Moore OK Tragedy

Unless one has personally been in a tornado or in a school when a disaster happened at that school, you can't understand what the people in Moore Ok are going through. I have been there, in 1995, in a big high school when it got hit by a small tornado. I worked in the special needs room at that school, my kids were students then & my husband also worked there at the time. The chaos at the time & the urgency is unimaginable , then there's all that follows, the media, parents, the rebuild, the fear factor for storms following, even weeks later, weighs on everyone involved.
After that I became a storm spotter, I was already an EMT at the time, it I wanted to know the signs of severe weather long before it got to me. I also volunteered with the local red cross at the time. Long story, short, you can't fully understand what victims are going though. I understand, fully. Everyone there is doing ALL they can. Let the search teams work, they know what they're doing. If y want to help, if you're in the area, volunteer at a shelter, in any capacity. If you're out of the area & want to help, support your local disaster response services, Red Cross, Salvation Army & the like.
There are many, many groups who make things & send them to these organizations. If nothing else, give an extra quilt, handmade toy, pillowcase, whatever to your local fire or police departments to have on hand when disaster, of any kind, strikes .
Enough said.

Beloved Pet Died

Friday night my elder cat, Missy, passed away from kidney failure. She was 18 years old, 83 in human years. We had her for 17 of those 18 years. She was a very sweet cat, and will be missed greatly. Our other 5 cats feel the loss too, they are hanging close to me & looking for Missy. I made a small memorial quilt with the two photos I had if her. It hangs in my studio by the door. It will take me several weeks to get past the loss but I will move on but never forget her.

More Painting

Here's a few designs I'm working on. Don't know exactly where it will wind up. Still deciding on colors to go with the main design.

Just Chilling'

My white angora cat is just silly.

The Carpenters Wheel/Broken Star Quilt

I surprised myself by actually making this quilt top & actually having it turn out correct. It's 48" square. It was something to do on a rainy, stormy day. Pics of the clouds at my house are below the pic of the quilt top. I might, just maybe, will make another quilt top of the same block but in a completely different design by manipulating the fabrics in a different setting. IF that works out, I'll post pics of it too.
I'm watching the weather closely today since we're in the area for severe weather, had some huge storms last night with loud thunder, bright lightning & hail. The hail alerted me since it usually hails before a tornado, it this time there were no tornadoes, just hail. If there's no tornadoes I can live with a little hail. Stay tuned. . .

The Triangle Quilt

A few weeks ago I submitted a challenge to my quilt guild. It said to use only one shape to make an entire quilt and use at least 3 colors, to be ready for next years quilt show. This years show is May 18, 2013. Since this was my idea I felt I should adhere to the requirements and make at least one quilt of this nature. So here it is.
The single shape is a triangle , in greens, blues, and raspberry. I had to take the border apart and re do it a couple of times. don't know if I'll try another " one patch" quilt again, but here's my first effort.

Why I do some charity sewing

Lots of quilters as well as others who sew make things for charity. We donate the things we make to hospitals, homeless shelters, emergency response departments ( more about that later), any place that will take what we offer. I've made baby quilts by the dozen, lap quilts and such to these places. A couple of years ago I ran upon the million pillowcase challenge on the website, All People Quilt. The idea was originally to support kids in homeless shelters, to give them something of their own to carry their stuff from place to place. This original premise also works for emergency response departments, local agencies who serve in natural disasters and such. Consider this situation: you've just lost everything in a house fire, flood, tornado, etc. .You visit the Red Cross who provides vouchers for clothes, and the like. Where do you put the things you are given? Some one one hands you a brand new pillow case. Suddenly you have something to stuff the clothes you're given, or a blanket, of whatever, into it to make yourself a pillow as well as a vessel to carry this stuff in. Hence the idea to give pillow cases to emergency response agencies.
Pillow cases, unlike a quilt of any size, take about 30 minutes to an hour to make, & take less space to store. They only require about a yard of fabric ( I make the cuff on the bottom from a different fabric from the body). I've sent them to tornado ravaged areas where shelters are desperate for anything to give to victims. I always include a note on uses for the pillow cases. I've gotten good responses from my efforts.

As I write this, the TV spouting tornado warnings for eastern Ky, east of the Lexington area. I made a couple of pillow cases today. It never hurts to have them on hand when any kind of disaster happens.
You can find the patterns for the pillow cases on the All People Quilt website under the million pillow case challenge. It's ongoing for the past couple of years. Check it it, it's s small way you can help if you choose to.