Mailing Central and Our Hub

This is our mailing center, also known as my living room with the small exception that we don't use this room to live in because it is has been taken over by my quilting and is the central mailing station for Layers of Hope - Quilting 911.

I have a large bin in our hall closet that holds packing tape, glue, labels, markers, etc. for the boxes and as you can tell, I try to keep a variety of boxes on hand to mail out quilts.

The four boxes you see are ready for postage and will go out this coming week.  The cabinet in the picture you can see the edge of holds quilts for mailing.

Packages await the post office!

 
These 2 large boxes you see are a portion of the 30 quilts I will be sending to Winthrop, WA to complete the Carlton Complex Fire Quilts from 2014.

I am still deciding if it wouldn't just be easier to drive them to Winthrop but to do so in a day is roughly about 16 hours round trip with stops for gas, meals and the drop off.

Carlton Complex Fire Quilts

Last year I received the 911 cut out from a center where they were raising money for an injured 911 dispatcher and auctioning these off. They sent one to me as a thank you for the quilt I sent to the dispatcher.  The cross candle keeps me grounded and makes me thankful to be able to do this for those 'unseen heroes' in need.

While I know the walls are boring white, we still haven't decided what we are going to do with this area.  Due to some unforeseen circumstances this past March, we had to sell my granddaughters piano and I would truly like to move my quilting into a stand alone studio in our yard and get her a new piano.

In the meantime, my family puts up with this pile daily. Trust me when I say it really isn't as bad as it looks. I am finishing up some Christmas card holders to put in my Etsy shop to sell. I am working on a 5.5" squares patch quilt (up to 420 squares now), gathering some fabric from my moms clothing to send to a woman who makes Teddy Bears, and my son and his wife have a quilt (cut up at this time) in there as well.

How does the saying go? A clean desk is the sign of a crazy person? My desk is spotless and neat, my sewing space is just a dash of craziness.

It isn't all charity quilting. The top quilt I made for my son and daughter in law about six years ago and with little ones, this quilt has been washed so many times, I brought it back from Phoenix to fix some of the frayed edges on the appliqued pieces.

It was my first applique quilt on a large scale and the stitching really wasn't wide enough. So, I have repaired it, it is going back to Phoenix soon and I am making them a new one. This one has their anniversary date, kids birthdays on it.

The quilt under it is denim and wool and belongs to my son who came home in January after being in prison for over 8 years. He is a Dallas Cowboys fan in a world of Seahawk 12th Man fan's and blue and lime green doesn't make room for blue and silver!

I just really haven't had the time to go pick up some Seahawk fleece, er, I mean Cowboy fleece to complete it, but I will soon.
You can bet somewhere embedded in that quilt will be something about how the Seahawk's rule!

So, I just wanted to take some time today to show you around my living room and let you know that it doesn't matter how large or small our space is (remember, I used to quilt in a converted coat closet) what matters is that we quilt!