Scrap Wagon is Full

The last time I wrote, I told you there were woman who inspire me and I want to continue with the introductions.

This time I want you to meet Vicky. She is married to a farmer and has a young son. Vicky is a very happy woman and seems to be always on the upside of life. I simply cannot remember a time when she was not happy. Her son is just a darling child who has learned that when he is out with his mother, he must behave. Many parents do not teach their children this valuable lesson.

Vicky's love is scrap quilting. I do not know if her love of quilting with scraps comes from anything other than a real love of collecting a wide variety of fabrics, sorting them into containers by color, size and what other methods, but she certainly does a large amount of it.

Also Vicky is extremely frugal! I just love when she comes to our Saturday Sampler meetings and brings beautiful quilts to show and tells the others that this quilt "cost me about $15 in fabric". Most of Vicky's fabric selections come from our scrap bin!

This is a little red wagon with high sides and we often refer to it as "Vicky's wagon", we even have pictures of her quilts over the wagon. The other quilters are usually a bit jealous of the gorgeous quilts but readily admit that they do not enjoy digging through all the scraps in their homes to find just the right piece.

Recently she brought a pink quilt in and she blew us away; it was NOT made only from scraps. She had actually bought some fat quarters to augment her scraps.

Lest you think the quilt shop will close because of this frugal girl's quilting habits, fear not. Vicky always shops with us for her backings and they are as lovely as the tops. She has each quilt professionally quilted and then has truly a masterpiece to enjoy.

Personally, it would make me want to take up drinking for a hobby if I had to go through all those little bitty pieces to make a quilt, but Vicky inspires me with her beautifully coordinated and expertly constructed quilts.

Hey, Vicky B......the wagon's full, come on
down!

Jerry

Women Who Inspire Me

I have long been inspired by other women. Women who seem to accomplish much more than I can even dream of, women who just keep doing when others give up, women who are just amazing.

Miss Lucile is one such woman. I don't think she will be angry when I tell you that Miss Lucile is 92 years young. I say young because she really is young in heart and mind.

Lucile lives alone, not in my town, but a town a few miles down the highway and she drives herself wherever she wants to go. She comes to the quilt shop on a regular basis and never misses an event or sale. She never misses an opportunity to inspire each and everyone of us. She has told me on many occasions that when you stop using your mind, you will just die. You must keep learning new things and being active.

Lucile has a computer and has learned to keep in touch with everything out in the cyberworld and the happenings at the shop. She keeps in touch with family and friends this way also.

When she had learned that piece of equipment, Lucile bought herself an embroidery machine and proceeded to teach herself to use it. She has made some really amazing quilt with it. Not that her others are not amazing.

These are some images of a baby quilt she made using her embroidery machine on rose cuddle fabric. She has made several using this method. Mothers with new babies love to receive a quilt from Lucile.

Lucile takes classes to keep up with the latest techniques and methods. She told me her goal is to make 100 quilts and to also win "Best of Show" at the county fair.

I have some photos here of a quilt (unquilted) that she is entering in the fair tomorrow. It is embroidered on silk and is absolutely beautiful. We will get some photos after the fair, hopefully, with her ribbon attached.

Sorry some of the color is off but I was taking these with my phone. The quilt is truly beautiful and we wish Lucile the best of luck with the show.

All the girls at the shop keep telling Lucile that they want to be her when they grow up. I just told her that I wanted to be able to quilt as she does.

We are honored to call Lucile our friend.

Jerry

Lucile told me she has over $150 in thread alone in this quilt. Judging from the weight of the quilt, I can truly believe this. When I held it up at our First Saturday meeting last month I told her she would probably need help to bind it as it was so heavy. She informed me later that she did not need any help, she did it alone. You go Lucile!

The Generals' Wives - A new block of the month

Here is our new Generals' Wives Block of the Month. I designed this 12 month program to be a satisfying experience and yet not require so many hours that you do not feel you have time to make anything else.

If you are like me and most of my quilting friends, you want to work on more than one quilt at a time and the Generals' Wives will fill one of those slots. The blocks are 12" finished as are the finishing blocks. Each month you will complete one block and several of the finishing blocks so that when you have completed the 12 months, add the borders and you truly have a completed top.

The quilt measures 100" square and you will also be provided a free pattern to enlarge it to king size (124") if you choose.

Each month you will also enjoy a brief history of the wife for whom the block is named. These women were living during extremely difficult and dangerous times. For the wife on the Confederate side, the battlefield could literally be in your front yard. You were not safe nor were your children safe. Your home was very likely to be burned to the ground and all your worldly possessions confiscated. Your crops would have been burned and any livestock you possessed would be eaten by the enemy soldiers.

The fabric line created for this block of the month is a beautiful collection of civil war era designs and yet, they are not flat or dull. Some of the colors are a bit more vivid and bold. The wife of a general during this time was not a simple farm girl; she would typically have come from a wealthier family and would have been more highly educated than most of the women of that time. She simply would have had the means to have some of the finer things in life and the scraps from her garments would have found their way into her quilts.

Because the line of fabric is so pretty, I have also designed several additional quilts that will give you even more reasons to enjoy your passion for both the quilting and for the history.

I hope you enjoy the Generals' Wives and will look forward to the next in my series of Historical Quilts.

Christmas is the season of much joy and giving. Even if you do not celebrate Christmas, this is also a season where we have the opportunity to attend many parties, large and small. Whether this is a party for friends, co-workers or family, we all enjoy them to the fullest.

As Christmas fast approaches, it also will mark only one week before a very important party ends.

The 2010 Patchwork Party will come a close on December 31st. You absolutely must order your blocks prior to the end of the month or you are not going to be able to fully enjoy this particular party. Blocks will not be available after midnight on New Year's Eve. It is a celebration of your quilting year of 2010, don't let the calendar slip up on you. Don't be caught watching the ball drop in Times Square and knowing you dropped the ball on this party.

You will be able to order the finishing kits after that time as long as the shops have fabrics available, but why not go ahead and order the one of your choice while you are getting the blocks. This will allow you a special quilt to work on if you find some quiet time, or need some quiet time, during the holidays.

This party has been a particularly popular one with the use of Marti Michel's beautiful line of fabric, Wild Rose.

The blocks are only $7 which includes your shipping from each shop. The price of the finishing kits varies from shop to shop.

Our finishing kit is for "Sweet Briar Rose" and sells for $99.99 and the backing is also $99.99 for the 96" square quilt (save 20% if you order at the same time as the top). This is a savings of $20, with your total at $179.99 (top and back).

As a special holiday gift to you, if you order your finishing kit, plus the backing, prior to Dec 31, we will discount the entire package an additional 10%, for a total of only $161.98 with FREE SHIPPING. But you must order before the ball drops in Times Square.

Whether you order our finishing kit or not, the entire staff of Quilters Quarters wishes you the very best of the season and the merriest of Christmases ever.

May God Bless each and every one.

Jerry

I promised you more photos from the Veteran's Day Parade. These are some really nice shots of the activities and the great ideas that went into the making of this tribute to our Veterans.

Yes, we honor ALL vets, even those from the very beginning.

Here is a pretty good indication of where Leavenworth fits into the scheme of things with regard to the military. If you cannot read the sign it says "35 Leavenworth High School students have attained the rank of General".

Here Kathy is leaving a group of soldiers after presenting another quilt.

This car, driven by my friend John Harris, honors the POWs and MIAs from Vietnam.

This is a very graphic display for the POWs and MIAs.

And in closing, the symbolic 'fly over' of jets in honor of our military.

As you can tell, this was a very impressive parade, as it always is. But more importantly, an impressive tribute to the military.

Home of the free, because of the brave.

Thank you.

VETERAN'S DAY - What a blast!






As I have said, Leavenworth has the largest Veteran's Day parade in the state, it goes on for several hours and is first class all the way. Of course, we have a huge contengency of veteran's here so it is not hard to feel good on this day.

Before I opened the store in the morning, I was looking outside at all the decorations up and down the street and feeling really good about all of it and made a decision that I wanted to make some people smile. And we did!






We gathered up some quilts and as the parade started, we watched for a veteran that struck our hearts. No rhyme or reason to the choices, just anyone who got to us. We had so much fun doing this that we ran back to the shop and grabbed more quilts to give away. Even pulled one from a window display.






I have only loaded a few of the photos here as I have not figured out how to download all of them from my new phone (hate technology). I wanted you to share the we joy we felt as we gave a tiny bit back to the people who provide our freedom.







This is a helicopter that was loaded on a flatbed and filled with Vietman Vets, I handed a flannel quilt to one of them and they were all so excited that I thought they were all going to fall out of the helicopter. They just kept saying 'thank you' and I did not seem to be able to get them to realize that it was I who was saying 'thank you'.





Here I am walking away from the car of another Vet to whom we gave a quilt.









Here Lynn is giving a quilt and receiving a hug from an active duty soldier and then if you look closely you see the huge smile on his face as he walks off clutching it to his chest.


Lynn gave this quilt to a female active duty soldier, her husband is also on active duty.


Doesn't she look happy?




We are all so busy leading our lives, we sometimes forget the joy we receive from quilting is something that should be spread around. This was a perfect example of "give and you will receive" as we all received far more joy than we gave away.



May God bless all who serve.



Jerry

Readin', Writin' , and Blessings

I just LOVE to write. Almost as much as I love to quilt. You would never know it when you look at the date of my last blog post. Good grief, where have I been?

And I dearly love to read. I am reading a darling little book right now, actually it is about the 3rd time I have read this one. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. The book is a series of letters written between a lovely British lady and other characters in the book. Guernsey is a very small island in the English Channel that was occupied by the German army for almost the duration of World War II . They were completely cut off from the outside world, no newspapers, no radio, etc.

One of the many things I dearly love about this book is the softly lilting language and thoughts. When I am reading it, I always hear the lovely voices of the British friends we got to know while in the Army. I have always felt that the British people sound so refined. Most that I know really are, however, since they are all human beings, I am certain there are some who are not, I just have never met any.

And before you ask, the answer is "no, I will not tell you how the name came about". What is a potato peel pie anyway? I know and you can find out by reading this book. Have I ever tried one? Nope, but I might just have to someday.

The book also reminds me of just how very blessed we are each day to be in the United States where we have never known the hardships of war on our soil. Sure, during the second World War there were rations of things, but no where near what happened in Europe. We have never (9/11 being the exception) had the threat of bombs dropping on our homes and schools. We have never had to evacuate our children to keep them alive.

All this reminds me that I never say "thank you" enough to our military men and women for keeping that a reality. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I will thank them as they pass the shop in the largest Veteran's Day in the state of Kansas. I will remember, especially, to say Thank You to the Vietnam veterans as they have never been afforded the many honors of other veterans (In my humble opinion). I will remember to say a thank you also to my husband for all the years he spent in service to our country. Maybe I will give him his own Tea with Martha and Betsy quilt.

As I read this lovely book, I also think of my darling friend, Karen Hellaby who writes great quilt books in the UK. Karen's got a great eye for design and color as well. We are planning a time when Karen will be coming to the shop, so keep looking for that.

I have just returned from Quilt Market where Karen and I had a lovely time chatting about quilts.

Maybe this time, I will continue to exercise my desire to write and keep up better with you on the blog.

Until then, please take nothing for granted, we are blessed.

Jerry