This is going to be a post that is a very sad mixed with some happiness. I could not even think of a title for the post.
Last spring my friend Judie got a phone call that her niece was murdered by her estranged husband. He confessed to police and is now awaiting trial. Left behind were 4 children, with no parents and grandparents unable to care for them. The extended family was left with the agonizing process of figuring out who would raise the 3 youngest children. The oldest daughter would be raised by her father from a previous relationship.

Then a miracle happened. The best friend of the deceased woman and her husband decided that they would take the children in and raise them as their own. Now while this in itself would seem like an amazing story, add in to it that they have 6 children of their own! I get teary just typing this...

Judie asked me if I could round up a bunch of quilters to make some quilts for the kids and we also decided the parents could use one too.

Yesterday we had a lunch to give Judie the quilts and to thank everyone for their generous time in making a quilt for this well deserving family!

Sara's quilt (bad picture) features Beatrix Potter bunnies, she even included a book....

Christine's quilt soccer ball, star wars.......

Robin's quilt..................

Jean's quilt....she made a pocket in the back with some little cars to drive along the road, how cute!

Ellen's quilt with little fairies all over it.............

Terry's quilt with dinasaurs.....

Bob's quilt with Harley's all over it for the dad......

Kathy's quit for the mom...

Sujata's quilt with soccer balls......

Cheryl's quilt hibiscus and purple completely scrappy!

The recipient of my quilt (sorry I don't know how to turn a picture from an Iphone!)

Doesn't this picture just make you smile and break your heart at the same time? She is only 2 and so young to live through such a tragedy. I think her new family is doing a wonderful job....Judie told us she has already started calling the wife "mommy". I think that is a good sign.

There are many trials (literally) and tribulations to come. It feels so good to know there are these wonderful, generous people in the world who will turn their lives upside down to help others. It put things into perspective and makes me less cynical.
My hope is that we keep this in the public eye, and not let these kids down, this family deserves our support.
Thank you to all my quilting friends you are the best!

Kelly

Diary block #49

As you can see this block is a wedding dress. My daughter found her dress and bought it this past week. It looks nothing like this. She has decided not to tell anyone what it looks like before the wedding. I like the idea!
She did a great job, the very first place we went to she decided on the 5th dress she tried on, that's my girl! Decisive!!!
I had a few issues with this block.......

I tried to actually make a dress that would be appliqued to the block. A half hour later I changed the plan. I cut out a dress shape, fused it on to the fabric and sewed the tulle on top. Originally it was on a pink background until I accidently wrote on it with a permanent marker. I cut it out leaving the small pink edge and decided on a rose (for romance) print fabric that looks much prettier than the plain pink.

The beaded sashes are a hot trend as well as beading on a lot of the dresses we saw at the store. My favorite moment was when she tried on "the" dress, the other women in the room told her she looked like a princess!
So far the whole wedding process has gone pretty smooth. Let's hope it continues!!!

Kelly

Sewer's Guilt

This is a quilt I made at the last getaway. It went together very quickly because I had a lot of leftover pieces that I sewed together. It is quite abstract but I like it.

There is just straight line qulting in it. I love that little smidge of yellow next to the black, it was totally random. Love that!

The skinny little piece of dark blue was also a fun random happening.

I faced it instead of putting a binding on. For a more art type quilt I think it gives a nice finish. It really is not all that hard to do either.

Now for the guilt part......I was so happy after we got our power back to sew, take a shower, reheat my coffee in the microwave, turn on a light to read  etc....but I feel a little guilty because my blogging friend Barb is still in the dark! Today we texted each other and she said it may be until Friday before they get the power back! I hope they get it back sooner for you Barb!!!

Kelly

I Never Would Have Survived As A Pioneer!

This picture sums me up.......after just one day of no power I was getting grumpy. That being said, I feel so bad for all the people who have real tragedy. I have not see any pictures but I have heard Stone Harbor, our favorite New Jersey Beach took a beating.

The candles were nice for a while but it is hard to read by candle light. No wonder everyone went to bed early 100 years ago! We did too Monday night.

We were prepared. My husband has not 1, but 2 generators. One was being used to keep a son's sump pump going and ours broke the morning he tried to to turn it on. Thank goodness Wawa was open so there was coffee.

Faced with the idea that we might be days without power and no generator I decided to cook some food from the freezer. We have a gas stove (hurray!)  so I could at least eat something good while I was stranded in the house.

In all this craziness Halloween was not to be missed! Yes you are seeing the Jolly Green Giant and Michael Jackson in the same room!

Kelly

Diary Block #48

 

This is my block in honor (or dishonor?) of Hurricane Sandy. As I write this it is Monday and it is still to be seen what is the outcome of this epic storm. I just saw some pictures of Avalon, NJ and the water in the streets was about 3' high. The winds are 90 miles and hour and they think it will almost be a category 2 hurricane when it hits New Jersey. So sad.

The shape of my pumpkin is the symbol for hurricane, that sort of round "s" shape.

I like the little ghost peeking out from behind.....

and the witch on her broom....

Once again the newspaper came up with a great name, that I used on the block. I think it fits.

I documented some things on the back, so I will remember.

Got to run the lights are flickering and the wind is getting bad!!!

Kelly

Freaky Monday

It is a crazy day here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country. Hurricane Sandy is on the way and I think we are going to be walloped. It just keeps getting stronger, that can't be good. Time to make sure some handwork is on the side lines for when, not if the powers goes off.

I just finished sewing on the binding for my table runner this morning. I love that fabric, Halloweeny but not too much.

To make it a little bit more functional I put some turkeys on the back.

 

 

 

To add a little ambiance to my new runner, some candles on a stormy day.

 

I am planning on spending the rest of the day watching the news and doing some applique.

Watch the talking heads tell me, not to go out and try in surf in this......

I am in awe of the power of the ocean....

I think this headline sums up the day.

Hopefully I will get my Diary block done and post it later today before the power goes out. If not stay tuned, some of the news is saying 7 to 10 days without power. I will be getting a lot of applique accomplished!

Kelly

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Today is the start of the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side blog. This is a great opportunity to go a see some very awesome quilts.

I am entering the quilt "Boo" which also happens to be my very favorite right now. The size is 37 x 37, completely fused and machine quilted by me. After the faces were made I used a button hole stitch or a straight stitch and applied them to the backgrounds. The quilting is very simple to not take away from  the cool faces!
The secret ingredient to this quilt is to round up 4 kids, hand them some scissors, fused fabric and let them create to their heart's content! My 4 grandchildren are the artists who came up with these awesome faces.

Yes a pumpkin can have hair!

and look a little bit like ET!

A purple uni-brow is so in fashion!

Most of all they all had fun! Fallon 9, Griffin 7, Elliot 5 and Maddy 5, my budding artists!
Next we might try some snowmen or santa claus, the ideas are endless.

Kelly