It is February….shortest month in the year that occasionally feels like the longest month. Silly to expect spring yet, but most of us are “over” winter, especially after our record breaking temperatures in January. But, traditionally, Kansas gets the most snow in February. We need the moisture so guess we will be happy to take it in any form-just so it doesn’t interfere with the Quilters at First moving day this Wednesday!

As a consequence of the anticipated move, we only had one project brought in to be shared.

Heather made a valentine theme table topper perfect for a small round table or an end table and is reversible. It measures 25″ across. Add some color to your February and protect your table top from water splashes from the bouquet of flowers you received or purchased for yourself! $30

We do have a few hearts left. They are designed with a pocket in front in which you can slip a gift card, a candy bar or a note. These valentine have no calories and they are guaranteed not to wilt after a couple of days. Vintage inspired, they are $10 each.

On a personal note, I finished two more tops that are ready for the long arm quilter.

The other finished top waiting for the long arm quilter is a “MaggiePearl” lap size. I think I choose that pattern because of the name. If I acquired a kitten, I would name it MaggiePearl!

Another win in my sewing room is an ironing board made specifically for pressing quilts!

February might be easier if I could just spend my days sewing, but alas, real life with its appointments, obligations and responsibilities happen. And actually, I guess I am grateful for these interruptions…they make the days I get to sew all the more sweet!

I am so grateful I live in a world with color and that my eyesight allows me to distinguish between all the of shades and tones of each color. Color is an important part of quilting, especially at the beginning–selecting fabrics that “play together well” insures a winner. Color is a very broad far-reaching facet of all parts of our lives. Most of us have a favorite color that we select over and over or a color we never would wear. How important is color?

In the past few years in the United States, color identifies your political party allegiance. We are “red” states and “blue” states. (And some states call themselves “purple”, a mixture of red and blue.) Before the last presidential election, many women selected the color of their outfits to reflect their political beliefs.

We associate color with holidays.

Colors have been added to the traditional ones–Christmas prints have added light blues and grays. Purple is now a Halloween favorite. But most have remained the same.

Color can be gender identifying; blue for baby boys and pink for baby girls. But according to the some sources, this practice only became popular in the late 1940’s. Before that, if you did not dress your baby in white—the more practical because it could be bleached, little boys wore pink, the stronger color and little girls wore blue, a color associated with the Virgin Mary. Colors for babies in the 21st Century include nature inspired greens, grays and muted colors.

Colors come in and out of favor. According to Pantone–“a color matching system that standardizes and identifies colors of graphic design and printing”, 2025’s color is —-

Those of us of a “certain age” have colors that we associate with a particular decade in our lives. I still have an avocado and harvest gold crock pots! Then there were the homes with grey painted walls and grey counter tops and grey sofa in the 2000’s.

Color is one way we date quilt tops. Each decade had colors and print styles that were favored.

The 1920’s to the 1940’s are easy to identify–solid basic colors and tiny prints in all the colors were used. This was the period of the feed sack prints. Not many shades and tones were used in a design, just a stand alone color.

Who can forget the “flower power” and “hippie” influence of the 1960’s? And the popularity of polyester–that miracle fabric? Colors were bright–neon.

In 2025 we have soooooo many choices. Moda, on of the popular fabric manufacturers available in most quilt shops, has seventy five plus designers that contribute. Moda divided their fabric lines into six categories—classic, basic, metro, style, Ruby Star and Christmas. Moda has 1,884 different future prints! And Moda is just one manufacturer…

Quilt patterns or blocks have remained more constant. For example an old but favorite block is Churn Dash–the name tells you it is from another time. Here is two churn dash quilts but in different colors. The first is from the Civil War era and the second photo is a current photo. Colors make a difference.

Rules do exist concerning colors usage—but most quilters are guided by their intuition. Not to say that knowing about color basics–primary, secondary and tertiary; to recognize warm and cool colors and the color groupings–monochromatic, complementary etc doesn’t help.

But for those starting out here all a couple of rules I use.

1. The more shades and tones and prints of a color used, the less important it is that the colors match.

Elaine made this winner for the Quilters at First Sale. See all the blues and neutrals she used…bright clear blues, dark almost black blues, greenish blue and grey blue. They all play together well. This quilt is 68″ x 86″ and for sale for $225.

2. You can’t go wrong with a quilt of one color and a neutral background. They are classics.

3. A balance between lights, mediums and darks adds interest.

4. And one last color tidbit I often use is to add a bit of black–it is like seasoning in a dish–it enhances the other colors. Moderation is the key here.

Because Quilters at First is made up of 20+ women who have different color biases, there is variety of quilts in a wide range of colors. You can choose your favorite!

🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨🎨

We did have a few new items show up this week.

Spatter guards for your micro wave–$5 each

The end of January in Kansas is rather monochromatic, so I hope you make your own world full of color this week.

As much as I love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, occasionally in December, I long for the feeling of hibernation that comes with January and February. We won’t be entertaining large groups, so the dining room table becomes our jig saw puzzle center. It is too cold to do much outside, so long periods of sewing or reading is guilt free! Although, I often worry I have forgotten something and check the calendar just to be sure. Our much reduced schedule suddenly became almost non-existent with two winter storms. Ice on the streets and sidewalks prevented daily dog walking. I watched Sunday Church services on TV in my house shoes, thanks to the brave FUMC staff and handful of fearless members of the congregation. No volunteering or quilting groups if it meant driving on the ice. So what has been happening? Lots of time spent in my sewing room sewing and listening to novels or catching up on BritBox shows–Shetland and Vera.

Remember the huge box of fabric and partially finished quilt tops my daughter sent to me when she decided to focus on other pursuits? I bravely dived into the fabric puzzles and finished two!

No photos of the second one I finished, it is also at the long arm quilters. It is 80 inches square in floral pastels–very different than the blue one.

In the evenings, while we are catching up on different streaming series, I embroidery, which is very soothing if there is a lot of suspense…

Elaine didn’t get to do some of the trips she had planned, so she was busy sewing and quilting on her long arm.

Being a loyal K-State fun, of course she had all the licensed KSU prints available. She used them to create this fantastic quilt..it is 64″ x 87″. I posted photos on Facebook before starting to write this post…and in 15 minutes it sold! So not for sale—but maybe you could convince her to make a similar one.

Elaine has already started on the Quilters at First self imposed challenged for each of us to make a quilt from the fabric we have been donated and store in our room. She found this “vintage” looking print and knew it should remain un-cut.

I wish I had a small child to gift this “transportation” quilt. It also would make an interesting wall hanging. The dark reds in the print is matched with a deep red border. The quilt measures 51″ x 62″ , machine quilted and washable. $100

Diane recognized a need for adult bibs and has been busy making some gender neutral ones for the sale.

These have pockets–but some folks prefer them without–so let us know your preference. Each one is $15.

We are moving rooms at FUMC. So our next few Wednesdays will be spent packing and sorting. We are sad to be moving, but the new room has some perks. We will be closer to the Church Staff–maybe that is a perk for them! Our floor will be tile; much, much easier to clean. We will have two huge windows that give us morning light. And, as most of you have experienced, moving will force us to evaluate and reorganize. I am sure we will discover items we had forgotten about!

I plan to continue to enjoy this time of the year, one of the reasons I like living in a state with four seasons. I hope you are enjoying your down time if you are so lucky.

I have not vanished off the face of the planet…just taking a break from quilt things and I am preparing for the holidays. I love Christmas but I do let all my “want to do this” add stress to my life. I wanted to share the final numbers from our sales before we close this year.

Wednesday, all the Quilters at First had lunch with Rev. Amy and Rev. Jeff, the Coffee Shop Women, representatives for the Religious Nurture Center (RNC) and Erin, the Church’s Director of Communications to officially present out gifts to the TV Ministry and to the RNC. After taxes and credit card fees were paid, we were able to give each $9,500.

These gifts to these very special ministries are the result of many, many hours of sewing and quilting. And without our friends, church members, and members of the community purchasing the table runners, tea towels, new and vintage quilts, we would not be able to give the needed funds. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support and encouragement.

Of course, we have started on next year’s projects. Most of us have given ourselves permission to start on a large quilt–we have nine months after all to finish it! But two table runners were completed.

A friend donated this charming table topper. The center is 30’s and 40’s reproduction fabric. Perfect setting for a lamp or vase of spring flowers. It is 17″ square and $25.

This for someone –hopefully you are reading this– that donated an SUV full of fabric and craft supplies to us before the Thanksgiving holidays. Our receptionist did not get your name, so we have no way to contact you and say “thank you”! We added so much fabric to our stash–worth hundreds of dollars, plus the dozens and dozens of brand new terry cloth hand towels.

Here is how all those towels will be use—FUMC is in partnership with Irving Elementary School. Each December the staff at Irving organizes a day for the students to “shop” for a significant person in their life. Members of FUMC have been collecting hundreds of small adult gifts from which the students may choose. These volunteers will also help the students wrap the gifts so that they may be a surprise at home. We gladly donated these new sets of towels to this endeavor. Spatulas or soaps will be added to make these towels a great gift for mom or grandma. So, who ever donated the SUV full of supplies to the Quilters at First, we wanted you to know your gifts have supported two great ministries.

One wall in our quilt room has shelves full of bolts and tubs of fabric! Shirley suggested we each challenge ourselves to making a quilt just from the fabric on hand. Next fall at the quilt sale, we will have a showing of “Quilts from the Stash” in one corner of the room. Do you have a better name? Should be interesting. I think I am going to try to make a traditional scrappy “Courthouse Steps” quilt.

Thank you all for a great year…Who knows what 2025 will bring, but quilting soothes my spirit and all my friends, quilters or not, make me stronger. So let us make 2025 even better!

Having a three day Quilt Sale is very similar to having a baby! The new parents prepared for this momentous event for nine months–each year the quilters start preparing for the next Quilt Sale after the winter holidays — nine months before the sale.

New parents can’t wait to announce their child-to-be with gender reveal parties, Facebook posts and snail mail announcements. We strive to advertise our sale any way we can–Facebook posts, flyers, church announcements. We want the world to know. Lucky new parents have a village of helpers–grandparents, friends, birth coaches, highly trained doctors and nurses. Quilters at First have many people in our corner helping us at each stage; I will elaborate later in this post.

But the similarity I focused on was this—For weeks afterwards you can’t imagine doing this–giving birth or having a Quilt Sale– again anytime soon! New parents are delighted with their brand new family member but usually they are exhausted. The Quilters at First are happy we met our goal but we were tired. Quilters at First needed to do laundry and cook a real meal for their family, all those things we ignored while giving five long days to the Quilt Sale. But like new parents who start thinking a second baby would be nice, we will slowly regain our momentum and start making a list for next year.

I do realize there is a world of difference between having a baby and hosting a quilt sale. That new person changes the dynamics of a family forever. The Quilts Etc Sale has an impact but not sure how much in the very long run. A bad decision when preparing for the sale is usually forgotten quickly, but a poor decision before the birth of a child can be catastrophic. But all of us have had a baby or completed a marathon or painted a house and thought immediately afterwards “Don’t want to do that again!” but begin thinking in a few weeks or months or even years “That was fun/challenging/enjoyable, lets do it again!” As I write this, I am glad the Quilts Etc Sale was last week and not this coming week. But like a new parent, I am very proud of what we did.

We don’t have the exact totals from all the sales yet. We don’t close the books until the first of December. In early December checks will be presented to a representative from the Religious Nurture Center and the TV Ministry at a lunch and I will share photos and amounts.

As I mentioned earlier, the twenty five plus quilters could not do this sale by themselves. We had much good help– Erin Davis, the Director of Communications at First Church, created our flyer and slides for the Church screens. She also made sure the event was well advertised in the newsletters and weekly announcements. Rev. Amy Lippoldt and Rev. Jeff Graber encouraged us, gave us permission to display quilts and mentioned the event on TV with its many viewers. Six men from the Seekers Church Class came early on the first set-up day and carried heavy tubs down from the quilting room and stands etc up from the basement. The coffee shop adds a special touch to our sale. Nonie, Delaine, Kathy, and Sandy transformed the RNC main room into a cozy spot with delicious baked goodies and delicious coffee. Ray and Donna S heard me talking about the sale and volunteered to bake for the coffee shop. Our cashiers were three quilt husbands.

Folks only associated with FUMC thorough the TV Ministry reached out. Lorra E. contributed two beautiful Christmas quilts. Another friend gave a vintage quilt in nearly perfect condition. People have contributed fabric to us when family members could not longer use it.

Our families and friends came just to support us. It meant a lot to look up and see a co-worker or friend or family members at the sale.

A most of all, if we did not have persons purchasing the quilts or potholders or cinnamon roll, all this work would be for nothing. So, a huge, huge thank you to each and every shopper! Each purchase added up and I can’t wait to tell you how much we can give the two ministries we support.

How often this fall have I heard folks say, “I love living here where there are four different seasons in a year because we have Autumn!” We may gripe about the freezing winds in January or the blistering heat in July, but most of us enjoy the variety in seasons. It is fun to visit San Diego and marvel at the consistently lovely weather, but we come home to Kansas to experience the four seasons.

When I am planning our dinner, I think back on the last couple of week’s menu and make an effort not to have tacos or loaded baked potatoes more than once a month. I do realize this is part of my privileged middle class lifestyle. My grandmothers in the 1930’s fed their families the same simple meal day in and day out and was grateful their family left the table full. Now, with all my food choices and the budget to purchase those foods, I tell myself there must be a variety of meals each week.

And don’t even think about wearing the same outfit repeatedly! We like a variety of outfits to choose from for each occasion. (I must admit I wore the same top to an annual dinner two years in a row. I over thought that decision–but not surprisingly, no one came up to me and commented on my wearing the same outfit two years in a row!)

The Quilters at First shares many similarities but there is also a lot of variety. We all like creating with fabric, we all believe in the ministries of FUMC that we are supporting, and we all like to each other. But there is a great deal of variety in our interests, skills, and methods. And that is a good thing!

Every Wednesday approximately ten Quilters at First meet at 9 o’clock to hand quilt. Their work has won ribbons at the local Prairie Quilt Guild show and at the KS State Fair. Thank goodness these Quilters are so talented and dedicated! These quilters work on group projects while the rest of the quilters work more individually.

Diane is our only knitter. She also creates scores of small gift items from what seemly nothing. The Hobby horses were hers.

Peggy finds patterns and uses them–some of us are not sure how a quilt will end up when we start it!

Me? I like scrappy quilts, I like red and white quilts, I like 30’s and 40′ reproduction—but while we were sorting items for the sale, I realized this year, I really liked to embroidery! We have lots of tea towels for sale.

And this is just a few—I must find something else to do while watching TV at night!

Because each quilter in our group is unique–has special talents, we have a wonderfully diverse collection of items for our sale this coming week!!

This week we were busy preparing for the sale–but we do have a few new things to share.

Marty G is a wonderful friend to the quilters. For the past few years he has donated his time, skills and supplies to create a different quilt rack each year. He is a master craftsman and he used the best materials. This rack is made from red oak and finished perfectly. It is 43″ high and 45″ long. It would hold three large quilts. He even included the feather duster and volunteered to deliver the quilt rack anywhere in Wichita. $150

Janis whipped up two seasonal table runners for the coming holidays.

The print is all the beautiful things about winter. The border resembles a Nordic sweater design. 13″ x 41″. $40

This beautiful print is simply quilted in a cross-hatch (one of my very favorite designs). But it is the curvy edges that sets it apart! 14″ x 40″. $40

As I write this post, I have realized that this time next week, the 2024 Quilt Etc Sale will be over. I will be feeling relief, excitement and tired! But I love it! I hope you can come see what a variety of items we have–and a variety of prices, all handcrafted well and with love!

Isn’t attitude everything? Sunday night I was reviewing my upcoming week. Yuck, four events that I didn’t particularly look forward to doing. But then I looked at my schedule again differently. I am grateful we have dental insurance — one hour every six months that is covered with our insurance; probably shouldn’t complain. Six hours once a month shopping and preparing a meal for 120 people in a homeless center–with close friends is a minor part of my month. I resent giving up my “free day”—but I know I spend more time than 6 hours on Instagram each month, hmmm.

Sometimes when I have a long “to do list” but I am physically or mentally tired, and all I want to do is lay on the sofa and read cozy mysteries, I must remind myself of a couple of things before I can make an attitude shift. What are my “live by values”? What I believe to be true and good determines my choices. These choices may be demanding but I must remember I chose them. Also, a good night’s rest always helps!

Also, I need to remind myself, perfection is over-rated! I will do my best, but I will not beat myself up because each detail of the event/project/responsibility was not perfect. Nor should I waste time and energy trying to make it perfect.

“Work smarter, not harder” which can include asking for assistance is a very important aspect when changing your attitude. It becomes very easy to feel “poor me” if you are also feeling “all alone and lonely”.

Why am I thinking so much about attitudes? Well, to be honest, I get a little overwhelmed by the Quilts Etc. Sale at this point. So much to do, so few days left. But, do I enjoy the sale? Oh yes! One of the high lights of the year for me. I love showing off our handcrafted items. Do I think it is important? Very! Significant monies are raised for two very important ministries of our Church. Am I doing this all by myself? No! Of course not! Approximately twenty five women work all year long creating hundreds of handcrafted items. Several men will contribute hours to helping set up and tear down the theater for the sale. Other men help with the sales–collecting money, carrying items to cars etc., so the quilters can be on the floor. Staff at FUMC helped with advertising and facilitating the transformation of theater to market. It is not a one-woman show!

I still have a super long to do list to complete before October 17, but you know what? I am going to have fun and enjoy the process as well as the production!

Our variety of items is amazing! Every week’s “show and tell” just keeps getting better.

For example-

This Halloween wall hanging could be from the early 1900’s. The pattern and fabric prints are straight from our grandparents time. It is 24″ x 36″. The machine quilting is a spider web design–perfect for the season. Mr. Cat and Mr. Pumpkin are machine appliquéd. $50

These pumpkins will last year after year for your fall decorating. They are not jack-o-lanterns so you could easily use this runner up until Christmas decorating. It is approximately 15″ x 45″ ( I forgot to get the measurements this week, but will have them later.) Machine quilted in the ditch. $40

We Kansans love our sunflowers! The floral panel is surrounded by autumn prints. 35.5″ x 48″. Machine quilted and hand bound. A hanging sleeve has been sewn on the back. $60

Baby quilts are so fun, especially since we have quit being so “traditional”.

Happy little faces and bright colors on soft flannel make up this 36″ x 45″ baby quilt. Machine quilt and being hand bound, this quilt would make a great back drop for all those photos of baby. Very washable. $60

For the sophisticated parents–this light sage greens frames the floral prints and abstract prints is perfect. Gender neutral, it is 37.5″ x 54″. Machine quilted and hand bound–$75

Two banners for the price of one! This reversible banner/garland can to used in both November and December–just flip it over. Wooden beads add a unique touch. $30 SOLD

The Quilts Etc. Sale is a fun place to shop for family and yourself. The items are unique, locally handcrafted and reasonably priced. All the sales go to further ministries of the Church. I can’t wait to see you there!

PS–if you can’t be at the Sale, don’t forget anything you see on this blog is for sale today. I can mail anywhere in the US.