Operation Wood Hollow

Today I received an email from Julie at Having Fun Quilting.   She and her community have been greatly affected by the terrible wildfire burning across Sanpete County.   The fire has burned over 39,000 acres and 29 homes have been lost so far, with 575 more homes in it's path.   You can read more about it here

So Julie is starting up Operation Wood Hollow to help those families who have lost their homes.  Her goal is to get at least one quilt to every family who have lost their home.  And she needs your help :)  And we all know, quilters are the most generous loving people in the world!!

If you can donate fabric, extra quilt blocks, finished quilt tops, or completed quilts she would love to have them.  Every little bit helps!!  Please contact Julie for details on how you can help.  She will be so happy to hear from you!!  You can read more about Operation Wood Hollow here :)

I am actually heading north this weekend so will be delivering my game  time picnic quilt to Julie.    I imagine it will bring some happiness to a family who have lost so much.     (If I have time, I might try and whip up another little something to help :)

Each of these families have sustained such a loss and will have to replace so very much of their lives. A beautiful handmade quilt can bring so much comfort to them as they being the process of rebuilding.

A Lot of Works

But not so much progress.  But is is summertime, what can I expect :)  (And July is only going to be busier :) Although, the nice thing is that I haven't posted a WIP post for a few weeks so it looks like I have quite a few things done, but ya, it is spread out for a while.  I figure that is kind of like making to do lists and adding things you have already done just so you can cross them off :)

The Braided Irish Chains continue to make steady progress :)  I usually pin some blocks each night while we unwind to a movie or old episodes of friends and then sew them up first thing in the morning before the kids wake up.  It has been a good way to keep these 2 massive quilts in progress.

I started a new project using solids!!!  I have never done an all solids quilt and I am totally excited.  This will eventually be for my bed.  So I went with some lovely earth tones that will match the painting in my room as well as be masculine enough for my husband :)  Oh, and the reason I said eventually . . . because this quilt will be shipped off for quite some time, meaning I won't be able to show any more of it for quite some time :)

I am so excited about the Christmas Blocks that are coming in from the Sew Bee Create group.  They are using  my Spinning or Spiraling Block tutorial and the blocks are just coming out amazing!!!  I can't wait to get the last 4 so I can get it all sewn up :)

So . . . That's about it.  How about the rundown :)  And I just realized, as happy as I am to have more completions and projects moving down the list, I think I added just as many into the Designing Stage.  That seems about right for me :)


Designing Stage

• Circle Meets Square Quilt
• Ashlyn's Quilt
• WIC with MSS Quilt
• Lots of Blocks - H, Q, B
• Tetris Quilt-A-Long

Piecing Stage

• Jessi and Me Quilt 
• King Size Serenity Quilt
• Sew Bee Create Quilt
• Braided Irish Chain - Queen and King

Quilting Stage

• Solids Quilt for Free Motion
• Snip and Clip Quilt - Just Waiting on Fabric to Arrive :)

Completed Stage

• Father's Day Rolling on Out Quilt - Convoy
• 10 Little Happy Kids - Patchwork Car Shade
• June Bee Block

Mod Mosiac Block

I have always loved Elizabeth Fransson's Mod Mosaic Blocks so I was super excited when Erica asked us to make one for this month's Beejeebers Bee Block.  Erica asked us to use the same color palette as last month . . . which I was super excited about because 1 - it is just a joy to work with as it is so calming.  And 2 - I had not put away my scraps from last month so I was all set to go :)  Ahh, Beautiful blues, aquas, grey's, and yellow based greens.  This is what I made.  Such a fun block to put together :)  I think I will have to make more of these some time.

Oh , and happy update . .  My On The Go quilt is being featured at Sew Mama Sew -  Trends with Melanie feature.  Yippee Skippee!!!

 

Some Quilting Time

My mom left to go home last night.  We had a marvelous time together. (as we always do).  And we got so much done.  (Which is impressive as we had my niece and nephew as well so there were 7 kids to keep happy).  My yard looks like it has gone through a virtual transformation, I finally have living room curtains, and my entire house has had a super cleaning.  But with all of that . . .  Sadly, there was no time left for quilting.

After my mom left I found myself standing in my living room with nothing to do.  My husband had taken the 3 older kids up the mountain for the night and day and the 2 younger ones were sleeping soundly.  So, after taking a moment to enjoy the silence,  I decided to turn this on

And enjoy some prime chick flick time while pinning these together.

Ahhh, a little slice of heaven!!  Now this morning, I am ready to get piecing :)   I am so looking forward to it!!

TNT in my Living Room

So my mom has been visiting for the last few days, and our huge plans to sew all day together, not so much :)   We started in the yard, and it took the entire weekend and then some to get my yard and garden to a state that my mother was okay with.  (Which I soooo appreciate because I am far from a good gardener.)  Once my yard looked passable we pulled out the sewing machines.

We decided to start with the Living Room curtains.  (There are several rooms that need curtains, this one was just top of the list.)  So we figured we would just whip that out during nap time and then move on.  Ya right :)  Whenever I think I can just whip something out, I should plan right then for it to take 4 times as long.

2 different curtain rods later, 2 different color sets of grommets later, and about a million interruptions later which all equaled about 2 days later . . .  The new living room curtains are done :)  And I love them!!!!   (It is really hard to take a picture of curtains with the sun pouring in the window :)

We went with grommets (first time trying them in a curtain, Yippee for TNT) because we want these to be super easy to open and shut.  We love the sunlight in the day but are a little tired of living in a fish bowl at night :)

My mom found this beautiful upholstery fabric at a depot center in Salt Lake.  $3.00 a yard!!!!!  Can you believe it.    The grommets were so easy to put in.  We found them in the curtain rod section of JoAnn's and you don't even need a tool to install them.  Super sweet and I just love the look of them!!

And I couldn't help but add this shot.  I put my daughter in her high-chair with some cereal to keep her happy while we put the finishing touches on the curtains and hung them up.  When we finished I came into the kitchen to find this.  Yes, that is a Corn Pop coming out of her ear.   Too funny!!!!

So that is what I have been trying new this week.  Breaking out of the quilting comfort zone (I have not pieced anything in over 5 days and I am really starting to have withdraws) and playing around with upholstery fabric, grommets, and curtain rods :)  Good Times!!!

What have you been up to this week??  Link on up :)

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