Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Charity Sew In this Wed. Dec. 3

Hi all,

I didn't forget about you, I'm still in a little bit of a drug induced fog! My attention span is like a little kid!  Anyway, thanks for all the prayers for my recent shoulder surgery. I think I'm getting along quite well. But I do thank God for pain killers. It's made it so much more tolerable!

I am up to doing another Charity Sew this Wed. Dec. 3 from 10-3 and 6-9.  I did shorten the day hours a little bit so I could take a nap. :)

We will be working on the YumYum quilt.

Yum Yum quilt

It requires (18) 2 ½" squares and (17) 6 ½" squares of a print fabric. and {gulp} 3.25 yards of a white on white or BG fabric. 

I might actually re-do the quilt to use less BG fabric, as yardage is the most precious commodity we don't have!  

So just bring 6 ½" and 2 ½" squares and any amount of BG or white on white you can bring. I'll have a different option based on the same quilt, but using less of the BG fabric. 

If you have another quilt you would like to work on, by all means bring it to work on. I'm just offering an option. You all have been so great in bringing a variety of quilts. Our count is quickly rising. 

As always, any fabric and batting donations are welcome.  It takes 3 ½ yards to do a backing and that's what we lack. 

Thank you to all who have been helping here and at home. Together, we can make an impact on these children and hopefully put some smiles on their faces!

Karen

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Charity Sew In Cancelled

For those of you who don't know, I am having rotator cuff surgery tomorrow, Nov. 19.  And that was supposed to be our Sew In day. So obviously, it's cancelled for this month.  The next one will be Wed. Dec. 3 from 10-4 and 6-9, Lord willing!

We are moving right along with our quilt numbers! We now  have 13 completed quilts in house, several that are being quilted by others, 4 that are being bound and 7 more to quilt.

Thanks to our volunteers to date: Sandy S, Marcia L, Angie D, Valerie, Susan S, Susan B, Penny P, Penny R, Deb J, Michelle F, Natalie R, Mary Jo K, Linda J, Cheryl B, Mary W, Robin L, Connie T, Cathy B, Karen O, Deb B.  Without you, it would not be possible!

Here are a few shots of our last Sew In day:





Stay warm and keep quilting!
Hope to see you all on Wed. Dec. 3 for our next Sew In.

Karen


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Charity SEW IN WED Oct. 29

Our next Charity Sew In is Wed. Oct. 29 from 10 AM to 4 PM and 6 PM to 9 PM

We will be making Granny Square Blocks


Granny Square Block
All squares are cut 2 ½"--use bright colored fabrics. Each round should be the same fabric, or at least the same color. 

Uses (1) center square--I am using yellow and will have enough to pass out. 
(4) squares of a medium color
(8) squares of a coordinating color
(12) squares of white

If you could bring squares to make at least 2 blocks, we might have enough to make one quilt. 
As usual though, you are welcome to bring anything to work on, AS LONG AS IT IS GOING TO BE DONATED TO SNUGGLED IN HOPE.  

I also need volunteers to help me do the quilting. I have 4 out of 14 done and will soon have more to quilt. I am having shoulder surgery on Nov. 19 and won't be able to quilt at all. We can use Khloe on our charity days and if you would like to come another time to help, that would be great too!  I'm hoping that I can sew bindings on after my surgery. But that remains to be seen! LOL

If you are in a fall cleaning mood and need to purge a little, here is what we can always use:

Thread
Background Fabrics
Large pieces of fabric for backings. It takes 3 1/2 yards to back these quilts. 
Batting. (the size we need is about 65" x 75"--if you would like to piece smaller pieces together, that would be great and save us time). 
Bright fabrics or fabrics suitable for 8-16 year old boys, any size. 

Fabrics need to be 100% cotton, per Snuggled in Hope guidelines. If you have any other fabric to donate, I'll be glad to take it and pass it on to a church that does use all types of fabric. 

Thanks again for all the help given, it will mean a lot to the kids receiving these quilts. 

Karen 

Monday, October 6, 2014

Charity Sew In this Wednesday!

Our first Charity Sew In went really well! We got 3 quilt tops completed and 2 almost done!  And here it is, time for another round.

Charity Sew In
Wednesday October 8
10AM to 4 PM and 6PM to 9 PM

This time we are going to be working on Stepping Up.  Since we all tend to have more 'girly' fabric, I thought we could try to make a quilt for a boy.

Stepping Up

I know the graphic I showed isn't for a boy, but where the colored squares are shown will be in 'boy' like fabric. If you have a FQ that would be appropriate for boy, such as sports, animals or plaids, please bring it.  I will cut up the sashing strips (2 ½" strips).  The squares are cut 6 ½", so if you have scraps laying around that would be suitable for a boy and they measure at least 6 ½", you can bring them as well. 

I do have a few kits leftover from the last sew in, so if anyone is sew inclined to work on those, that would be great as well. 

We were so busy sewing that I forgot to take any good pictures of us in action! Which is a good thing I guess! :)  I will try harder to take at least a few pictures.  I thought I would only post the pictures of the finished quilts, but maybe I will show what we got done, no matter what level of completion we reached. 

If you know of anyone that would like to help in any way, please invite them to join us. We can always use runners and people to iron. 

As always, fabric donations are always appreciated. BUT we need 100% cotton fabric. And NO Holiday fabrics or baby fabrics. These kids are ages 5 to 15. Thank you so much for helping. 

I hope to see many of you here on Wednesday!


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Gearing up for the FIRST CHARITY SEW IN!

I'm getting so excited to start the new Charity Sew In days! What, you say?  Click on the Flying Horse Farms tab above to read all about the new venture I am going to be working on at the Studio. Although I have done several charity quilts over the years, I have not worked for any organization on a regular basis. I started with Project Linus, but unfortunately, the local chapter folded last year. I thought about starting one myself and then I happened to be at a meeting where the guest speaker was talking about making charity quilts for Flying Horse Farms through their local quilt guild. I wanted to be part of it! I asked and now I am! Woohoo!

I wanted to be able to offer a place for other people to help with this project if they desired as well. If you do not sew, but would like to help, we could use people to iron and be runners.

Since this is new to me and the Studio, it might take a while to get in the groove.  But here is the tentative plan:

*I will open the Studio for the Charity Sew In day (see dates in the tab above) for anyone to come and help make quilts for FHF.  Please note that this is for charity sewing only! No personal sewing that day please. :)

*I will offer a simple pattern for people to make the quilts.  This does NOT mean you HAVE to do that pattern! Do you have an old quilt top that you would like to donate? That would work. Orphan blocks from an abandoned project? Bring them!  You are welcome to work on anything you like to be donated. 

*The quilts will be quilted on Khloe by me or anyone else who would like to give it a try!

*I have cleaned out my stash and have started a closet of fabric to be used in these quilts. If you have fabric or batting that you would like to donate, all the better!  I see a need for lots of light background fabrics and larger pieces of fabric for backings. So if you have any extra fabric to share, that would be great. 

*I will post the fabric needs for the next Sew In a few weeks ahead of time so you can get things ready, if you have fabric to share. Otherwise, we can dig into my closet!

*I will open the Studio for most of the day (with a time out for dinner). Come and go as your schedule permits. If you don't have all day to sew, that's okay. Any little bit helps. I will be here all day. 

The First Charity Sew In
Wednesday Sept. 24
10AM to 4 PM AND
6 PM to 9 PM
Optional Project: 
Walk Around the Square


Fabric Needs:
(96) 5" charm squares
1 ¾ yard of background fabric
(cut into (9) 2 ¾" strips, (3) 5" strips and (3) 3" strips)

Again, please note that you do not have to make this quilt. It's an option for people that don't have any idea in mind. 


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Hey! I'm back!

I know it's been a long time. The last time I posted was a day before I found out my Kquilts Studio flooded due to a water pipe bursting and running for 6 days while we were gone. :(  When I got home, I faced 11 weeks of clean up, redoing all the flooring, drywall, painting. Pretty much all the structure was ruined to the studs. But I thank God for His mercies and blessings through all of this.

My fabric closet only got a little damage and the fabric was spared! Woohoo!  MY room, which is on the top floor of the studio, received NO damage whatsoever!  The flooding stopped about 2 feet in front of the door. Here are a few of the many pictures we took. About broke my heart.

See the pink doors? That leads into my room..and the water stopped just before the doors!

The Front Room where we used to have the cutting and ironing stations. 




Looking down the hall from the Front Room, notice we are down to studs half way back. 

Bathroom down to studs, shower is gone.




This used to be the kitchen. Absolutely nothing was salvageable in here.
This room took the brunt of it all. Cupboards and drywall just fell off. When they
opened the stove, water poured out. Poorly planned kitchen...GONE! And ready for new.

This is looking in the side of the back of the classroom. See my fabric closet (in pink?)
NOT damaged!  God is good!

2 ½ dumpsters left this place. I really did want to spring clean, and boy did I have the chance!  I purged, pitched, cleaned and reorganized. Although it was hard work, and took longer than I ever thought, it's done. And now I have a brand new studio!  

Someone asked me about all my quilts. I asked the contractor when I got home if my quilts were okay. He said the crew stacked all the stuff, including the quilts, on tables in the double car garage. It was packed!  I found the 3 stacks of quilts and could only reach 2 and they both felt dry so I thought all was well.  As I worked my way from the front of the garage to the back, going through each and every thing, I arrived to the stack of quilts about 7 weeks later. Lo and behold, stack 3, which I couldn't reach, was sopping wet.....and moldy. :(  I was not a happy camper.  

I washed them, treated them with stain remover and laid them in the sun to dry. After repeating the process several times, I was able to restore 7 out of 10 quilts.  3 of them weren't so lucky.  One was so bad that I pitched. Not sure what to do with the second one. And #3? It was my Swoon, that was only a year old. The thing now is that it looks very vintage!  It's hanging up as I can't bear to throw it away. I can see the mold spots, but it's not as visible as it used to be. 

Next time I will show you snippets of my new Studio!  It's one of those things that you need to see in person, so I'll try to do my best taking pictures of the AFTER.  I did make major changes and went a whole new way in my color scheme. I know, hard to believe!

I'm finally getting back in the groove of quilting again. I've been working hard on a new schedule for Fall. Several trips and grandkids sports are getting in the way, but I did carve out some class dates!  I'm anxious to see everyone again and get back to quilting!



Thursday, February 13, 2014

Oldest UFO done!

Yep, this was started as an online Row by Row swap in 1999! We all chose a block to do and make enough for a row. We then made our own row, passed the row and fabric on to the next person. Well, the person ahead of me was doing awesome blocks! So much so, that by the time she got close to the end, she dropped out! I was bummed. I asked her if I could send her fabric and if she would do my row when she felt back up to it. She agreed.


Well, at a quilt retreat a few weeks ago, a vote was taken and all agreed that 15 years was long enough to wait for her row! LOL. So I took the rows I had and finished the quilt. This tulip fabric was my inspiration for my quilt. I thought I saved enough for borders, but it must be in a very,very safe place! So it went on the back along with the rest of the fabrics.






I finished quilting it and got the binding on it. It's now ready to hug some little girl!

The back....





Back to the UFO pile. It just doesn't seem to end! LOL

Karen

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Open Sew cancelled

For obvious reasons! Enjoy the beautiful snow and have your own personal snow day!

Karen


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Monday, January 6, 2014

Blistering cold--need LOTS of warm quilts!

I hope everyone is staying as warm as possible. Good times to be staying home and keeping warm! And maybe even working on getting some projects done! Me? I wish I was quilting, but I'm doing the next best thing....leaving! LOL  I'll be gone for a few weeks, but am anxious to get back to the business of quilting again. Going too long without quilting is not a good thing. Quilting makes me calm....and happy.


I've been working on my schedule and unfortunately there are not any more Saturdays in a month this year either! Dang it!  I'm once again trying to find a balance of sharing my love of quilting with others, doing my own quilting, traveling and watching the grandkids in their various sporting events. It tends to take up a lot of time, especially on the weekends.

I'm trying a new thing this winter/spring and hope that enough people will be intrigued to join me!  I have decided to do ONE quilt class, an ongoing class totaling 8 hours of instruction time. I will merge it with Open Sews, so that you can continue to work on your project after the instruction time and have me available for questions as you work on your project.

And the project? A Double Wedding Ring Quilt. Now don't roll your eyes saying that it's too hard, it's too old fashioned, it's too (insert your own word here).  First, I am going to teach it using MY Accuquilt Die Cutter. Which means you bring YOUR fabric, and use MY dies and cutter to cut all your pieces nice and accurate.  Second, I want you to GOOGLE IMAGES of Double Wedding Ring Quilts to see what you find. I bet you will be shocked and amazed how varied they can be, from very traditional settings and colors, to more contemporary colors to even the modern look.  And  yet they will all be done the same way! Here is just a snapshot of ONE screen under google images. You will find yourself LOST in all the different variations!

Screen shot of Double Wedding Ring Quilts from Google Images

Read more on the Classes page as to how I will run this class. My goal and honest hope is that with just ONE quilt to concentrate on and ongoing classes is that it will be a quilt that is DONE! Some homework in between classes will be necessary, but you won't be prepping for several other quilts!

All the information on classes and Open Sews are in the Classes tab.  Check them out!

Happy Quilting!

Karen