Quilting at the Elementary School

My DIL is a 3rd grade teacher at a small school in Centerville, TX. She asked me to come speak to the 3rd graders about quilting. I explained to them how a quilt was made, components of a quilt, and let them try to guess the names of different quilt blocks. I then gave the teachers cut 8-1/2 inch squares of muslin for each child to draw a picture. Each of the three homerooms, chose a theme, colored their blocks and then I sashed and quilted the quilts as a keepsake for the teachers. These quilts are on display at the elementary school.

The first quilt (sashed in green) is for my DIL. Her class chose to do an outdoor theme. The picture to the left is a close-up of a couple of blocks.

The second class chose a mystical theme. It is the quilt sashed in blue. I have also included a close-up of a couple of blocks. In the close-up, the block to the right was drawn by my grandson. Sorry, just had to brag!!!!

The third class chose seashells as their theme. It is sashed in earthtone colors. There is also a close-up of this quilt as well.

This was a fun project and both the students and teachers enjoyed it. They have already asked me to do it again next year!!!

And the Winner Is........

And the winner is..........(drum roll).............

Greenmare from Wisconsin! Congratulations. You have won a packet of fat quarters from Blank Quilting. Email me you address and I'll get your FQ pack in the mail.

Thanks to all for the anniversary wishes! I wished I could have given all of you a prize!!!

Happy Anniversary

Oh my gosh! It's my Anniversary or should I say "Happy Blogiversary" to me???? I can't believe that I started the Humble Quilter blog on March 22, 2007. It has been a year!!!!! Time sure does fly. Thru blogging, I have learned a lot from each of you. I feel like I have new cyber friends to share with. I appreciate each of you when you visit my blog. I try to get around to everyone's blog, but some weeks I do a better job than other. For some reason, my bosses think I need to work rather than blog! LOL! What's up with that????I will be giving a special gift away in honor of my anniversary to some lucky person. To all who post, I will have a drawing for a lucky winner. Good luck.

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!

Oh my gosh -- I've been tagged by my dear friend Molly -- How exciting as I've never been tagged before! She seems to think that I am "weird and wacky". Well, it takes one to know one -- LOL! Now what do I do? Well, here goes the rules:


The Rules:

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.

2. Post The Rules on your blog.

3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.

4. Tag 7 people and link to them.

5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.


Seven Weird and/or Wacky Things About Me!


1. I am a member of a very special quilting group -- Wacky Pac Quilters of Texas. There are nine of us who are as close as sisters. We have LOTS of fun together, laughing, taking road trips, retreating, sewing, cruising, and sharing our love of quilting and sharing our lives.


2. I am the youngest of three children. I have two older brothers. Both my parents had dark black hair and so did my two older brothers! Well, my hair is RED!!! I really got a lot of kidding as a child growing up. My maternal grandmother said that when I was born, she didn't like me!!! She said when my Dad called her and told her I was a girl, she said "well don't bring her over here". She said one day when I was just a young infant, I was very sick. My mother was in the drug store getting medicine and she was pacing back and forth on the sidewalk fanning me as it was so hot outside. She said a man walked past her and said "whew, I bet her mama has to cover her head to let the sun rise". Grandma said if she hadn't been holding me, she would have socked him a good one!!!! She said she loved me ever since! Now isn't that funny? She wasn't fooling me; I know she always loved me!


3. When I was a toddler -- back in the early 50's, I was riding in the backseat of a car with my mother and her friend Ruby Doan (we called her Doanie) riding down Main Street in Humble, Texas. There was no air conditioning back then so naturally the windows were down on the car. There was no law then for child restraints so I was just in the seat on my knees playing with a little plastic car, rolling it along the edge of the car window. One of the wheels of the little car fell off and into the street. I asked them to stop the car to get my wheel, but they wouldn't do it. Well, by golly, I showed them!!! I opened the door and jumped out!!!! We were traveling very slow and I wasn't injured too badly -- just a mild concussion. Maybe this is where I get my "hard headiness".


4. I once worked as the Administrative Assistant to the President and Chief Operating Officer of Shell Oil Company in Houston, Texas. I retired in 2005 as office manager of a power plant and now I am the director of senior services in Freestone County -- a job I never imagined I would have.


5. I have been married to my best friend for 37 years! We have such a great time together. We've been thru a lot together and look forward to lots more crazy times together. We love to travel, go camping, and just have a great time. Each moment is considered an adventure.


6. I have been "zip-lining" in the jungles of Roatan, Honduras. This is probably the WACKIEST thing I ever did! I was scared to death! I was with 3 of my Wacky Sisters and they were not scared at all!!!


7. I am a cancer survivor. In 2003, I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. I fought with all my faith, and my might and I beat it! I'll reach my 5th year of remission in October 2008. I consider this to be one the greatest accomplishments of my life. Of course, I didn't do it alone -- My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, was the one directing the actions. If you are 50 or older, GO GET A COLONOSCOPY if you have not had one -- IT CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE -- It did mine!!!!!


Now -- Here are the people I am tagging:


Peach Quilting


KC Quilter


Swooze


QuiltGranny

SuperMom

MaryQuilts

LeannesHouse

Spring Fling Round Robin

Margaret is coordinating the Spring Fling Round Robin. We are to send an 8-inch center and we will get back a completely finished quilt -- approximately 20 inches in size.

This is my center. It doesn't look too much like a spring basket but the picture is not real good. I should get my completed project back the latter part of June. I'll be posting the rounds as I get them so be sure to "stay tuned."

Here is the website (I would put a link in but I don't know how! If you do, tell me!)
http://www.springflingroundrobin2008.blogspot.com/

Applique Thread

The verdict is in! I have tried the following threads for applique:
1. Gutterman Silk 30 wt. (the pink thread)
2. YLI Silk (the taupe thread)
3. Mettler Cotton 60 wt. (the green thread)
4. DMC cotton 50 wt. (the blue thread)

My thread of choice is the DMC cotton 50 wt. It is a very thin thread and works nicely. I like the YLI silk too, but it frays too much when using. The Gutterman Silk ($3.60 for 110 yds) was good too, but it is more difficult for me to get and it costs more than the DMC ($2.80 for approx 5oo yds). I'm sure that I'll be using all of these brands as I have several spools of each, but future applique thread purchases will be the DMC.

What Thread Do You Use?

What thread do you use for applique? I have always used silk thread for my applique -- usually Kinkame (sp) or YLI. I recently took an applique class with Robyn Pandolph and she recommends Gutterman Silk thread. She suggested when cutting off a length of thread, you should hold both ends and gently "pop" it to prevent twisting. This is something I've not done before, but seems to help. Robyn also stated she uses Thread Haven to condition the thread; this is something that I do.

I have tried the Gutterman silk and it seems to not fray as much as the Kinkame or YLI thread. It is a heavier thread, but with the right color match it looks nice.

I am curious about what thread others use for applique. Any comments??

Cruisin' Fun

Here is a picture of the Wacky Pac sporting our decorated sunglasses! The glasses were bright colors with all types of "cruise-related" embellishments. We received several comments the day we wore the glasses.

Our Arrival at the Cruise Dock

Here we are at the dock, unloading our luggage -- we all brought plenty of clothes and stuff!!!!! It took the porters a while to get it loaded into the shuttle bus so we could go to the ship. But, isn't the luggage cute? So many different colors and patterns.

I'm Home

I am home from the 7-night cruise with my Wacky quilting friends. Boy did we have fun!!! We ate, drank, laughed, ate, laughed, ate, drank, and on and on and on.......

I took classes from Paula Barnes, Robyn Pandolph, Linda Everhart. It was a really fun time.

I have taken lots of pictures, but have not downloaded them to my computer yet -- I had to return to work today!!!! Maybe I'll get the pictures downloaded tonight so I can post for all to see.