A John Deere/Truck 'Hug 'n Lug' for FUN!

Took time out to quilt a FUN John Deere/Truck 'Hug 'n Lug' quilt:

John Deere/Truck quilt

Had to use some 'authentic' John Deere flannel fabrics for the backing:

John Deere Flannel backing

And put on some John Deere fabric binding:

Top stitching the binding using pen-stitch and John Deere yellow thread

Finishing up the binding

I free-hand quilted this FUN quilt w/double circle quilting motif that was so Fast & FUN.  I highly recommend taking time out from time to time and creating one of these types of quilts - whether as a gift or to give to someone in need, they are wonderfully refreshing and plain FUN!

All completed and ready for a special quilt label

This John Deere/Truck 'Hug 'n Lug' is for a very special friend of our family who just turned 1 ;-)  Time to finish up the very special quilt label and matching pillow case!

Later,
~Deb

Memorial Day Honors

To Honor and remember those who have fallen:

Thank You to ALL those Service Members and Veterans whom have sacrificed and served our country so we can be Free,
~Deb

Quilts of Compassion Needs Quilts NOW...

The following is an exerpt from a Facebook posting on 5/21/2-14 by 'Quilts of Compassion', Please read, help if you can or pass on to someone who might be able to...Thank YOU!

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quilts-of-Compassion/336600644288 

***QUILTERS WE NEED YOUR HELP - UPDATE 5/21/14***

We need the help of our incredibly generous quilting community to help us "Bring Hope & Encouragement to the Hurting" in these communities. We estimate a minimum of 1500 quilts will be needed for 2 deployments. Please let your friends, quilt guilds and quilt shops in your areas know about our need and the mission of our organization. We are accepting quilts of all sizes for men, woman, children and infants. At this time we have plenty of children's quilts and baby blankets. We are in need of quilts for MEN & WOMEN. They may be quilted or tied. If you enjoy crocheting, we can certainly use afghans of all sizes too. We are praying to receive 1500+ quilts in the next 3-6 weeks!!! We know that we have an incredibly loving community of volunteers and quilters from around the country!!!

We have finalized plans for the deployments of our Disaster Response Teams and we need 750 quilts for EACH deployment to bless those that have been directly impacted by tornadoes in recent weeks. Most have lost their homes & all of their possessions, some have lost their place of employment, some have been injured and with deep sorrow...some have lost loved ones and friends. Your quilt donation is a beautiful blessing to those that we serve in these areas. We deliver ALL quilts DIRECTLY to those that have been impacted by the storms.

Our first team will deploy 5/26 - 6/1 to:
~Baxter Springs, KS
~Quapaw, OK
~Vilonia, AR
~Mayflower, AR
and we will stop in Joplin, MO & Moore, OK as part of our continuing support for these communities.

Our second team will deploy 6/22 - 6/27 to:
~Tupelo, MS
~Louiville, MS
~Fayettville, TN
with possible additions of towns in surrounding areas.

There is a third deployment that we are assessing to Beaver Crossing, NE after several EF3 tornadoes devastated a town of 400 families on Mother's Day AND we are assessing several avenues to have quilts delivered in the San Diego County area to those that have lost their homes to the devastating wildfires.
 
BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP...

To date, our Disaster Response Team has delivered over 10,000 prayer quilts and counting to the following communities:

*Joplin - 2011,2012,2013 - 7 deployments and continuing support.
*Henryville, IN - 2012
*Harrisburg, IL - 2012
*Boston, MA - 2013
*Moore, OK & surrounding communities - 2013 - 2 deployments and continuing support.
*Oregon, OH - 2013
*Perrysburg, OH - 2013
*Jerry City, OH - 2013
*Cloverdale, OH - 2013
*Washington, IL - 2013
*Peoria, IL - 2013
*Pekin, IL - 2013
*Kokomo, IN - 2014

If sending quilts USPS, please send to...
Quilts of Compassion
Disaster Response Team
PO Box 350296
Toledo, OH 43635

If sending quilts Fed Ex or UPS, please send to...
Quilts of Compassion
Disaster Response Team
8248 Deerpointe Drive
Toledo, OH 43617

We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of our COMMUNITY of quilters, volunteers and those that financially support our organization in a variety of ways. We need your help to reach our goal of 1500 quilts and to complete 2 deployments in 2 months to 10 cities in 7 states. We are a 100% VOLUNTEER organization and we work tirelessly with our Quilts of Compassion COMMUNITY to "Bring Hope & Encouragement to the Hurting."

If you have any questions, please contact me at 419-708-9343 or send an email to quiltsofcompassion@gmail.com.

Thank-you so much for your prayerful consideration and generosity,

Janice Grimes
Founder
Quilts of Compassion
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quilts-of-Compassion/336600644288

'Miss Betty' and I will be sending at least one full-size quilt - if you can do the same, that would be Awesome!

~Deb

Monday Mash-up

Alrighty then - let's get to it!  Lots more busy work to show-off.  First, finished up those Quilts of Valor Hearth & Home blocks, got them embroidered and they are out for delivery in California as I write:

26 QOV Hearth & Home Blocks embroidered & shipped!

If you'd like to join us in this endeavor, Please follow this link to capture the Hearth & Home Block Drive quilt pattern which includes submission instructions:  http://www.qovf.org/Pdf_Files/HearthHome_BlockPatternB.pdf  It's also available on the http://www.qovf.org home page...Thank YOU!

Finished quilting the very First Clark County 4-H Quilt of Valor created by 4-Her Phillip:

1st Clark County 4-H QOV coming off the frame

Got the binding applied to the Lady Liberty Quilt of Valor:

Top stitching Lady Liberty binding

Lady Liberty binding w/pen stitch using Rainbows Patriotic

Lady Liberty QOV quilt label getting embroidered:

Lady Liberty QOV quilt label

 Loaded Clark County 4-H QOV quilt #2 on the frame and started quilting Anna's Quilt of Valor:

Anna's QOV getting it's gorgeous blue borders McTavished ;-)

I'm quilting Anna's Quilt of Valor in Superior's So Fine #50 in Hot Chillies #412, including in the bobbin for the blue back, and it is quilting out amazing!  The borders are getting McTavished, no surprise there, and the panto comes from UrbanElementz - Star Dance.  UrbanElementz.com has some amazing pantos - typically, I purchase their 'digital' version 'cause I'm usually in a hurry, it's 1:00 am and I don't have time to wait for a snail mail shipment.

Star Dance panto w/McTavishing in the blue border

Also, I have the luxury of taking any digital panto, importing it into QuiltCad as a .DXF or .HQF file, saving in QuiltCad's native format .GPF, then using it to design single quilting motifs I can use from the front of 'Miss Betty' w/laser, or my favorite, ANY size of pantograph from the back.  I printed this one out as a 10", and while it may take a little time to tape the printer paper together, it's sooo worth it, since I can use these pantos over and over!

                                            Isn't the back panto quilting neat in Red?

Star Dance panto quilting in RED thread!

Time to get back to the quilting FUN!

Later,
~Deb

Toss-Up Tuesday w/some Finishes! and Updates...

So much stuff going on I practically need a spread sheet to keep track!  And I know many of you are going through the same thing w/May Madness ;-)  To get this 'quick show' started - got to finish up another gorgeous Quilt of Valor from Clairellen, and those Quirky Quilters in Michigan.  Check out Terri's stunning QOV:

Terri's Quilt of Valor coming off the frame

Don't you just love those stars!  In another blog posting, I showed how I was quilting those w/SOAR panto.  Had a bit of a dilemma trying to figure out just what to quilt in those filler blocks and I entertained several ideas prior to settling on some eagle feather accents mixed in w/McTavishing:

Eagle feather accents combined w/McTavishing using clear mono-poly

I also used the clear mono-poly to outline each individual center navy blue star to not only nail it down, but to accent it like an applique, worked great!  Since I also McTavished in the outer borders, that, too was showcased in a previous blog posting, this McTavish touch was a good quilting choice and tied everything together while accentuating the eagles in the SOAR panto, win/win.  A final Jamie Wallen alternating swirl in the navy border w/So Fine #431 QOV Navy was a FUN finish!

Here's some final photos:

McTavished exterior border w/interior ruler work and swirled navy border

Ruler work radiating from points of stars

And a couple pics of the flannel back:

Close-up of quilting on flannel back

 The 'full monty' back:

Entire quilting back - looks kinda neat, doesn't it?

Once this gorgeous QOV Star is pruned, it will be all ready to ship - hopefully no later than Thursday.  What an honor once again, to share in the creative process of this amazing Quilt of Valor...Thank YOU!

UPDATE 5/15/2014:   While pruning, I discovered two areas that I failed to complete the ruler work on soooo, looks like this beauty is headed back to the quilt frame for some finishing touches.  I was really wanting to ship it out today w/Hearth & Home QOV blocks I finished up earlier but, such is life.  Hopefully, over the next couple of days - keep those fingers and toes crossed for me!

Planted a few Mother's Day flowers - still have LOTS more to do but, it's a start!

In between quilting and all these glorious MidWest storms, planted a few landscape plantings, (simply will not take the risk of running 'Miss Betty' during a lightning/thunderstorm, in spite of ALL the surge protectors, etc., we have - still risk a hit and the inevitable loss of power halfway across a quilt - so NOT worth the risk!)

During the stormy evenings, I FINALLY managed to finish piecing my 26 Hearth & Home Blocks I committed to QOVF:

Stitching up the last rows of the Hearth & Home Blocks

26 Hearth & Home Blocks ready for their final embroidered message & sig...FINALLY!

UPDATE 5/15/2014:  these 26 Hearth & Home blocks were finished, packed & shipped!

I still need to finish digitizing our Clark Count 4-H Quilts of Valor quilt labels, their Quilts of Valor Viewing Event invitations for June, and four of their 7 Quilts of Valor still need quilted by yours truly before our next sew-in on May 24th...looks like I need to get back to it!

Later,
~Deb

Another Wacky Wednesday on May 1...

Been a little busy and just looked up to see it's already May 1st!  How did that happen?  Time is fast getting away from me sooo, time to get with it!  Here's what I've been up to in between ALL the MidWest Spring storms we've been dodging:

Terri's neat & colorful QOV loaded and started quilting

Again, I have really struggled with how to quilt this really unique Quilt of Valor.  Course, I could run a panto over it fast & furious, and it would be just fine but, I really wanted something special for this one, (seems like I ALWAYS want something special for each and every one of these QOVs but, that's not a bad thing now is it?)  Anyway, finally came up w/a few quilting ideas that I do believe will be rather unique.  Here's the first:

Quilting SOAR eagles around Stars

You'll remember, I used this same eagle motif on another of Terri's quilts, her gorgeous Blue/Gold/Cream QOV Log Cabin, and it worked out really well.  However, it was a bit hard to see in photos but, Terri liked it so that's the most important thing, right?








Decided to do some ruler work coming off some of the points of each pieced star:

Ruler work w/alternating w/waves

Still working out all the details for the final ruler work and background fill but I do believe it will satisfy my desire for my quilting to honor this special quilt.  I'll keep you posted w/updates. ;-)

And of course, had to do some McTavishing in the borders ;-)

 While the storms were raging through our area, couldn't run Miss Betty w/lightning, and power being threatened but, I can always run my vintage, non-computerized Singer straight-stitch machines.  And that's what I did by piecing more Hearth & Home blocks for the National QOV Block Drive.

Red/Gold/Cream H & H Blocks

Blue/Cream Hearth & Home Blocks

Red Stars w/Cream Hearth & Home

 



If you would like to learn how you can participate, Please visit this link:  http://www.qovf.org/Pdf_Files/HearthHome_BlockPatternB.pdf for all the details, including the F R E E download of the Quilts of Valor Hearth & Home block...Thanks!





23 Hearth & Home Blocks and counting...just 3 more to go to satisfy my commitment of 26...Yippee!

Time to get back to it...
~Deb