May 2009

 WOW !!!

What a busy month! Cinco de Mayo, Mothers Day, Memorial Day, and I even threw in my granddaughters high school graduation. Yep, she got the job done! That's a picture of her at graduation, in her graduation gown... soaking wet. Yep, her graduation ceremony was scheduled for an evening that it just happened to rain, and rain, and rain. And you are thinking... 'Where's her hat?' All that rain turned it into a droopy looking thing with curled under corners. It was a graduation ceremony to remember for more than the usual reasons! 

ANOTHER MYSTERY SOLVED...

Do you remember Darlene? She used to come and sew with us at Sally's and at 35thAve. Last summer was the last time she sewed with us. At that bee she was sharing with us her excitement about going on an upcoming vacation. Since then we haven't seen her. ??? Where's Darlene ???Well, Darlene contacted me recently and shared what she's been up to. I now know that she has been a very busy lady since we last saw her. Check out her new adventure here: www.dressesfororphans.org/Home_Page.php. Darlene is an awesome woman accomplishing awesome things.

BIRD'S GONE BAD...

Remember last month when I told you about the Mockingbird in my yard that had been singing night and day in search of a mate. And that he must have been successful in his search because the singing had been replaced by nest building activities. Well, the nest building led to loud peeping coming from the mouths of babes. Which led to very aggressive bird parents, a really grumpy cat, and little sleep for my husband and I. These very pleasant sounding Mockingbirds turn into very protective parents who do not want a cat ANYWHERE in sight of the nest and DO attack seen cats relentlessly. They also send their babies out of the nest before they can fly! Now, everyone knows, even Mockingbird parents, that cats will chase and catch little baby birds running around in his yard. So now the cat is only allowed to have people supervised visits to the outdoors. Not only to protect the babies until they learn to fly but also to protect the cat. The cat has a different idea on how the situation should be handled. If we just let him outside, unsupervised, he'll get rid of the babies which will remove the reason he is getting attacked and his world will be back to normal. Not only have we learned a lot about Mockingbird nesting practices but we've also learned...

 'If the cat ain't happy, ain't nobody happy'. 

HELP !!! WE'RE OUTTA BALANCE...

The Peace By Piece Quilters closets has an inventory problem! It has lots of fabric and a huge pile of tops waiting to be quilted, 47 to be exact, 11 of which were sewn at our last bee. Lots of fabric and lots of tops BUT... there is only a small pile of kits! There are NO Preemie kits to be found and only 4 Child kits. Hmmmm... That's not nearly enough kits to keep everyone making tops until our scheduled kit bee on July 9. That's 3 more bees away! The only way I see to correct this imbalance is for us to concentrate on layering, tying & quilting, binding and labeling at the next 3 bees. Maybe that way everyone can still have FUN sewing and we can correct our imbalance before the kit bee. Doreen is working on getting some Preemie kits cut. Janet and Linda are working on some child size flannel kits so there will be kits to keep those of you sewing that are only comfortable making Preemies or tops. 

SPEAKING OF KITS...

Kitty, over at the Cutting Edge, has a nifty tool that cuts up to 8 layers of fabric at once! She was demonstrating it to some of us after the last bee. It's pretty impressive and takes a lot of the work out of quilt making. Being the generous sort of gal that Kitty is, she has offered to let us use it to cut kits. Linda has some pieces cut from this tool. She will work on getting them sewn together to show us at the next Cutting Edge bee. Kitty may be available to show us all how it works. 

IT JUST KINDA HAPPENED ???

Quilters do like to keep their hands and minds busy, there's no doubting it. Seems a lot of us read when we are not quilting. And somehow we found ourselves in the middle of a book exchange. One month someone brought some good books to a bee to share. Then the next month some of those books came back and got carried home by someone else and other books came and went. And books have kinda just been coming and going a few months now. Last month some came and didn't went... so they'll come again to the next bee. So if you need a good book to read, take one home. If you have a book you wanna share, bring it. If you took a book and you've had the time to read it through, bring it back.  

I NEED A VACATION !!! 

You won't find me at the June scheduled bee at the Cutting Edge. Instead I'll be visiting family back east. Denise will bring all the supplies for the bee so you all can still have a day of FUN. Bring your favorite snack to share.

35th AVE SEW & VAC

 At the May bee held at 35th Ave Sew and Vac volunteers finished 24 quilts. 10 little Preemie blankets and 14 Child/Teen size quilts. We also got a demo on a new product that cuts up to 6 layers of fabric at a time with the crank of a handle. Pretty cool.

CUTTING EDGE QUILTWORKS

During the bee held at the Cutting Edge in May volunteers finished a total of 20 quilts. There were 11 Preemie blankets and 9 Child/Teen size quilts made. The highlight of the day was seeing pictures of Janets' new grandson.

QUOTES & TIDBITS...    

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

~E. B. White~

From January 1 through April 30 AZB4K distributed 2,592 blankets to area organization caring for children in need.

AZ BLANKETS 4 KIDS HAPPENINGS...

The next Arizona Blankets for Kids bee is scheduled for October 17 at the Chandler Police Department. The annual AZB4K Quilt Camp is scheduled for August 14, 15, and 16. For more information contact Kitty at the Cutting Edge or contact any AZB4K Board member. Check the AZB4K website at www.azblankets4kids.com for all the bee information and to read their latest newsletter now on line. . 

Peace By Piece Quilters

UPCOMING BEE DATES...

Thursday, June 4 is when you'll find us at 35th Ave Sew and Vac.

And then we'll be at the Cutting Edge Quiltworks on Thursday, June 18.

It really is more FUN when you come and bring a friend!

~Wanda Dix~