Wonderful Wednesday!

My productivity over the weekend did not continue into the week days so far.

I need to pick up the pace or I will not finish this star quilt before the latest revised deadline ;-)

I hope to spend the entire day locked in my sewing room!

What are your plans for this wonderful Wednesday?!

Productive Weekend

It's been a while since I've been able to say that!  

My sewing machine has been cranking out the stars.  I really am having fun with these stars, and if other quilts weren't calling my name, I'd keep on making them.  All the stars have been made for my son's quilt, and I played with various layouts.  We'll see if I can get the top pieced by tomorrow.

In between piecing star blocks, I managed to finish a few more shoo fly blocks....five down, only sixty-five more or so to go...

What did you do this weekend? 

Different Blocks

Here's a quick block post about different blocks I finished.

Four more star blocks completed for my son's quilt.

Two shoo fly blocks to start niece's quilt.

Two disappearing four patch blocks made for OMQG's July BOM.

There has been an update regarding yesterday's blog post.  I added two more Priority: Alzheimer's quilts to my collection, but more importantly, AAQI wrote another check to fund Alzheimer's research!  Read the details in this article.

Have an amazing weekend!!!

How Many?

Shortly after I typed this blog post about my Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt, I saw this question posed by Ami on Facebook and Twitter:  "How many Priority: Alzheimer's Quilts have YOU purchased?"

Hmmm....good question.....so I started counting......

AAQI Quilts #6601 and #6733

Not counting today (because I may go shopping...haha), I have purchased 16 Priority: Alzheimer's quilts...eight have been given as gifts, and eight are hanging in my "studio".    The above picture shows the two most recent additions to my ever growing collection.  

#6601 Bird of a Different Color made by Ida Hansen

In addition to making quilts to raise money for Alzheimer's research,  I have found that I quite enjoy collecting these amazing little works of art made by others.  I especially treasure the AAQI quilts made by my bloggy friends, and I am thrilled when I find those on the Quilts for Sale page.  

#6733 Rays of Hope made by Cynthia Pierron Janney

One commenter on Facebook mentioned that her goal is to purchase one from every state.  What a cool idea!  I like it....gives me another reason to collect them....need to go check where my quilts originated ;-)

So....how many Priority: Alzheimer's quilts have YOU purchased?  Please tell by leaving me a comment; I'd love to know!

By the way, don't feel bad if you haven't purchased any yet....from what I hear 300 new quilts have just been added to the Quilts for Sale page....not to mention, the online quilt auction is open until tomorrow (June 10th) ;-)  Go for it...you'll find it is a do-good-feeling guilt-free shopping experience!

Seven Stars

I have completed seven star blocks so far for my son's quilt.

One of the consequences of taking a month off from sewing is that I was unable to complete the planned graduation quilts on time.  No one seemed to be upset by this fact except for me, but nevertheless, I am anxious to get them finished.  

I referred to the Silly BooDilly's wonky star tutorial quite a bit in making these blocks.  She gives clear, detailed instructions and provides many pictures which is helpful to a visual learner like myself.  I kept her tutorial open on my laptop for easy (and frequent) reference.  (Who knew that a laptop would be such a necessary quilting tool to have in a sewing area?)

After making the first block, I went with her suggestion of using print squares cut an inch larger than the background squares to have more flexibility in the wonkiness.  This allowed me to make the star points longer which I think makes the stars look like they are twinkling more.

Here are the seven stars hanging out on my dirty pool deck.  My original plan calls for twenty-one or so stars, but since it is my own pattern, I may decide (based on how tired I get of making stars) the quilt doesn't need that many ;-)

Have an amazing day!!!

Clean Slate

So...I took the entire month of May off....

from sewing, quilting, blogging, blog reading...basically anything quilt related....

including replying to quilty emails (sorry to those who did not receive a response from me).....

even OMQG stuff (a huge thank you to those who covered for me)...

I didn't sneak a peek at any blogs.....at all....zero....nada....none...

Once I made this decision, it was the only way to go.....

I knew if I slipped just once, read one blog, peeked at Google Reader, it would be all over...

Needless to say, I truly missed y'all....suffered terribly from withdrawals...and was extremely grumpy...

The other day my husband suggested I get back to my blog, if that tells you anything;-)

So....now I am slowly making my way back....

still haven't read any blogs yet, but will remedy that shortly.....

attended a lively OMQG meeting Wednesday....

spent some time in my sewing room Thursday....

Mosaic of Dragonfly gifts received

Before my self-imposed quilting hiatus, I completed another Priority: Alzheimer's quilt.  This one was inspired by some wonderful dragonfly gifts I've received from family and friends.  I have a thing for dragonflies, and when making this quilt, googled the definition/origin of the dragonfly.  I just knew the dragonfly must represent friendship or love or some equally important value.

AAQI #7040 Batik Dragonfly

I was a bit disappointed that the top search results did not scream this fact, but further research resulted in this excerpt taken from the dragonfly-site:  The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life. 

The traditional association of Dragonflies with water also gives rise to this meaning to this amazing insect. The Dragonfly’s scurrying flight across water represents an act of going beyond what’s on the surface and looking into the deeper implications and aspects of life (read more here:  http://www.dragonfly-site.com/meaning-symbolize.html)

 I also discovered that the Japanese culture views dragonflies as symbolizing courage, strength and happiness.  All this makes the dragonfly seem worthy of being represented in a quilt ;-)  I'm glad to know that as this particular quilt for AAQI was dedicated to my friend Hope, who is definitely worthy ;-)

Have an amazing weekend!!!!

Wonderful Wednesday!

In case you didn't notice, I haven't been around Blogland in a while ;-)

In fact, I haven't sewn, blogged, Tweeted, updated my Facebook status or read a quilt blog in over a month...until today!

Fireworks over Space Mountain.  Photo by Roberto Balbis.

This morning, I pieced two quilt blocks, attended June's OMQG meeting, sent a Tweet or two and posted on this blog.

So, for me, today is definitely a Wonderful Wednesday!

Hope yours is too...have an amazing day!