It Takes a Village

Cheri's quilt arrived yesterday! She also found out that her chemo will start on the 20th. I hope she felt all the love in this quilt when she opened it up!

We got a few blocks......

 Then a few more.

 And a few more. I thought I'd add the center girls and applique friends as a focal point.

 A few more blocks trickled in. ( the time frame was pretty short and that worked out well) Some time ago Karen had sent me some orphan blocks and I used some of those. The mix of pieced and applique blocks looks really good. That blue block to the right of the girls did not make the cut! That was one of my own orphan blocks.

 Karen and I sewed them together as they came in. 

There's a hole in the lower right section. I was waiting for 2 blocks to arrive. When I went to Washington we stopped by Quilters Coop in Stanwood and it so happens that JoAnn used to have a quilt shop in Temecula and she carried many of Cheri's patterns. She kindly donated the fabric for the border.

Then the 2 blocks arrived and I sewed them right in and mailed it directly to Tracey Fisher in Washington  for quilting. I grabbed some fabric before going to Randy's in Sunriver so I could get the binding made. Once she saw the border fabric and what I'd grabbed from my stash she nixed it quickly and chose a black from her stash, which looked great! I got it made while I was there and was ready as soon as the quilt got back to me. Tracey worked like lightning and I had it back in my hands before a week had even passed!!!

She did a wonderful job of quilting it.  And a block we thought may have been lost from Australia showed up so I appliqued it right on the front. I think it looks like something Cheri would do! I love it!

Karen pieced the backing and mailed that when she mailed the other blocks. 

It was so neat and even serged! I'm sure Tracey was grateful. 

These cute little saltboxes are so cute and that black binding was perfect!

Topped off with a label and in the mail 2 days after I received it back from Tracey.

It couldn't have been more of a group effort and I thank you all for being 

a part of this love and healing quilt for Cheri.

The Stars Were Aligned

This is a quilt I've been working on and wanted the recipient to receive it before posting about it. I've mentioned before about a group of us that met while making the Jane Stickle Quilt back in 1997, this is the work of that group. One in our group is hitting some hard life bumps right now and we wanted to make her a quilt to show our love and for her to feel our presence when we can't be their in person. (I just talked about this with my dad's quilt and know you all understand) Recently another friend sent me the book The Blue & The Grey, by Country Threads and the cover photo was perfect for our Civil War fabric loving friend. When I looked at that cover quilt is was only 36" square! So, a little enlarging on Electric Quilt and we were in business. We divided up the blocks and squishes were coming in from many places across the US, one package from Canada, and one from Australia.

As the packages came in I assembled, and waited. Thankfully the two week deadline worked out for Kim, the machine quilter. (She is working out of Quiltworks in Bend and I can recommend her)  I was waiting for the mail lady to come on the last day. The quilt was going to the quilters no matter what.

 

The mail lady even came early bearing a package from Australia with a block, three flying geese sashing and 2 cornerstone blocks. I was so thrilled!! And as soon as I sewed them in I was on my way to the Bend to meet up with the quilter.

 

In my haste I made a little whoops with the backing. The quilter had to add the bottom gold cause it was too short!  It looks good.

 

I had her do an all over pattern since it was such a busy quilt. It was perfect for all that piecing!

 

I sewed the binding down the evening I got the quilt back and packed it up to take to my dads and hand sew down.

These were taken at my dads house before packaging it up to send off the next morning. I did that before leaving town to head home so I could make sure it went out.

The quilt made it and I know it holds lots of prayers and healing rays. The way it all went together I know the stars are aligning to help her get over the hard knocks life is giving her now.

We love you, dear friend.

Sentimental Quilt

I had a comment on my blog about the hand quilt so I thought I'd tell you a bit about it as it is a very special one to me.

In February 2002 because of bad choices from a family member we became guardians of my niece and 2 nephews. It happened fast. We had a senior in high school, one in college and looked forward to being empty nesters. Life doesn't always follow a set plan.  I was in a bit of a twister for a while. Some good quilter friends came to the rescue with a quilt to wrap their love around me. Sometimes we think of a quilt as cotton fabric sewn together. In the midst of a crisis it was so much more.

I treasure this quilt and remember fondly the memories we made with my 5 kids for the 5 years we had them.

 This was our first summer together. The youngest will be a junior in high school!!

P.S. June is starting with a BANG, so my posts and replies will be sporadic.

Birthday Quilt

Look what I got back from the quilters this past week!!! I'm so excited! When I went to Ohio I brought and left three quilts with me. My Jubilee was the priority quilt and my birthday signature blocks was my second. (Just Takes Forever, took a whole year, so why rush the quilting?)

It is lovely! And what a precious memory quilt from all my quilt friends, ones I have never met, and ones I have. I asked for an all-over motif since the blocks were the star of the show. It suits this quilt perfectly.

And this is where I put two lovely blocks that came in too late to make it to the front. As you can see I pieced the backing with a variety of fabric. Thank you again for those who took the time to make a block and send it to Randy for my 50th birthday surprise. And thank you Randy for making this quilt possible and being so sneaky about it!!
 I've got about 1 month before the magic of 50 disappears forever, so I should have plenty of time to get a binding on it.

Love and hugs
Lori

Jane Stickle and Friends

2012 Sisters, Oregon

I've been wanting to do a post about my Jane Stickle Quilt. The two friends with me are Carol (From Canada) and Gabe,(from Australia)  who I met as we were all doing the Jane quilt. What a fun journey with a group of friends. There was 11 of us from the beginning and we have tried to get together here and there over the years.

In 1998 I met Janet in Arizona. She has since died of breast cancer.

I first met Carol in Sisters in 1999.

Lancaster, PA seemed to be a popular spot for us.

We even went so far as Chebeague Island, Maine!!

The talent of this small group of women quilters is extraordinary!

 We've made quilts to commemorate, births, deaths and sickness. We've had numerous block swaps, done round robins and row by rows.
We come from all walks of life, all backgrounds, and an assorment of political persuations.

I bet Jane Stickle had no idea what an impact her Civil War sampler quilt would make on women 150 years after making it!!

Odds N Ends

I have started machine quilting my red and white, but I did want to get a few things out of the way first.

This month's Just Takes Forever blocks. I only made one mistake! (upper right hand block)

Red border on my little log cabin. I think this will make a nice size baby quilt for someone who wants a traditional old fashioned looking baby quilt. (probably not too many of them around)

Border on my birthday quilt.  It's 101x81 approximately so there isn't a good place for a photo. Top is done and I'm thrilled!! Thank you to all who participated and to my dear friend Randy who spearheaded the idea.Right now I have one extra block for the back and it will make a very nice label.

Along with these odds and ends I got my sewing room cleaned up! Yay!! I can actually walk in there now without tripping over books or fabric. lol

Birthday Quilt

Here's what's happening with my birthday signature quilt.

Here are the 4 blocks I received during  Sisters show week. Thank you Andrea, Bonnie, Darlyn, and Debbie.

One more from Lori in the mail today. Thank you!

I left a space to add two blocks. One I received today and the next one I receive will go on the front. Any other blocks coming in after that will go on the back.

When I went to Eagle Crest I brought the sashing, cornerstone and setting fabric with me. The tan setting triangles are 2 different Primitive Gatherings prints. I proceeded to cut every setting triangle I needed the WRONG size! I didn't include the sashing when I was figuring out how large to cut my squares.  What did I do? Sewed two triangles together to make one setting triangle. Of course, they are on the bias and much too big. So when you see the outer triangles now you know why they are so funky! As soon as it is all together and my cutting area is cleaned up I'll give it a nice trim and it will be lovely! Thank you all again for participating!! It is going to be a very special quilt.

Birthday Block Progress

I had to make a quick jaunt home and these birthday blocks were waiting for me. Thank you Darlene, Kathy, and Barb!!
I'm making steady progress on the quilt. I'm picking up a few more blocks at the picnic in the park in Sisters tonight, then will make a few more to reach 111 blocks! It's been so much fun looking at them again close up when sewing. Its going to be such a special quilt. Thank you to all who participated and my friend Randy who did all the block collecting prior to my birthday!!

Christmas in July

I got the final stitches on the binding last night. I pieced this top in July 2009 and after finding the border fabric I was hoping to have it done before Christmas 2009.....Oh well, It's ready when the holidays roll around again!
The friendship star blocks were from a long ago swap and the nine patches were leftovers.
It doesn't have any Christmas fabric in it but the border stripes reminded me of candy canes.