Happy Birthday!

AND THE WINNER IS DEBB!
Congrats!!

 The fat quarters to be included in my birthday giveaway drawing on Friday, February 10th.
Tell your friends and comment with a sewing room organizing idea below. Thanks.


Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.

Sammy Hagar

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Voltaire

February marks many firsts in my life.

The most important is my birthday. Not a significant one this year, but simply the odd year right before the next big birthday (ending in a zero!).

The second is the first anniversary (or birthday) of my blog. This Quilting Mama blog has provided me great joy and the added discipline of thinking and writing about my quilt art. It has been a lovely year and only the beginning of this journey for me. I hope you all have enjoyed my small contribution to the world of quilting as much as I have enjoyed putting the pieces together and sending them out into cyberspace.

This year, however, I've decided to get organized. The concept of "A place for everything and everything in its place" has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I hope, however, to conquer some spaces in my home this year, as well as those ever multiplying "important" papers. The little book "Organize now!" by Jennifer Ford Berry (purchased at Lowe's) is my guide. (Link: Organize NOW!)

It helps the normal person to organize their entire life and space in a 52 week plan. Naturally, I skimmed  and skipped weeks 1-4 Organize your Mind, Schedule, Cleaning Schedule and Priorities respectfully deciding that those are life-skills and will take much, MUCH longer and went straight to the doable Week 20: Organize your Entryway or Mudroom. 

Here are the first attempts at this work:

 The foyer. You'd think we all had six or more feet!

A seemingly useless space in the kitchen which now houses a cork pin board for all the childrens' school work, papers and reminders.

Finally, this 3-6 foot closet system was used to help get a handle on our laundry room, seen below.

Behind the photographer is the washer and dryer and a window.  Now I can hang things to dry. Someday, I will have a horizontal surface for drying sweaters, until then, the top of the dryer will have to do.

Now most importantly, the little cupcake quilt seen here was created from Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie Bautista McFarland's book "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks: fun with free-form piecing." (See description and link here: Out of the Box ) This is not a book I would usually buy, but instead have enjoyed the free nature of the piecing and the 'no errors' method to fun wonky quilt blocks. Won in a free giveaway, I love this book and am glad to have been the lucky winner.

 

I'm celebrating this month of birthdays with a giveaway of my own. As you saw above my organizing had not yet included my quilting space. I already have a design wall and a way to organize fabric, but I would love to conquer the rest of the mess. To enter my give away, which will be 6 random fat quarters from the Quilting Mama's stash, please comment below with a tip which you've used to organize your quilting or hobby space. 

THANK YOU!  I will be posting progress later this year. The giveaway winner will be randomly chosen on February 10th.

************

Description of "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks" from the Martingale Press Website

Using step-by-step instructions, learn to make out-of-the-box blocks, square them up, and fit them together in a dynamic border or quilt top.

• Treat yourself to patterns for 13 whimsical blocks and seven colorful quilts
• Make pictorial blocks, such as cats, shoes, ice pops, and letters, as well as wonky traditional blocks, such as Nine Patch and Stars
• Enjoy confidence-building projects that anyone can make

Collaborations

Quilting collaborations take on many forms, from simply fabric swapping to Round Robins, Blocks of the Month, Mysteries, and my personal favorite-- I'll do this part and you do that. Working together is how our quilting ancestors finished their large bed quilts and prepared to establish their new home with a new husband. Now, I collaborate mostly to create gifts and quilts for charity. Here are two examples.

From a pattern called "Flower Garden" by Lucy Fazely and Michael Burns, this lovely sampler was chosen by my guild's Block of the Month Ladies as few Springs ago. Each of us had to make two flowers blocks, then a random drawing revealed me as the luck winner!! Sizing each of the supposedly 6 1/2 inch blocks was a challenge, so I allowed the green sashing to help me. It was finally quilted and given as a gift to my mother, for "Mother's Day"--- you can decide the year (as I presented it just after Christmas!). HA!

"A Little Nature for Neva" is a baby quilt creation which my Mother-in-Law and I worked together on for a new baby in the family. It contain nine blocks of little critters.........a snail, butterfly, turtle, seal and two catterpillars. The machine embroidery is from the Husqvarna/ Viking Machine Embroidery Disk #93 called "Sweet Dreams with Thread Velvet." The window box settings are original and the quilting if free motion and stitch-in-the-ditch.

My Mother-in-Law prepared the top and then I made the border, pieced the backing, layered and backed it 

before beginning the quilting process. A very nice collaboration which was not completed for Christmas, 

but at least it is well before the child is six months old!! Below are close up photos of those cute animals. 

Epiphany

Definition of Epiphany by Merriam Webster Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epiphany)

1-January 6 observed as a church festival in commemoration of the coming of the Magi as the first manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles or in the Eastern Church in commemoration of the baptism of Christ

2- an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being

3- a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure b : a revealing scene or moment

Above is the response to the inspiration of Epiphany. Stars which guided the wise men to the manger, stars which continue to inspire, and stars in the eyes of those struck with moments of "illuminating discovery" which can only come from a greater source.

The blocks are 9 inches finished and from Marsha McCloskey's book "Block Party, A Quilter's Extravaganza of 120 Rotary-Cut Block Patterns" (c.1998, Rodale Press). The fabrics are "Fairy Frost" by Michael Miller Fabrics.

Within the light blue blocks I quilted stars drawn by my daughter onto sheets of paper. The backing is a winter berry fabric of unknown designer, and I used cream thread to set off my daughter's stars (seen below).

This year I am reflecting on giving and being grateful. I am keeping a daily journal of gratitude in the attempt to recognize the numerous gifts I have been given and continue to be given by God, others, organizations, etc. in my life. The idea of giving what one can as the wise men gave what they could, is beautifully noted in this poem by Christina Rossetti.

In the Bleak Midwinter 

by Christina Rossetti (1872) 

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air,
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

http://poetry.about.com/library/weekly/blrossettichristmas.htm 

To listen to a beautiful setting by composer Gustav Holst and performed by the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge, England, click here:

Happy Epiphany!

Scraps, Memories, Inspiration

This Christmas my quilting Mother-in-law gave me the book "Cut the Scraps!" by Joan Ford as well as other great quilting related toys. At the Empire Quilt Festival in October 2011, we heard Joan speak and show all the quilts she made from her scraps. The technique of the book begins with the task of cutting up your stash into the following size squares: 2 inches, 3 1/2 inches and 5 inches respectfully. It also involves throwing away smaller sized pieces.

This would be a challenge for me.

Here is what my scraps looked like this morning.
What a mess!  Unfortunately, I'd love to say that this was the only box of such scraps, but that would be a huge lie.

So, I began and what a fascinating trip. As I ironed, cut and sorted the memories off all those quilted projects flew back into my head. I could see the baby's mother as she opened the baby quilt, share the excitement of the siblings with their new I-Spy quilt, enjoy my quilting student's first attempt at machine quilting, and best of all I could experience that same feeling I get when I give away a quilted project today. It was a lovely morning!

Here is what I was able to cut up:

Did I get to the bottom of the bin? Not exactly, but I am well on my way.

Adding the 2 inch squares to my previous attempt at organizing, I now have this collection organized by "Kids/ Novelty" and "Christmas" prints. What you don't see are all the other non-specific squares and a myriad of floral prints from my "Watercolor" quilting days.

Finally, the big bin also produced some larger pieces and a few random blocks which I'm sure will become future wonders for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (which has ended) or other projects.

Happy New Year and may you consider this wonderful little book as a resource in the name of that "get organized" new year's resolution which we all make...................and I might actually keep this coming year!!


Link to Joan Ford's website:     Scrap Therapy

Christmas Quilting Give-Away

AND THE WINNER IS LISA COX! # 52 

chosen by Random.Org

Who commented, "I've never really done any Christmas quilting until this year."

 I hope this extra bit of fabric helps your future Christmas quilting, Lisa.

Thank you too all who visited my blog and all my new followers.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

The Quilting Gallery is celebrating it's 4th Birthday with a Blog Hop Party. From today, until December 17th, 2011 please comment below on what your favorite type of "Christmas Quilting" is AND WHY then you will be entered into a random drawing to win 6 fat quarters from my Christmas Stash.  
Blog Hop Party Link

Meanwhile, enjoy the few pieces I picked out to share from my past Christmas quilting endeavors.

 

As a toddler, my daughter carried around one particular doll at all times.

She slept with it, fed it, bathed it, etc. She was quite a good "mother" to this doll.

That Christmas I made all her friends baby doll blankets from the scraps of other Christmas projects.

They were quick and fun as I strip pieced and simply quilted on the diagonals.

"Silent Night," seen above, was made as a thank you for dear friends who watched my daughter at church so that I could lead the children's music.
The "Stars" tree skirt also seen above was made for dear friends who live far away but are always near in our hearts.

Finally, "Santa" was a donation to The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, AAQI.  It was created from a preprinted cotton panel from Diane Knott framed with purple star fabric to bring out the purple tinted snow on the chimney and the twinkle in Santa’s eyes. Free motion quilting added texture and helped me practice this valuable skill. The purchase of "Santa" earned $45 for Alzheimer's research.

So, after much debate, here is a photo of the 6 fat quarters you will receive if you are my lucky winner. They are very, VERY bright Christmas fabrics, except for the green with gold flecks.

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Christmas & AAQI

*Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel,Vrolijk Kerstfeest, Jwaye Nowel, Mele Kalikimaka, Buone Feste Natalizie, Srozhdestvom Kristovym, Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom

Holiday greetings, however you say it, and may the season be joyous and bright for you and your family.

With all my best, 

This Quilting Mama

If only Christmas were that simple. A nice greeting on a beautiful blog or greeting card, a smile or virtual hug and a wish for the new year ahead.

Instead, we are often burdened with obligation at this time of year. These obligations come in many forms and, at times, distract from the true meaning of the season and the celebrations which should be joyful and free from stress. I have very little advice in this area, as I too am in a constant struggle with my children's overzealous toy desires, my worries about appropriate gifts for relatives who have everything, and my genuine desire to "keep everyone happy" in my life.  

So, this year, I've turned to one of my favorite charities for help. The quilts below are among the over 500 quilts available for sale at the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative website (www.alzquilts.org).  All profits from the sale of these little pieces of art go directly to fund Alzheimer's research projects.

Here is the link: AAQI.

The "Quilts for Sale" tab on the left hand column will guide you to lots of beautiful pieces which will not only surprise your loved one, but will add that extra good feeling of having been purchased for a greater cause.

Here is the story behind my last five donations to AAQI:

"Christmas Tree" was created using the  Double Diamond Ruler.

It was very fun to explore the possibilities of this new tool. The possibilities are endless!

"Number 20 for AAQI" was featured in my October 2011 blog post about the 

Empire Quilt Festival and the usage of scraps to make something of value.........

as our quilting ancestors have been doing for generations.

These two stained-glass-inspired creations were featured in my June 2011 post about 

"found fabrics."  They were literally cut from the same cloth.  

Finally, from my October 2011 post, "Hosanna!"  was inspired by another quilt 

and the Squiggles technique of  Kris Gregson Moss.

Overwhelmed with choices?  Consider getting a loved one a gift certificate to AAQI.
Link:  AAQI Gift Certificates

Then they can visit the website and pick a quilt on their own. 

It seems that I've been called to a "shopping with a purpose" Christmas. 

What will you buy that will make a difference in another person's life?

 *****************

Below is more exciting news from Ami Simms and AAQI.

The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative’s Third Annual Celebrity Auction Raises $17,327.26

(Burton, Michigan) -- November 29, 2011: The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative’s (AAQI) third annual celebrity quilt auction raised a record breaking $14,025 for the nonprofit. This year’s theme was the "Stanley Cup Quilt-Off." Twelve quilters in two teams competed for bragging rights, the highest selling quilt earning its maker the MVP award. The Feed Dogs team members were Alex Anderson, Hollis Chatelain, John Flynn, Becky Goldsmith, Renae Haddadin, and Sue Nickels. The Rotary Blades members were Caryl Bryer Fallert, Pat Holly, Libby Lehman, Judy Mathieson, Mary Sorensen, and Ricky Tims.


Hollis Chatelain raised $2,570 with her quilt "Hollow," (shown above) a 16" x 16" thread-painted, machine quilted image of a woman's face which earned her the coveted MVP award. This is the third year in a row her quilt earned top dollar in the charity auction.


A Viewer's Choice component to the "Stanley Cup Quilt-Off" was also offered at International Quilt Festival in Houston and online. Each $1.00 donation was counted as one vote, raising an additional $2,277.26 overall. Profits from sales of earrings made with images of each of the 12 auction quilts brought in $1,025, bringing the total for the event to $17,327.26.


High and low resolution images of the twelve quilts are available at: http://www.alzquilts.org/scphotos.html 

The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative is a national, grassroots organization whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research. "Alzheimer’s Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" (a nationally touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's) and the Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilt project are two of its efforts. The AAQI has raised more than $679,000 for Alzheimer’s research since January 2006. Ami Simms of Flint, Michigan is the founder and executive director of AAQI, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Her mother had Alzheimer’s.

###

Contact:
Ami Simms
Founder and Executive Director
Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative
1200 Creekwood Trail
Burton, MI 48509
(810) 637-5586
www.alzquilts.org

* How Merry Christmas is said

The 23rd Psalm & Camp Fowler

 

The Dove of Peace, seen above, adorns a stole which three quilting ladies from our church made for our pastor this summer. When asked to share some information about the stole, she wrote the following:

The 23rd Psalm Stole made by Bobbie N., Lee P. and Lynn Makrin for Jan Hoffman for summer camp, Camp Fowler, 2011 Preparation for leading a week at camp, planning for teaching 90 youngsters in Grades 3-12, takes months of work.  About 4-5 weeks before our assigned week, Pastor Jan came up with the idea for a stole to wear each day.  But she didn’t have a stole portraying the 23rd Psalm.  So she asked her quilting friends if they could make a stole for Camp Fowler.  They jumped at the chance and quickly Lee put out a wide variety of beautiful fabrics, many deep green fabrics representing the beloved Adirondack forest, clear blues for sky and deep mountain lake.  Bobbie envisioned embroidery and appliqué.  Lynn asked questions, arranged and rearranged cloth pieces. A glorious stole was created and ready for Pastor Jan on Sunday, July 31, 2011 for the church’s week of volunteering at camp.  The 23rd Psalm stole was worn each morning for Morning Watch, outdoor devotions before breakfast.  Pastor Jan taught a part of the 23rd Psalm each morning, using the stole, helping the campers memorize the Psalm.  The stole is a rich visual which helped us learn. The stole hung in the chapel during the day.  Pastor Jan would wear it at evening chapel or display it prominently on the communion table. The theme for the summer was “Bring Forth the Kingdom.”  A week of summer camp at Fowler helps us practice Kingdom living.  The 23rd Psalm teaches us what the Kingdom might look like.  Signs throughout the camp pointed to the Green Pastures or Meadows, where we play games; the Still Waters where we swim; the Dangerous Places where we aren’t supposed to climb on the rocks on the shore. The 23rd Psalm is regularly recited at funerals and during Sunday morning liturgy.  Pastor Jan wears the stole at her discretion.

Thank you for those lovely words, Pastor Jan. Now to the quilting. As you recite the Psalm (seen below if you've forgotten it) you can look at the stole from the left side (Pastor's right) and "read" it down beginning with "The Lord is my shepherd" and then "read" up right side beginning with "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" in the dark black section and ending at the top  "and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."  The techniques used were mainly fusible applique with free-motion quilting on top. Bobbie's notes on stole and embroidery designs are here:  "First the photo, which is of the chapel at Camp Fowler, which Lee had in her camera. We copied it to my computer. From there I reduced the size to fit the place on the stole. I then printed it onto special fabric made for photo copying. There was backing on the fabric & I left it on to give it more body before I appliqued it in place with a blind stitch on my machine & invisible thread. The other designs were bought from various sites. Some, like the chalice & loaf , and the feet were excellent. Others were just OK so I digitized them again on my machine. I have a Bernina 730 machine and use the version 6 Bernina software." Finally, just like the experience of being at camp as a child with your friends for one very special week within the middle of the summer, this collaboration was similar. We were working together for a specific goal with a definite deadline. It was very fun, easy and a learning experience for me. I hope the "Quilting Ladies" at church will have the chance to work together again! Much gratitude goes out to Pastor Jan for the request, and to Bobbie and Lee for working with me and around my children!

Psalm 23 The LORD Is My Shepherd
A Psalm of David.
1	The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2	He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:          he leadeth me beside the still waters. Rev. 7.17
3	He restoreth my soul:          he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4	Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,          I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5	Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:          thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6	Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:          and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Published by The American Bible Society
The Holy Bible: King James Version. 2000.
http://www.bartleby.com/108/19/23.html