Make-A-List Monday - Drama!

Hi, all!

I hope you are all enjoying this beautiful Fall we are having!  Looks like we are in for a taste of winter tonight here in Middle Tennessee, though - they are using the "s" word in the weather forecast!  They say we will have snow showers tomorrow morning between 6 am and 10 am.  How fun is that?  It was too warm today for it to stick, so it will be a pretty sight that we don't have to worry about too much!!  I hope the weather forecasters are right!

Now let's see how I did on last week's list….

1.  Make a quilt for a 5-year old boy who needs a heart transplant.

Done!  I found this sweet little I-spy quilt in the stack of "ready-to-quilt" tops and loaded it on Jolene for quilting.  It's so wonderful to have a stack of tops ready - it means we can get quilts in the hands of the people who need them quickly!

2.  Make a quilt for a man with Lou Gehrig's disease.

Done!  This beautiful top was donated by Sharon, and I happened to have exactly the right shade of Kona cotton to add a border to make it a little larger.  

3.  Make a quilt for a teenager dealing with some severe emotional problems.

This request was withdrawn.

4.  Finish the small custom items.

Done!  I made a pair of 'Bama elephants and a first aid kit rollup - here's a pic of the elephants - they're cute!

5.  Make three butcher aprons for a friend.

I didn't get around to making these, but I did buy the fabric and found a great pattern to use!  McCall M5551…

And I got it on sale, for about a buck!  This pattern has everything my friend requested - quite a perk, since I don't have to change a pattern around now!!  These should go together pretty quickly.

6.  Begin repair work on the antique quilt.

Started!  I've prepared the templates I need to cut the replacement pieces; deconstructed the old quilt top preparatory to cut the replacement pieces; and today I picked up the muslin and pink fabric I needed.  The pink is still too dark for my needs but I'm going to try out a technique that Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts talked about last week to bleach down the color.  She tells me she's going to post a tutorial this week!  Woohoo!

7.  Make orphan block challenge kits for our monthly meeting.

Done!  I put together fifteen orphan block sets and the last time I looked, most of them were gone.  Some of the ladies started working on their quilts already - I can't wait to see the quilts that come back!

8.  Make a Christmas table runner.

Done!  I gave this to my eye doctor, since he complained that I hadn't made a quilt for him!

Here it is in all its glory...

…and here's a close-up of the straight line quilting I used.

9.  Keep up with any new quilt ministry needs that arise.

I managed to get one quilt done, for a woman with breast cancer.  But then I ran over a really thick intersection of seams with Jolene and broke a needle - and Jolene decided to become a bit of a drama queen!  Thread broke every six inches or so and nothing I tried would work - so off to the shop she went last Friday!  Thank heavens for Mr. Fred, who appreciates Jolene for the wonderful machine she is - he took good care of her, smoothing out all the burrs caused by the needle break.  I've just put her back on the frame this evening (she's too heavy and bulky for me to get upstairs by myself so I had to wait for my DH to get home) and tomorrow I'll be working her hard trying to get caught up!

In my downtime when I didn't have Jolene to work with, I pieced a quilt top and back for a quilt for my FIL, who has just moved into a retirement community. He mentioned that his apartment is always cool, so I really want to take this early Christmas present to him when we go up to visit the weekend before Thanksgiving.  So I put the downtime to good use!  I'll have pictures of this top on Friday...

And here's what's on tap for this week…

1.  Quilt six quilts for ministry needs already on the list.

2.  Quilt a friend's quilt top.

3.  Quilt my FIL's quilt.

4.  Cut out the butcher aprons.

5.  Cut the replacement pieces for the antique quilt repair and sew the fans together.

6.  Make some ruffled pants for Emmy.

7.  Piece a baby quilt top for a friend.

8.  Start cleaning the house for the holidays.

9. Keep up with any new ministry needs that arise.

The next two weeks are going to be really busy - we are planning to help clear out my FIL's house the week before Thanksgiving, but have to be back here for the holiday because Miss Lilli couldn't imagine Thanksgiving without her Nana and Papa there!  Then the Friday after Thanksgiving we have to get the house decorated for Christmas, because we have two parties at our house over the weekend - my sewing sisters will be coming over on Saturday morning for our annual Christmas party, and then our Sunday School class will be having dinner together on Sunday night.  So I'm trying to get as much stuff done as possible before we leave!  I'm under strict orders not to decorate the house for Christmas before Thanksgiving - a tradition we've honored ever since we got married - but I have special permission to put the (artificial) tree up the day before we go, because it takes so long to put up.  Whew!  That will help…   Lilli loves to help put out all our Christmas decorations, so she'll be coming over to help, too.  I'll take pics!

So now the question is - - - what are you working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah