Make-A-List Monday - New Week, Fresh Start!

Hi, all!

Mondays are a chance for a fresh start - isn't that a wonderful thing?  I've been so busy in the past week that I'm not quite sure what I've managed to get done - but I'm glad that I'll start tomorrow with a new list and a clean slate!   So let's see how I did with last week's list...

1.  Assemble the t-shirt commission quilt top and back.
Done!  

2.  Quilt the t-shirt commission quilt.
Sandwiched, but not yet quilted.

3.  Order the fabric for the other commission quilt.
Done!  I need to finish the t-shirt quilt quick so I can start working on this one when the fabric comes in!

4.  Cut more fabric into strips for jelly roll quilts.

5.  Put together jelly roll race quilt kits.
Done!  I cut 588 strips from 41 yards of fabric and created 14 jelly rolls for us to use! And of course, no picture….

6.  Make more quilt backs and bindings.
I didn't get to this, because other quilts came up with precedence over this one.  One of those was this pretty quilt…



…which was pieced by Jeana, one of our newest members.  This is only her second quilt - isn't it beautiful?  I quilted and put the binding on this top this week so it can go to its forever home this week.

7.  Process new fabric donations at church.
I worked on this, along with Pat and Leann, but considering we received 12 tubs of fabric last Monday, we haven't been able to finish!  But that's a good problem to have!

8.  Start cleaning/sprucing up the house for a fundraiser party in three weeks.

Started!  I don't very often get the urge to clean house, but I've had it this week!  I've been cleaning out kitchen cabinets to make room for things that have been on the countertop, putting away things that have been sitting out for way too long - and it feels good!

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

Done!  This quilt went to a woman with COPD who is dealing with serious pain issues…

This quilt went to a woman with colon cancer...

…and this one to a woman diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

This quilt went to the sister of one of our ministry members, who is housebound with COPD…

And these next two went to two new baby girls!

We also gave one other quilt out, to a seven year old girl with serious skin problems.  No pictures of that one, I'm afraid!

So all in all, not a bad week.  I didn't get everything on my list done, but I'm pleased with what did get finished.  And now for this week's plans…

1.  Quilt and bind the commission t-shirt quilt.

2.  Pack up the quilts going to NYC for Hurricane Sandy victims this week.

3.  Make some gift items and get them in the mail.

4. Quilt at least three quilts for the quilt ministry.

5.  Keep processing fabric donations at church.

6.  Keep up with all quilt ministry needs that arise.

7.  Keep cleaning the house, particularly focusing on my niece's visit this weekend.

Definitely enough to keep me busy!  Plus I get to play with my little girls several times this week - always a happy time!  So I'll leave you with a beautiful fall picture….

…and a question:  What are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Little Love...

Hi, all!

It's Friday!!!  I hope you've had a spectacular week - it's been gorgeous in middle Tennessee, with lovely fall temperatures, clear skies and low humidity.  Perfect fall weather!!  But now it's time to get your whoop whoop on - I hope you're ready!

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Have you seen the Moda Love quilts that are showing up all around the blogosphere?

I tried to resist the urge… but I had a layer cake burning a hole in my stash….

So I whipped this up!

An Urban Chiks Boho layer cake...

…some beautiful chocolate tone-on-tone background fabric…

…and some long-suffering straight-line quilting of this big heavy quilt (what was I thinking?) and it's done!  It's backed in an unbleached muslin to show off the quilting, which was done in white (for the print blocks) and chocolate (for the background blocks).

This quilt will join the pile of quilts for my daughter Nancy to auction or raffle off to help #bringNathanaelhome!  We are now 24 days and counting in the wait for the officials in China to approve Nancy and Chris's application to adopt Nathanael.

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And now, if you've got the itch to make a quilt like this, here's a sale for you!!  Save up to 70% off ALL project kits, fabric, yarn and supplies at Craftsy's Stash of Possibilities Sale now through Monday, September 29th at 11:59 pm Mountain Time.  Shop now to save before popular products sell out!

Imagine your very own Moda Love quilt made with Sewing Box...

…or radiantly glowing with Color Crush Batiks!

And remember (don't shoot the messenger!) Christmas is only 89 days away! This is a great time to find the supplies for all those beautiful Christmas gifts you know you want to make - or to get yummy fabric gifts for your crafty friends!

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And that's what I'm whooping about this week!

So now it's your turn!

What's got you dancing the happy dance this week?

Share - we want to dance along with you!

(and dancing's always more un with friends!)

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight - 

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

*This post contains affiliate links and I may be compensated

if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Thank you for helping to support this blog!!

Make-A-List Monday - Quilting Season Begins!!!

Hi, all!

It is now officially fall!   Can you believe it?  This year has absolutely flown by - and now it's time to start thinking about Christmas.  Oh my!!  But it's also now quilting season - the happiest time of the year!  So it's all good….

Let's see how I did on last week's list - one that was short and sweet...

1.  Quilt the Moda Love top I put together over the weekend.

Done!  I love love love the way this turned out!

This quilt will be used to raise money for Nathanael's adoption!

2.  Start cutting out pieces for a commission quilt.

Done!  Well, started anyway - we're still making some color decisions so this is all I can do until those are made.  But it's nice to have it started!

3.  Start on a t-shirt commission quilt.

Done!  I cut the t-shirt blocks today, and cut the sashing and cornerstones.  Next up, assembling the top!

4. Cut strips for a bunch of kids' quilts for a homeless ministry.

Started!  I've cut up five pieces of yardage, but I've got another dozen to do yet.  Then I'll pull all of these into sets for jelly roll race quilts.  Easy and fast for our new members!

5.  Keep up with quilt ministry needs as they arise.

Done!  It's been a busy week for the quilt ministry, but thankfully, because of how hard Rita has been working this summer, we had quilts to fill most of the needs already finished.  

This quilt went to a young woman with emotional issues…

This one went to a new little baby boy...

This one is going to a woman in California who had a stroke...

…and this one to a gentleman who was in a terrible car accident.

This one is now comforting a woman who had surgery for breast cancer this week...

…and this one now belongs to a woman battling cancer.

This quilt went to a 16-year old boy in our church who suffered a brain bleed yesterday, and had surgery to remove a clot the size of two fists.  Please keep him in your prayers, as the next 48 hours are critical for him.

And as usual, I have a couple I forgot to take pictures of - one went to a woman in New Orleans with cancer, and the other to a young woman in Florida just diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.

September has been a very busy month for the quilt ministry - thirty-one quilts already given away this month, and there's still another week to go!   Whew!

I also spent a large part of the week making backs and bindings so Rita can keep cranking out finished quilts, and I put the binding on nine quilts that are now ready to be given out!

OK, so that was last week - busy busy busy!  But it's so wonderful to have quilts finished and ready to go out at a moment's notice.  When the call came in for a quilt for the teenager with the brain bleed, we were able to get one out to the hospital within in a couple of hours.

I'm also seeing that we may actually give away our 1000th quilt this year - we are currently at 882 given away, and we are planning to send another 50 with the high school mission team in October.  We're also planning to send some children's quilts to a local homeless mission.  And if the need continues as it has for the past two months (57 quilts given away since the beginning of August) we should make that 1000 mark.  

And here's what I'll be working on this week…

1.  Assemble the t-shirt commission quilt top and back.

2.  Quilt the t-shirt commission quilt.

3.  Order the fabric for the other commission quilt.

4.  Cut more fabric into strips for jelly roll quilts.

5.  Put together jelly roll race quilt kits.

6.  Make more quilt backs and bindings.

7.  Process new fabric donations at church.

8.  Start cleaning/sprucing up the house for a fundraiser party 

in three weeks.

9.  Keep up with any ministry needs that arise.

Whew!  I think that's enough to keep me out of trouble, don't you? At least I won't be bored…  ;-)

And now the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? A Mixed Bag...

Hi, all!

Here it is, Friday again - are you ready to get your whoop whoop on?  I know I am, although it's been a strange week, with not much finishing and a whole lot of kitting….

Rita, the quilting queen, has been quilting about six to ten quilts a week on the mid-arm quilting frame at church.  Well, she has managed to quilt through all of the tops that we had bundled up with finished backs and binding - which meant I needed to go into overdrive!  So far I've put together six more sets of backs and bindings - that might keep her going through next week - and I've got about ten more ready to be sewn up.  I'm also working on binding some quilts that Debbie, another ministry member, quilted on her long arm at home.  

But I do have a few fun things to show you!  Last week I made these two cuties for my daughter…

They are made by a tutorial from Hamels Thread - you can find it by clicking here.  Super easy and fast - I can see I'll be making a lot more of these in the future!

I also got a wild hair and decided to make my own version of the Moda Love pattern that's been popping up on blogs lately...

Unfortunately, the other wild hair that I got was to straight line quilt this one in two colors on my Juki (table top machine) and it's so big, it's going to take a while!  But I love the way it's looking so far.  Hopefully I'll be able to show you the finished quilting next week.

In other news, we went to the AQS Quilt Show in Chattanooga last Saturday, and enjoyed seeing the beautiful quilts at this first AQS show in Chattanooga.  I didn't take too many pictures, but I do want to show you two special ones….

This quilt won for Best Modern Quilt.  I don't know the person who pieced it, but it was quilted by Judi Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts - and the quilting was absolutely wonderful.  It truly made the quilt! It made my heart happy to see Judi's work being recognized!

And then I saw this beauty - and realized I had seen it before!  Linda of Linda's Landscapes made this gorgeous quilt - and it's even more amazing in person.  Congratulations on making it into the show, Linda!!  You can see more about this quilt by clicking here….

And then I was so happy to see my friend Shannon, from FabricsNQuilts, had a booth at the show!  Here's a picture of me and Shannon…

…and look at the two great signs I picked up in her booth!  I just love these!!

So that's what I'm whooping about this week - a really mixed bag of stuff!  

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And now it's your turn!  

What's got you whooping this week?

What's making you get your happy on?

Tell us - we want to whoop right along with you!!  

The linky party will stay open until Sunday midnight -

Hope to see you there!!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - I'm B-a-a-a-a-c-k!

Hi, all!

Well, I'm very glad to be back with a Make-A-List Monday post - I really missed having that list last week!  Instead I participated in the Around the World blog hop - a lot of fun but I should have made my list and posted it somewhere!  So let's see how I did on the list from two weeks ago...

1.  Quilt a top for a friend - another commission going towards the adoption fund!

Done!  This was a beautiful set of antique blocks my friend put together, and it was a joy to quilt!

2. Quilt and bind another quilt - another commission going towards the adoption fund! (I'm going to quilt that little boy all the way from China to here!)

Done!  This top was donated to me by Gayle to use to raise money to bring Nathanael home, and my friend here needed a quilt to take on a mission trip - a perfect fit!!

3.  Quilt and bind a couple more tops that were donated to raise funds for the adoption.  

Done!  In fact, here's all five of them ready to find their forever homes! I'll be doing a post on all of them soon...

4.  Finish some quilt tops that were sent for Hands2Help.

Done!  Aren't these gorgeous?  All KatieQ's work…

5.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise!

Also done.  I'm not sure which of these came in two weeks ago, and which came in last week, so we'll just run down all of the ones that came in since my last update… and it's a bunch!!

This one went to a new baby boy…

This one went to an older woman with multiple myeloma...

This one went to a woman just diagnosed with endometrial cancer...

This one went to a man who started chemo and radiation last week...

This beautiful quilt made with embroidered blocks went to a preschool teacher who has multiple medical issues...

This quilt went to a man with stage 3 pancreatic cancer...

This quilt went to a woman with stomach cancer...

Here's another baby quilt, this time for a new baby girl...

This is a comfort quilt sent to a woman in New Orleans whose adult son was killed in a car accident...

This pretty quilt went to an elderly woman with multiple health issues...

This quilt went to a gentleman who has been waiting for a heart transplant.  They thought they had found cancer, but it turned out it was a false alarm!  God is good!!

This quilt went to a woman recently diagnosed with breast cancer...

This lady suffered a severe concussion in a bad car accident and has been having ongoing problems since then…

This quilt went to a little boy with myotonic dystrophy…

This quilt went to a young mother whose little boy is due this week...

And this one went to a new baby girl!

I quilted this one just this weekend - another baby quilt for a sweet baby girl!

And then there are several I forgot to get pictures of - one for a woman with cancer, one for a woman going through some serious emotional issues, and a pair of charm quilts for a set of twin boys due in the next week or so!  Whew!  And before anyone starts thinking I made all of these, believe me, this was a group effort - many hands pieced and quilted these beauties!  Twenty-two quilts - we may hit that 1000 mark yet!

OK - this has taken long enough, so let's move on to this week's list…

1.  Quilt the Moda Love top I put together over the weekend.

2.  Start cutting out pieces for a commission quilt.

3.  Start on a t-shirt commission quilt.

4. Cut strips for a bunch of kids' quilts for a homeless ministry.

5.  Keep up with quilt ministry needs as they arise.

I'm going to stop there - I'm sure there are other things I need to do, but can't think of them right now!  

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

Hugs!

Sarah