My heart aches

Wednesday I found out my college roommate has cancer. Her name is Rebekah, but we call her Becky. She is 34 years old and she is scheduled for surgery on Friday. My heart aches.

I felt so helpless to be there for her because of distance. I did the first thing that popped into my heart. I made a quilt. I ran to the quilt store on Wednesday night and picked up a layer cake. I needed to get this done quickly so I went with a pre-cut. I wish I lived near the Fabric Shack which has a large selection of pre-cuts. There were 3 layer cakes to choose from, so I went with Serenade by Kate Spain. It had a lot of repeats so I did a bit of 'symmetry' in fabric layout with the Quartered Nines pattern. I put it together in 4 hours.

Quilters are the nicest people! I can't say that enough. I went to quilt guild on Thursday evening and mentioned I wanted a quilter to do an emergency weekend quilt job. Veronica called a friend and left a message to see if she could do it and Janorah offered to do it herself. I dropped the quilt off with Janorah last night and she said she would have it done this weekend.

Please pray for my friend.

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:13-18

I didn't realize people actually read this!

I've actually had a couple people 'complain' that I haven't posted in a while.Summers always get REALLY crazy with work and this year has been no exception. I love my job, but I don't have a life during the summer. The drought has added to that because that has meant more hours to work outside without a reprieve of rain days.

Things have slowed down considerably so I was able to take a day off and go to the Iowa State Fair. I love the fair! When I first moved to Iowa I thought I was too good for the fair, but I went and I was hooked. There is so much to see and so much to eat. I ate a lot on Friday and on Friday night I did not feel good.

I went with my friends Emily and Brian. We stopped at the State Fair Sew In and for an hour I worked in a sweatshop while I had two bosses telling me to hurry! We had to pick out 12 strips and sew them together. They picked the fabrics and I sewed. It is an UGLY quilt. So very, very ugly. I feel for the poor child who gets this. Ladybugs, spiders, corn and fish. Brian said it was for a child who has an interest in entomology and marine biology. We are science nerds. The cool thing about the system is you can do just one thing and walk away. I love to piece so I pieced and I left. Piece out! I couldn't resist. I am so funny.

So here are a couple pictures of us. They are cell phone pics so they are terrible. I am not sure why I am blurry but the other two look OK. Those two had way too much fun. I was sure we were going to get kicked out. We were loud. Emily dropped her lemonade on the floor. And all we had to show for in the end was a very ugly quilt top.

What a difference a (new) blade makes

I have yet to make a Schnibbles deadline, but I am determined to finish up this month's project. I changed my blade before I started yesterday. HUGE difference. On Friday I was at a friend's house doing some cutting and my blade was dull, so she gave me a Harbor Freight blade. I had read about using Harbor Freight blades instead of Olfa blades because of the lower price. My friend hadn't tried them before so we were both pretty excited about the option of cheaper blades. She opened up a package of 2 blades; the first blade was all gunked up so she gave me the second one. It didn't work. It kept skipping so I don't think I am going to get any. I will stick with the Olfa blades when they come on sale. That being said, Joann's is having a huge sale right now with 50% off thread, cutters, matters and replacement blades.

I am using Salt Air from Cosmo Cricket for Summer Day. I love this line. It is cheery and fun. I am switching the pattern up a little by having solid navy for the 'bars' instead of more charm squares.

I am a shortcut quilter and with cutting so many charm squares to the same size, I attached tape to my ruler to make the process easier. The yellow tape shows the first cuts and the blue the final size. I used a couple other things to make the process easier, but I think I am going to save that for a 12 minute tips at the Des Modern Quilt Guild. Next meeting is Thursday (April 19th) 6:30 pm at the Waukee Arts Center. Do come if you are in the Des Moines area. It is a very fun time. 

I'm it!

I was tagged! By Linda at Flourishing Palms. I met Linda through the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild. Apart from being a very accomplished quilter, she has a very caring spirit. She leads Stitchin' Mission, where she teaches quilting while serving different organizations.

So as part of being tagged, I have to answer questions:

Where is one place in the world you haven't yet visited, but would like to?
Hhmm. . . Vietnam. I've always wanted to go to Vietnam.

What's your favorite quiltmaking gadget?
My seam ripper! Really. Or my purple thang.

How often do you oil your sewing machine?
*sheepish smile* I haven't. I have two machines and I haven't ever taken them in or oiled them. I have removed the plates and removed lint.

What's your favorite perfume?
I don't wear perfume, but I love the smell of Miss Dior.

Machine-piecing/applique or hand-piecing/applique?
Machine piecing! When I want to do hand work, I cross stitch.

What's your favorite dessert?
Tie between cheesecake and pie.

Who's your favorite author?
Jane Austen. Yes, I am one of 'those' women.

What quilting technique would you like to learn more about?
I took a beginner paper piecing class and I would like to explore that avenue more. I would also like to learn how to sew curves. The combination of that would be New York Beauty. There is a New York Beauty quilt along going on right now, but I had to forgo. I have been stalking the flickr group.

What dish do you cook/bake that is considered your best?
I am a dessert person, but I wouldn't say I have a signature dish. I guess one I do make repeatedly is Gingerbread Pear Trifle. It is exactly what it sounds like. VERY good!

Machine-sewn binding or hand-sewn binding?
Hand sewn :( I hate binding. I would like to start a movement to make no-binding quilts popular.

So I am tagging Jenny at Down to Sew. Jenny rescues my quilts by doing wonderful long arm quilting. Apart from being a talented quilter, she is a lovely person.

My questions are:
1. If you took on a new hobby, what would it be?

2. Do you have a hard time gifting quilts? I often wonder about this, because some people are very generous with their quilts and I am not (sometimes).

3. Raw Edge or Needleturn Applique?

4. What colour continually shows up in your quilts, but you deny 'liking' it?

5. Favourite band from the '90s?

BOM Rehab

I signed up last year for the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery Block of the Month. It started in June! It is now almost April. April is Block ELEVEN. I have done ONE block. There are NINE blocks still in their clear plastic bags. All the numbers are making this post sound like Sesame Street. 


Anyway, Sinta over at Pink Pincushion is hosting a BOM Rehab. This is the same Sinta who co-hosts Another Year of Schnibbles. The goal is to finish blocks over the weekend and then post a blog post on Monday. Every post is an entry into a giveaway drawing for the month. I am going to give it a shot. It is an uphill battle though because even if I do keep up and finish a block a week, I have THREE months worth of work ahead of me.

This post was brought to you by the numbers 11, 1, 9 and 3. 

Blah blogging

Is it just me or does it seem like the usual bloggers have been laying low lately? I know several are having babies, but it seems like there has been a sort of quiet on the blogging front. I do still have plenty of blogs to read.

Does anybody know anything about Karrie Lyne from Freckled Whimsy? I really enjoyed her blog and tutorials.

Super fun evening and end to a LONG week

I have a tendency to sign up for a lot of stuff and some times all those things come due at the same time. I believe in keeping my commitments so I burn the candle at both ends to get everything done. This week was one of those weeks. Daylight Savings did NOT help. Work got busy all of a sudden and I had ministries at church I had serve. Six dozen cookies and two mangled mini quilts later, I am here to say I survived!

Last night I spoke at the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild. This is such a wonderful group of creative, talented and all round wonderful ladies. The title of my presentation was "Traditional Design in Modern Quilting". It was part educational, part show and tell. More than anything, I enjoyed just sharing about my culture, growing up and my last trip.

So if you are in the Des Moines area, please join us. You WILL enjoy yourself. We meet on the third Thursday of every month at 6:30. The website has additional information.