Carri's Quilt

Today I finally finished Carri's Quilt! It was a very long road to get it done. It is a Bonnie K Hunter Mystery quilt called Orca Bay. I think we started the mystery around Thanksgiving. I had been in a accident in October and really could not do much of anything. Making this quilt was physically painfully but mentally therapeutic! The pieces took me from November to June to make, 15 minutes at a time at first.  I found I had to starch the living daylights out of the scrappy string blocks so they would not stretch when sewn into the larger blocks. The first block I took apart 4 times. It still had the wrong color star points but I left it. I  told Carri it represents me. You have to really look hard to find it, but I know where it is.

The FMQ was really difficult. After ripping out several hours of quilting, I did a meandering stippling. Many places were jerking or just plain wrong, but I kept going. The quilting is not my best work but I made it with love and Carri likes it.

Orca Bay almost there.

Have been sewing on the Orca Bay top for DD#3.  She picked the colors. She loves brown. Jazzed it up with the blue and pink. She has selected yellow for the final border. The brown heart patches have yellow hearts in them. I was surprised but it is her quilt. Here is my grandson checking out grandma's work and doing the bounce test!

I started it in November 2011. In August I decided that I have to finish it in the event of my demise. To many UFO so little time. I wanted to be sure all my girls and grand kids and my husband have a quilt from me that they can use until they are in shreds! My stitching is no way near as neat and pretty as it use to be but they don't care.

I am down to the end border , just have to quilt it next month....I need a break.
Back to the tiny AAQI piecing for a while!.

After the Holidays I hope to make a quilt for my bed. I have a twin size quilt on a queen size bed.

AAQI September Mini Quilt - The Mouser!

Hi Ladies: I just wanted to show you my September mini. It all started because I was watching a blog hop using a bunch of stacked bowls. I thought that was really neat, but I was to late to join the fun. I freehand cut a bowl and then had to figure out what I wanted in the bowl. I put white on the lip so it looked like a spillover and then thought about a cat. Why would a cat risk getting wet? To chase a mouse!! So a quilt was born. 

AAQI is still collecting mini quilts. Ami Simms was feature in Woman's Day for October. I imagine this will help sell a lot of quilts. This will also deplete the supply going to Houston in November. I am going to try a make a few more this month.

Join the fun and donate a 9 x 12 mini quilt to Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative ! All skill levels welcomed and all profit goes to research!

Come on Ladies make just One! It will really help! 

Wicked!

So I joined a Blog Hop! Never done this before. I am really pumped to try it out. I am trying to be more creative this year. I work on small quilts mostly. AAQI is something I try to do every month.

In August I watched the progress of the Bowls with Borders Challenge and wished that I had know about it. They were just so cute! So when this challenge popped up I just had to join. I can't way to see which way this Blog Hop takes me!!

Happy Quilting, Happy Creating!!!
Aileen

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

I try to make a little quilt every month for AAQI. I love viewing all the quilts on line and on occasion I purchase someones beautiful quilt. 

My little quilt "Take A Hike" will be in the September Auction. I am so excited!!!! I am hoping it earns some money for AAQI!

UPDATE! "Take a Hike" earned 96.00 in the Auction!!! WOOT WOOT!

AAQI has recently updated its web page making it easy to Donate a quilt or find a quilt for sale..

Message from Ami Simms:

 The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative® (www.AlzQuilts.org) is a national, grassroots charity whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research. The AAQI auctions and sells donated quilts, and sponsors a nationally touring exhibit of quilts about Alzheimer's. The AAQI has raised more than $747,000 since January 2006.

 So far this year we’ve raised about $56,000 through “priority” quilt sales, not counting the August auction. Last year in Houston we sold $62,000. Plus we have three more online auctions before the end of the year. (The November auction doesn’t count because that’s the Celebrity Invitational Quilt Auction, and those aren’t technically Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilts.)

If (and that’s a big “if”) we can do as well at Houston in 2012 as we did in 2011, and we have three auctions each bringing in $2,000 or more, we could generate $126,000 for the year in Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilt sales alone.
So what’s the bottom line?

If you’re making a Priority: Alzheimer’s Quilt and have hopes for Houston, get it registered and in the mail by August 31st. That gives our volunteers 6 weeks to receive it, scan it, price it, tag it, and ship it from your house to Illinois, from Illinois to Michigan, and from Michigan to Texas.

August Clean up

I have been cleaning my sewing room this month. Well actually organizing, giving stuff away and throwing stuff away. It started with a search for a book I know I bought a few years ago.  I can't find it. It is Bonnie Hunter's Scraps and Shirtails. I know I bought it because after receiving her Leaders and Enders book in the mail, I rushed out and purchased it so I could make a scrappy quilt with my new "Scrap User's System"!

I was so frustrated that I took my Laptop to my sewing room and did an inventory of all my books. Ended up with 119 on the list. I found one duplicate. Still can't find that book! I now want to do my patterns, including the printouts I have been saving. I purged a full tall kitchen trash can of printout from when I was teaching quilting. I found several sample blocks in the manilla envelopes. More UFO's! Oh MY!!!!

Since August started I have mailed the AAQI quilt in. Joined Block Swap Adventure and mailed out Sunny's block.  Since I am also trying to kill off some UFO's, my daughter suggested I make my grandson a pillowcase with the John Deere fabric I bought for him and put the Name Block on it that has been hanging on my Design wall for several Months. He is 2 years old but very observant. I ran out of room on the wall so I turn it sideways. Every time he passed by he would say "sideways" instead of his name. I used the book called Word Play by Tonya Ricucci to make the letters. Easy and fun. Now I just need to loosen up and do some wonky lettering!

Louis said "Oh John Deere" then ran out of the room with the pillowcase in hand. Got to the living room and stop to look at it again. He proclaimed "SO CUTE"! I would say it was worth the time it took to make it! LOL!

 I received my block from Sunny for the Block Swap Adventure! Very Pretty. Thank you Sunny. The colors are just perfect. Just what I asked for!!   Now I need to make a few myself!!!

Sunny asked for a Star Block so I sent her this one. I hope she likes it!

I also received my Doll Swap Quilt! Thank you Jan it is Awesome.

Its hanging in the sewing room!

August Fun

I finished my AAQI quilt early this time.  I wanted to do something different. I have been sewing crumbs together for weeks. They are fabrics that I used in other quilts. Some people call this "made fabric" or "crumb play". I stared at it on my design wall for a while, trying to decide what to do with it. While cleaning out my closet I came across lace with ribbon weaved into it. I thought the 2 things would look good together. It was so bright and cheery. I added some thread painting to the whole piece to make it pop. I do like the end result!

Fiesta Time

AAQI # 11373

made by 

Aileen Kline

Today while browsing in the Quilting Forum, someone posted that my AAQI quilts were posted at TheQuiltShow.com under the TQS/AAQI Challenge Wow that blew me away! I really enjoy making them. They are small enough to be quick and big enough to try new techniques.

Join the fight for a cure. Make a Alzheimer's Art Quilt. You will be glad you did!

Aileen

July Stars and Stripes Doll Quilt Swap

I finally finished the Doll Quilt. I started the quilt over 3 times. 

I seem to have a mental block about stripes and plaids. Always thought it was just plaid. I guess from being a fat kid. "Does this make me look fat???" I just could not coordinate it with anything. It was like sucking on a lemon.  Its a quilt not an outfit! UGH! That is the only thing I can think of.  I have always avoided stripes, plaids and polka dots. My husband loves plaid. He doesn't owe any. Even when we were up north, he had very few.

I was over thinking it I guess.

I think it came out really nice.

Happy Birthday Shara

July 21 is Shara's birthday. Daughter # 2. I mailed her 7 large boxes of her stuff. This included her sewing machine, some fabric, thread, scissors, needles, and walking foot. . I hope she makes something nice for herself!!!

I sent her a small box with the e-notebook bag I made her.  She collects Owls! I hope she likes it!!!

Happy Birthday

Love 
MOM

July - Summer Rains

It has been raining on and off all month. After the flooding in the beginning of the month, it was quiet for 4 days. The rain is now back. In some ways it is refreshing. Everything gets that lush green color. Flowers bloom like crazy and the birds, frogs, crickets and bugs start singing up a storm again. The muggy will kill you, but that is just part of living in Florida.


I have been home for a very long time. Nine months. I can't do much but I keep trying.  It hurts to do anything. Even sewing can leave me wiped out after just 1/2 an hour. The final result is worth it. Sewing is my go to for mental health. It is food for my psyche and I need that. Fabric-ology if you will. 


For the last 2 weeks I have been trying to make a gift for my daughter for her birthday and the little quilt for Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Both are very small projects. Both having the same deadline of  July 21st. Both need to be mailed out.  I also signed up for a Doll quilt swap that is due by August 4th. I started working on the doll quilt the end of June. After piecing the 8 sections together, I found that my math was off and it was way to big. So I have to start over. I was so frustrated. These are the scraps.  As I sewed the scraps together, I began to calm down. I was making new fabric from a pile a scraps. The brightness was so cheerful. I felt my frustration leave me and my heart soar.  This was not what I intended to create for AAQI, it was what emerged. I decided I needed a Butterfly to glide by in this jungle of color! 

Gliding By

by 

Aileen Kline

AAQI #11148

June AAQI

I worked really hard to get this mini quilt for Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative finished. Just have the label to go. I love it! This is going to make it really hard to part with. It is a prototype. My DD#2 loves owls and I wanted to create my own design. I did some thread painting on the trunk and used some variegated thread around the owl. I started with a totally different background, then changed it to black.  I wanted the moon in the background so the owl would stand out better.

I don't work well plotting out every detail. It stresses me when it does not come out like the drawing.
The only thing I drew was the owl. Everything else is freehand seat of the pants cutting. I have a lot of fused fabric left over for another day.

Aileen

HOO ME

by

Aileen Kline

AAQI # 10859

May projects

I bought myself a Nook for Mother's Day. I have put off getting one thinking I would never use it. I was wrong. I have read 6 books is 3 weeks. Watched 3 movies and 5 comedy shows while sewing.  I don't think I have read one whole book in 6 years. I also got my 2 yr old grandson to sit still and watch Thomas the Train while I was FMQ. Win Win!

My DD#1 came down from the north with family for DGS 8th birthday. We got him a Nook as well. He was getting behind in his reading. He is all about technology, so I am hoping he will read more. It was fun to celebrate this milestone with him. Found out I have NO eye hand coordination for video games at all.

I wanted to make him a bag to protect his Nook like the one I made for myself. His mother also wanted one. I adapted a pattern I found online at Moda Bakeshop by Kimberly Walus  I made it a little wider because my DD has a protective rubberized cover on hers. I did decorative stitching on DD and DGS. It was a lot of fun using those stitches on my machine. My bag is plain but Celestial.  I have to make a few more for my other 2 daughters. They were just so much fun to make!

Aileen

Take a Hike

Well my "Birdie" quilt raised 75.00 for AAQI. I am so proud to be a part of this endeavor.

This month was very difficult for me. I was not able to sew for the first two weeks. Lot of pain but I just didn't want to give up. It took all month to make my little quilt. A few minutes of sewing time here and there. I wanted something whimsical to take my mind off of my recovery from surgery. I needed to smile. This was out of my comfort zone as far as fabric choice was concerned. Why can't a house be made out of crazy fabric? Why can't a red bird wear rubber boots? Why not! I tend to stick with fabrics that read more solid, tone on tone or are normal in color for the item I am trying to express. The wall hanging for my daughter's birthday was also out of my comfort zone. I enjoyed making it as well. What do you thing?

Aileen