KatyQuilts

Needle and Thread

Posted on January 2, 2014 by katyquilts

Good morning! This week with Daughter #2 home is flying by at lightening speed! This is what I have sewn this week:

She actually ranked up a while ago but brought a couple uniform pieces home this week and asked if I could put on her new patches. It costs $5 on base to get this done. Of course I jumped at the chance to help her out! I also whipped up a rice bag for her.

I have made these for years and my girls love them. Just a couple minutes in the microwave and they stay warm for quite a while. I cut a piece of flannel about 10 ” x 12″ and sew three sides up. Then I fill as much as I want with rice, tuck in the exposed end and sew closed by machine. I do reinforce the seams.

Back to work this morning. Can’t wait until 1:00 when I can come home and spend the rest of the day with my girls!

I am linking up with Kelly for:

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

2013 Statistics and Looking Ahead to 2014

Posted on January 1, 2014 by katyquilts

One of the reasons I keep a blog is to record projects and finishes for my own purposes. It really is a bit of a quilting diary for me and I can go back and see what I started, finished, what worked and what didn’t. So this may be boring to some but this post is about statistics for me.

Blog

I started blogging again in early 2013 after a break of more than a year.

Visitors from 80 different countries
Over 50,000 visits during the year
I have posted 524 times total and averaged about 5 posts per week this year
My most popular post this year regarded making my own version of “Red Snappers” for easy loading of quilts into my long arm frame. The post is here.

Books

I work as a reference librarian so it is no surprise that I love to read. I read 94 books this past year. Listening to audio books is a great motivator to keep sewing when I might otherwise quit for the day.

Knitting

Not gonna lie, my knitting output stunk this year. I made three pair of baby socks and two pair of adult socks. I made a few dishcloths. I bought more yarn than I used.

Quilting

Quilts of Valor ~ 13 plus one Coast Guard quilt for my brother

Quilts Beyond Borders ~ quilted 17 tops and made 3 additional complete quilts

Comfort Quilts for local shelter ~ 3 completed

Bed quilts ~ 5 bed quilts, the largest was king sized

Large nap quilts ~ 7, not counting QOVs

Baby Quilts ~ 4

Minis and smalls ~ 16

I sold two sewing machines this year and bought my HQ Avante mid-arm quilting machine. It has been a fabulous learning experience. I have become comfortable with pantographs and am learning to use rulers and templates. I took two Craftsy classes.

Last Christmas, Mr. Wonderful bought me my Accuquilt Studio die cutter and it has made a HUGE difference in how much I accomplish. I often stalled out on a project when I had cutting to do but no longer. I LOVE cutting scraps up into neat little perfectly cut piles. Sick, I know.

I participated in a charm square swap, two block swaps, and two individual swaps. I won three blog give-aways!

Moving ahead in 2014

Knitting

I want to knit more socks but I am not buying any more yarn! I am going to try again to knit 6 pair of socks this year.

Books

My goal for the year is 100 books. However, I want to spend a lot more time on one book I have read through many times, the Bible. It is the bread of life and has all the knowledge that I really need contained within its pages.

Service Quilts

I hate the term charity quilts and someone suggested to me the term service quilts, I like that. I think this is the year I will volunteer to quilt QOVs for others. I will plan to make 6 completely on my own and I hope to quilt 12 for others.

I will quilt 10 tops for Quilts Beyond Borders. This is less than last year but my passion is QOV and will focus more time there.

Small Quilt Talk Group

I will continue with this group and hope to complete the 12 monthly challenges.

Blog

I will continue to blog roughly 5 times per week. Blogging from my phone is so quick and easy! People ask me how I get so much done. I am a list maker and a blog is like a visible list of ongoing projects and keeps me motivated to get things done and move on to the next project. I love blogging and the interaction with my readers. Thank you to each and every one of you that read my ramblings and comment on my postings! Responding to comments is taking an increasingly large amount of time and I am rethinking how I can respond and connect with my friends out there. What do you all think about my responding in the comments section rather than e-mail? I also plan to work on improving my picture skills this year! (cue the Hallelujah chorus!)

Personal Quilts

I received an entry for a local quilt show and with all my finishes last year, I am struggling to find anything I can enter because they are all long gone. My entry is due Monday so my first goal for the new year is to find 5 quilts to enter and get that mailed off.

Next short term goal, my library branch is hosting the holiday staff lunch this year and my supervisor asked if we could decorate with some of my quilts. I have decided to pull out all my red and white quilts and may try to make one or two more. This is two weeks away so I need to get going on this.

I need to sit down and create a UFO list. I am considering participating in a “Finish A Long” somewhere as motivation to get some long standing projects finished. I really want to get some of my own projects done this year. Here is a short list of quilting UFO priorities:

Farmer’s Wife quilt (are you sick of this one yet? LOL)
A Calendar/Block a Day project from 4 years ago!
Dear Jane ~ No, I am not doing the whole dang thing. I just can’t but I have blocks to use.
Baby quilt for Baby Q (Grandbaby #2 due in June)
Quilting the Vintage Trip Around the World Quilt that Mr. Wonderful bought me for Christmas

I will create a more complete list next week. Not much time for lists with Daughter #2 home. I am spending EVERY minute she is awake with her!

Learning

I am not sure learning is a goal because the kind of things I want to learn may not be measurable.

I want to get proficient at quilting feathers
I want to learn more about EQ7
I want to become better friends with my embroidery machine
I want to learn about machine quilting as a business, not sure I want to do this but I won’t know if I don’t learn more about it.
I want to take a few more Craftsy classes on machine quilting (Free Motion Feathers and Quilting Negative Space, both with Angela Walters)
I want to go to the AQS show in Grand Rapids in August

So much to do and so little time! I hope to make the most of my days in 2014!

Even though my goals list is not complete, I am linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Goals 2014.

Posted in Goals | 7 Comments

2013 in Review part 4 ~ Quilts Beyond Borders

Posted on January 1, 2014 by katyquilts

I became involved with Quilts Beyond Borders last year. I made several quilts for them and quilted many more tops. It is a great group and gave me an opportunity to practice quilting on something that would be useful.

Here are the quilts I completed for QBB this year:

I am not sure I got all of these and a couple of those shown above that were made completely by me went to our local women’s shelter.

This is another organization that I hope to continue to partner with in the coming year. You can find out more about QBB here.

Posted in Finishes, Quilts Beyond Borders | 3 Comments

2013 in Review Part 3 ~ Small Quilt Talk Group

Posted on December 31, 2013 by katyquilts

Early last year, I joined the Small Quilt Talk (SQT) group on Yahoo, hosted by Kathy Tracy. She has written several delightful books of small quilts and uses one of her patterns each month as a challenge. I joined in February but went back and completed a quilt for January. The only month I missed was June; it was applique!

These are out of order but here they are anyway!

I did two of the challenge quilts for this month. Here is the second:

This next one I made for my SQT swap partner:

The next one was made for my Secret Santa Swap partner:

This next one was my least favorite. Not because of the pattern, I just didn’t care for the colors I chose.

I will try to keep up with this years challenges as well. I really enjoyed being part of this group. The one change I am considering, I am thinking I will make all my SQT challenges this year with vintage fabric. I have quite a stash and this would be a fun way to use it.

Posted in Doll Quilts, Small Quilt Talk Group | 4 Comments

2013 in Review Part 2 ~Quilts of Valor

Posted on December 31, 2013 by katyquilts

My goal for this year was to complete 12 QOVs. I made 13 plus a quilt for my brother to honor his service in the Coast Guard.

I made two like this in January:

This one was made for the HMQS Quilting Treasures QOV challenge and was awarded to a vet after the show:

This mini was for a QOV friend:

This was the Coast Guard quilt made for my brother:

One goal for 2014, learn to take better pictures!

Posted in Finishes, Quilt of Valor | 3 Comments

2013 in Review Part 1 ~ Miscellaneous Quilts

Posted on December 31, 2013 by katyquilts

I thought I would go back and review my finishes for the year. I will break this up in several parts and try to categorize. This is mostly for my own records but you may enjoy it as well. These posts will be picture heavy but not wordy!

I actually made two of these QOVs last January:

Humble Quilts QAL:

For Daughter #3

Block a day quilt for February:

For art quilt group:

Wedding quilt for Daughter #1:

Graduation gift for niece:

Another Humble Quilts QAL:

This quilt top was made by my hubby’s grandmother and I quilted and finished it:

Made for a coworker’s baby:

This one went to Oklahoma:

A mini for fun :).

Gift for a QOV friend:

An antique top that I finished:

Nap quilt for a friend who is ill:

Batik quilt for my dear MIL:

Gift for my nephew and his lovely wife:

Another Humble Quilts QAL:

Wedding gift:

This mini was started YEARS ago:

A baby quilt:

Nap quilt for Daughter #1:

I think this is all the miscellaneous quilts! Next time I will show you my Quilt of Valor finishes.

I am linking up with Connie for:

And Lily at Liliy’s Quilts for:

Posted in Finishes, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Design Wall Monday

Posted on December 30, 2013 by katyquilts

It is hard to tell because this no longer fits on my wall but all the rows of blocks that ate completed, are sewn into rows, if that makes sense!

If I deco lied to make this bigger, I can still add diagonal rows in the middle.

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for DWM.

Posted in Civil War Repro Quilts, Design Wall Monday, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Quilts of Valor Presentation

Posted on December 29, 2013 by katyquilts

Yesterday, I had the honor of presenting the two QOVs that I made for the brothers that had served in the US Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom. We met at a restaurant and they had 14 people in attendance! What a lovely family! While many pictures were taken, I didn’t get any. These are the quilts once again.

These were given to fine, humble young men. I always feel so inadequate doing these presentations. I remember things on the way home that I wish I had said. I start wishing I hadn’t made so many mistakes on the quilts etc. I do not say this to illicit comments, just being real. In the face of all they have endured, this IS inadequate. And yet, they were so thankful and appreciative and I received many hugs from both of them. I told them this is not like a military citation or something from the government, this is a token of appreciation from the PEOPLE of this nation. Honestly, there is a part of me that would rather hand these off to someone else to present. I get tongue tied and nervous as all get out! But it was a true honor to meet and speak with these warriors and their families. And I couldn’t wait to get home and pull these out and start thinking about the next QOV That I will make.

This new book from Daughter #1 has some great ideas in it!

If you have never made a Quilt of Valor, please consider making just one. There are so many deserving men and women who have faithfully served our nation. Please visit the Quilt of Valor Foundation website for more details or go to the QOV Facebook page. There is also a QOVF blog here.

Render to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:7 ASV)

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Farmer’s Wife Quilt Progress

Posted on December 29, 2013 by katyquilts

I haven’t fit in much sewing this week but I did get this far on my Farmer’s Wife quilt.

It no longer fits on my design wall! I am thinking about making more blocks, I can add diagonal rows through the middle, to make it fit my bed. I got some great ideas for using the extra blocks but I am thinking I will go bigger instead of smaller. Two things are pushing me in that direction, maybe three. First, Daughter #1 bought me this for Christmas!

It has some great blocks that I can add to the FW quilt! Secondly, I remembered these:

These signature blocks are from a Small Quilt Talk swap. They will make a perfect size quilt for my foyer, not to big and not too small. And thirdly, I’ve been wanting to make a new quilt for my bed for quite a while and this one is already quite far along.

So that is where I am headed at this point in time. It could all change tomorrow…..stay tuned…

BTW, I want to tell you all how very much appreciate that you take the time to read my blog and leave me comments! I read every one and try hard to respond to all via e-mail. However, this will be a very busy week with Daughter #2 returning home for a visit. She will be here for a week. Eeek! So very happy! I will try to answer questions but likely will not be able to keep up with responding to comments. Please don’t think I don’t appreciate your visit!

Posted in Civil War Repro Quilts, Small Quilt Talk Group, Swaps, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

A Very Quilty Christmas Part 2

Posted on December 27, 2013 by katyquilts

Here is the second quilt top that Mr. Wonderful, aka the hubby, got for me for Christmas:

This one is machine pieced.

It also appears that someone washed the top. I hate when they do that! Anyway, this one appears not to have suffered any significant damage. Here are some detail shots.