Community Quilts from Ray

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I’m so excited to share the quilts that Ray has finished. That guy is on a roll. I am so amazed at the commitment he makes to doing good for others.

Ray writes:

“I just took these pics of a cute little quilt from Kim. It is the sweetest quilt and ideal for a baby.

The colors in the quilt are so soft and cuddly. The fabrics have ABC’s themes and kids playing. I love it. It makes me feel good. The backing is from Deb and Pat in FL. I used a staple pattern for the quilting and bone-colored thread. I wanted to keep that warm, snuggly feel. Thanks to you, Kim, Deb, and Pat for your contributions to this wonderful quilt.”

Here is the next quilt… Continue reading →

Community Quilts from Karen: The String Edition

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I have had a flood of community quilts come in. It’s a great “problem” to have. I love getting emails with pictures of finished quilts!!

Karen writes:
“I am sending this first batch of quilts in a few different emails because too many pictures really can gum up the works.

There are a total of 5 quilts completed in this batch. All the tops came from you and if the measurements written on pieces of cloth are any indication, or I guess I should say unless someone besides the Cresco ladies mark their tops like this, I am assuming the tops came from them. All five of these tops were diagonal strip blocks.

First up, this quilt measures 44X57.

I quilted this with free motion loops and hearts. Backing and binding from my stash. My helper who was doing bindings for me now has a full-time job, so I am on my own. This is my first attempt at doing both front and back binding attachment by machine — it certainly is much quicker and I assume more durable than sewing the back by hand.

Quilt #2 is… 42X48 and also quilted with free motion loops and hearts. Backing and binding from my stash. Continue reading →

The Fireman’s Breakfast

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I’m so sad I won’t be going to the Fireman’s Breakfast. It’s a long-time tradition for me. I’ve been going and working at it since Kramer first started on the Fire Department. I think that was in 1997 or so. I missed 2019 when Kramer was fighting cancer but came back in 2020 after he had passed away.

There was a debate on what they would do for a benefit this year…dine-in, take out…It was a hard decision. They finally decided on both. Either way, I decided that I better not go.

In the past, I’ve been a dishwasher, worked the dining room, made eggs, poured drinks but in the last 15 years or so, I’ve moved on to be at the cash register at the door. Kramer was the treasurer of the Fire Department and at the time, it was decided that the treasurer needed to sit at the door. He asked me if I’d work the door with him and that became our job. Here we are from 2018.

Of the volunteer jobs I’ve ever done, helping the Fire Department with the fundraiser is likely my favorite job ever. The group of guys is awesome. They are just happy to have help and not supercritical. They’ve been doing the breakfast for so many years, everyone works their job and it’s great. No whining which is awesome.

In 2020, Kramer wasn’t there to work the door with me so Craig, Kalissa’s husband, who is also on the fire department, worked the door with me. I missed Kramer as we had a great system doing it together for so many years, but Craig was an awesome replacement. It was nice as he helped it not be so awkward my first time working without Kramer. No doubt, Craig is a great guy.

I make a quilt every year and donate it for the raffle. This year I’m donating my Quilted Twins Mystery quilt…This is Old World Fantasy. A free mystery quilt put together by Becky at Quilted Twins. You can find the free pattern HERE.

I’m hoping this will drive up raffle ticket sales.

My friend Connie is so sweet. For those of you who don’t know, I met Connie through the blog. I met her in Oelwein Iowa in 2015. Kelli and I were hosting a retreat there and Connie walked up to me and said, “I’m your best friend but you don’t even know it”. That cinched it. We’ve hung out ever since…well as much as we can. We live about 2 1/2 hours apart.

Connie is one of those sweet people who just pull up a chair, plop down, and helps those introverted people like me open up. She’s been really good for me in many ways.

Connie came down for Kramer’s memorial service. She jumped right in the Fire Department guys, buzzed around, and helped make sure things were running smoothly. I couldn’t be more grateful. Through it all, Connie could see what a good bunch of guys they are and has since decided to jump on the bandwagon to help our family support the department.

So a week or two ago, Connie sent this wonderful kids quilt she made for the raffle. Isn’t it so cute? Continue reading →

Quilts of 2016

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In 2016, I had two surgeries…one to remove my thyroid because of my thyroid cancer, and two I had foot surgery. Surprisingly, that really didn’t limit the number of quilts I finished.

This is my Four Patch X quilt. This is a Bonnie Hunter quilt and can be found in her book More Adventures with Leaders and Enders. Read more about it HERE.

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I love this quilt…It’s one of my favorite kinds of quilts…not fancy but classic scrappy.

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I made Emery’s Stars. It’s just a baby quilt but it is 51″ x 51″. I made this one for one of my childcare kids when she was born. She’s five as I write this and has become a real treasure to me. I love her like my own!!

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If you’re looking for the free pattern check out this link. Read more about it HERE.

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Allietare the mystery quilt got finished!! I think I still have this one but I’m not sure. I could have gifted this one. Read more about it HERE.

Here’s another picture of it.

allietare-1 I’m so glad I take pictures outside now on the clothes line. You can see the quilts so much better.

In my march to get the quilt tops under control at my house, I finish….Narragansett Blues.

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Read more about it HERE. This is in Bonnie Hunter’s book More Adventures with Leaders and Enders. Find the book HERE.

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You might remember our block that was featured in Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks magazine. This quilt was made with our block.

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I wrote a blog post (find it here) about how I constructed the block. If you follow my instructions and wanted to make this quilt, the inside sashing and the outside border are made with the bonus pieces. For the quilt, I did change it up and used different background fabrics. This was submitted and later published in Quiltmaker Magazine.

Rausch-baby-Quilt-10 I made a second one for publication. I love the straight line quilting on this.

I finished my Lozenges quilt. Read more about it HERE. I did this as a Bonnie Hunter Leader and Ender challenge.

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I gifted this to my niece Carly.

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This is Garden Party. It’s a Bonnie Hunter Quilt that was published in Quiltmaker Magazine. You can read more about it HERE. This was later published in Addicted to Scraps.

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I finished Fair and Square. Read more about it HERE.

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The pattern can be found in Bonnie Hunter’s book Scraps and Shirttails II. This is one of my very favorite quilts…
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I finished a quilt for a wedding gift. Read more about it HERE.

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This is a free pattern we offer here on the blog. Find it HERE.

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This is Jingle Bell Square, another Bonnie Hunter pattern. It was published in Quiltmaker magazine and late in one of her books, Addicted to Scraps.

Jingle-Bell-Square-Quilt-1 Read more about it HERE.

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I finished my Rick Rack Nines quilt. Read more about it HERE. You can find in it Bonnie Hunter’s book Adventures with Leaders and Enders-book 1.

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We had a quilt published in American Patchwork and Quilting…this is Stair Steps. It’s an explosion of 1″ finished strips!! You can read more about it HERE.

StairStep-1 This quilt is a favorite of mine.
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We had a quilt published in a calendar. This quilt. I don’t remember what the publication called the quilt. I’ve called in Crystal’s Zinnias named after my niece.

Zinnia-Garden-0 Read more about it HERE.

Zinnia-Garden-1 It was a fun quilt.

Our Plus Fun quilt was in McCalls Quilting.

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Read more about it HERE.
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Our Candy Cane quilt was in Quilts and More magazine.

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You can read about it HERE. I gifted this to a couple who had a December wedding.

I finished my Winston Ways quilt. Read more about it HERE.
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This is a Bonnie Hunter quilt. It is featured in her book More Leaders and Enders.
Winston-Ways-13 Be still my heart. Red four patches. What is not to LOVE!

I finished Bonnie Hunter’s Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt. (You can find the free pattern here)
Bricks-and-Stepping-Stones-Quilt-1-1 HERE is a link to read more about the quilt…

Bricks-and-Stepping-Stones-Quilt-3 Again…red four-patches!!

Next is a baby quilt I made for a gift. The pattern is based on Bonnie Hunter’s “H is for Happy” pattern. The pattern can be found here. I made the “H” blocks and then set mine differently. I ABSOLUTELY loved making this quilt.
H-quilt-0-1 Read more about it HERE.

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This was a wedding quilt. The lighting is terrible in the picture. Sorry.

Quilt-10 This was a quilt along I think with Country Threads.

Next a baby gift. It’s a Minky quilt. I hated making this!
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Kelli made quilt a few quilts that I machine quilted and bound for her.

This is Kelli’s Easy Street quilt. This was a Bonnie Hunter mystery. You can read more about it HERE.

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Kelli made this…

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We later remade it and submitted it for publication. It ended up being featured in American Patchwork and Quilting. You can read more about it HERE. Can you believe it is made with one jelly roll?

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This is Kelli’s version of My Blue Heaven. It’s in the free pattern section on Bonnie’s site. You can find it here. Kelli did a scrappy version.

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She started this quilt in 2011 when we saw Bonnie Hunter in Storm Lake Iowa at a retreat. It was the first retreat Kelli and I ever went to. We met Nell there and have had a lasting friendship with her.

Read more about Kelli’s finished quilt HERE.

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This is Kelli’s First Monday’s quilt. It’s a Miss Rosie pattern. Read more about it HERE.

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This is Kelli’s Pineapple Blossom quilt. She did the top. I finished it. You can read more about it HERE.

PineappleBlossoms-1 This is a free Bonnie Hunter pattern. You can find the free pattern here. I love this made all with one color.

Here is another Kelli quilt finish, Farmer’s Daughter. Read more about it HERE.

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So pretty.
Farmers-Daughter-5 I finished this quilt for Kelli. She had made a Miss Rosie Schnibble pattern. Sorry, I don’t know the name of it. I had added borders and machine quilted it for her.

That’s the quilts we completely made and finished. I did other things though…

I twined a rug. Mary at Country Threads was having a rug along and I joined in. You can read more about it HERE.

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Anyone can make this type of rug. You simply need a frame like this.

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I’ve made several and very much enjoy making them.

I did a lot of charity quilting. A LOT. Here they are…

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At this time in my life I was donig a lot of longarming of charity quilts. I was doing so much that I started handing off the quilts and had a bunch of blog readers that were finishing the binding on the quilts. I counted over 25 charity quilts that I did the longarming on.