Saturday Projects

First thought this morning was that I would go to Franklin and visit some quilt shops....but I really needed to do some work around here, so I went to my studio and found a couple of projects to finish up, clean up, and start.

The scarf got finished.  I love how soft it is and those buttons!

I put these two necklaces together, simple really, just adding some charms to chains I got at a clearance sale.

I had wanted to have this blue star finished for the quilt show, but it wrinkled really bad during the quilting process, so today's project was to remove all the the quilting.  I took the left over diamonds from this project and arranged them differently and will making 2 wall hangings.  Me and my ripper settled down, thankfully, the quilting was only straight lines and I had stopped when I realized what was happening.

 It was easier to rip from the underside, between the backing and the bating.

 All stitches removed, quilting marks washed out, ironed, and ready to be quilted again.

Then I went to pick up the purple quilt and took one of the pins and bookmark that I had made to the shop owner as a "thank you" for displaying the quilt.

 I also made dressing for the church dinner tomorrow.  As I was mixing it up, I kept thinking of Mom and how much I loved her dressing.  I would always taste it for her to see if there was enough seasoning.  I asked Adam to be my taster tonight.

I decided not to do the traditional Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Too many memories from last year and the fact that my mom isn't going to be here...so I'm serving chili!

My Quilts - On Display

 It started with the purple quilt, my monthly quilting class, and my desire to bring an awareness for the need for more funding for pancreatic cancer.  I opened my home to the public and displayed ALL my quilts that I had been given, inherited, or made.  There were items for sale (quilted wall hangings, books/bibles, Christmas ornaments and food...lots and lots of sweets!).  Everything wasn't like I wanted it to be.  I didn't have time to put all the name tags of who made which quilt on the quilts (a friend came over to help me and then she ended up having a seizure...but recovered after laying down for a bit, please keep her in your prayers).  Because of the situation with my friend, I postponed my regular quilting class, but honestly, I don't think I could have done it justice anyway....I was having too much fun talking with all the ladies that came to see my quilts.

I thought I had about 30 quilts...but it seems my collection of quilt related and handmade items (crochet, woodworks, oil paintings....etc) is bigger than I expected.  I stopped counting at 90 items on display...not counting just the normal stuff that I have around the house that folks enjoyed looking at. Several people commented on the sewing machine collection and the scissor collection.

Sally came over Friday morning and we started displaying the quilts.  We kept most of them downstairs and displayed all the unfinished projects around the banisters of the loft.  My son had some of his quilts on display in his room, but I didn't get a picture of them.  A couple of ladies had more fun just going through all my quilt books and planning their next quilt project.

Here are some views from the day.  Looking down from the loft, you can see some of the unfinished projects and those in the living room.  I had my grandmother's quilting frame on the sofa with one of her quilts rolled in it. I took down my curtains and hung quilts instead.  There were several on the porch too.

 The gown was made by my grandmother for my mother's high school graduation.

 We even hung a quilt off the fridge and wrapped a closet door with a quilt.

 All the baby quilts and blankets ended up with their own rack.

 I didn't realize I had so much Christmas quilted stuff.  Truthfully, most of them were made by me and given to my grandmother as Christmas gifts, then after her death, they were given back to me.  This quilt rack was made by my dad, painted by my mom and covered with afagans and doll blankets, old baby blankets, and embroidered pillow cases.

 I found this little block, one of Sally's very first pieces.  I finished it up for her with quilting and binding.  She did a really good job on it.  In the background is the one that she is working on now...both are nine patches.

It was a great day with a steady stream of people in and out all day.  We raised a little over $500.  I think that is a pretty good start for my fund raising for Relay for Life 2012.  I could have made a little more.  Our first visitors thought that I wasn't just showing my quilts but had them for sale....I corrected her real quick on that.  Then the store called where the purple quilt is on display and there was someone there wanting to buy it.  However, it has already been given to the American Cancer Society and they plan to use it to bring awareness to the Relay for Life.  It will be on the Christmas parade float and will travel to some events before either being auctioned off or raffled off.  But it made me feel good to have someone like it enough to want to buy it.

My desire for this weekend wasn't just to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer..but also to raise awareness that I am a quilter too.  I'm hoping...no praying....that this opened some doors for me to really do something with this talent God has given me.  If nothing else...I will be busy for a while finishing all those unfinished projects!

The Purple

 This morning, I walked out to the graveyard to "show:" the purple quilt to my mom.  I know, it sounds odd and morbid I guess.  But it also seemed right.  I mean, I did this quilt in her honor and the battle she fought with pancreatic cancer and I did this quilt for pancreatic cancer awareness....so why not take pictures of it in a graveyard?

Only 6% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will survive past 5 years.  80% will die within the first year of diagnosis, like my mother did.  43,000 people will be diagnosed this year and of those, 37,000 will die this year.  Unfortunately, this graveyard is an all too real reality for families going through this journey.

 I still have the binding to add to the quilt.

To donate to pancreatic cancer research, please visit the links below.  You can make a difference.  More funding is needed for research to develop early screening testing and a possible cure.

This shouldn't be the place that I have to now visit my mother.

American Cancer Society
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
Stand Up To Cancer

Bags & Extra Blocks

I finished piecing the purple quilt this weekend.  I think it still needs a border around it.  The ladies at the local quilt shop started pulling bolts of solid purples out this weekend and helped me find just the right shade.  I'm seriously considering letting someone quilt it.  They have a beautiful butterfly motif, I'll just have to save up for the  cost.  Remember....this quilt is going to the American Cancer Society.  I wonder what they will do with it...I guess I need to contact them at some point.

I've been using this bag that my mom had her church stuff in for my work bag.  I carry my reading material and lunch to work in this.  Mom never liked advertising labels.  This is one of those generic grocery bags you can pick up just about anywhere.  She covered the advertising logo on the front with a left over block from one of her quilts.  I really like it.

So when I received this pink bag from work this week that was for an advertising campaign for one of our women's commentaries....I knew what I wanted to do.

I forgot to to take a picture of before.  On the other side there was the logo for the commentary in black, much like the printing on the book..

Using one of my block left over from the purple quilt, I covered the logo.  I'll be using this bag for my newest bible study and taking my things to work every day.

 

 All the ladies at work have a similar bag that they are using.  I like that mine is different.  But the purple square also reminds me of my mom, keeping me aware of what I'm doing to keep myself healthy.  I quilted a heart in one square and a flower in the other.  The flower is one I found that I had drawn in one of her journals when I was a little girl.  She kept that simple flower in the midst of her bible study notes.  It's to remind me, that even in the most difficult situations....I just need to keep it simple.

Love!  How much more simple can I keep it.