Can I get a Whoop-Whoop?? Sometimes You Gotta Just Hold Your Mouth Right...

Hi, all!


Wow, it's Friday again!  Where does the week go?  Seems like it was just Monday - - - and here it is, time to show off the week's accomplishments again.  I can't wait to see what each of you have been up to this week!!

First of all, this beautiful top was pieced by my friend Kathy - her contribution to the Great American Jelly Roll Race quilts that we made for the quilt ministry.

I am very happy to say that I finally got this quilt finished - I started having problems with my Juki, Tillie, as I was almost finished machine quilting this beauty.  About twelve inches from the end, she started skipping stitches like mad!  And of course, on the quilt frame, it's almost impossible to troubleshoot - so with the help of my lovely niece, we got it off without taking the quilt off.   In comes my favorite "house call" repair man, who manages to fix it so it will sew straight, but not on the curves.  He recommended me to a local commercial repair shop, who worked on it Wednesday morning and returned it to me in good shape.  I put it back on the frame this morning, and lo and behold, it was skipping again!  Took it off, cut the quilt off the frame, and did some trouble shooting on my own - turns out my embroidery foot had broken!  So I think I've got the problem fixed, but my FMQ skills off the frame have sadly deteriorated - it looks ok where I finished it, but not as nice as I would like.  But I think it turned out ok!  


Take a look at the backing of this quilt....

Isn't that perfect?  Someone donated a whole bolt of this aloha shirt print, the same day the top came to me to be quilted.  You couldn't ask for a better match!  This quilt is going to a young man who was recently in a terrible motorcycle accident, and is going to be in treatment for injuries to his legs for a long time.  


I still need to do the hand stitching on the binding, but that's tonight's task - hopefully I can find a good movie to keep me occupied while I do it!  So this will really be a Friday Finish!  I promise!

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On another quick note, my friend Ann over at Renegade Quilter is very close to having 100 followers!  She has a great blog that I get a lot of inspiration from - if you've never checked it out before, I highly recommend it!  PLUS - she's planning to have a giveaway when she hits 100 followers - how's that for an incentive to check her out?  (Plus she's a HUGE Dave Matthews Band fan...)

So jump over to her blog and see if it's not right up your alley -

Help her get to 100 followers!!

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So now it's your turn - what have you been working on this week?  What are you excited about completing, or starting, or just having fun with?  Share!!  We all want to be inspired by your craftiness!  Remember, you have until Saturday night at midnight to link up!!

Hugs!

Sarah

What's Cookin' at The Sweatshop, Week #4

Hi, all!


Well, it's been a busy week for the quilt ministry!  We had our monthly get together and luckily had someone who thought to take a picture of the ladies, so I can show you some of my wonderful sewing sisters....

Aren't they lovely?  And guess what - they gave me a hat shower on Saturday - I forgot to take a picture of the hats, but I'll try to throw one in later on this week!  We had a ball getting together and making backs for quilts, working on other projects, checking out some new donations that came in while we were meeting (thanks, Stephanie!) and of course, eating!  They brought so much food that we spent a long time eating....  lol!!

Today, this quilt was delivered to my doctor's office to go to a young woman I met at chemo yesterday - she has to go to chemo once a week and doesn't have a great support network - so we thought she could use a quilty hug!!

This pretty quilt is going to a fellow blogger - my friend Kelley, who blogs at My Front Porch, has a blog friend who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor, and thought she would appreciate a quilt from our ministry.  By the way, Kelley was our first recipient, and the start of our quilt ministry!  Now she makes the hand-made cards that we give with each of our quilts.  They're gorgeous!

Tomorrow this quilt will be delivered to church to go to a woman who is going through a very troubled pregnancy.  She loves bright colors, so this quilt seems to be right up her alley!  Don't you love that vintage red polka dot on the binding?  

We're also working on quilts for a family that recently suffered a death in the family - this flimsy will be one of the quilts that goes to the family, and this finished quilt will be going also....

I'm in the process of piecing another top, too, but don't have pictures of those blocks.  My friend Cindy started them, but ran into a snag that I worked out for her (frustration set in.... she needed a break!) and I hope to get that top finished tomorrow.


I'm also working on quilting a beautiful blue batik jelly roll race quilt that was on the frame when my Juki decided to go berserk and start skipping stitches.  (Sadly, my house call repair guy couldn't fix it, so we have a 7:45 a.m. appointment at the shop tomorrow morning - hopefully they can fix it while I wait!  He was a little surprised when I told him I had fifteen quilts waiting to go on the frame, so maybe!  Keep your fingers crossed..)  The blue batik is going to a young man who was in a horrible motorcycle accident and I really need to get it finished and off to him soon.  Sorry I don't have a pic of this one, but I'll get one soon and post it - hopefully next week it will be a finished quilt pic and not just a work in progress!

Oh, and one last quilt - I finished the binding on this quilt yesterday, so it's ready for its new home - as soon as God tells us the address!  I loved the comment that someone left when I said a quilt didn't have a recipient yet - she told me that God knew where it was going, He just hadn't told us the address yet!  Isn't that brilliant - and true!  This top was pieced by Sharon Vrooman - we added the borders and a pretty red back.  I think it turned out great!


So that's just some of what we've been working on this week - looks like our "break" is over and it's going to get busy again!!  Whew!!


Hugs!


Sarah

Make-A-List Monday #59! The Best Laid Plans....

Hi, all!


Once again, the week slipped away from me!  I did a lot of housecleaning, totally against my will - I think I was possessed for a while! - but I'm hoping that's all out of my system now!  


Let's see how I did on last week's list...

1.  Make a back for Lilli's quilt! (Yes, really!)

Oh, really not!  Once again, it didn't get done...

2.  Quilt at least two more ministry quilts.

My Juki is being temperamental - I quilted two, and

almost finished a third, but then the Juki started skipping

stitches - I need to pick up some more needles to see

if that fixes the problem, if not then it's off to call

the house-call machine doctor!

Here's one of the quilts - I haven't taken a pic of the other yet....

3.  Hand-sew the binding on two ministry quilts.

Done!

4.  Make backs (or con someone else into making backs)

for the eight ministry quilt tops that are ready for quilting!

We got backs put together for four of the eight quilt tops...

5.  Sort through and cut down at least one tub of scraps.

Didn't get to this one at all...

But we had requests for four quilts this week - one for a young man who was in a terrible motorcycle accident, and three for a family who unexpectedly lost their wife and mother, also in a motorcycle accident.  The quilt for the young man is the one on the frame with the broken Juki; we will be using one of our finished quilts (that we just needed God to tell us the address for!) for the daughter of the family, I'm piecing a top for the son, and my friend Cindy is piecing a top for the husband.  Busy week!  

So what's on tap for this week?

1.  Finish piecing the top for the son.

2.  Finish quilting the top for the young man in the motorcycle accident.

3.  Bind the top after finishing it.  

4.  Fix the Juki, or have the repairman come out.

5.  Try to get Lilli's quilt back done! 

(Maybe if I'm a little more humble, it'll get done....)

That's certainly enough to keep me busy!  I hope I can get this much done - my nieces are here until Tuesday, so I might not - but it's worth a shot!  We're having a lovely visit, though - it's so nice to see them!

So - what are you working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah