Mother Nature.......

seems to think we need more snow. It is falling as I write. And then the wind is going to blow. Not good! Bet there will be more late starts for the school kids. Wow, this has been some winter!

Today is a holiday here in the U.S. It's President's Day. It should be a day to observe our presidents. Unfortunately, as with so many holidays, it's become a big day for commercial businesses to have huge sales. I won't be out shopping, though. Instead, I'll be working on blocks for my "Grace and a Prayer" quilt. I was going to do one on Friday in honor of Lincoln. I couldn't come up with anything other than a log cabin block and I want something different. I want to do a Washington themed block, too, so it may be the end of the week before I finish these blocks. I'll post my results when they are done. :-)
I also have two deadlines this week. One, I remembered. The other one, I kind of forgot about and now I have to "scurry". Sometimes, I do my best work when I "scurry". :-)
Have a good Monday!
Sandi

A visit to the Post Office

I made a visit to the Post Office today. It's the first time I've been out since last Friday when I went out for groceries. Our wintery weather has been........well.......very wintery!!! While we had snow, the wind blew so hard that the driveway was clear of snow and only the end of it had to be shoveled. It was good to get out although kinda cold.
It was good to see Connie, my Postlady and I had lots of packages to mail to winners of the prizes at last Friday night's Quilt-In. I used to go to Quilt-Ins at our guilt group and enjoyed visiting with friends. This was visiting with quilting friends but just not meeting them in person. We still had a lot of fun!!!! So here are the packages that went in the mail........

I had some others to mail, too, so when Connie saw the whole pile she said, "hey, while I do your packages let me show you what I have"..............and she went to the back room and brought out a big old scrapbook and it was filled with Valentines and Christmas cards from her great Aunt Anita. They were lovely. The book is huge - 15 x 15" at least and I think it was an old sample book as it has advertising on the pages. This was a common thing to do back then. Connie said it dates to the 1920's and I was thrilled that she shared it with me.

That big full page valentine has a pull-down section where it says "To My Valentine". It is lovely.

I was just in awe of this treasure............

I have three old Valentines that are from the same era and belonged to my great Aunt Bell, plus some of her Christmas cards with penny stamps on them. This album, though, was just amazing. Interestingly, I have scrapbooks of my kids valentines from the late 1970's to mid "80's. Do you suppose one day someone will go "ga-ga" over those, the way I did over Connie's album today?

On a more serious note, some of you who read my blog are quilters who made a block(s) for the fund-raising quilt for Connie's granddaughter, Emma, who has cancer. Emma had been doing so well in treatment but the tumor has begun to grow again. To read the Caring Bridge post that Emma's mother wrote, you can go here . The quilt that was made, was given to Emma, both the large one and the smaller one. Pulling it all together was hard as I found myself still coping with my dad's passing and my mother's health issues. But making that quilt is what led me to make the blocks for the quilt I am now calling "Grace and a Prayer". That quilt will be in memory of my Dad and also all the men from our town of Lehigh that fought in WW II. I am not sure where the quilt will go when it's finished but just working on it means they are not forgotten.

It's time to call it a day. Goodnight all and have a great day!

Sandi

In honor of Rev. Martin Luther King

Today is an official holiday here in the U.S. It's a day to remember Rev. Martin Luther King and the significant changes he made in the civil rights movement in our country. I wanted to add a block to my "Grace and a Prayer" quilt in honor of this man, this day, so I made this block.........

Last night I lay in bed and thought of many designs I might create that would celebrate this man and his mission. I kept thinking of the peace symbol but it just wasn't working for me. Then I thought of the message he spoke of in many of his speeches and writings. I have a small book with some of his favorite quotes and then I googled his work for more ideas. The words above were often repeated. Inspiration hit!! I drew a quick sketch of what I wanted and then chose fabrics from my stash of patriotic prints. I cut three - 4 1/2" squares and then three - 8 1/2" rectangles to make the 12 1/2" block. I drew the shapes and letters, then traced them onto fabric backed with fusible web and ironed them to the block. I will sit down later tonight and blanket stitch around the letters and shapes. As I worked on the block this afternoon, I was watching "A Raisin in the Sun" starring Sidney Poitier. Then I turned to the news coverage of Haiti. I decided this block is done in memory of Rev. King and also in honor of all those in Haiti, many of whom have only "faith, hope and love" at this time. There is much being done to help but there is so much need. I am thinking about a little project that I might be able to do and can donate through a nearby church. There are so many people offering to help. It gives one hope for the future just to see that happening!
The next "Grace and a Prayer" blocks will be in February. I'll be back tomorrow and show you what has been keeping me so busy. :-)
Sandi

And now it's really cold!!

This has been some weather week! We went from barely a dusting of snow on the ground to several inches and then wind whipped it all into big drifts. Now the deep freeze has set in and while I would love to go out and do some Christmas shopping this Friday, I am not willing to do it in nearly zero degree weather!! Too cold for me. I'll be staying in and doing projects! Speaking of projects, I finished my patriotic block for Pearl Harbor Day. I had one idea and then didn't like how it was looking so I changed the entire thing and ended up with this......... a simple star.

I was inspired by the Gold Stars that my mother has told me about that families put in the window when a son or daughter was killed during WWII. The history behind the stars is interesting and can be found here . I wanted my star to be white so I thought I'd applique white tone on tone cotton but then I remembered that I had some white wool from my Grandma Goldie. It was from a jacket she wore and I thought how fitting to have something she wore in the quilt that I am making in remembrance of my dad and his service in the war.

In the photo on the left, you can see that I cut a pentagon shape from a blue wool and stitched a star to it. Then I cut five identical triangles from the white wool. I positioned it just right and then used a fabric glue stick to hold the pieces in place while I stitched.

I bought the background fabric at "Seams to Me" which is located in Algona, Iowa. I made a quick stop there on my return trip from Iowa. This all-over flag print was in the clearance fat quarters but I liked it the minute I saw it. I also found a great snowflake print for a January project. :-)

That's my car parked in front of the shop. There's only that "dusting of snow" on the roads at the time of this photo.

And while this is not a very good photo, if you like Mickey and Minnie then you would love to see this in person.

The entire window of the shop was filled with animated Mickey and Minnie/Disney figures! I also made a stop at Heartland Quilt Shop which is also in Algona. I found fabric there for another patriotic project. Actually, I can find fabric just about anywhere. Or maybe it finds me! LOL!

I promised I'd share my Pago Pago connection when I showed you the gifts I received from Barb at BejeweledQuilts and InchWormFabrics. Barb made the Blueberry Muffin towel and potholder and her niece who owns Inch Worm fabrics sent that Pecan Praline Muffin mix. I am saving it for Christmas morning muffins. :-) Thanks to both of you for such lovely gifts!!!

So, now to my Pago Pago connection. More than twenty years ago, my parents bought a small chord organ at a garage sale in Ames, Iowa. The current owner said that it had been owned by a missionary who used it when assigned to Pago Pago. My folks paid $40 for it and then gave it to me. I loved playing that organ but always wondered if it was really used in Pago Pago or if that was just a story. One day some of the keys stopped working. My husband is handy with repairing things so he opened it up and what did he find??.........lots of sand and, of all things, Cheerios! I was pretty sure it had been in Pago Pago and I'm guessing the family had small children who "fed" Cheerios between the keys! So while I have never been there, that's my Pago Pago connection. I was near there once, though.........forty years ago I flew to Tokyo to join my husband when he was in the Air Force. The plane made two stops enroute......with one in Hawaii and one in Guam. I could hardly wait to see Hawaii, "the Island Paradise". It was sunny and the flowers were beautiful. We deplaned briefly and then took off again for Guam. What I remember about Guam was how small the island looked from the sky and I wondered how the plane could land on such a small strip of land......but we did! Oh, my ..... long ago memories!

That's all for tonight.

Sandi

In honor of Veteran's Day.....

I present my "Soldier's Heart" block for my "Grace and a Prayer" Quilt................

I designed this block a couple of year's ago when I needed a block for a group quilt for a guy. I wanted a block that looked masculine and so I pulled this striped fabric because it reminded me of a man's shirt. I cut the base of the heart, then stitched the two top pieces in place. I appliqued the block to the background square and added a button as it would be at the neck of a shirt. At the time, I cut out a duplicate set of the pattern pieces and always planned to make up the block. I thought it would be perfect for Veteran's Day because it made me think of my dad's shirts. It's not done in patriotic colors but it will work in my quilt. Now I realize not all soldier's are guys. There are a lot of women who have served and given their lives in the Armed Forces. I just happened to be thinking of my dad and also of a high school friend who lost his life in Vietnam. You could make this heart feminine by adding lace or anything else that might suit the person you want to remember. The important thing is to REMEMBER those who have served their country.

If there is interest in the pattern, I can draw it up and post it tomorrow. Have a good day!

Sandi

Edit: A little change in plans ....... if you would like the pdf for this block pattern, please send me an e-mail with "Soldier's Heart" in the subject line (click on "about me" to get to my e-mail).

An Election Day Block .........

for my "Grace and a Prayer" quilt.........

I actually made this block a few weeks ago so that I would be "one step ahead of the game" and that was a wise move. I made it when I did the block for September 11. It's just another idea for a nine patch block. To make the block, I cut 3-1/2" squares that are then sewn into rows of three and then those rows are sewn together to make the 12-1/2" block. There's a bit of a variation to the center square as I sewed four 2" squares to the corner of one 3-1/2" square - right sides together - then folded the fabric back to create the triangles you see in the each corner of the square. With the block squared up as in my photo, it makes me think of a cross but if put "on point" in a quilt top, it could resemble an "x". The nine-patch block is one of favorite blocks (Churn Dash is my favorite). It's easy and depending on the fabrics you use and if you "fussy cut" designs in the fabric that you are using.......well, you can come up with a lot of different variations from just a few nine-patch blocks. If you want to see other blocks for this quilt that I'm making called "Grace and a Prayer", just click on the label link below and all posts related to that topic will be displayed.
So, I'm "up-to-date" on this project and will have another block in this series next week on November 11, Veteran's Day.
Tomorrow I'll be working on the Seasons BOM blocks and will get those posted soon. I will be posting both November and December blocks. :-)
Time to "turn out the lights"......
Sandi

Celebrating Columbus Day.....

with SNOW!! Mother Nature played a trick on many parts of the Midwest and dumped some snowflakes all over our lovely fall colors!! What was she thinking?!! I don't recall significant snow this early in the season. I think we ended up with about 3 inches but by the time I took this picture in the late afternoon all the snow had melted from the trees. I was so glad I did not have to venture out today!

Instead, I took care of some home and family things. One of those "home things" was making a call to tell the people who made my Shark iron that the darn thing died last night. Only four months old and I'm ironing my husband's shirts when it heats up a lot. So much that it begins to stick to the fabric and then it was sort of smoking, made a funny sound and the lights on the iron went out and it was done!! I couldn't believe it! Well, I should have as blogger Stephanie also had an issue with a Shark iron. She got a replacement. I gave all my info to some customer service rep who then assigned me a claim number and told me to call another number. That number is one where I was to leave my info and another rep will call me in 24 to 48 hours with info on how to handle this issue. Guess what, no phone call so far. I found this really frustrating, but luckily my inexpensive Sunbeam, which I had relegated to taking along to retreats, works great and I finished the ironing.
I needed to get my mind off everything so I took out my box of red, white and blue fabrics and I sewed up a block for my "Grace and a Prayer" quilt top. I drew out the crazy quilt block one night last week. I curled up in bed one night with sketch pad and pencils and drew a number of designs for future projects. Sometimes the ideas just come, and I have enough pencil sketches to fill a couple of notebooks. Hopefully, I'll actually make some of them "come to life" in fabric and thread some day!

This is my fourth block for my quilt. Since it's a patriotic quilt, I decided that everytime there is an official U.S. holiday, I'll make a block or two. Next time I post one will be November 2nd, Election day and that's going to be nine-patch variations. Then it's Veteran's Day on November 11th and I have a cool heart block to share for that day.

That's all for tonight. No time to share more photos. I'll get to them yet....just might be a couple of days.

Have a good day and I hope the weather is lovely wherever you are!

Sandi

Grace and A Prayer...........

In remembrance of 9/11, I decided to make a block for my "Grace and a Prayer" quilt. The block is for more than just those who lost their lives on 9/11 or lost a loved one then. It's for anyone who served our country in the military and those who loved them, from the World Wars to Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and Irag.

It doesn't matter who you are, where you live, what your faith is or isn't, or what your political views are or aren't. What matters is that we remember those who gave their lives and also those left behind. We just need to remember.

One day next week, I'll post a little tutorial on this block and some corner tips for any size block. Tomorrow, I'll get to those State Fair pics and the ribbon-winning quilts. Every day this week, I have been dyeing wool so I'll be posting about that next week. Lots of other fun stuff in the works, too. Oh, "sew many blessings" in life!

Sandi

"Grace and a Prayer" Quilt

This is the first posting about making blocks so that I can create my own red, white and blue quilt like the one that came together for Emma's Hope. I'm calling my quilt "Grace and a Prayer" but you might want to give your own name to the quilt that you make. It might be called "My First Quilt" if you are a beginner or "My Lazy Daisy" quilt if you already know how to quilt but you are looking for a slow, relaxing project. I guess you could also call it "The Slowpoke Quilt" as the pace I am planning for this project will take us through to next spring! I chose my name because it was "Grace and a Prayer" - actually lots of prayers that got me through the past few years during lots of family health issues. I thought about giving it the name "Dei Gratia" which is Latin for "by the grace of God", but I am going to use that name on another project that I'll do in wool when the weather cools down.

When I was first approached to do the quilt for the Emma's Hope fundraiser, I had many concerns, but when you see the end result of the quilt one doesn't know that. The nice thing is that the finished quilt is with Emma and her family. Those who made blocks sent many prayers and good wishes. To follow Emma's progress, you can go to HopeForSweetEmma .

I had a plan from the beginning and so, I asked you all to make 6-1/2" square blocks and/or 12-1/2" square blocks. I knew that I could make a quilt "happen" with these sizes and it would look great. One of the first bloggers to respond that she would make blocks was Pat of A*LittleOfThisAnd*A*LittleOfPat blog. Pat sent nineteen 6-1/2" squares that she and two friends, Kaye and Sherry, had made. Some were used as 6-1/2" squares and some were sewn into 12-1/2" squares. So here, now, are the simple directions for making four-patch blocks.

You will need an assortment of fabrics, your rotary cutter, ruler and mat. I will assume you know how to use these. :-) All sewn seams are a quarter inch!

To make one 6-1/2" square block, you will need two contrasting fabrics. I have chosen a red and white polka dot to go with a white with red dotties. ;-) From the red, cut two 3-1/2" squares, then cut two 3-1/2" squares from the white. In the picture above, you can see that one set has been sewn together. Sew two sets as shown in the bottom section. Press the light colored seam to the dark fabric.

Next, pin your two sets together, then stitch and press so that you end up with a block like the one in the photo above. You can make lots of these blocks in a variety of colors combinations. Or.......

Make four identical 6-1/2" square blocks and then when sewn together, you will have a 12-1/2" square block. By simply turning the blocks in different directions you can end up with a whole new block design. Shown below are a few more variations.

Now, to make a really simple 12-1/2" block you can cut four 6-1/2" squares and sew them together as you did for the 6-1/2" blocks. This works great for large print fabrics that might have flags, flowers or other designs that would be lost if cut up for the small blocks.

That's it, the first block session for my "Grace and a Prayer" quilt. I will make a few of these and then post another block design sometime next week. I'm going to make an assortment of blocks as I want to do a couple small wall quilts, one for the Care Center in Dayton, Iowa and one for the Senior Citizen Center in Lehigh, Iowa. And when I've completed those, then I'll make a big quilt for us.

Lights out for tonight!

Sandi

Emma's Quilt Update

I said it would be a couple hours and I'd be back but I called my mom because this would have been my Dad's 83rd birthday and then, also talked to my brother............but I'm here now. :-) I told my mom that I had posted the story about the flagpole to my blog and she said there had also been a nice little piece in the local paper. :-)

It's time for me to give you an update on the quilt made for Emma's Hope fundraiser. I have thanked everyone who made a block(s) for the Emma's Hope quilt and want you to know just how much your time and talents were appreciated!
The large quilt made $400 at Silent Auction. This was not nearly the amount one might have thought the quilt would make but the good news in this ............ the person who bought the quilt has presented it to Emma and her family.

As you know, I chose some blocks for a small quilt that would go to Emma and I did that for two reasons..........one, while I noted in my first post that this was to be a fundraiser quilt, some of you thought the quilt blocks were going to be used in a quilt for Emma. And two, I had a hard time making a quilt that was just for fund-raising and wanted something that would go to Emma so I laid out all the blocks and the ones that needed to be in the big quilt just fell into place and the more personal ones just worked in the smaller quilt. The large quilt was then handquilted and bound. The smaller quilt is being handquilted by Esther, the lady who organized the group for the larger quilt. Connie, Emma's grandma is going to back the quilt with the small lap quilt that was received in the block donations. When that one is finished, I'll post a picture. I also will post a picture and the names of each person who made each of the blocks. I think I will get to that later this week.

I loved the end result of the large quilt. The pictures make it look good but when you saw it in person, it was truly stunning. I don't say this just because I was involved in the process. I am hearing this from people who saw it at the post office or at the fundraiser. I want to make this same quilt and keep it for my family. As I noted earlier, I never really made a quilt for my father. I still haven't finished quilting that race quilt for my husband. The last quilt I made for my grandson was his baby quilt and that was ten years ago. I have a small wall quilt I want to make for my daughter and one for my son that will have a music theme. I think it's time to make quilts for my family. I've been involved in many fundraiser quilts and I have found that a lot of work is put into them and they don't bring that much in return. This doesn't mean I won't make quilts for other folks. Nope, because I have already set the dates for our Sew and Share event - Oct. 19 & 20 - where we will make quilts for local families in need and also Christmas stockings to fill. Plus, I have baby quilts to make for my niece and my son's friend. And I just finished one for our new Pastor's baby boy. There was a baby shower at church this morning and I haven't seen so many cute little boy things in years (as in ten years since my grandson was born). Here's Joe, the new papa, and Pastor Brigit, as they opened the gift I made. They got so many lovely gifts! It took several trips just to get them from the church to the parsonage!

I would post a picture of the baby but I didn't ask permission so I don't want to do it without asking.

Here is picture of the quilt that I took outside yesterday afternoon. It's all flannel pieces and then fleece border and backing. I took some detailed photos as I stitched it together and tomorrow I will do a post on it in case any of you want to try this. And then..............I am going to begin taking you through block designs so that I can make my own red, white and blue quilt and you can, too. I'm giving the quilt a new name..........."Grace and a Prayer" and on Wednesday, June 18th I'll present the first blocks and some variations of blocks so that we can make a nine block wall quilt or a lap quilt or a really large quilt. Gather up some red, white and blue fabrics (and I opted for some green and purple, too) and get ready to quilt along with me. And if red, white and blue aren't your colors, choose ones that you like but I do think that keeping the colors to three or four makes for a more attractive quilt. I'm going to make a nine block wall quilt first, so that I can finish it and take it to the Care Center in July and then I'll also be making blocks for the larger quilt for my family. I will be offering some block patterns and those will be posted in my SeasonsBOM Yahoo group. If you are not a member, you can click here to join. All block designs that I give instruction for are blocks that are in the Public Domain and/or my original designs. I have a cool design for a heart that used stripes so be sure and have some stripes in your fabrics.

So, now the day is almost over and I have just a couple more photos to share. I have never posted as much as I did today, but I had loads of stuff to share. I took a break and ate lunch out on the front porch. I took my "front porch basket project" (this Thimbleberries runner will get done by the end of the summer!) and stitched for a bit after I finished eating.

Here's what I would see when I would look up from my stitching. It was just an incredibly beautiful, warm summer day!!!

Even Kaiser, the wonder dog, was enjoying the scenery.

Yes, it was a fine day and it sounds like there will be more of this weather the rest of the week. There might be some thunderstorms but the rain is needed and so it will be welcome. That's all for now.

Sandi