EBay, Legal Quilts and the Lions

My Lions Club is now on EBay Giving Works.    This means folks can list their items on EBay and a percentage of the sale can be donated directly to the Burtonsville Lions.  

To kick off our new fundraising effort, I listed one of my quilts.  Go bid, buy, help an AWESOME organization.

Scrap Time

I have overflowing bags of scraps.   Those pieces left over from cutting pieces for other quilts.   They are too small to throw away.  Surely they can be used for something?   Of course they can.   They work wonderfully in string quilts.   Any length or width can be used.  Odd shapes can be trimmed.  Color coordination be darned.   It's a scrap quilt.   And amazingly it all works somehow when the blocks are sewn together.

This is the start of a string quilt.

I have a few other base blocks good to go.   Anytime I have a few minutes and feel like quilting but not starting a major project, I can work on these blocks.  

I am using the "quilt as you go" method, so I am sewing the batting and batting in the block at the same time.   When all the blocks are done, I just sew them together, bind it and ta-da, done quilt.

The goal is to get reduce some of the bags by the end of the year.   We shall see.

Slight Change in Plans

Since it looks like New England finally started playing football, I am taking the time to update things a little bit.  

Last week my 12 year old car died.   It was not pretty.   There was a whole lot of shaking going on.  Losing a cylinder on a Ford Focus is not good, it's not like they have a lot of cylinders to begin with.


Unfortunately, that meant I had to get a new car.   Immediately.   The day job of being an attorney involves driving.   This week, I have to go to another county courthouse that is not easily accesible by public transportation.  A car is a must.   So off to buy a car I went.   I got another Ford.   A Fiesta this time.   Sadly, it was not red, like my last 2 Fords (Festiva and Focus, notice a trend here?)   See my new car:

So, now I have car payments.   Not too bad, but not what I needed right now.   This necessitated a little change in plans.    Instead of all my quilt sales going to student loan payoff, it will be divided between student loans and car payments.   What will not change is the 25% going to charity.   That will always happen unless I am homeless myself.   Let's keep that from happening shall we?

I also had to raise some prices.   Nothing too radical.   You can see the new prices on the right.   Also, not mentioned over there, but if you are special ordering a quilt, you can request some extras.   Cotton or Wool batting, a speciality backing things like that.   These are additional costs, but again, not unreasonable.  

Got a question about these changes, or just about my quilts in general?   Feel free to email me or make a comment below.   I always love to hear from you.

Big Plans for October

Ya'all know I have been making quilt tops like a fiend.   But why you ask?   Are they commissions?   Well, no, I have been building up my inventory.   You see one of the local Lions Club (not my own) has a flea market on Saturdays in October.    October 11, 2014 I will be out there selling quilts, balls, coasters and mats.   Come out and say hi.   Check out my quilts in person.   Depending on how it goes, I may do another weekend.   Stay tuned for that.

Because I will be selling at the Lions flea market, all charitable donations for this month goes to the the Lions Community Outreach Foundation.    This Foundation helps fund things such as our vision screening in District 22-C.   We even have a brand new trailer that will be going around the District to provide free vision and other health screening.

The 25% of the purchase price from all sales at the Flea Market, online sales and special orders made in the month of October will go to the LCOF.     Even if the quilt is not finished, it will still count.

Our District 22C sponsors a fellowship named in honor of past District Governor and past International Director, Joe Gaffigan for his extensive comittment to Lionism.    Joe was my sponsor to join the Lions.   He has been a great friend and a great support to my law practice and my work in Lions.   Or as I tell him "this is all your fault."    I would dearly love to earn this fellowship.   The requirement is that you have to donate at least $250 (bronze level) to LCOF or another initiative within the District.   It has to be a lump sum donation too.    Oh boy.   But the more I sell, and the more orders I get, the more I am likely to make this goal.

Plus, if I donate $250 to LCOF that means $750 to student loans.   Awesome.

October is going to be an exciting month.    Check back for updates.   See you on October 11, 2014 at the Turf Center on Sandy Spring Road.

Get Ready for Winter

The Farmer's Almanac is already noting signs of a rough winter ahead.   Be prepared.   A nice warm quilt is just what you need to sit inside all snug and warm with your hot beverage of choice (I prefer a hot toddy) while you look at the snow falling outside, and you try to forget you have to shovel that damn stuff.   Order your quilt today.

August Work

Been busy making quilt tops.   Seems everytime I finish a top I get an idea for a new one.   Lots of quilts to choose from.

It is also the start of football.  Fine it's preseason but I will take what I can get.   I quilt while I watch football.   The beginning of August saw the induction of the 2014 class to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.   During the speeches I was stuck by how much cancer has hit the football world.   Claude Humpreys wife passed from cancer 2 years before he got the call he had been inducted into the Hall.   His wife had been his biggest advocate for induction.   Then Jim Kelly was there to see his buddy Andre Reed go into the Hall.   As we all know, Mr. Kelly is fighting cancer right now.   It was in remission but it returned.  

My own family has been touched by cancer also.   My grandfather died of leukemia, my stepbrother passed away from lung cancer and my stepfather from stomach cancer.   Finding a cure for this far to prevalent disease is near and dear to my heart.

Thanks to a generous customer I was able to make a larger than normal contribution to CURE Childhood Cancer this month.   You can find out more about CURE here.  They are highly rated by Charity Navigator.   You can donate directly to them or if you want to be involved in another cancer charity, you can donate through my other blog where you can donate to charity and help make a quilt for charity.   Awesome right?

Legal Quilts Gets Snarky

Over on Previously TV, we were discussing commercials and how the holidays are all run together these days.   This inspired this snarky quilt:

It is called  "Chrismagivingoweensterjuly to school"    I got fabric from various holidays and put them together in no particular order in the center.    

I also had a bag of various length strips that I had bought at a quilt show.  I was waiting for the right quilt because of the various lengths made using them in a planned quilt difficult.   What I did was sort them into dark and light piles (light and dark being relative terms).   Then I sewed each set into one long strip.   The length didn't matter as for this quilt, it was perfectly fine if a new fabric started up in the middle of the row of another one.   Just like the holidays smooshing together.    Same with the dark and light.   They didn't have to be as delineated as normal because blending is the whole point of this quilt.   

Yes, this is my protest against Halloween stuff being in the store ALREADY.   

I have plenty of the holiday center fabric left over if you want a single holiday, non-snarky quilt (I can single holiday snark if you prefer).   

I did not put Hanukkah here because at this time it hasn't been over commericialized like other holidays.   But there is Hanukkah fabric and I would live to work with it (hint, hint).