The Drop Off

I hope you have enjoyed the gratuitous photo of Laxy, our dog.  She loves to sleep on the bed once we get up.  She knows she is not allowed on it with us, there is just not enough room.

I had quite a busy weekend!  Liz, and her parents and some of the CL's were going to the Methodist Boys Home (MBH) to drop off 40 quilts for the boys.  I had 2 more crazy rail quilts that I chose the fabrics and that Jane and Owen (Liz's parents) put together and Liz quilted.  this one is with football players and I loved how it turned out.  I would choose to make this again, I liked it that much!
Here is another CR with that wonderful bear fabric I loved so much.  No red like the other one, I used orange.  And made the borders green.  I found some wonderful tree fabric that I used in this too.  The plaid in this is green and black and the other one was red and black.
The director, Mia, is shown here holding up the other bear CR that I made.  She was so thrilled that every boy will get a quilt.  
Here is a photo of Liz's folks Jane and Owen.  They made a LOT of the quilts that went this day.
It is amazing to see all the 43 quilts.  (Yes, we brought 43 because we didn't want any boy to not have a choice).  We didn't want someone to get "stuck" with the last one.  It is always good to have a choice!  A local quilt shop had brought 30 the week before so there will be a total of 73 there right now.  Mia will call or email me when they need additional quilts.  I left her 2 fabric markers so the boys could put their names on their quilt too.  We'll have no mix ups!

So many quilts.  Mia, me and Liz.
More photo ops.  Dolores, Liz, Owen, Me, Charlotte, and Jane.
Jane and Owen made cookies and brownies for the boys too.  YUM!!
So that was my Friday.  I took the afternoon off from my job and went to deliver the quilts!

Friday night DH and I met my good friend and her new beau for dinner at Caladah's.  The food was great and he seems like a nice guy.  Her DH passed away a few years ago so I am glad to see her so happy again.  We then met some of my other friends at an erotic art exibition.  That was quite an experience!!  Really smoky though so we didn't stay a long time.

Sat am I had a class at the LQS.  One Block Wonder.  I bought my fabric in Indiana and I LOVE how it is turning out.  I will take some pics when I get home and post them so you can see.  I was so wrapped up in the class I completely forgot to take any pictures at the class!!  I did see a woman that I took the lone star class from last summer and that was fun.  She bought a LOT of fabric but she ordered in a collection that I bought a little bit of too.  

Sat night we had to go to a going away party for my nephew in Lansing so got to see DD2, which is always great.  

Sun I had to do laundry (5 loads) and then totally nuked down both bathrooms. I also spot treated the carpet in DD@'s room.   Then and only then would I allow myself to work on anything quilty.  I worked like a fiend on the OBW but I *still* have a lot of blocks to do.  I think I have 12 more or so to still do.  Then the fun of putting them on a design wall (read floor here) to re-arange and put into order.  I may take some photos too and see what you all think.  I may use the newly cleaned floor in DD2's room.  That way I can close the door and keep the animals out.  The down side is that the BR is upstairs.  Oh well, self imposed exercise for me!!

It is -14 degrees today so I will try to stay warm.  My computer at work is near the window so it is a little cold here.  Stay warm everyone!!

Progress...At Last

OK,OK, so I haven't been very good at posting lately. I have a lot to show today. I am kind of going in reverse order so bear with me. After I made the sampler quilt for my SIL and BIL I made another quilt from those fabrics for my In Laws. I *still* had fabric so used it for my Doll Quilt Swap quilt (hi Natalie), but I *still* had fabric left over so decided I needed to use more. I had seen a pattern in a magazine where they put a cat in the center and built a log cabin around it but I didn't like the cat. So I looked on line for a cat I might like better and found the one I ended up using to make this "Cats in the Cabin" wall hanging.


Here is a close up of one of the cats. They were paper pieced and after I did 4 of them I was sooooooo frustrated that I decided that would be enough to make a 4 block wall hanging. I "built" the cabin around the cat only to realize that I should have switched up the placement of the lights and darks so back to the drawing board. I couldn't make any kind of pattern this way.

I figured out what I needed to do to make another center with a pinwheel the same size as in the cats and then made a frame and built the cabin around that. That allowed me some play in design. Not much...but some. I think it came out pretty well.

The problem was that I, once again, made too many blocks, so I made a table runner! Lemons...lemonade!!

Now, I don't know if any of you remember that I was making this quilt for my son's lacrosse coach and his wife who are expecting a baby next month. I entitled it "Spinning Crosse" (the head on the lacrosse stick is called the "crosse") Liz quilted little mice into it. I think it came out really cute! What an easy quilt!



The church ladies and I have been working on quilts for the Methodist Boys Home (MBH). I posted one that had the bears all over it in this same crazy rail pattern. Here is one of the football ones. I chose the fabric, and cut the rectangles and then I gave it to Liz's folks and they cut it up and put it together and Liz quilted it. I liked the way this finished. I gave then another bear one and one more, different football one. I think I liked the colors in the second football one better but I hope some boy will like this one too.

There are 70 high school boys at the MBH. We managed, with the help of Liz's parents to make over 40 while a LQS had another 30 donated to them.

With the additional quilts Liz's folks have we should be set for awhile. We should even have some to give as they get in new kids too! I am so proud of the CL's and of Liz's parents too. This was a huge accomplishment!! Great Job everyone!!!
We will be delivering them to the MBH next Friday. I am so excited to get them to the boys!



Last but certainly not least. Every year the CL's make a quilt for a sister parish, St. Patricks. It is in a poor area and in need of assistance. We make a quilt for their raffle. This year Liz had given me some Quiltsmart Scotty dogs so I chose do to that. The CL's appliqued them and one of the women, Kim assembled the quilt. The setting design was my idea. I realy like how all the plaids work together to make the borders.


We had 2 left over so I had Kim put them on the back and she appliqued a bone between them. I used the little brown one for the label. That particular dog was made by one of the CL's that has recently passed away.
Scotties on parade! Nice stippling and notice that every rectangle is outlined.
I love the curlique border quilting that Liz chose too.

I guess that's all I have to report on for now. I have decided to chip away on the projects that are either in some state of "done" or on some of the things that were purchased to be a quilt. This should keep me busy ALL YEAR!! LOL. I have been keeping up on the 365 day challenge quilt too. I need to sew some more rows together now though. Not sure what the next project will be but I will keep you posted.