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Archive for the 'Quilt Blogging' Category

Sep 06 2010

“Georgia Sunshine” Quilt Completed

Although this quilt was designed and made earlier in the year, my quilters were both out of state most of the summer, so it didn’t get quilted until this past month.  But, there was a bride and groom who needed the quilt gift on Friday evening, so I had to get it completed!  I am very pleased with results – Meloney did a beautiful job of quilting it (hearts everywhere!) and the binding fit like a glove.  Ahhhh, Sunshine indeed!

If you would like the free pattern for this quilt, please visit www.BOMquilts.com!

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Aug 31 2010

Quilt-spiration

Published by Tammom under Quilt Blogging

I had to go to town to take pictures of a local veterinarian’s business last weekend, and found SO much quilt-spiration there that I just wanted to share it!

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Aug 15 2010

Teddy Bear Picnic

Published by Tammom under Quilt Blogging

Our local churches hold a combined Vacation Bible School, which will begin this week.  They asked our quilt group if we would be willing to make teddy bears for them, that the attendees will stuff and sew them shut and they will be donated to the nearest hosptial for the children who come in to be treated for various ailments.  Our group was more than happy to oblige!

Each of us made 10 bears, using pinking shears around the edges so no one had to turn them, but still safe for the young recipients.

My two youngest kids helped me pick out “boy” and “girl” fabrics, traced the patterns and then pressed the 10 that we were supposed to make:

Then, my husband picked up the other bears that our group members made:

I’m SO proud to be part of this quilt group, and I’m so thrilled that the ladies I quilt with are so generous with their time and fabric!  Hopefully, the VBS children will enjoy finishing the bears – we sure had fun making them!

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Jul 20 2010

Quilt Border Tutorial

At our quilt group meeting last night one of our members presented a very interesting program on quilt borders.  First, she showed us some of her previous quilts with great borders:

Once she showed us how we can enhance, pull together fabrics or just add another dimension to a quilt with borders, she gave us a little tutorial on preparing a border and then trying to fit a block into it – so that you could achieve an eye-appealing and pleasing over-all end-product where the border and the block went well together.  Take a look at the photos below and see if you can see the good and bad (or ugly) of those that “don’t work” well together:

Great program, Ms. Edie – sure makes you think about using more than plain borders for a quilt project – especially when you consider how much fun they can be!

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Jun 21 2010

Another Quilted Heart Takes her Talents to Heaven

We were very upset to learn that one of the ladies in our quilt group passed away about 10 days ago.  She had some type of respiratory ailment that was never going to get better, but the doctors had predicted she’d have 3-4 years left in her.  Unfortunately, she went to Denver to receive a specialized treatment that was supposed to help her … and she never made it home.

Maggie was a fiber arts expert and her projects have been published in a number of books.  She was a lover of all things textile, and we convinced her to start quilting – and she made her first quilt about three months ago.  We were as proud of her project as she was!

My oldest daughter thought Maggie was the cat’s pajamas.  We had tried for months to set up a date for DD#1 to go to spend a few hours with Maggie, because Maggie had competed (and WON) a much-coveted sled dog race in Alaska – something our daughter wants to do when she grows up.

Maggie – I know heaven has relieved your pain – but, we sure love you and miss you!

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Jun 18 2010

Cathy, I’ve Fulfilled my Promises to You

Published by Tammom under Family History, Quilt Blogging

My cousin Cathy asked three things of me before she passed away.   I have now fulfilled those promises:

1)  Make and give her third daughter, Toni, a baby quilt for the new baby who was due in April (but was born at the end of March):

2)  Give the tote bag that I started for Cathy to her oldest daughter Terra:

3)  Be there for her middle daughter Tiffany, which is near impossible, since I am 1000 miles away from her.  In lieu of that, I made her a lap quilt with all of the fabrics that her mom had chosen for her tote bag.  Be sure to click on the photo to see the quilting detail – each block is filled with hearts, and each juncture where the blocks come together contains entwined hearts:

It feels good to have completed what Cathy asked me to do.  It feels good to bring a little quilted love to her daughters.  And although I will miss Cathy, her daughters now have a little piece of her that they didn’t have before.  God’s Peace to Cathy and her family.

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Jun 08 2010

Chosen with Love, Made with Love, Gifted with Love

Published by Tammom under Family History, Quilt Blogging

My first cousin Cathy passed away in February.  She was going in for a hip replacement and made it through the surgery, but her heart just couldn’t keep up with the recovery.  She’d already had bypass surgery and lived five years longer than predicted (even though she was in her 50’s), so although her family will mourn her for many years, they got more years with her than the doctors predicted.

When she was in the hospital and recovering, she had her laptop in front of her, chatting with me.  She asked me for a few things.  I didn’t think much about it at the time, except she had a new grandson coming in April and didn’t think she would be totally recovered from her surgery to enjoy his birth as much as she did her other grandchildren. 

In hindsight, I realize that I think she knew she wasn’t going to make it – she was getting her ducks in a row and asking me (someone who’s been outside of that side of the family loop for a VERY long time) to give her girls something tangible to remember her by…..as I think she knew she was going Home.

Anyway, I made the quilt she asked me to make for her soon-to-be fifth grandchild and third grandson, and her daughter received it this week.

Toni, Cooper and the rest of Cathy’s family – I assure you this quilt was chosen wiht love, made with love and gifted with love.  I hope you all will love it for many years to come.  Because that’s what your mom intended!

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May 26 2010

My Special Angel guest post by Karen Hopkins

I have a special angel
who could never know
Just how close she is,
wherever my heart seems to go.

Today, I know an angel
who knows just how to make me smile
By living out her faith in God
As she teaches me thru the distant miles.

And just like an heavenly angel
Who shines down from high above
A special friend, turned “sister”
Blesses me daily with God’s love.

She is more than any fairy tale
She is a messenger from up above
Sent by my Friend, my Jesus,
to guide me with her love.

And though I’ve never seen one
I know I hear my angel all the time
Within each poem I sit and write
Whether it does,or doesn’t rhyme.

So with this new, and loving Angel
His Peace, I know has taken place
by the sharing with me of God’s forgiveness
it’s there where God has strengthed my trust, and my faith.

The above poem was written by me, for my friend, Mary, quite a few years ago. Mary lives in another state clear across the US from me, in Oregon, yet because of our  relationship based in the Lord, we are just as close, despite the miles between us.

Mary, like this poem says, is my Angel.

Not only because of what she has taught me from the Word of God, but because in the very times I have needed a ” mother” when my own has not wanted to be mine, I have learned from her what it means to be loved, and to be treausred as a daughter, and a friend.

When Tammy asked me to write a guest blog about her angel in need idea, I thought, sure, I could do that. And I can. and I am. But as I thought about the idea she had, I began asking God to show me what He would want to be conveyed in this blog post for Tammy. As I sat and listened to the Holy Spirit, my heart grew excited in knowing that its not about the conotation of the word Angel that I should write about, but its about the spirit of being an angel, both an angel in need, and an angel who is a giver.

Tammy wrote some time ago on her blog about recieving emails from several people who are quilters, or sewers, yet who struggle to have supplies necessary for their craft. Being a quilter herself, Tammy knows the cost of such supplies, and most likely the deep frustrations at time in not being able to afford the very same. I am a quilter, as well, and do very much understand the frustrations of not being able to buy fabric, or quilt batting, or even thread to complete a project that I know would bless others. I know, sometimes that God is my supplier, and that blessing brings me to tears many more times than not, especially now, in this season of my life, where I can not buy any fabric, due to multiple hospital bills and surgical bills over the last year. Yet, God allowed Tammy and I to email from her blog, as she blessed me with encouragement and understanding about what giving really means. Not just giving a hand out to someone in need, but giving, as many might know of her, a spirit of wanting to love someone, thru encouraging word, or beautiuful photos of her handiwork in the quilting craft.

Tammy, well, she is an angel to her husband and to her children. She is, although we have never met, one that I see giving, and kind, and only wants to serve the Lord with her ability, and her talents. She has written emails to me, sharing her pain of her life, yet she, like an angel of giving, does not stay in that pain (and encourages me to not stay in mine, even if she doesn’t realize it ).

Tammy’s idea of the angel in need, or Giving Angel, is something that we all can become part of. I know I do not have the ablity to purchase my supplies, but someone else might be able to do that, and bless someone else. I do, however, have the ability to share things in the quilting craft that I have here at my home, and I want to be a blessing as an Giving Angel, if there are those in need of things I might have to share. Why would someone who has no way to buy things, like me, be willing to share with others?  Because I am a steward of what God has blessed me with, and I want to be an extension of His hand. And like Tammy wrote me a few days ago, completely off the subject, her quote here: “If we can’t support and love each other, what do we have left?”

We are left with hurting people, brothers and sisters who can’t find joy in thier lives, knowing there might not be anyone who would help them stand, in their life experiences, because they do not share what other blessings God has given to them.

Today, I stand with Tammy, and offer what I can share, with someone who might be in need. I want to be a Giving Angel, one who supports with encouragement, and with blessings in the tangible way. And I hope, prayerfully, that you whom might read Tammy’s blog here, that you can either recieve your own blessing if you are in need, or be a giver, and encourager to those that need some special touch of joy.

Would you pray about Tammy’s idea, and become part of a special treausre box of encouragement? Whether you have fabric, or thread, or patterns to give away, or if you are in need of anything like that, please prayerfully, ask God to minister to you, or to others in a way that you would know an Angel really does exist when least expecting it.

Blessings!

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May 05 2010

Fun Quilting

Published by Tammom under Quilt Blogging

I made a couple of baby quilts for cousins and sent them to a new (for me) quilter who is local.  I was in a rush and told her I didn’t care what she did, just so it was quick and nice for the quilts.  I was, to say the least, pleasantly surprised to see her quilting on the backs of these quilts!  Thanks much, Longarm Michele!

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Apr 30 2010

Stolen Quilt Breaks my Heart

Published by Tammom under Quilt Blogging

One of the local teachers asked to borrow one of my quilts as her class was reading Little House in the Big Woods and she wanted a prop to show them what real quilting was and how it was done in the back of a covered wagon.

After school that day, I picked up the quilt and then went to be with DD#2 while she went through cheerleader tryouts.  Every mother that was there with their daughter knew that I had a quilt, what it was used for and that I had made it. 

Unfortunately, it was cold out – and when the girls finished their try-outs, we went inside.

And I forgot the quilt (in a zippered plastic bag) on the picnic tables that are between the high school and gym, what with all of the excitement of the try-outs.  A group of 12-13 year-olds sure have emotions that fly from one end of the spectrum to the other.  So much so that I didn’t give the quilt another thought until that evening when we got home.

I was sick.  But, figuring we live in SUCH a small community, I was expecting someone to turn it into one of the principals or a teacher or SOMEONE. 

Unfortunately, there is someone in our close-knit community who isn’t as honest as I expect from my children. 

My husband went early the next morning and checked the area, checked the trash cans and didn’t find it.  I emailed the principals, emailed a note to the local paper – all to no avail.  No one is fessing up to the theft.

The really sad part of it?  That quilt was chosen by my cousin for me to give to her daughter, who had a baby earlier this month.  My cousin who passed away less than a week after she picked out the quilt for her not-yet-born grandson. 

After spending a month searching and being sick about it, I did what all quilters do – I wrote it off as a very bad experience with sadness and prayers for the thief…and I made a new quilt.  Same colors.  Same design.

I hope my second cousin likes it, and I know they’ll treasure it because her mom chose it for her grandson.  But, a part of me is still going to be thinking of that quilt and the person who stole the original.  Pretty sad to live around dishonesty.

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