Canyon Fire–Quilts Needed!

I am breaking from my exciting adventure at the Vermont Quilt Festival to pass on to you some very important information – and hopefully many of you will be able to help.

I received an email earlier today, and I wanted to share it with you.

Michelle writes:

HELP - Calling All Quilters

As some of you may know I live in the Colorado Springs area. I am on the other side of town from the Waldo Canyon Fire and not in any way in harms way.

Sitting here through the last 5 days watching the 24 hours news coverage is heart breaking. So I am trying to help in the only way I know how.

We know that many homes have been lost and many people have been evacuated because of this fire.

Anyone who is willing to donate a completed quilt, a quilt top, backing or batting to please contact me and I will collect and disburse the quilts that are received.


Please pass this information on so that the word is spread and maybe we can bring some light to these victims of the fire.

Michelle
you can reach me by email at justforthepieceofit@gmail.com

I’ve seen the photos. I’ve been horrified watching the flames destroy so many homes on the news. This could be YOUR home. It could be MY home. Each and every one of us can only imagine what it is like to lose not only your home, but the photos, the momentos the bits of everyday living that are such a part of us.

I’m hoping that we can help. Please contact Michelle at the address above and see what you can do to help.

Pass this info, or link back in your own blog posts to get the word out to quilters everywhere --

Together we can make a difference!

iPhone-o-Gram! Boxy Stars Afternoon!

We are in full swing with our Boxy Stars class!

The big opening gala is tonight and I'm looking forward to hooking up with my friend Lori of Humble Quilts---we haven't seen each other since last August's cruise!

Photos of today's classes to follow in the morning!!

Victoria from NH says hello!

iPhone-o-Gram! Sisters Choice in Action!

We are having a great time in our Sisters Choice workshop!

Jimmy Buffett is playing in the background and we are turning strip sets into 9 patch centers!

Next step? Making the "kitty ear" star points!

It's a glorious day to be in Vermont!

VQF Class Day # 1

Today is my BUSY day!

Two half day classes ---Sister’s Choice in the morning, and Boxy Stars in the afternoon.

Bring it on, I’m ready!

But first I’ll have to get the Sister’s Choice quilt off of my bed because that’s the one I’m sleeping under…

This is the entrance to St Michael’s College where my workshops are.

The college was founded in about 1904 and it is just a beautiful campus – this pic was taken yesterday as I walked through the drizzle to head to the cafeteria for lunch. I’m not complaining about the rain! It was cool and misty and the temperatures were wonderful – we are told to expect heat this weekend, so this was a nice bit of relief.

My class room building is a short walk from my dorm room ---I went about setting it up last evening so it would all be ready for today. One of the lucky things? It’s a one room building – I am the ONLY class in it!

Today this room will be hustling and bustling – but last evening it was quiet as I brought in the borrowed quilt stand, and set up my book table. Lots of windows, lots of open space and great lighting!

Hexie top makes a great table cover!

And we are ready to start the day!

Bring on the Quilters!

At St Michael’s College!

Being on a college campus reminds me so much of the short time that I lived away from home – I only experienced college housing for one short summer term ---we had 6 girls and 3 bedrooms in our dorm “apartment” and it was a constant struggle for plug in space in the bathroom, or place to put groceries in the fridge that didn’t infringe upon anyone else’s shelf space or “we ate your cheese, we knew you wouldn’t mind!”.

Boy was that an experience. I’m sure glad I am past that age right now, but being here in a college dorm brings it all back!

Welcome to my Home Sweet Cell Dorm Room! I’m staying in Hodson “Suites” which means there are 4 bed cells rooms in each quad with a shared living area, bathroom and kitchen.

Ahhhh dorm living!

We were issued a shrink wrapped bundle that included two flat sheets and a pillow case ((I HATE FLAT SHEETS ON THE BOTTOM! they never stay tucked in…sigh)) A very worn blanket of dubious origin and fiber content---that quickly became the “mattress pad” to keep the bottom flat sheet from sliding all over the vinyl waterproof mattress, one bath towel, one washcloth and one hand towel.

College life indeed! But we will make the best of it! I will be sleeping under the quilts I’m using as class samples!

In fact, I was so tired that after lunch I turned out the lights and slept for over 2 hours. It was raining outside ---perfect for a blissful nap and I feel so much better.

I’ve set up my featherweight! There is wifi, and I’ve got my kindle fire and my panda speaker, so there will be sewing and netflix tonight in the cell room!

I was a bit worried that the String Fling books I ordered shipped to Vermont might not make it, but they showed up this afternoon and my class room is all set up for morning!

I’m so excited to actually be teaching at the Vermont Quilt Festival. This is a dream for me because it is such a Mecca.

Now if I can only find out WHERE a girl needs to go to get a Diet Dr Pepper around here!

iPhone-o-Gram! Welcome to Vermont!

All bags have been accounted for! And I was greeted by tile quilt designs on the airport floor!

Please note that there are decorative bovines outside of the terminal--

And something that EVERY public place should enforce--

No smoking outside of any entrance!!

Thank you, Burlington, Vermont---we are going to get along just fine!

Off to Vermont!

There are NOT a lot of passengers milling around the Greensboro airport at 5:00 am. BOY did that 3:45 am alarm come as a rude awakening!

But I was up, in the shower, dressed, and ready to head out the door at 4:15am.

VERMONT!!

This is my very first trip to Vermont and I’m really excited.

When I hear the words VERMONT – I think about movie classics like White Christmas – or ---The Bob Newhart Show.

“Hi. I’m Larry. This is my brother, Darrell, and my other brother Darrell.”

:cD

Hexies are ready to go…..it doesn’t look like much but this is how far I’ve come on the last fill in corner for my hexagon medallion.

It’s almost time to board, so I better send this on -- First stop - Newark, NJ - then on to Burlington, VT!

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

String Fling is HERE!! ((Give-Away!))

***NOTICE!!*** This drawing has ENDED. The Winners have been notified!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I pulled into the driveway after lunch --- and guess who followed me?! Well, that is – followed me to the TOP of the driveway, because getting down the drive way is one thing, but if you are a big truck and you have to back out --- just take it from me, it’s best to park at the TOP of the drive and wheel stuff down.

At first --- I was holding my breath to see if Mr Brown went to my neighbors --- but no…he said “Ma’am, are you Mizz Hunter? We’ve got 21 cases of something for you.”

YES! That’s ME!! I was trying not to squeal and dance and hug him ----I explained that these are my new books and I’ve got over 500 people anxiously awaiting them ---he said. “Looks like you will be BUSY then! Where do you want them”

I told him….on the front porch ---

And I watched him as he opened the back….

This is a LOT of boxes!

I wondered how many trips it would take to get 21 boxes to my front porch ----

He has TWELVE cases on this hand truck! They weigh about 35 lbs per box…that’s a LOT of weight on that hand truck.

This is the top of my driveway. Chloe is watching the action! It doesn’t look that steep in the picture, but believe me…he was pulling BACK against that hand truck as he was going down hill!

All the boxes are stacked right next to my dining room….

YAY!!!! The cover looks so great, and wait until you see the inside!

I dropped everything. I mean EVERYTHING --- it was 2pm, and my local post office closes at 4:30pm. How many orders can one girl fill in 2 hours?

About THIS many!

And about THIS many going international!

Close to 60 orders went out today. I’m packed and ready to go to Vermont, so will be spending this evening filling orders until bed time. I have to leave for the airport at 4:15am, so bedtime will come early. DH will get tonight’s orders to the post office tomorrow. I will get home from Vermont on Monday evening. I’ll have Tuesday to get whatever else done that I can. I leave for Idaho on Wednesday, the 4th of July. DH will mail that batch after the 4th of July.

I was seriously thinking of having books shipped up to Oregon and filling them on my retreat week – but you know what? I’m just not. I have to use that time to work on the Mystery quilt, or it won’t be ready for November. So please be patient with me. More book orders will be filled upon my return from Oregon. I get home Monday, July 16th. I wasn’t expecting the books to be here until then anyway --- so anything that is going out before then is going early.

I’m sending them in the order that they were received. And I’ll get them done as fast as I can get them done.

And because I am SO SO SO SO SO SO Excited ---guess what! We are doing a STRING FLING GIVE-AWAY!

Leave a comment here, and I’ll draw for two winners on Sunday Night. That way I can mail them when I get home from Vermont.

Spread the word, share the blog with your email lists, your twitter, facebook, yahoogroups, newsgroups and boards and anywhere that quilters gather…..

Let the fun begin!

PS -- it took forever to upload this post because windows live writer is giving me the dreaded 403 error. Whaaaa...dunno what's up with that, but man, I miss it when I have to use the regular blogger interface!

iPhone-o-gram! Things that grow!

I've been out to lunch with Karen and Lisa at our favorite Indian restaurant, Nawab.

When Lisa texted me last night asking if I was up for it, the response was a resounding YES! I love that place. And the three of us brainstorming over plates of curry just can't be beat.

On my way home I took notice of just how tall the tobacco has grown while I have been gone this past few weeks.

It is so noticeable when you don't see it every day!

Packing is almost done for Vermont. It will be early to bed for me tonight---need to be at the airport around 4:45 am. Yuck!

Enablers, All of You!

Or – Friends who help feed my addiction!

When I left for Ohio I had TWO machines in the car.

I brought my featherweight for hotel room sewing.

Barbie also came with me, because Paul is helping me adjust the wooden extension table I have to fit her better ---and I brought the smaller 3/4 size table so he could use it as a template to make one for his Singer Spartan…

But OH what a slippery slope when people know you love vintage machines!

Carolyn came to class sporting a very recognizable case with NECCHI on it ---

Y’all! She is PINK!!! I had to adopt her!

She’s a bit different than Sophia --- she’s a Supernova Ultra Mark 2

Which means she threads a bit different, so I’ve been monkeying with her this morning for just a bit ---- even though I have a ton of other things I need to do today, I just couldn’t resist.

If you add this one to the Spartan that was so super cheap at the antique mall in Waynesville OH ----that means I left home with two machines, and came home with ---FOUR. This HAS to stop – is there an intervention for this type of behavior?!

And if that weren’t bad enough--- there are other types of enablers out there:

Ruth sent me a message saying that she had not one, but TWO of the coveted Necchi attachment boxes complete with cams and feet – and would I be interested?!

Oh YEAH!! I really want to play with these and see what they can do.

Knowing these machines were state of the art when they were made in the late 1950s makes me giddy ---but how do you USE all this stuff?!

The original “READ ME” files are included!

Oh, Pink Necchi – you are going to have to wait until I have TIME to play with you! My flight to Vermont leaves at 5:55am tomorrow morning----I’m in a packing frenzy. But it’s nice knowing my enablers have got my back ---and that you will be waiting for me when I get home!

Evening Edition: Free Kindle Book!

91 degrees outside is just TOO HOT.

And I step into the air conditioned comfort of my home, grab something cold over ice from the automatic icemaker in my fridge, and sit down in front of my computer screen.

And then I find a book about the lives of Civil War nurses – and imagine them in the heat, the dust, the chaos of war ---and I kick myself for being such a wimp!

I love stories like this ---they give such good perspective!

Wedded to War by Jocelyn Green is free in the Amazon Kindle Store today.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Book Description:

It’s April 1861, and the Union Army’s Medical Department is a disaster, completely unprepared for the magnitude of war. A small group of New York City women, including 28-year-old Charlotte Waverly, decide to do something about it, and end up changing the course of the war, despite criticism, ridicule and social ostracism.

Charlotte leaves a life of privilege, wealth-and confining expectations-to be one of the first female nurses for the Union Army. She quickly discovers that she’s fighting more than just the Rebellion by working in the hospitals. Corruption, harassment, and opposition from Northern doctors threaten to push her out of her new role.

At the same time, her sweetheart disapproves of her shocking strength and independence, forcing her to make an impossible decision: Will she choose love and marriage, or duty to a cause that seems to be losing?

An Irish immigrant named Ruby O’Flannery, who turns to the unthinkable in the face of starvation, holds the secret that will unlock the door to Charlotte’s future. But will the rich and poor confide in each other in time?

Wedded to War is a work of fiction, but the story is inspired by the true life of Civil War nurse Georgeanna Woolsey. Woolsey’s letters and journals, written over 150 years ago, offer a thorough look of what pioneering nurses endured.

Jocelyn Green’s debut novel is endorsed by historians and professors for its historical accuracy and detail, by award-winning novelists for its spell-binding storytelling, and by entertainment journalists and book club leaders for its deep and complex content, perfect to share and discuss with others.

Tonight will find me completing pattern directions for a couple of the workshops I’m giving in Williamsburg the first week of August ---I know it sounds like a long time away, but I really don’t have that many days home to put the finishing touches on those. I spent some time today kitting up stuff that I am taking to Oregon with me, there is not a lot of time to get all of that ready either ---

And I guess --- what doesn’t get done, doesn’t get done, and it won’t be the end of the world…there are ALWAYS hexies, aren’t there?

Have a great evening, Everyone!

iPhone-o-Gram! Just about that time!

When temps reach this level, there is one beeline I have to make when out running errands--

Hello, Summer!

Hello, Route 44 diet cherry limeade!

And then on to pick up my Janome 6500p from its tune-up.

Next stop?? Pedi time!!