would you like to win a quilt?

would you?   I can help 😉   8 years ago, my sister and I  began to walk in the avon walk for breast cancer 40 miles.. 2 days   My girl was always there on the sidelines ….  best cheerleader  EVER! best cheerleader ever!A few years   Ali and I at the end of  40 mileslater, when Ali & my niece , Alexis were 16 ( minimum age to walk ) Our team doubled!   team pinkteenieshere we are at the end of day 1   Over the years we have raised ( as a team) over $36,000 in hopes to find a cure for this deadly disease! for the past few years I have made a quilt each year to raffle as my main fundraiser.

 

pink raffle quilt

my first raffle quilt

 

 

Breast Cancer Raffle quilt

 

and another….

 

raffle quilt

and another….

 

raffle quilt

 

 

 

and another…

 

 

raffle quilt

 

 

 

 

and this one wasn’t a raffle quilt, but a quilt for my little niece , Kalli

 

Kalli's quilt

 

for many reasons,we walked together last year for our last time.

 

This January, Ali called me and told me that she wanted to walk again this year. You see, we started walking all of those years ago because our neighbor, Fran sadly lost her battle with breast cancer.

 

Neither of us knew her very well, but that didn’t matter. It affected us both quite profoundly.

Last year my Stepsister, Audra was diagnosed as well.

 

Sadly, I could fill this page with names of friends and friends of friends who have been affected.

 

Ali said, ” mom, I need to walk this year. It’s too important, even if I have to walk alone.”

She signed up and within hours, her best friend , Colleen did as well, and a few weeks later, their friend, Amanda joined them as well.

Three high school best friends who , despite  the workload of being  freshmen in college, have decided to fundraise and walk 40 miles in 2 days

 

six chicks

in their ‘friend group’, 3 are walking, 3 are cheering

 

So I have offered to make a lap- sized ( the size that the above pictured quilts are )  or Crib sized quilt to be raffled off as a way to help them with their fundraising.

I will do it the way that i did last year, which is sell the tickets now, with 100% of the proceeds going directly toward their walk.

Using rafflecoptor I will choose a winner at random the Friday before the walk.

 

The winner will have their choice of colors and style/ design of quilt to be made… as well as a personalized label on the back of the quilt.

 

I will have it finished and shipped to the lucky winner by mid- summer !

 

Tickets are $5 a piece or $25 for 6 tickets.

any amount will help them.  Even if you just buy one ticket!

 

If you are interested in helping these young ladies, you can click on their link, donate directly into their account ( via credit card) then leave me a comment in the comment section below, On the girls’ team facebook page , barefootgirl in the kitchen‘s facebook page, or send me an email, barefootgirl27@me.com, just to make sure that I have you properly entered into the raffle.

( all donations are fully tax- deductible)

 

Alison’s page ( click link to bring you directly to her page)

 

Colleen’s page

 

Amanda’s page

 

I hope that you’ll consider purchasing a ticket and helping these motivated girls.  and if you do, you might just be lucky enough to win a custom quilt in time for chilly fall  evenings!

 

and if you happen to know of anyone who would be interested in this, please consider sharing … it doesn’t take but a second to share, and every dollar counts!

 

oxox

michelle

blooming nine-patch quilt

Happy new year and a month.

I go through spurts of being wordy, and I feel one about to start .

So here I go!

About 7-8 years ago I really wanted to learn how to quilt.  I had dabbled a little up until then, mostly self- taught with many, many mistakes and even more projects just tossed in the trash in frustration.

At the time, I had just met a neighbor of mine who had been a quilter for many years, and an absolutely wonderful woman.

She he had taken me to her home to show her quilt studio to me and I was blown away with how beautiful it was and even more stunning were her collection of quilts throughout her home.

She showed me this one quilt that she had made, Blooming  Nine-patch.  I was in love.  She convinced me that I could make it ( and I reaaally doubted her)

she he offered to go with me to help pick out my fabrics and she lent me her book with the pattern in it.

I had never attempted something this big and found myself overwhelmed, though I did keep working on it, often struggling to remember where I was in the whole quilt- making process.

Once I thought I had a good idea of what I was doing, my eldest son got married and I pushed my  quilt aside to make he and my daughter-in-law their wedding  quilt .

I’ve since made many lap quilts, and over the years I would go back and work on my quilt ( now dubbed Scott’s quilt because he was sure I’d never finish it abd it seemed to him like I made one for everyone but him. ). I would often get frustrated, work on it for a short time, then move on to something more  ‘instant-er’ gratification.

This past year has had life change direction dramatically for me and part of that includes my own sewing room and  a new years’ resolution to organize  Everything in it.

I fell shortly before Christmas while skiing with my family and had a lot of downtime while waiting for diagnosis and treatment plan ( trying to organize tests during Christmas week is not easy ) so I started on organizing my stash

( because it required a lot of sitting and that, my friends , was something that I could do )

image

( my big helper, miss Fenway )

( more on that later, I did a lot of research on how to organize, and took bits and pieces of what I learned and applied it to my personal stash)

I found myself moving ‘Scott’s’ quilt, now about 90% done, from space to space! trying to move it out of my way.

And just like a lightening bolt from above, I decided that finishing this would be one of my new years’ resolutions .

After my surgery, I set the sewing machine up for free- motion, arranged the quilt in my machine and would hobble over with my crutches for about 10 minutes at a time, and slowly progressed …  And as of last night…

image

..Completed.  When I talked to Ali on the phone this morning her response was, ” which quilt? Not THE quilt? Are you kidding ? Does dad know? ”  I won’t even get started woth the comments from my sister….

here are a few more photos of it.  I’m in love.

image

image

I’m very proud of myself :). I know this blog has been about food, but I think it’s kind of taken a different turn.  Since I’ve become an empty-nester, my creativity feels like its exploded ( in a good way )

While going through my stash, I’ve come across fabrics left over from projects that I’ve made over the last few years and realize hoe few photos I’ve taken of finished projects, many of which I’ve given away as gifts

the tote bags that I made for my mother-in-law and grandmother- in law for Christmas a few years ago

the jeweler bags that I made my sister in laws and niece for Christmas this year

many of the quilts that I’ve made

the hooded towel that I made for my nephew’s little girl

I just never thought to take pictures and coming across the fabrics that I chose for the gifts made me smile and remember why I bought them

( Scott’s grandmother loves lighthouses and I searched for the perfect lighthouse print for her bag …  I found one little square of the print left in my stash )

sooo, 2014 will have me sharing my finished projects. And since blowing up my Facebook wall most likely has my non- crafter friends bored as a board, I’ll be sharing here !

I still love food, but a significant weight gain in the last year, combine with still healing from surgery is not very kitchen- friendly for me , so until then allow me to indulge in my out of control crafty side !

image

I’ve spent 27 years being proud of my childrens’ accomplishments, today, I’m proud of mine 🙂

%d bloggers like this: