Grrr!!!

Comcast deleted the last 3 months of my emails in my inbox on Sunday.  If you have sent me something during the past bit, and I have not responded to you, then please resend.  I've been trying (unsuccessfully so far) to get my emails restored. 

Quilts of Valor

Tuesday was our sew-in at Sewing, Etc, in Yorkville, IL.  Several quilt tops were turned in, to be quilted.  Most of these tops were from the May sew-in.  Several are the same pattern. 

top #1

top #2

Dorothy made this top

top #3

top #4

Donna made this top

another top that came in

I have been busy, I just don't have any pictures of what I've been working on.  The wedding quilt is pin basted, and waiting for me to figure out what machine I'm going to quilt it on.

Prairie Fest and a Finish!

Happy Father's Day!  We tend to spend our Father's day at Prairie Fest, in Oswego, IL.  Hubby sings in the local barbershop chorus, and they always have a float in the parade.  Guess who gets to drive the float?  Yes, me.  Before the parade, I always stop off at the 'Little White Schoolhouse' to see the quilt show.  The show is small, since they only have one room to put up all the quilts.  They show off antique (and some new) quilts on chairs, when they run out of room to hang quilts.  The show is put on by the 'Quilter's Dozen', a hand quilting group that meets at the Little White Schoolhouse each week.  Here are some of the quilts.

For all of those that are doing the 'house' quilts, here is one for you to see.

my friend, Donna, made this one

antique quilts on chairs

I loved the colors of this scrappy, antique quilt.

This next quilt was tied.

This lady used a picture of her home to make this quilt.  Lots of 3D in the quilt.

A different take on Sunbonnet Sue.

The next quilt was from a Woolworths kit, years ago.  She cross stitched the blocks, then added borders.  It's hard to see (couldn't get far enough back for the picture) but, she added long white, scalloped edges on 3 sides. 

see how tiny those pieces are

lovely hand stitching on this one

modern quilts on chairs

my friend, Karen, made this quilt

Here are two of the ladies, stitching on the groups current project.  They take turns quilting each other's quilts.

hand quilting during the quilt show

The ladies in this group made this quilt as a 'thank you' to the Little White Schoolhouse, a few years ago. 

Little White Schoolhouse quilt

Here is the float I pulled in the parade.  Sorry the picture is blurry.  The guys sang great!

Lamplighter's barbershop chorus

We always head to Red Robin for a late lunch after the parade.  YUM!  I love those freckled lemonades!

Now for the finish.  I used the double 4 patch block to teach my ladies in the beginning quilting class.  I used the same block to make a wedding quilt for my son's best friend.  Since I've been so busy lately, and really needed to get some projects finished quickly, I decided to put the motor back on my Spartan, instead of using the hand crank on it.

my Spartan with a motor, not a hand crank

This is the first time I've used the motor that came with my Spartan.  I took the motor off as soon as I got home with the machine.  Sometimes a girl just needs some extra 'speed' to finish a project.  This wedding quilt is due July 14th.  The top is now done! (the colors don't show up very well in the picture).

Oliver's wedding quilt top

up close of corner of quilt top

I'm going to machine quilt this, using straight stitch only.  Straight stitch, I can manage.  Now, to figure out what machine to quilt it on (electric or treadle).  Maybe a bit of both, we'll see.  I have time to decide, since I still need to get a backing for this quilt. 

Another busy week here.  So busy, I'm not even going to attend the International Quilt festival in Rosemont next weekend.  I just don't have the time (and it's only an hour away).  "Too much time, not enough to do. Stop, reverse that...."

Long Time, No Posts

Wow!  It's been almost a month since I last posted.  Life has been crazy busy.  May wasn't much of a month for 'me', instead it was a month for me doing for others instead.  I did get some sewing done in May (all for others, nothing for me).

Memorial Day weekend was really busy.  There was a Wounded Warrior 5K run in Plainfield (NO, I did NOT run!).  4 of us from Quilts of Valor attended the closing ceremony, to award 9 quilts to wounded veterans from several wars, including Vietnam and WWII.  What an honor.

Wounded Warriors with their quilts

I also delivered a quilt that I'd made for Quilts of Valor.

Quilts of Valor quilt

 This quilt was presented to a Vietnam veteran on Memorial Day. 

I'm still teaching the beginning quilting class on Saturdays.  Out of my 4 students, one is finished, one is hand stitching her binding down, one has machine quilted her quilt and added the binding (she'll get to that after her vacation), and one is finishing up the machine quilting on her quilt.  Here are a few pictures of the last 3.

Kelly stitching the binding on the front of her quilt

Kelly's quilt before binding, after quilting

Kathy piecing her backing (Lynn & Carrie in the background, working on Lynn's quilt)

Kathy's backing

One of my students has really taken to quilting.  She is a high school math teacher, and is really having fun with all the math involved in quilting.  She didn't want to waste her extra blocks, so, she designed this pieced backing between classes.  I had her add a strip of blue fabric all the way around the backing, so that we could center it, and not miss part of her top (they are exactly the same size), and when she came to class the next week, she had mitered her corners!!!!!  This is a lady who had never sewn, even by hand, before this class.  Wow! 

My future daughter-in-law (Krystal) had a birthday earlier this month.  I made her a purse, like the one I made back in February.  I made three of these bags at the same time. 

Krystal's purse

The other two bags are also gifts.  They will be delivered in August.

Michele's purse

Betty's purse

I had five of my machines worked on in the past few weeks (all at the same time, by the same guy).  One was used as a 'donor' machine (for parts) and now, four of the machines work great!  Unfortunately, I haven't had any time to stitch on any of them.

I've been busy this month, I just haven't had time to take many pictures, or load what I've taken in the computer.