Whoop, Whoop! For My Friends......

I've accomplished very little, I thought....
I started these socks--got only this far....

 And they were going to be much too big so I ripped them out and will have to start over.
However, tomorrow is quilt dedication Sunday at church, so when the Victory Quilters met today, we spread out the quilts for tomorrow's dedication.

 We ran out of room at the front of the church and ended up spreading them on rows of chairs at the side of the sanctuary.

 On the sound control booth at the back of the sanctuary....

 And on the back of the last rows of chairs.  People will have to move forward a little tomorrow morning.

 This quilt was made by Judy in wonderful seashore theme fabrics and was one of my very favorites; it's one that needs to be seen in person--the colors are so subtle that I'm betting the fabrics sold better in quilt shops than on-line!

Judy and I both counted; there are fifty quilts.  [Three more quilts came in Sunday morning, so 53 were dedicated.] Spread out as they are, there will be plenty of room for people to spread out and lay hands on them as we pray for healing for the recipients.

Our quilt ministry began to make prayer quilts for people with cancer.  It has expanded to include church members and people we know who are facing other serious health challenges too.

So many beautiful quilts, so many hours of prayers, and much anticipated healing.

Clarification: Almost all these quilts have been made by four of us.  Occasionally someone takes a quilt kit, assembles it, and gives it back to us.  Two or three other ladies take them and sew down the backside of the binding. Because they are not distributed until they are blessed in a church service, and because we don't hold a blessing service until the stack of bless quilts is getting low or until we are running low in an area of potential need (this time we were running out of quilts for children, and we rarely have children with a need), we do not have a quilt blessing every month.  We just keep making quilts and praying and are always surprised to see so many quilts when we do the dedication service.  I think we each make more than we realize we make--so the dedication service is an important opportunity to see the new group.

Le Soleil d'Hiver - Report 5

A lot more quilting has been done--although there is still lots more to be done. I do find it amazing that although my feet are very busy treadling, it's so easy to forget that my feet and legs are almost as busy as my hands and eyes.

 I love the way the yellow Michael Miller Fairy Frost looks when quilted and when it is photographed.

 Another thing I love about these Lake House fabrics is that they look as if they've been painted with delicate lines of pearls--how perfect for a Chinese inspired fabric!

 This is what I came up with for quilting the long printed panels.  I was thinking feathers, but completed it's more like a blend of feathers and seashells.
Below are photos of several sections of the back of the quilt since sometimes that's where the quilting shows up best. The first photo is of feather/seashells on the back of the panels.

 Although I used very fine thread for the stabilization, for the quilting I'm using Fil-Tec Glide, a sunny gold on top and a pearly white in the bobbin.

 And I do love this class 15 treadle and its lovely high capacity bobbins.

I'm guessing that if I were still hand quilting, I'd be lucky to have finished one of the star blocks in a day of quilting.  These are taking about 20 minutes each--and all 15 are done.
We were fortunate to have sunshine today, but since my sewing studio catches only morning sun, I can say with certainty that this quilt does produce the feeling of the winter sun.  I'm thinking that even in warmer weather the balance of the blues and yellows will echo the sensation of cooler sunny days.

And to think that 10 days or so I had no idea this quilt would look like this......

If you came to this post from another website or another blog, you might want to click on the header at the top of the blog to read other posts about progress on this quilt.
And remember that you can see more details if you right click on any photo and open it in a larger view in another tab or another window.

Another Soleil d'Hiver Update

That's it....just three blocks....well, all the stabilizing stitching is done.
Still haven't made a decision about how to stitch the setting triangles.
The blues and yellows are so cheerful.--As was the sunshine over much of New Mexico this afternoon...in great contrast to the intense winter weather earlier this week....But it isn't that far in the distant past--it was 5 degrees this a.m.--at least that was above zero!

Click the little blue "Whoop! Whoop!" button to the right of my blog to go visit some of the other projects that have progressed this week--or to post your own progress.

If you followed a link to this post and want to see more of this quilt, just click the main title to the blog to see more posts and progress reports on the development of this quilt.

Tiny Update - Soleil d'Hiver

Maybe this should be called Update 1.5.

Still trying to find time to finish the basting.

Update #1 - Le Soleil d'Hiver

Struggled most of the day yesterday getting the really simple border and backing done.

Instead of the medium blue, I wanted to use a rich Kona blue--but I've either misplaced it or used it for something else.

For the backing I used a stripe that looks a lot like a French ticking, only it's closer to broadcloth weight. I liked the idea of using that for a quilt with a French name.

I still had to add some yellow and blue patches to widen it. That yellow "bump" above is a little appliqued sunshine heart.

Then I couldn't find the batting I wanted to use. So I pulled out another piece (same brand, but I'd used part of it), tossed it into the dryer to flatten. Left it stretched over the sofa all night. Now it's almost 3:00 p.m. and I need to get it layered and basted so I can stabilize it and start quilting, the fun part.I do love the borders on this quilt--they have a kind of primitive/spontaneous look. I was remembering an antique red and white quilt that I haven't seem for years. This is the second time I've attempted this and now realize that the antique quilt must have had five borders instead of three--so I'll try that another time.


Sweet Teen is heading out to a Super Bowl party with the extended family of one of her friends in a little while. My plan is to quilt and try to avoid thoughts of early rising and long commutes to school tomorrow. (She has two more days off since her school had already scheduled a professional development day and a day for parent conferences.)

If you're not into football and would like to watch a movie, may I suggest "Second Hand Lions" (2003).  My daughter pulled out the DVD this weekend, and I realized that it is one of my favorite movies.  Only thing it lacked was a treadle sewing machine to hem up the old guys' overalls.

I'm telling myself to just do what I have to do--because I am so very grateful for the days I had to be good to myself and for my home-made quilting retreat.

Stay warm, dry, and safe, friends.

Work in Progress...Le Soleil d'Hiver

 Overdue birthday gift...I've been working on it during our long week of snow, intense cold, and school cancellations (today it's because of the Governor's declaration of the State of Emergency for New Mexico).  I was stumped on this for weeks, then months....

This isn't at all what I had expected.  The stars are from my original plan--along with a few more created this week.  The Lakehouse Fabrics have been in my stash for a long time--mostly because once they arrived I was suddenly stumped about how I would use them.
Now they've all come together in this one project, and I'm trying really, really hard not to get stumped on the rest of it because I'd like to start quilting it tonight or tomorrow.

That bright window at the top of the first photo is the window in the north door covered with a portico--yes, the reflection of the sunlight off the snow is intense.  But how nice to have sun--and a temperature that is up to +23.  Hooray! No frozen pipes here last night.  And a knock on the door from city workers just going around the neighborhoods checking to see that everyone has heat and water and is warm.  That's never happened here before, but I do love living in a small town that would do that!

Stay warm, friends.......

Cold Enough Fer Ya?

Where I grew up, that's how the old guys used to greet each other in weather like this.  My answer today would be that we've gone far beyond what's cold enough for me!  Knowing I didn't have school today, I slept later, and it was still -23 when I got up!
Although I left a lamp with an incandescent bulb burning to heat the space under our kitchen sink, the lines still froze--but we had them thawed before noon.  Needless to say, I now know that at these low temps, I'll need to leave the water drizzling.  Last night's temps beat the previous record for this date by nearly 20 degrees.
The official low temperature for Moriarty was 34 below zero.
Many parts of the state are suffering from lack of natural gas due to low pressure caused by Texas's rolling electrical outages.  Governor Susanna Martinez has declared a state of emergency.
Both Sweet Teen's school district and the one where I teach are closed for Friday, February 4. Shelters are being set up in areas supplied by the New Mexico Gas Company, but people are being told those are only for warming up, not for spending the night.
Here's what was under the snow ball in the last post.....

 Despite the fact that it was supposed to get up to +20 today, when it was only +9 about 2:30 we decided we needed to do some excavation.

We made a very slow drive to the post office and to get drinking water. Beneath the snow is a thick sheet of ice--and our trip was much more fortunate than those of a lot of previous drivers.  Of course, I've lived long enough to value survival more than speed!

Apparently today's cancellation for my school district was motivated as much by the fact that they couldn't get the buses' diesel engines to start as it was by concern for students' safety.  Albuquerque Public School had announced a two-hour delay but had to cancel because they couldn't get their bus fleet started either!

We'll see what tomorrow brings.  With today's predicted high of 21 turning out to be only 9, I'm guessing tonight's lows will be much lower too. Both our local electric cooperative and our gas company have said they are not expecting any outages although low temperatures led to some power lines snapping in the communities south of us.

I hope everyone else experiencing similar weather is able to stay home and rejoice in quiltmaking or some other hobby.

Blessings vs. Negatives

 This was my car yesterday.  Today it's an even bigger snowball--my car really is under that.
This post is about caring friends, prayer, and gratitude.
Monday afternoon as I was about to leave school I received a phone call from a dear friend in Tijeras Canyon telling me that there were white out conditions in the canyon and I probably needed to head home immediately (about a 70 mile drive) or consider spending the night in Albuquerque.  I pray the day I can't get home to Sweet Teen just won't happen--she's far from ready to spend even one night in our home without my being there. I began my trip, watching ominous snow clouds over the mountain and praying for wisdom to make the right decisions.
About 20 miles later, I  received another call from another friend reminding me I could stay at her house if I couldn't get home.  On Sunday a church friend who lives a couple of miles from me gave me her business card and told me to call her if I ever had issues traveling in the weather; she and her husband have a powerful, large four-wheel drive vehicle, and I could leave my car at her work place and pick it up the next day. By the time I reached Albuquerque, it seemed a good idea to phone her; however, she'd already left for the day, and I did not have her cell phone number.
I continued praying and driving cautiously.
I was amazed that although I was listening to a news station with traffic reports, there was very little mention of the weather, and all the traffic reporter said was that it was snowing in the East Mountains.
I might have gotten off I-40 and taken Rt 66 if it weren't for the fact that the snowplows were on the interstate (I saw several) and that the exits were so backed up that it would have taken 15 minutes or more to get onto Rt 66--and I didn't know if they were being plowed.
Snow was heavy, but there was no white-out in the canyon and traffic was fairly light for rush hours.
There was a multiple car accident and several police cars near the west bound crest of Sedillo hill, but traffic was continuing to move in the eastbound lanes.  I continued praying and proceeding cautiously.  Snow restricted vision but careful concentration helped balance that.
As I passed Edgewood, I passed the border of the heaviest snow, so the last seven miles of the trip were much, much better.  I was so grateful to get home and to be able to make a pot of chili--eastern chili, not NM chili.
I'd been fighting stomach issues all day, and during the night they became more serious.  I'm not really surprised since so many of my students have been fighting the same thing, coming to school sick, returning to school before they are well and getting sick again.  So a little after 4 a.m. yesterday, I signed on to our district's absence website.  About an hour and a half later I received a call that our school district was having a two-hour delay.  Later, I received a call that our district had canceled school--something that has not happened for somewhere between five and seven years.
My daughter's school had been canceled about 4:00 a.m., so the only venturing out we did yesterday was to take our neighbor some hot fresh oatmeal cookies when she climbed down from shoveling her roof.  (Flat roofed southwestern style homes may be photogenic, but they are not a good idea in areas that receive snow.)
Here's some pictures of the sweet birds who sought shelter in the tree outside our window.

 We had snow almost all day although it was rarely reflected on the Doppler radar.

It was four below this morning. When I checked on-line a few minutes ago it was down to -8 (at the midschool about a mile from my house).  Thankfully, both school districts have canceled school for the day--the last time I checked there were 411 closing and delays posted on KOB-TV--most courts are closed and even Sandia Labs had a two hour delay. The temperature in my town is predicted to be -20 in the a.m.  It's been probably 8 years since we've had temperatures below zero.
Being sick has turned out to be a blessing because it prevented me from even attempting to get out in this. 
I'm praying for all the people who have to be out in these frigid temperatures and on the dangerous ice. Yesterday there was little traffic visible from my house--but I did see several huge trucks having difficulty moving--and even one of the local police cars that was experiencing difficulty.  I hope most people can stay home and stay safe.  This monster storm is much bigger than the weather channel shows!
I hope all the quilters can stay home and enjoy quilting.....

How to Finish a Quilt....

 I made this months ago--then it was put in a stack with some other quilts.

 All it needed was the binding.

 So here are a few details of the quilt....

Binding is on and it was passed on to Mary, who will hand sew the back of the binding.
Then it's destined for a beneficiary of our prayer quilt ministry.

Actually, I don't think this is the best way to finish a quilt.  I'm glad it's done, and I did love getting it out and enjoying it again....but I do think I would have enjoyed it just as much if I'd put that binding on months ago.

Happy quilting.....