Sunday I was exhausted and needed to get some house cleaning done but completely at random I pulled one of the kits and decided to sew a little so I could say I started one.  I picked this pattern as it looked not overly complicated.  Turns out it had over 600 pieces and I’ll tell you, 600 pieces should look a lot more impressive than this little pile after taking that long to cut out.   Here are the first of the blocks.  They need to be pressed so might look uneven in the pictures.  It will look like a weaved basket when assembled.

Here are 2 more kits I cut over the weekend.  I’m not sure but I think I have a total of 7 or 9 cut so far.  I lost track along the way as it was a long day.  If you haven’t guessed by now, all 30 will be some form of red, white & blue.  I’ve made both these patterns before and really like them.  The carpenter star (on the right) is one of my favorite patterns.  I’ll likely make 3 of those using a solid red, blue & white for the backgrounds. I love seeing how different a quilt looks just changing the colors.

I spent Saturday cutting out quilt kits till I could hardly stand to look at fabric anymore.   I thought I’d have enough fabric for 20 or so but I’m thinking I may not have bought enough for more than half yet.   For those of you just reading my blog I made a commitment to myself to make a quilt for each one of the firefighters and cadets in our city.  Luckily I live in a small town and there are only 30. It will be my 2016/2017 volunteer project.

It’s funny to look at a pattern and think that couldn’t take more than 15-20 minutes to cut that and then realize it took you over an hour.  I’m always amazed though that once cut up you wonder how that little stack took so long.  Here are two I cut out over the weekend. Haven’t made either of these patterns before but I like the overall look of them. 28 more to go.

Her blog stated we could repost and this is an excellent blog on free motion tutorials at Theinboxjaunt.com

I think I hit every online sale I could find and the local quilt store twice last week.  I even made it to the 30% off sale at the local quilt shop.  It’s scary when it rings up $330 after the 30% off but it’s for an excellent cause.  I know I can cover the costs and do the work or God would not have led me to start this project.

Here are the fabrics I’ve found so far for the fire department quilts.  All 30 will be red, white and blue.    I have 3 cut out and 27 left to go.

After so many articles in the paper about police killed or attacked for no other reason than wearing a uniform and firefighters told to remove American flags from trucks, I decided we as a nation need to step up and remind police and firefighters that we believe in them and are there to support them as they do us.   A couple of weeks ago I dropped off several pizza to the local police department.  I’m sure they were appreciated but it does little to say thanks.    I put blue lives matter stickers on my car and our local jeep club has had a BBQ and convoy of jeep along the beach to bring awareness of the issue and serve lunch to officers.   In order to show my support I decided to also make a quilt for each of our Zephyrhills firefighters.  People keep saying wow that’s amazing.  But no, it really isn’t.  These are men and women that would run into a blazing house to save even my dog.   There aren’t many people that would do that.   Do you think even your best friend would run into your house on fire to get you?  We’d like to think so but  . . . . . .

Zephyrhills has 21 firefighters and 9 cadets in their program so as a community service project, I’ve decided to make each a quilt.   One local lady who doesn’t quilt has also offered to learn to make one so she can be a part of the project.   So, the age old question of how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop has been replaced with how long does it take to cut, sew, quilt and bind 30 quilts?   It will be expensive and it will be a lot of work but it’s nothing compared to what these men and women do every day.

After 3 offers from the bank I finally decided to look into refinancing my home.  The process seemed easy enough and I was quickly approved but I never imagines how nerve racking it was to have your home inspected or appraised.   I hired Allison’s husband to help get the yard in shape and spend 3 days scrubbing house from top to bottom.  Funny he came , asked what I had remodeled or replaced since I purchased, took some pictures and was gone in less than 25 minutes.   Now just wait and see if he gives me a high enough value.   Even though I clean every weekend it’s funny how nervous I was to have someone come in that wanted to look at all the little details.   I still have some things I’d like to do but I love my house and feel so blessed that it’s actually mine.

Just reposting this as it’s finally bound and delivered.  I made this for my pet sitter.  She comes every day while I’m at work and takes the pups out to play.    I hope she loved it.  She likes working in the yard and this just had that sunny feel to it.

I finally finished the quilt for my sofa and I’m not thrilled.  Because of the way the blocks are laid out it made it look extremely obvious where the center seams were joined.   The green and the paisley look really nice with the sofa but the photo makes the color look yellow.   Probably one of the few quilts I’ve finished I wasn’t too thrilled about.  Even though it doesn’t look like the colors don’t match in the picture, it does in person.