Yet another Bushfire Quilt Project Update

Look at this! We are in Quiltmania!!!! How awesome! My copy came yesterday and I brought it to the Vacation Bible School grand finale and BBQ, mostly I used it to fan myself as it is HOT HOT HOT here in Kansas, but my husband and I both read it while the kids were getting lined up in the hallway.


For those of you in Europe I think this magazine is pretty easy to come by and for everyone else it can be ordered fairly simply. I went to the website and it was here in about 2 days. I have never looked through this magazine but I was very impressed with it. Not only are there some patterns to try, but there are some really impressive articles. Just going by this issue it seems to be a more sophisticated periodical that some of those here in the US.

Here is the cover, very nice don't you think?

And the article itself. You can click on this image and I think the article will be large enough for you to read. It is not all about the Bushfire quilt project, but about 1/4 of it is! Woot to us! I wish Kathy Mexted (the wonderful lady who wrote the article) could have named all those involved in this amazing project, I wish you could all see your name in print as a big thank you for participating.

Here is a close up of one of the shots. I was cropped out of the picture...boo hoo, but Apples and Gwen are there looking lovely. What a great thing to be involved in. Thank you again for sending your hard work, your love and your compassion. Thank you for your time and thank you for reaching out. It is cold in Australia now and your quilts are keeping people warm. They are able to wrap up in your prayers and each stitch is going to be an heirloom for them to keep for generations to come.

Jan of OZ Comfort Quilts has passed all the quilts out that I sent her. Some I sent directly to people affected, but most went to Jan. She has a great blog where she has each and every quilt pictured and she talks about how she distributes them and who she gets the quilts from. Look through her site and see if you can find your blocks/ quilts.

XO,

Tia

Bush Fire quilt update

I have been lax about blog posting, but we have been having a great time getting readjusted to living back in the USA. Sounds kinda silly I guess, but it is a bit of a readjustment. I will miss my easy going Alice Springs days and my scant traffic time.


I just wanted to give you who donated to the Bush Fire Quilt project a bit of an update. All the quilts have been delivered to Jan of "Oz Comfort Quilts" She will be in Kinglake passing them out.

Here is what Jan wrote me this morning

We delivered the quilts yesterday and the lady who is handing them out was thrilled with them. We took down 220 quilts so almost all of the ones you made have been sent down already. She was so touched when she read a message on one of the stars and she messaged me this am to say that she's already given out 10 quilts last night and will get the rest out ASAP. She is a teacher at Kinglake and is working with one of the local churches. We've sort of started an outreach program with the quilts and knitted hats and scarves and the people are so appreciative that all the work has been worth it.I really appreciate your donation of quilts and trust that I could get them to where they are most needed. The winter is very hard in that area but we had a lovely sunny day yesterday, thankfully as we had the quilts on the 4WD roof rack and a trailer as well as the car being stashed full.

You can keep up with the Oz Comfort Quilt project via Jan's blog ( http://ozcomfortquilts.blogspot.com/ ). I still have 3 tops and a smaller one with my household goods which I will be finishing and sending down when I am all linked back up with my things.


I have enjoyed working on this amazing project so much. I have loved meeting all you wonderful people and we will find another good cause to quilt for when I am settled in Kansas. We will be setting off for the last leg of our road trip either tomorrow or Monday. I had so much to blog about while I was here in NC, but time just got away from me.


Have a great weekend!
Tia

Happy Post - but kinda scattered

OK, I am very happy to post this post, but it will be scattered because there is so much going on in my life right now that it can't help but be. I will try to remain focused.



This is one of the last quilts I finished (I do have 2 more from Alda that I am working on, but they may have to wait until the Berninas and I get back together in Kansas you see I have this wonderful plan for them). This quilt is from Marguerite in the UK. She cut up a Laura Ashely dress to get to the floral lawn fabric. And I must say that this quilt feels so wonderful.



I used a really wonderful Wool Batting with this one and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE how it feels beneath the lawn. I did not quilt this one densely because I wanted the wonderful loft that the wool would give and I was NOT disappointed when I took it out of the dryer. Oh my goodness. I do love it so.

Here is the front. All those hearts are hand stitched on with the most tiny stitches. Marguerite sure made an heirloom here didn't she?

After I finished the binding on Marguerite's quilt and while the quilt was in the wash (I wanted to make sure it washed up well before sending it off to Victoria) I packed up my sewing room. Most of my fabric is now in boxes out in the living room. That is a ton of fabric, but so much potential huh? When I open those boxes in Kansas I will be ready to create wonderful things! I can't tell you how happy my husband is that I have packed up some of the fabric. He immediately took down the shelves and took me out for Thai food. Not a bad deal.

Here are the books that I am reading right now. I am thrilled for the new Material Obsession Two to be out here in Australia. It is lovely. I have not really had a chance to sit down and look at it closely, I just thumbed through it a couple times. It arrived wrapped in batting with a stripy bow! I wrap my gifts with fabric, how clever to use batting. I may try that in the future too.

Juliet Marillier is one of my new favorite authors. She writes old fairy tales and legends as novels and she can paint a visual image wonderfully. If you are at a loss without Harry Potter and Twilight and you have read all the Out lander books give Juliet's books a go. I would begin with Daughter of the Forrest if I were you. It is the story of the "7 Swans" and it is beautiful.

** OK here is an update since I started this post. I LOVE LOVE LOVE MO2. I like it so much better than the first one. I really can't put my finger on why, but I do. So, next year when it is published for the US market make sure you all get a copy. For those of you here in Australia, I completely recommend it now. I will dedicate a whole post to the book after the movers cart all my goods away. I will have heaps of time on my hands then.

Here I am with 105 quilts ready for Toby and Marianne to come collect them and load them all up onto their trailer for the long drive down to Victoria. How awesome is that? I was moping around fretting about how I was going to get all these wonderful quilts to Victoria (Australian Air Express WAS going to ship them all for free, but we ran out of time and there were more than they bargained for. Woops.) Anyway I was worried. The movers are going to be coming soon and I can't even get around my living room with all the boxes in the way...well I ran into Marianne and her husband Toby at the store and over a hot cinnamon donut they offered to drive them down. He has a trailer to return to his dad and Jan is right on the way! Hot dog.

Here they are all loaded up and ready for their next leg of the journey. Sooooo if you would like to see your quilts again check Jan's blog Oz Comfort Quilts. She will be distributing them. I have gotten a few since we packed all these up. They will be going to another quilt distributor. I will put more information about that later. For now I need to go back to sorting for the move. Isn't it amazing all the rubbish you accumulate in 3 years? I am sure there is tons of stuff I have forgotten to put in this post, but I am so scattered right now, and I really wanted you to know a bit about what is going on.

xo,

Tia

the end is in sight

These last couple weeks of super sewing has caught up with me. If I was a napping person I would sure go take one. But I am not a nap person so I am sorting. I think I have a mode of transportation for the quilts to get to their new homes which makes me happier than I can say. I need to hammer out the last couple details then I will let you all know how it is going to happen. I am pretty sure we have over 100 quilts now! How amazing is that? I am just thrilled with all the hard wok that has gone into this project and I have really met some amazing people because of it. Thank you for sharing yourselves with me.


The picture above is of the box that was waiting for me when I got home from school drop off this morning. It was mailed from Germany in March and it finally made it! Hot dog! And just in time too. See, nothing to worry about Alda. It made it safe and sound. I need to count them but there sure look to be at least 3, maybe 4 quilt tops there.


Oh and just a quick thank you to everyone who sent bindings. That really made things simple. Thank you so much.


OK, back to pick up Ethan from school...and then the butcher....or maybe we will just go out to dinner tonight. Another big lawn sale tomorrow at 0-dark-thirty since the one 2 weeks ago was rained out.


xo,
Tia

97 Quilt Ready to Ship out to Victoria!

Can you believe it? 97 Quilts ready to ship out. 97 quilts made from a giant outpouring of love from all over the world. Wow. I am stunned. I am thrilled, and I am ready for them to go to their new homes. I will be shipping them out over this coming week.

This is what I should be doing today, but I am trying to get my last couple projects sewn up and sent out before the packers come. My husband is pacing around the house with a wild look on his face, so I do need to transfer my energy towards assisting him, but I still have 2 weeks! And I am determined to make the most of it! Half of that laundry is going to be going to the women's shelter anyway. ;)

Here are some stacks of quilts (both boxes are stuffed full too)

And some more quilts....

I have some quilt kits set aside from blocks that arrived late or were taken in by ladies who thought they could piece them, but just ran out of time....I am kinda in a quandary as to what to do with them. They are all so beautiful and wonderful. We wanted to just send them down to the fire victims in case some are quilters them selves and want to do up their own quilt, but I am going to have to pay for some of the shipping since I think Australia Air Express is not doing the free shipping anymore. I will check on that tomorrow. In case they are NOT doing the shipping for no charge anymore would any of you be interested in buying a kit with all the proceeds going to shipping of the complete quilts to Victoria?

What did we end up with? Let's see.... Now keep in mind my goal was 3 quilts for the fire victims of Victoria....

• 1884 blocks sent in
• 22 countries
• 48 complete quilts or quilt tops donated
• 74 quilt tops from blocks sent in
• what would have been 122 quilts for the bushfire victims.
• 97 quilted and bound quilts ready to go to Victoria

NOT a bad thing! THANK YOU SO MUCH for participating! There is no way on Earth I could have done this without you! I have taken a picture of each quilt as it comes in finished up and ready to send out. and they are each and every one right HERE in the Bush Fire Quilt Project Flickr group.

Please let me know (in the comments if you like or by email) if you would be interested in buying a quilt kit. If there is enough interest I can list the kits in my ETSY shop and all the money will go to shipping the quilts to Victoria and YOU will get an awesome quilt kit out of the deal. Everyone wins!

Status Updates...

This is going to be a big mish mash of a post. I just want to fill you in on where I am in my crazy sewing world.


First - there are about 400 names on my wait list to have some bags made. Wow. I just did a quick tally. I guess I need to find some sewing assistance. Are any of you seamstresses living in the Kansas City area who want to make some bags with me? I am fun to work with and the ladies I sew for are some of the most amazing people on the planet. Or maybe I just need to crack down and work on my pattern book. Then you can make your own bags.

I sent this set out the week before last. It should be at it's new home.

Here is one of the 2 teacher quilts I am making for my son's class. It turned out pretty simple, the other was more the vision I had all along. But hey, I am getting pressed for time.

This is another I sent out week before Last. I really loved this bag. You can't really tell but this bag is made with Momo - Wonderland fabric and some Amy Butler and a great green velour. Awesome bag.

Here is the other teacher quilt. The hand prints are going to be the flower blooms on the stems. I think it is going to be pretty great when the dust settles.

Here are 67 Bushfire Quilts ready (or almost ready - I just need to find a couple packing things) to be shipped to Victoria. A bunch more quilts are out being bound and they should be meeting up here so I can photograph them and pack them up.

I need to go get dinner ready,

Have a great week....it is really cold here. My blood has thinned and I am a weakling. Thank goodness we are moving back to the heat soon!

xo,

Tia

More Bush Fire Quilts!

I have 51 finished quilts - Ready to go and be loved - in my house. Here are the latest. Isn't it amazing the variety of blocks and fabric!

They sure are all wonderful, Aren't they? I should be picking up some more tonight at the guild meeting.

Have a great day!

Tia

The BIG Quilt-a-thon

Good morning everyone!

I sure hope you are all doing well and are in good spirits. I sure am. Saturday we had our "BIG" Quilt-a-thon at Ross Park Primary School. It was wonderful. We got so much work done! It was a proper sweat shop - just call us "Bush Fire Quilts R Us" we were just pumping them out. I am so proud of what we ALL have done here. There was so much quilted love and good vibes in that room, and out on the porch. I believe we have all but 4 quilts backed, batted and stacked. We are going to make the remaining 4 quilt kits for a couple quilters in Victoria who may want to do their own Bush Fire Star quilt. I thought that was a great idea - they will have the control and can make them when they have the time and resources.



I have to say my thanks first before I go on to the nitty gritty. This in not in order of importance, everyone is so important and we could not have done this without each of you contributing.

1. Thank you first to Ross Park Primary School for letting us use your staff room. It was just perfect - nice and warm, heaps of power points, a big boiling water thing on the wall so we could have tea and coffee all day long. It was great. Thank you so much! We want to donate a quilt (for their school auction) as a thank you for giving us the key to their school and giving us the venue to complete this massive project. If any of you are interested in bidding when the time comes let me know and I will see about putting the auction online.
2. Thank you to Rachel of 2nd Avenue Studio who donated a big bunch of batting and some backing fabric. The second lot of batting I ordered still is not here - but that is how it goes with shipping to an APO. It will get here eventually.
3. Thank you to the Alice Springs Quilt Club for your nimble fingers, willingness to jump into this enormous project head first, and your big wonderful open hearts. Thank you for your time and skills.
4. Thank you to Margaret and Apples. Between the two of you how many quilts have you quilted on your frames? 50? 60? Heaps. I will get a count - don't worry. Margaret also got us more batting and backing fabric.
5. Thank you to Kim of Honeysuckle Cottage for getting us the first wonderful roll of cotton batting and 11 bolts of wonderful backing fabric and lovely thread to quilt and piece all the blocks up with.
6. Thank you Kathy of Pink Chalk Studio for sending us 6 big boxes of safety pins so we could pin baste so many quilts.
7. Now most importantly - Thank you to all of you from all over the globe who have sent in blocks, bindings, backing fabric, thread, pins, entire quilt tops, entirely completed quilts, money to buy more batting and packages of tasty coffee. Thank you for sharing yourselves in this project. Thank you for opening yourselves up and sending your love. It is getting cold here in Australia - especially in Victoria and these quilts are going to used to warm the hearts and bodies of some fine people.

I am sure I have left very important things out - put I will edit as I think of stuff.

So, here we are in the Ross Park Primary School Staff room...

See all those boxes on the sofa and floor? They all were in my sewing room...now they are all empty! I have a tall stack of finished quilts in their place!

I made some Monkey Bread. It has been years and years since I made this. I used Martha Stewarts recipe and it turned out so nice. The knife was my first wedding anniversary present from my dear husband. This year my husband spent our anniversary at the BBQ as the cook for the ladies at the quilt-a-thon. So a big thank you to my mate for spending our 11th wedding anniversary watching the kids and grilling.

Eventually we had to swell out to the porch to do stacking because there were so many ladies willing to help.

There were 7 ladies doing quilting.

2 places set up to pin baste quilts.

See everyone working away.

We used the kitchen are for another stacking/basting area.

Here is one of the quilts that we finished on Saturday. This is from LauraJay.

And this one is from Ulla in Finland. She sent the top and I quilted it up. I did loops which I totally copied from Glittergoods. If you want to try your hand at freehand quilting this is a great pattern. I use about a quarter of the thread with this pattern than I do when I use my typical swirly freehand quilting pattern.

OK...I guess that is everything from this post. Wow. I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to see this project develop.

On a bit of a different note, we have our housing assignment for Ft Leavenworth. Yippee! Our new house will be quite old. Maybe will get a resident ghost? There are lots on post. I have lots of ghost stories, but those will be saved for another blog posting.

I am off to start my Monday morning. Have a great day everyone! Happy stitching, back to my bags!

xo,

Tia