie point borders

2010 Swartz Creek Quilt
2010 Vicksburg BOM 

2011 Cheddar Bowties 
2011 Happiness Key

2011 Novelty Quilt (pat sloan)

2011 Dear Jane/Hot Momma Rose

2012 Basic Class Wall Hanging…. Borders, quilting

2012 Winston Ways

2012 Turkey Tracks

2012 Midnight Flight 
2012 Orca Bay… borders, quilting

2012 Pillow Cover …assembly

2012 Red/White D4P…assembly

2013 Daisy placemats/runner (sept)…. needs binding

2013 Red blue floral placemats (sept)…. Needs binding
2013 Florals & 9Patch (aug)

2013 Maddie Bea Sweet & Sassy (becky’s barn)

2013 Spring Wall Hanging (WSS project)

2013 Becky’s Barn Basket wall hanging… borders, quilting

2013 Celtic Solstice (nov)

2014 Cracker Barrel - Blue/White strip quilt (jan)… L/E for CS
2014 Dancing 9s

Waiting to be Quilted

Rosewood Cottage (since 2006) quilting by hand

Monkey Wrench BOM (since 2007) for sale

2 blue placemats (R taylor)