Today was Monday, right?

Between multiple days off school (unplanned) and various other things going on, I sometimes lose track of what day it is.  I do know that today was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so I guess that means it was, in fact, Monday.

I had seen the idea in a number of places:  spend the day in service, and as a quilter, I knew where my time would be spent.  I wanted to work on something for the Quilt of Valor efforts of Alycia.  I took a pass through my various in-process projects and realized that none would suit the purpose.

Naturally, that meant I needed to start something new.

I started with the brightly colored fabric you can see in the back, and pulled brights to go with it.  I had decided to make a Strip Twist quilt, and had this great idea that if I was cutting for one lap size quilt, I might as well cut for two.  Which meant going back to the drawing board for the background fabric, but the result is going to make for better quilts.  I cut and actually sewed for quite awhile last night.

And then did as much sewing as I could today.  I was hoping to get further, but the shop was busier than I was expecting it to be.

I discovered this evening that I can’t count. I was sure I had enough parts for all 24 blocks, but when I got it everything sewn together, I only had 23 blocks. I did some more cutting, sewed it all together and now have 24, enough for 2 quilts. I hope to get them set together and bordered and quilted yet this week.

Alycia needs all the quilts she can get to make her goal this spring.  I hope that if you are a quilter, you’ll consider helping out, either with her goal of 400 (or more!) this spring, or through the Quilt of Valor foundation directly.

I mentioned earlier in the month that we had started doing a nightly reading about USAmerican History with the boys.  I’m happy to say that we started week 3 tonight, and it’s going really well.  We only missed one night, and one night I actually took the book with us when we went shopping, and we read it at McDonald’s.  LOL

Quite a few of the readings have been about slavery or the horrible things early settlers inflicted on the Native Americans.  And I’m not sure I ever really realized how much of our nation’s beginnings are owed to tobacco.

Now that we’ve gotten that habit started, I got to thinking I wanted to pick up something else that I have been meaning to try to do, and that’s learn more about how to read and think critically about books.  I read a lot, but purely for pleasure and sometimes i read so fast, that I’m mostly just skimming.

So, I’m coming out, Internet, and telling y’all that I’m getting ready to read some weighty stuff:

I’ll let you know how it goes.

I would actually love to find a  reading partner, so if anyone wants to read Don Quixote with me, and then try to work some other Serious Books, send me an e-mail!

In the meantime, though, I’m headed for bed.

TTFN-

Suzanne

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Stars and Stripes: Quilt of Valor

I’m sure that by now most of you know that a Quilt of Valor (QOV) is a quilt that is presented to a combat wounded service member. Organizers are specifically trying to present these to the young men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with quilts, but any combat wounded service member can be a QOV recipient.

The foundation is always looking for help. You can visit http://www.qovf.org to learn how you can help with this project.

Shown above is the quilt I just finished that I’ve been talking about for the last week or so. The original quilt that this is based on is a quilt in the Smithsonian National Collection. It was made in 1861 and is 86 by 87. It was made by Mary Rockhold Teter for her son George who served in the Union forces during the Civil War.

The quilt is found in a book called Quilts: An American Legacy written by Mimi Dietrich (in 1996). Her book includes photos of a number of quilts from the Smithsonian, and the instructions to make quilts based on the original quilts. The replicas aren’t necessarily copies, a lot of times they are adaptations. Mimi’s adaptation of the Stars and Stripes quilt was only 38 by 38 and so I adapted her adaptation in order to make a quilt large enough to be a lap quilt for a soldier. (My quilt is 62 by 65).

When I first started making quilts, I never thought I’d ever want to make the same quilt over again. : I’ve since learned that even though you might be using the same pattern, you never make the same quilt. Something is always different (at least it is for me) and I will be making this pattern again. This quilt was a bit of an experiment: I was making do with what fabric I had on hand and had to make some choices I wouldn’t make if I had had a little more fabric. If I make it again, the stripes will be longer (and a bit wider) and the border will be a bit narrower (I think it’s a little out of proportion as it is).

Actually, as I was trimming it, I discovered that the side borders are an inch wider than the top and bottom borders. Don’t have any idea how that happened.

The applique was all done on the longarm (in fact, I didn’t even fuse the pieces down first, I just plopped them down where I wanted them and then went around them twice with a wavy stitch.  In fact, the quilt is even easier than it might look:  the center blue square is not pieced, it is an appliqué over top of the striped background.

I’d better quit talking about this quilt, though, and get it in a box and on its way.  I think I can get it to Alycia before Friday, but not if I keep sitting here.

Next up:  a post about the frustrations of trying to book a trip to Florida on a low-cost airline.

TTFN-

Suzanne

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