Quilt for Missions

Finished up the quilting on this one today.  My usual meandering.  I decided not to add a border.  I kinda like it like this.  Just needs binding and it will be all ready for the conference.  It measures approx. 66"x86"...almost a twin, but not quite. 

I've had some questions about how I am able to quilt on my domestic sewing machine.  I've posted before about my Flynn Frame, but today I had hubby shoot a short video actually showing how I do it.

It was taken with my phone so the quality's not the best, but trust me, I've been snowed-in all week (originally posted in Feb) and have also taken the week off from make-up.  You don't wanna see me in HD right now.  I had already quilted as far across the quilt as I could with the throat space I have on my machine.  So in this shot you can see that I have removed the middle rod and turned the frame around to continue quilting down the rest of the quilt.

Cabin fever

The guys ventured out today, but not for a good or fun reason...

We got a call this morning that some pipes in the ceiling at church had burst.  Nobody knows when it actually happened, but most likely, it happened a couple of days ago.  The damage is pretty extensive.  The entire south wing of the building was flooded.  In the top pic, you can see the classroom where the break occurred. 
While the guys have been busy at the church, Aimee and I have beaten our cabin fever the best way we know how...

Aimee is working on the quilt for her bed (her first bed-sized quilt) and I'm working on my missions quilt.

I'm about half-way done with the quilting.
And you'll never guess what else!...
More snow.  That's right.  We got another 2" today.  You know, because we needed more snow.
I'm so grateful for electricity right now.  So, since tomorrow will probably be yet another snow day, I will hopefully get the other half done.  And, of course, I'll post pics when it's all finished :)

Memory quilts

I'd like to introduce you to an incredible little girl.  Her name is Haley and you can read more about her story here.  In May of 2009, I made my first memory quilt.  It was for my daughter as a graduation gift.  I posted pics of it on Facebook and was contacted by Haley's mama (who I went to high school with).  She still had all of Haley's clothes and thought it would be cool to have a quilt made from them.


This is just SOME of her clothes.

But before I could make one for her mama, she thought it would be cool if she could give one to Haley's grandfather and aunt (her dad and sister).  So, last Christmas, these are what I made...

Using the same quilt-as-you-go method that I had used to make Kylie's quilt I made these 2 small lap-sized (or wall hanging) quilts. I was still very new to quilting, but these were fun to make and I was looking forward to making another one for Haley's mama.  I thought it didn't seem fair that she wouldn't get to keep these first 2 quilts, so I thought it might be cool for them (mostly for Haley's little sis) to have something they could cuddle with until the 3rd quilt was made.  So, using one of Haley's sweatshirts,

I made these...

This was one of Haley's favorite quotes.

It took her quite a few months to bring me more of Haley's clothes to make this last quilt,

but that was ok because it took me another few months to get it made. This time, I wanted to make it the traditional way...you know, make a top, then layer and quilt it as one big quilt.  We were going for a large lap size to maybe a twin.  I had finally figured out how to install longer rods on my Flynn frame and THOUGHT I wanted to try and quilt it myself.  Here it is all loaded on the frame and ready to go...

I don't know if any of you have ever wondered, but just in case you have, THIS is what "un-quilting" looks like...

And it's NOT fun.
I thought I had practiced enough on other quilts, but apparently not.  It was not good.  It took me about 5 days and I can't tell you how many hours to un-pick all those stitches.  So I called my friend Christie and begged for her help.  She let me bring it over and also let me help her load it onto her long-arm frame so that she could quilt it the way it was meant to be quilted.  And I am SO glad she did!  It turned out beautiful and was finished just in time to be included in their Christmas holiday...a whole year after the first 2.

Displayed on a king-sized bed

That block above the picture of Haley is the shirt she was wearing in the picture.  So many memories in all of these quilts.  And I am so glad her mama trusted me to make these priceless treasures for her and her family.

Follow the link to read about Haley's brave battle and to learn more about Cystic Fibrosis and how you might be able to help find a cure for this terrible disease.

Oklahoma Blizzard and a finish..

There's no sun today in my creative "sunny" haven :(  I wasn't going to let that stop me from sewing though.  Thankfully, we haven't lost power.  So I got a very important project out to work on, so excited to be able to finish it today...I didn't buy enough fabric for the 2nd border (@$#%%^$%$%)...

No trips to my LQS today...or probably the rest of the week.

Poor Mojo wants to play outside so bad.  I'm such a mean mommy.  I don't want to open the door or the snow will be IN my house.  Every door is blocked by snow drifts...this is actually the shortest drift!

Well, since I'm snowed in anyway, now's a good time to share my latest finish with you...

This one is for a very sweet friend that we thought we were losing just a few years ago. When I saw this quilt, I knew I had to make it for her.

The pattern can be found here.

I quilted it myself on my Flynn...fun fun.

LOVE the backing.

A Tale of Two Quilts

Remember this quilt top?  I didn't give an explanation of it in my last post, so here it is...

We had an auction planned for Sunday Nov. 21st at church to benefit our Awana program. I usually just donate a haircut to this auction each year, but this is the first year that my husband and I are "Commanders" of this ministry.  When someone mentioned how cool it would be if I could donate a quilt for the auction, I thought, "that's a GREAT idea!"  Why not?  I have made a couple of quilts using this pattern and knew how easy and fast it comes together.  And how popular those quilts turned out to be, so why not?  I knew I wanted to just make a lap sized quilt and planned to make the top on tuesday and quilt and bind it on wednesday (my weekend)...plenty of time before the auction on sunday, right?  With this pattern, I like to wash it before giving it, so...

I love the crinkly, quilty softness of the raw edges on all those circles.  And then I looked closer...

Most of the blocks looked just like this.  But there were 2 blocks (same fabric) that looked like this...

In hind-sight, had I used a tighter stitch, I probably could have avoided this particular "disaster".  But it is easier to navigate those curves with a slightly longer stitch AND as I said before, I have made this pattern before...twice.  I felt safe washing it.  After the initial shock and devastation subsided a little, knowing the auction was only 3 days away, and I would be working all 3 of those days, I needed to figure out what to do.  Try to repair this one?  Give up the idea of an auction quilt all together?  Or start over?  I went through some of my favorite quilting blogs looking for inspiration (and comfort).  I found this tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew.  It was one of those "someday" quilts.  I decided "someday" was today...well, tomorrow.  It was 1:00 am and I had to work the next day, so I decided to get some sleep and start fresh on thursday...ok, it was already thursday, but I needed sleep.
Morning came WAY too early.  I woke up at 4:50 am.  Unable to will myself back to sleep, I got up and started making new blocks.  By 8am, I had 22 out of 30 blocks completed. 

I had run out of the Kona white and knew a trip to the fabric store would be my lunch break.  I got home about 4:30 and went back to work.  By bedtime, I had it loaded on the frame and knew sleep would not be a problem this time.

I know I have mentioned before just how much I LOVE this frame, but when I got the quilting done on this quilt in just over an hour (my lunch break on friday), I fell in love all over again. 


No straight lines, just meandering all over.  The 1st quilt took about 2 1/2 hours to quilt without the frame...just rolling, re-rolling, and maneuvering it through the machine...what a pain! 

Sorry for the blurry pic. I forgot to bring my camera to the auction so I snapped this with my phone.

All in all, I'm glad I decided to make a new quilt.  It was a long week, but it was for a good cause.  And I will definitely be making more of these blocks.  I am so grateful for all you crafty quilty people out there who share your creativity and talent online.  Thank you!

Told ya so!

I told you I was bad at keeping a journal! I wasn't lying...it's been over 2 wks since my last post. I hope everybody had a great Memorial weekend. God bless the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Unlike most, we didn't have family come over. It was just us. Actually, by dinner time, it was literally just us. My husband and me. The kids all went their separate ways and we were left with a giant platter of grilled hamburgers and hotdogs. Sorry I didn't think to take pics of that platter (it really was yummy) but I had no intention of blogging about it :)

I DID get a lot done this weekend though. I love my husband so much for letting me be lazy. What I mean by "lazy" is...when I don't feel like doing anything else (housework, laundry, etc...), he will leave me alone to sew. He is so patient with me when I get on a roll and can't concentrate on anything else. He just lets me be me.

Saturday, we went to a beautiful outdoor wedding and all I could think about was this baby quilt I had seen at the Moda Bake Shop a few weeks back. I had bought the materials from Natalia over at Piece n Quilt back when I saw this. I wanted it to look just like the sample at the Bake Shop and I couldn't wait to get back home and get started on it.This one's for a friend who just had a baby boy 2 wks ago. It was so easy and fun to put together. I will definitely be making more of these. I can hardly wait to get this one on the frame and get it finished.This one was already on the frame and had been there for over a month. I think my husband was just so grateful to not have to look at the frame leaning against the dining room wall. But I have more baby quilts ready to be loaded, so I had to get this one done. It's a donation quilt. It still needs binding, but it's quilted at least.
This is the frame I keep talking about. It's the Multi-frame from John Flynn. I love love LOVE this frame. Of course, my dream is to one day own my own long-arm machine, but this will do for now. I can comfortably do baby quilts or wall hangings up to about 45 inches wide with this frame. The quilt on it now is for a baby shower coming up on sunday for a friend at church who is having a boy and they are HUGE OU fans. Since I actually have a real job to go to tomorrow, not sure if this one will get finished, but I will do my best.

OH! And I made a bear for a friend who is adopting a 4 yr-old boy. It's amazing how exhausting is to be so "lazy"! Tomorrow, it's back to reality.