Just a quick post to let my favorite cynic, Maxine, say a few words of her matchless wisdom...







You have my friend, Donna G, to thank for adding these little cartoons to my growing collection of Maxine art. I love Maxine--she's not afraid to say what I'm thinking, lol.

With that said, I hope you all have a




and


From Sharon and "the colleens", Katie
and Patsy Cline

More pictures....

from "the girls" and their quilting friends.

I have to start with Patsy Cline--she had to check out the quilt we made at Hug Club at O'Susannah's. Lynne brought it today so she could sew the label I made on it. Mary was helping her open it....and the next thing we knew, Patsy jumped into the quilt and proceeded to investigate. She ended up having a great time, as my friends swung her back and forth in the quilt.
She still didn't want to get out, but Katie came to investigate. So Patsy had to tunnel under the quilt and play hide-and-seek. She is such a character...and my friends indulge her!!

Here is the quilt our Hug Club is giving to a friend of Lynne's, who is going thru a bad time right now. Lynne, Linda, and I worked on this quilt in the Fall. We've been lucky with our group--we've been able to get a quilt done every month. Here are some of the others we've made.

Judy and Bettina, Linda, Lynne, and I are very proud of all the quilts we've made that are giving people comfort. O'Susannah's furnishes all the fabric and does the quilting, we do the sewing, and we can all feel good that we're helping someone in distress.

Until next time...
Happy quilting from Sharon and "the girls"

DID YOU KNOW?

Nearly twice as many children die from Congenital Heart Defects in the United States each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined? There is a wonderful organization out there called It's My Heart, whose mission is to provide support, spread awareness, educate and advocate for those affected by Acquired and Congenital Heart Defects by creating alliances with fellow families, hospitals, support groups, and the community. One of the needs of this group is masks for babies up to young adults who must wear a mask due to compromised immune systems. Several of us got together and made masks for these kids. I cut up about 6 yards of juvenile fabrics that were just sitting around in my stash gathering dust and made kits for my buddies. Then Jane, Joan, Ann, Gail, Donna, and I went to work and made masks to donate. We filled a large Priority Mail envelope full to overflowing with the 4 sizes of masks they desperately need. I forgot to count and take pictures of what we made, but I know we made at least 5 dozen (132) masks. Here is a picture of the masks from the website... Ours were turquoise bugs, red with blue submarines, and hot pink daisies. I wish I hadn't forgotten to take pictures, but they were really cute. And we know they'll be put to good use.

Until next time....
Happy quilting from Sharon and Katie and Patsy Cline

Super Bowl Sunday...

doesn't necessarily mean football for quilters and sewers. Today members from two of my quilt clubs combined for what I billed as our first annual "Super Bowl Sew-a-Thon". Ten of us gathered together in the local fire hall for a day of fun and sewing. Each lady invited was told to bring her lunch, her sewing machine and sewing supplies, the required number of strip sets all sewn, lined with Peltex, and ironed to make a Biscuit Basket, and a $10 wrapped gift for a "Snowball Fight."

Biscuit Baskets are fabric baskets made by sewing strips together and then weaving them into a basket. One of the gals had already made a larger, round version called the "Knobby Basket", so we assigned her the task of making this new, smaller, rectangular basket--and teaching the rest of us how to make it..

Needless to say, we had a lot of laughs--and some naughty words, too, lol. We had to sew the fabric strips and then insert Peltex strips inside the sewn strips--which led to frustration and laughter both. Then weaving those pesky strips - that have a mind of their own - into a basket shape using clothespins, was a trip in itself! But we all perservered and left with baskets that only needed a binding on them to be finished

We had chips and dip, 2 kinds of sweet breads, lots of chocolates, and a lemon cake to take our minds off any frustration we felt. All this on top of whatever we brought for our lunch.

Then we had our "Snowball Fight", but instead of pelting each other with real snowballs, we just drew numbers and selected from a pile of lovely gifts for our little door prizes. Everyone "won" a great prize--from patterns and books to fat quarters and thread.



What a fun day we had--and everyone wanted to know how soon I could plan another sew-a-thon. Guess I'll have to get right on that, eh?

And finally to close - pictures of Katie and Patsy doing their "Quality Control" jobs after I got home with my basket.

Housekeeping time...

I've been going in and trying to update my side bar links with new
BOM's and remove some of the old things no longer available, even if I haven't been posting. There is so much out there on this world-wide web, that sometimes I get lost for hours, just surfing. Maybe that's why I have so many UFO's, lol. I spend too much time on the computer and not enough time working on my projects. Oh well, a girl has to be well-rounded, right?
These are the blocks I've been working on for various groups I belong to. These Buckeye Beauty blocks are for a quilt drawing for the QB2 Group that most of my Quilt Club belongs to and that we go on retreat with. This Churn Dash block is for a different quilt drawing with some of the same girls, but in a different group.
The final blocks are for my old Block Central group-our Favorite Block swap, this time in Amish solids. I'm calling this my "bumblebee block"--it came out a lot brighter than I intended.
Now that the blocks are done, the hard part starts--waiting to see if I'm one of the lucky winners of the quilts or the blocks. If I win the quilts, then I have to choose the next quilt block to make and all the blocks come to me to be made into a top for the next drawing. If I win the blocks, then I get to chose the next pattern we make and I win half of the blocks to make whatever I want with them. So wish me luck!
My Wednesday and Friday Quilt Club ladies
all purchased metal quilt holder stands that will hold a 12" x 14" block quilt. The Wooden Bear has a ton of adorable patterns to make into little quilts to decorate them with (plus they carry the stand) and we've purchased almost all of them! We started with the Snowman quilt-since it's the season. Mine is not quite done-I have to get his eyes sewn on and finish the pom pom for his hat, but isn't he cute? This is Donna's completed one-isn't he sweet?
I was so pumped after getting that almost done, that I went on and made a Valentine one for February. I used the same Churn Dash block from above and added a border and viola--another finished project! Katie likes it, too.
Still on the same roll, I pulled out a stitchery project I had done last year and finsihed it up for March. So now I have St. Paddy's Day covered also.
Let's see if I can keep this up, since my goal for this year was to start finishing up all my UFO's and WIP's. I'm pretty happy so far.
Have to close now with new pics of my girls-they both come out to visit for a while when we stitch or sew, but then they go back to their beds and nap--aren't they good little girls? Can you believe how big Patsy Cline has grown? She is as tall as Katie and she's only 5 months old. It seems like just yesterday she fit in the palm of my hand-with room to spare--and I was feeding her with an eyedropper.

Until next time...
Happy quilting from Sharon and Katie and Patsy