Olivia The Great!

I believe there are very few people who don't try to volunteer to do something to help others. I did say, 'try' because there are a lot who think about doing something and then find the age old "I don't have time" response. They are not bad people because they don't volunteer, they are just very busy people.

Like a lot of quilt shops, we are involved in the 1 Million Pillowcase program from American Patchwork and Quilting. We donated a batch this week to The Alliance Against Family Violence which is our local abuse shelter. They have told us they love these and use them as a "ditty bag" for people who come to them. Each is filled with personal products such as soap, shampoo and underwear; anything that is of immediate need to someone who has left their home due to abuse. We are thrilled to help with that.

We have several customers who have embraced this project and have donated quite a few pillowcases. We welcome any and all who want to help with this program.

The most interesting volunteer, however, is not making pillowcases. Olivia is the 12 year old granddaughter of one of our volunteers. She created her own quilted item to make for others. They are called "Liv's Love Buddies" . They have been donated to the children at the shelter. So far she has donated 58 of these adorable little dolls.

Olivia has also made a few to try to sell in the shop to make enough to cover her fabric purchases. If you would like one, please let me know, they are only $4.99 each.

This is the type person we need to encourage to continue her humanitarian pursuits. We think Olivia is just a great young lady and deserves the very best there is in life.

We have returned from our Legendary Quilt Retreat at the Great Wolf Lodge. We are all a little sleep deprived but happy campers. What a fun group.

The group worked on their individual projects on Friday after arriving and getting all set up. The room was very nice, large and with great lighting. Marilynn did not like her chair but that did not stop her for a minute: she went next door to Nebraska Furniture and purchased a nice bright blue office chair and got back to business. Now that is a flexible quilter.

Tracey and Pam from Iowa were the last to arrive, even though they began their journey at 7 AM. Can we say "shop hopping across three states" to get here? Needless to say, they were fired up and ready to sew. And sew they did. Pam finished two tops she brought with her, the mystery quilt class, and cut out two more projects before leaving. She would have cut one more she picked up on the way to the retreat, however the quilt shop from which she purchased the kit did not include any directions for the kit (what's up with that?).

Most of the quilters got at least most of their mystery quilt completed. Those that did not complete it had all the parts ready to sew together. What fun and what a lovely array of quilts.

(The sign says: "The Wicked Witch Died A Death by Chocolate at The Quilters Quarters)

Death by Chocolate!

What more can we say. Everyone came back to the shop on Saturday night for this. As you can see, Dana outdid herself with the desserts. There was enough food for an Army but we gave it our best effort. The cake was beautiful and the chocolate dipped strawberries were yummy. She even made chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse. We felt like just rolling back to the hotel after all that.

The quilt in the backdrop is "White Chocolate" by my friend Deb.

(kit available)

Some sewed well into the night, I think the last person closed the room at 2 AM. Sunday morning after a big brunch, we were all back in the sewing room trying to complete the last few seams.

Connie was the winner of the $100 Spa gift certificate at the Lodge and Marilyn was the Queen and Her Court quilt. I think they were happy campers.

Those who took advantage of the spa facilities told me it was a very good massage (Marilyn must have really liked it as she went for two massages....lucky girl).

All in all, we are fired up and ready to do it again next year. Be certain to watch for the dates and plan to sign up early.

Playing paperdolls

My mother used to sing a song for me as a child that said, "Oh little playmate, come out and play with me and bring your dollies 3, climb up my apple tree". Such a sweet and innocent song.

Today I have been doing a purly "grandmama" thing. My beautiful granddaughter will love it, I hope. Even if she does not, I truly had a fun time doing this and I really feel she will enjoy it.

For those of you who are grandmothers, I think you will enjoy doing something like this just as much as I did and I do believe our granddaughters will have fun when we are done. Or maybe, if you live close to each other, you can do this together.

I played paperdolls!

Now how many of you played with these lovely, inexpensive toys when you were younger? I certainly did. They let me use my imagination and I was the one in control of all the movements, not some computer. Paperdolls gave us hours of quiet time, just us and our dolls. They did not require a lot of space to store, I imagine most of us used an old shoe box to hold all our paperdolls. We could have a box for each type doll or put them all in one box and then spend time sorting all the clothes, making certain that we only put the ones that fit on to the dolls. Or mix and match and put left facing clothes on a right facing doll (kind of political isn't it?)

The new paperdoll fabric is so adorable, I just had to play with it. I knew if I made a quilt it would be just darling, however, Rowan would not enjoy it much as she would want to pick up the dolls and play and that would not be possible. So...what to do? (I did make a yellow brick road out of the coordinates).

First I ironed some of the dolls on Fast-2-Fuse, a stiff product that is 'sticky' on both sides. It is firm enough to hold the dolls and yet soft enough for little hands. I ironed the dolls on one side then turned it over and ironed a pink, 1930s print on the back. You must iron from both sides to make it work. Now I cut out around all the dolls. The project is now somewhat 3-D. I then used Fraycheck around all the sides to keep them from fraying.

Now we needed clothes. I ironed some of the clothes fabric on to Steam-A-Seam 2 with muslin on the back. I did this to add some body to the clothes. Cut them out just on the lines and be certain to keep the 'tabs' to fold over.

When these are all done, use sticky-backed Velcro on the back of the dolls and the loops part on the tabs of the clothes and your little one can dress her dollies for hours of fun.

What a wonderful time we, as grandmothers, can have making these darling things and what fun for our granddaughters to enjoy. And since they are all fabric, we do not have to worry that they will get torn as our paperdolls did.

You can find the fabric on my website at www.quiltersqtrs.com for hours of fun.