Quiltathon #3 This Weekend!

Judy Laquidara has planned another quiltathon for us this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. I'm not sure how much I will get done, but I'll try. Afterall, my guild's 25th Anniversary Quilt Show that I am chairing is coming up at the end of June. I have two quilt tops(Star Crossing and Spring Loaded) that need to be finished. I also need to sew on labels and attach sleeves to the ones I already have finished.


Another idea is to cut out the quilt for the Quilt in an Hour project. Judy has cutting instructions posted. If I cut them out this weekend, then I'll be ready to sew on Monday!

I have a lot of pictures to share from my trip to Paducah. Between helping Terry with her daughters house, Julia's wisdom teeth removal (dry socket in one of them), coordinating the Quilt Show, clearing out some stuff in my house, and Steve's colonoscopy... it's been busy around here! I know you all understand.

Take care!

Amanda

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Here's my daughter, Laura, Me, my son, Wade, and my youngest daughter, Julia. They are what make being a mom so great. I love them so much!

This year for Mother's Day we aren't getting together. I know that sounds terrible, but Steve is out of town, Wade has to work, Julia had oral surgery, and Laura has her own babies that most likely want to make this day special for her, too. We'll celebrate next weekend when things aren't quite so busy.

Of course on this day, I think about my Mom. I sort of wrote a tribute to her last year, here,if you would like to read it. It not only tells you a little about her, but also a little about why I am the person I am today.

Have a great day!

Amanda

Quilt For an Hour

A long time ago when my kids were little I often found that it was hard to find time to sew, especially when my first two kids were young. I was married, in college, and Laura never took a nap. At that time my mother did all of the sewing for her.

When Wade came along I was still in college, but by then I was into sewing clothing for myself and the kids. I really had to work at finding time to sew. I learned that I couldn't cut out an outfit and sew it all together in one day. I would do my planning and cutting on Sunday afternoons so that whenever I did find some time to sew during the week, I was ready!

Nancy Zieman,from Sewing With Nancy, was talking about finding 10, 20, or 30 minutes to sew on her PBS show one day. She said that we all have those little bits of time that we could sew a seam, iron something, or put in a zipper. Instead of taking 4-6 hours out of our day to devote time to a sewing project, we could take little bits of time and eventually get our project finished. I thought that was a great idea.

Six years later my youngest daughter was born. She was the queen of taking naps. Every day from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm she would take a nap. I would get up early, straighten the house, get the older kids off to school, feed Julia, play with her for a while, and then it was naptime for her and sewing time for me! I loved it! It's too bad I wasn't quilting then.

Fast forward to 2006. By then I had been quilting for 10 years. My kids were older, and even though they were in school all day, I found that I was busier with life, chauferring kids, volunteering in the schools, and not much quilting was getting done. I knew something had to change, but I didn't know what. I'm one of these kind of people that my happiness level goes down a little if I haven't sewn for a while. Then I remembered Nancy Zieman and her 10, 20, or 30 minutes to sew.

Now we all know that having 10, 20, or 30 minutes to sew doesn't work very well for quilting, but you would be surprised. You can square up some half/square triangles, chain piece some blocks, sew on a border, etc. That worked for a while, but it wasn't keeping my happiness level up that much. I felt like I was still missing something.

I decided one day that I really needed to spend an hour or two sewing on some days. I love to watch Gilmore Girls, so I would sew while watching them in the afternoons. There for a while Martha Stewart came on after Gilmore Girls and I would sew for 2 hours! How fun was that? I didn't do that every day, but it was nice when I could. I got so much stuff done. Terry (BFF with no blog) machine quilts my quilts for me. She noticed that I was finishing some things, and making some pretty stuff. People at my quilt guild started noticing, too. I encouraged them to sew in little bits of time every day and they, too, could get some of their projects completed.

A while back I told you that Judy Laquidara and I often have the same idea without even discussing it with each other. Judy and I are friends in real life, but I didn't share this idea with her. I clicked on her blog one day and the title of her post was "Quilt for an Hour". She had designed a quilt, given her bloggy followers yardage requirements and cutting instructions, and every day she would give them directions for what they were supposed to complete before going on to the next step. She even goes so far as to making the quilt first and timing herself each step of the way. She then tells us how much she completed in that hour for that particular step. Judy realizes that some of us sew faster than others. Terry and I were talking about this the other day: you know when you're driving on the road and someone speeds around you going a lot faster and you both end up sitting beside each other at a stop light? Quilting is kind of like that, too, except we're not all in a big race to the finish. For some it may take an hour to complete what Judy has planned for us that day, or it may take some 45 minutes or less. Either way, if we stick to it, we're all going to end up in the same place with a beautiful quilt top!

Well, Judy has done it again. She has planned another "Quilt for an Hour" project, and it's beautiful. Anyone can join the fun; you don't even have to have a blog. I haven't chosen my fabrics, yet, but she is encouraging us to use our stash. The Lord knows I've got plenty of that!

Have a great weekend. Take care!

Amanda

Edit: Michele e-mailed me and said the link to Judy's blog didn't work. Thanks, Michele! I have corrected the link. Now go look at the quilt and the fabric requirements! Judy gave cutting instructions today!

I'm Still Here!

Hi, bloggy friends! It's been a while since I have posted. You probably think I ran away to Paducah and didn't come back! :)

It's been busy around here working in the yard, getting stuff ready for my daughter's garage sale, coordinating my guild's 25th Anniversary Quilt Show, and helping Terry (BFF) decorate her daughter's home. It didn't help, either, that my serge protector went on the blink and I thought my computer wasn't working. This morning I decided to hook everything up to an electric strip plugger thingy, and I was excited that it was my surger on the blink and not my computer!

Today and tomorrow I will be busy helping Terry. Friday, Julia, is having her wisdom teeth removed. I'll be home all weekend to blog and sew.

Take care!

Amanda

Paducah...Here I Come!

Tomorrow 5 of my friends and myself are leaving for a three day trip to Paducah. Terry, Julie, and I always go for a day because we live so close by. However, this year we were asked my three other ladies to join in on the fun with them. We're so excited!!

I finally finished their "treat bags" (today). I filled them with chocolates, "On the Go" packets to put in their water, and some crackers for when they get that "sinking spell" around 2:00 when it's too early to eat dinner, but lunch is wearing off. I may find some fat quarters to put in them, too, but I wanted to wait until I get to Paducah to buy those. I think some ME fabrics would be cute.


Thanks for all the concern about the recent earthquakes we have been having. Another happened during the night on Sunday night, but no damage. We have felt aftershocks ever since the bigger one on Friday, and there have been some that we didn't feel, but still registered.

It's funny, but everyone has a "where were you when the earthquake happened" experience to tell about. Most people were in a deep sleep like me. It's crazy what people do when they are awakened and terrified. One of my son's friends ran into the hallway of his home. His mom ran into the hallway, too, but she was topless!! One of my friends said her neighbor came running out in her underwear.

Here's a little bit of background information about our area. Tornadoes lurk in my neighborhood more than I would like to think about. I live very close to the river, and tornadoes love the river. We had a large one (F4)in 2000 where it damaged a lot of homes and businesses. Although it didn't hit my house, it did skip over the dance studio where my 4 year old daughter was and flattened the cemetery and it's beautiful huge trees that were behind the studio. In 2005 a large one hit in a little town just across the river in Indiana. This past October one hit right outside of my neighborhood. I am always amazed at how soon the TV crews get to the neighborhoods that are damaged. What's even more amazing is how well put together (clothes wise) people are who have just lost everything. Did they sleep in their clothes? If one hit my house during the middle of the night everyone would either see my flannel pj's with coffee cups all over them or my hot pink snowflake ones.

With that in mind, and since the earthquake did happen during the middle of the night, I decided to lay my clothes out, just in case. I found out later that I wasn't the only person who had this idea.

Saturday afternoon I went to my neighbors wedding shower. I didn't know anyone there other than my neighbor and her mom. I was talking to the several of the women there and we started talking about the earthquake. One lady said she laid her clothes out. I started laughing because I thought I was the only one who laid her clothes out. Then she said she has been known to sleep in her clothes when there is a chance that a tornado may come during the night while we're sleeping. I started laughing harder because I knew where she was going with this. She's like me...she doesn't want to be caught in her pj's when the TV crew comes and interviews her. Then she said that she also doesn't want to say "It sounded like a freight train coming through" because that's what everybody says in their state of shock.

I was thinking about that later; what would I say? Would I say it sounded like a herd of elephants or would I say it sounded like my Juki on full speed at 1500 stitches per minute. I know me. I would be in such a state of shock that I would be standing there in my flannel pj's saying that it sounded like a freight train.

I was telling my friend, Jennifer, about my conversation with the lady who sleeps in her clothes. Jennifer says she does, too, but she also sleeps with her purse strap around her neck in case a tornado comes, blows her away, and "they" have to identify her. lol I guess this goes to show that we really are afraid of bad weather, but it is funny to talk about what we do to be prepared. Bless the hearts of those who have experienced these things.

I thought you might like to see what's on my design wall.

I saw the quilt on the front cover of this magazine last spring. The first quilt I fell in love with (that wasn't handmade by my grandmother or Steve's relatives) I saw in a kitchen shop. It was gorgeous with flower pots and flowers.


The quilt is called Spring Loaded and it is a "Quilt Soup" pattern. The fabrics are Lakehouse Drygoods by Holly Holderman. I love "Quilt Soup" patterns and I drool over fabrics by Holly.

I know I will have fun in Paducah, but I don't really need anything. Judy Laquidara says that she and I will have to meet in the parking lot every night and have confession! I hope not, but it will be good to see her.