I have blogged before about my church raffle quilt, but I thought I'ld share the history of the group.
Last night at church we meet for another group called Woman cooking for Woman.
"On the first Friday of each month (except July and December), women gather to cook, converse, cajole and donate to a cause or project that supports women. We rotate between global and local causes in order to educate ourselves to the plight and concerns of women everywhere."
They asked me to do a presentation about the raffle quilt since the money we raise now goes to charity. It was a great opportunity for me to review the history of our group and I decided to put together a slide show with most of the quilts that we have made in the last 15 years.
The UUQuilters were originally started to add funds to our own building committee. Our church was moving into a new building that we were creating out of an old 19th century 8 bay barn on the property were we meet. The idea was to make the quilt, raffle the tickets and contribute the money to our church's needs. We did this for ten years. After that time we wanted to start donating the money to causes we felt strongly about, and began giving to two kinds of charities, one locally in our own community and one internationally. The last five years we have donated to the following groups.

•Building fund for our own Prairie Cathedral
Funds to help with a new stain glass window in our entryway

Elgin Community Crisis Center
Elgin Larkin Center
Bethesda Community Development Center
The Fistula Foundation
The Hunger Project
The UUCE World Bank
All People's Inter Faith Pantry

The slide show shows most of the quilts that we have made over the years and some of the people who have worked on them. It has been a great experience and we have grown close as a group. Originally we started out making a log cabin block set in the barn raising pattern. How appropriate for our group. The very first quilt we made as a group hangs in the entryway of our church and was made in red and gray the colors of a barn. After that we did all kinds of color combinations.
Eventually we had to simplify the pattern to accommodate the very different abilities of people who worked on the quilt.
We started making stripy units that where then cut into triangles and sewn together with other stripy units cut in triangles. This way it compensated for variances in seam allowances and allowed anyone who wanted to participate to be able to do so. It has been a great success.

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Snow

It's snowing here! George and I were the first to walk up in the woods at 6:30 this morning, it was magical. The snow was about 6 inches deep and still coming down in light soft flakes. You would never know that George is nine years old because he romps thru the snow just like a puppie. It is very funny to watch, he actually hops along like a rabbit, or plows thru like a a little bull dozer. Some of the squirrels were high up in the trees chirping at each other. I felt like I was in a fairy tale.

The Patient

It was a long day yesterday. The anxiety of waiting for a 3 o'clock surgery, the surgery, the recovery, the immobility. navigating the stairs, and finally the sleepless night. My Patient is a bit cranky this morning and it has dawned on us just how immobile he will be for the next four weeks. I was thinking it would be like me when I broke my ankle and had a walking cast. This injury requires that he keep his weight off of it. So that means crutches and hobbling. Oh my. Anyway I will be doing a lot more waiting on the patient than I had expected and will again be the house chauffeur after years of retirement. But it will heal well and he will be back to normal in a few months. That is a blessing we are both grateful for.

SunDance

The newest issue of Quilting Arts is on the stands and that's my quilt SUN DANCE on the cover. Inside is the first installment of a two part article on machine quilting. Of course it is ideal if you can take a class from me on machine quilting, it is always easier to learn by doing then by reading, but this is a close runner up. Inside are samples of quilting designs and step by step directions to help you be a better machine quilter. Enjoy!

On a more somber note, my husband Brett is going in for surgery today. This fall after his annual (every ten years) physical his doctor told him to get out and get more exercise - other than golf four times a week from spring to fall. So he started playing racket ball again. Last Tuesday in the sixth and final set of a heated game, he said it felt like someone had hit him with a bat in the back of his right calf. Needless to say he blow out his Achilles tendon. So today he goes in to have Achilles tendon repair. The really sad part is, now he can't go on his golf trip to Phoenix next month. It must really suck to get old!

Ocean Blooms

As a good friend said "Let the fabric do the work!" With silk that is so easy to do. Ocean Blooms is made with a 1/2 yard of my special edition hand dyed silk. The stems and leaves are cotton. But look how wonderful the quilting looks on the silk, it looks like it is embossed.

Collecting

I don't know why I have the desire to collect some things, but I do, not only do I collect batiks now, but I also collect Black and White fabrics. The fun thing about Black and White fabrics is that there are black fabrics with white on them, and white fabrics with black on them. I want to one day make a black and white quilt. I haven't found the perfect pattern to showcase them yet though. If anyone out there has seen one or knows of a pattern that is very striking please let me know. Until then I will continue to buy the ones that catch my eye. I seem to particularly like circles and dots. But then who doesn't?

Batik collection

This week I traveled to Clarkston MI to lecture at the quilt guild there. On the way home I decided to make a small detour to the town of Shipsewana IN. This is an Amish town with a great general store in the middle of town. It had been years since I had been there and I was in the mood to do something just for me. The town is only about 12 miles off of Interstate 80, so I planned my trip back to stop in town. I hit town around noon and went straight to Yoder's General Store. This is the way all stores should be, inside the building was divided down the middle with a long aisle. On the right was a nice grocery store and next to it was the perfect hardware store. They had wonderful farming and canning items as well as all the little do dads that 5 and Dimes used to carry. On the left side of the aisle was a shoe store, with all the name brands, a general mercantile store, with clothes and towels and table clothes and finally a great FABRIC store. After treating myself to a few fabrics I went over and walked thru the huge antique barn next door. Disappointedly I did not find any hankies.

Several years ago I started collected batiks again. I just love the simple patterns and colors of batiks and had stopped using them in my own work. But I decided that I needed to make myself a bed quilt and started collecting. The picture at the top are the ones I find this trip.
When I look at all the ones I have I realize that each time I buy I am attracted to a different color scheme. I will have to make multiple bed quilts. I keep watching Wanda's site to find a pattern that I just must make with these fabulous fabrics. Stay tuned.