Whew!!

That's a sigh of relief -- all the charity quilts are finished.  In the past two months, I have made 5 quilts for the Saddle Up and 2 quilts for Project Linus as part of Disney's volunteerism  promotion.  I had originally planned only 4 quilts for the SaddleUp, but I cut 6" fleece strips to use for the back of the Linus quilts, and got a little carried away.  Then it was just a matter of cutting 6" fabric strips, sewing them in the 6 hour quilt pattern, and voila - another quilt was born.  I feel really good about finishing these charity quilts, but now it's time to do something for me.

I think I want to play with my AccuQuilt GO cutter next week.  I have to cut 2" strips for my quilt class with Bonnie Hunter in July, and this morning I ordered two new die sets for my cutter.  I ordered the 2" strip cutter, which I think I will use a lot, and I ordered a special offer baby set.  The baby set contains 3 separate baby sets at a discounted price, and with a new grandbaby on the way in November, I just couldn't pass it up.  And with free shipping, well, who can pass up free shipping?

But first, I have to make it through this weekend.  Tomorrow is the SaddleUp and it's a long but rewarding day.  Use the link and check out some of the photos from previous years.  Our day starts at about 9 AM and finishes sometime around 5 PM.  The Texas Roadhouse provides a barbecue for the riders, and they generally cook breakfast, lunch and dinner.  The entire family gets into the event, which is sponsored by daughter Kristin's FIL.  (He's the guy on the horse on the SaddleUp homepage.) We generally have about 100 riders (more or less).  Daughters Pam and Pat ride every year, Kristin isn't riding this year since she's pregnant, and this will be granddaughter Krissy's first year to ride in the SaddleUp.  Krissy has already raised over $100 in pledges, and is pretty excited about her first long ride.   Mary always works registration, along with daughter Kristin and step granddaughters Kristin and Jessica.  I work the quilt raffle table.  SIL George heads up traffic control and has Rod, Jimmy and my step-grandson Andrew on his committee. And our neighbors also volunteer, one family procures most of the door prizes as well as working registration.  We have a DJ who donates his services for the day, and the karaoke at the end of the day is a hoot.  SIL Jimmy always treats us to his version of Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy and always gets a huge applause, especially if he does an encore of I Like Big Butts. It's a good cause and I'm glad we got involved.

See you next week.