Almost Friday Almost Finished

2 more tops by Rachel @ 2nd Avenue Studio
2 more tops, a photo by Rachel @ 2nd Avenue Studio on Flickr.
Well, there has been quite a bit of posting this week. Lots of finishes and Blog Post making. Tomorrow I go in for dental work - I'll be getting some bone graphs and prep done for implants. 
My father was stone toothless by 40, my teeth have been a problem most of my life. I had my first bad tooth/abscess at 7 or 8. Dr. Aber sat me down and told me to take of my teeth and maybe just maybe I'd be able to keep them. Its a Genetic thing, my blond fundus, my chronic joint pain, my crap teeth... all part of parcel of a crap gene I test positive for. Dam and Blast.
 I'm skidding into 50 - with most of my teeth still in my head... winner winner chicken dinner...   .. 
But I'm going under the knife to get some more chewing surface. When you lose chewing surface, the other teeth are under lots of pressure to perform. 
I'll be down for near a week - Thank Goodness its soup weather.  I'll be eating lots of it I bet. Mixed with mashed potatoes to not be too runny.  
On to the Quilts:
I finished the 2 tops in picture above . Both kinda "boy" - seems I like to make "girl" quilts. Its true, I love flowers and "girl" motifs like sewing notions and patterns. 


 Along with the tops, I finished these 4 quilts and trimmed them. They are ready for binding. 
I hope this next week finds you well and happy.  I'll be recovering but happy. Wish me luck and sedation. Be back soon. 
Quilters Rock, 

MODERN MEETUP QUILTS



Earlier this Summer the Modern Guilds in  Portland, Seattle and Vancouver BC got together and had a meetup.
We went to Vashon Island and where we had a Quilt Show and Group Sew.  I didn't sew much,  I visited, chit chat ed,  and drank alot of tea brewed by the hippies next door.
 
A lot of tea... boy it was hot.. 
at the end of the day the finished quilt tops were divided up and we all took home the supplies to quilt them ..  I quilted these three 

 

 

 The Guild hasn't seem them yet in person and I really do think that quilts work so much better in person.  They won't be donated till after October 15 so they will miss the 100 quilts for kids deadline 
and it really isn't up to me where they go. 
But I hope eventually babies will be found cuddled and warm. 
Quilters Rock!

Wordless WIP Wednesday

Charity Quilt: Green

 
So here's the plan:
Cut rectangles 6.5 x 8.5 
Arrange on Design wall
Sew into quilt top 
Quilt 
Bind 
Repeat
This is the first of of 4 tops I've made so far.. the blocks could be pieced ( crosses or random rails come to mind first, maybe a log cabin)  or not, repeated or not.. the variety is endless. 
Why 6.5 x 8.5? The size of the block is just about the size of my ipad screen and it felt modern and interesting to me ... but still small enough to not be boring...  a high ROI use of my time and energy.

Also,  I wanted to use up some random FQ and cut strips from Yardage and this was what worked best.. 
I get 4 from a Fat Quarter o r   6 from every 8.5"  WOF strip (long quarter) with very little waste.I like to cut from yardage most of all as it's really the way to go.

Look at the photo.
The quilt is 5 tall (8x5 =40) and 6 wide (6x6=36)
Thats One Quarter Yard  a row, or, in this case,
1.25 yards for the top
1.25 of yardage for the backing (42 x 45)
1.25 yardage of batting  ( my batting is either double wide for this quilt or if I use warm and safe (45" wide)
4 strips of binding (10" but lets call it a quarter /third of a yard for ease)
4 yards total - for planning  purposes that's a nice round number ..

If your like me and don't keep good tax records ... a simple photo makes it easy to calculate come tax time.

You'll be seeing lots of these in the future.. color studies and monotones,  pieced and wholecloth, each one will be its own special work. 
I quilted this one in Double Meander.  Looks great.  

Quilters Rock

A Crazy Little Thing Called Strings



I just had too many strings. way too many. everywhere. In drawers, on shelves, on my desk.. I wanted to sew up strip sets, cut trinagles and make a string quilt. .Would it work... Lets try it and find out..
the result is this. .
 
I string quilt.. truly scrappy .. 

 and quilted with Love... 
Backed with a yummy buttery flannel 
 Quilter's Rock!

The Last Charity Quilt Of Its Kind



This month  makes an anniversary. One year ago  today I stopped going to the Jail.
When I moved over the (BFE) far Westside of Washington County I stopped charity quilting with the Hospital and started teaching/coaching at the Treatment Dorm at a local Jail.  2nd Project was a Pieced Quilt.  First Project was a Rag Quilt that I was pretty hopeless on ( never made one, never will, think they are horrible ) but 2nd Project was spack dab in my wheel house.  A pieced quilt that was quilted and finished by the maker. All quilts were recorded and given to the children of Drug Court and other children that the Family Court came in contact with. As well as Lock Down House for children that were not safe at home or a threat to their own family. 

Then it stopped, the program shut down, fabric was distributed, supplies were given away. One tearful Luncheon later I was on my own. I had no charity home anymore... I've never quilted with no charity before. I have always quilted for charity, always. Its part of our family mission that instead of working a job, I keep busy working a  charity job. I've been Fabric Maven for 2 different charities, made kits, quilts, quilting for several more. I love making charity quilts.. I like making quilts.
Its by far my favorite form of charity work.
I've gone to Florida for the Red Cross. I've Driven a BMW to Utah. I've volunteered for political campaigns and  other causes I thought were great. I've made a lot of Quilts for charity. When I first started Quilting I made 6 quilt tops a month. 48 x 60 month after month.. Then I got excited about quilting and Longarming. The first year I got my HandiQuilter I quilted 18 tops a month. The next year my commitment was 6.
Now I have more family commitments demanding my time, I do eldercare for my declining mother. I've had some of my own health issues.  Last year I was a board member for  our Local Modern Guild and frankly, hanging out and socializing , as well as other quilt commitments.
Thank Goodness I discovered 100 Quilts For Kids. Someplace to make and donate to ... plus there are prizes... Last year I donated 3 quilts and won a $25Gift Cert to FatQuarterShop.com.



































So here it is... The last quilt top from the Jail.. When the whole thing stopped I ended up with a quilt top to finish...  So I've quilted it and bound it and it gets donated before the October 15th to the Children's Relief Nursery  you can find out why here.. :)
Im adding this to the linky but it will represent 3 quilts total that I had a hand in creating but didn't make myself alone.   but I figure I worked 30% on them so I make a linky entry plus Im finishing so many I dont want to enter each one separate. 
Quilters Rock


Im Making a Valor Quilt.

I decided to make a Valor Quilt. I see them all the time on the internet and so often I think they are .... hmm well, not age appropriate.    lets say that.  
I made this one, but it was WAY too girlie. too small and turned into a very personal expression of patriotism and womanhood. 

So, I let it go for awhile. back burner.  And then, I came back to it. I checked out their website and they have all the info you need to make one too if you'd like. I cut a bunch of strings..
Started  sewing them together.. 
Kinda decided on a plan. I went with the Denyse Schmidt String Style quilt. 
 
But it was too busy  - so yesterday I added a solid navy. Sewed up all the rows.

 
then I made a back and put it on the quilter.. 

 Quilted it and took it off the quilter.. Its not trimmed or bound yet. I haven't made the pillow case... but I'm pretty happy.
 After its bound and washed with its awesome label I'll show you again..  its pretty big... 
but Im moving on now to 100 Quilts for Kids .... 
Quilters Rock!

My Favorite Charity


 Here's my stack of quilts so far. I'll be donating them and more if they are done in time by the 100 Quilts for Kids deadline to Children's Relief Nursery.  I love this charity and the work it does for stressed families. I hope that every child grows up and is able to reach their full potential regardless of the circumstances of it's birth. 
Here's a little about the CRN:


Children’s Relief Nursery “improves the family’s condition so all family members can achieve their true potential"
— Kim Thomas, program officer, Meyer Memorial Trust

CRN provide a range of services that “wrap-around” the family to reduce parental stress and social isolation.  We’re teaching parenting skills, strengthening bonds between parents and their babies, providing targeted services, reducing child behavioral problems and improving social-emotional development in very young children.

Adverse childhood experiences in the early years can cause life-long problems. The best solution is to prevent them from happening. The best time to address these issues is in the first 33 months of a child’s life.

That’s why Children’s Relief Nursery focuses on early intervention. We help at-risk families with children from birth to four years find ways to deal with stress before the tragedy of child abuse and neglect occurs.

For the child, we offer services that stimulate their minds and bodies and that nurture their emotional and social development. Most significantly, we support the child’s entire family during these critical early years. Children’s Relief Nursery not only intervenes early in the child’s life, but early in the life of the family. Our services allow healthy parenting skills and positive relationships among family members to develop and flourish.

CRN builds successful, resilient families—families that stay together.

Im working on organizing a charity page and tuts and the like ....
its coming..

On a totally different topic: 

I took pretty close to a month off. I try to do it every year around this time. It used to be August but now I work around my Moms schedule.  
I got a new Doctor after mine retired and he took me off all meds and sent me to a specialist... that person put me on new meds and sucked so much out of me for testing I got pale told me come back in 2 weeks.
I've spent the resulting week very busy but my wrists don't hurt, so that's good...  the meds are changing me in ways I hadn't expected ... Im nicer, softer and kinda giggley... but I guess thats what happens when I don't have the pain. woo hoo.



Quilters Rock!
Rachel