Peace by Piece Quilters

Pillowcases finally delivered

2012-02-08T15:21:00.001-05:00

Marilyn and others made many pillowcases last year for us to donate to our usual charities. Today I delivered 7 fun 'kids' prints to Conkerr Cancer organization of which the local quilt shop, Quilting by the Yard is the drop-off center.

We also have 15 more that I'll be dropping off tomorrow at the Manchester Shelter on Main Street. (Done!)

Feels good to get them dropped off, but they had 30 people at the shelter last night, so maybe we can get more made for next month.

Feb Meeting

2012-02-07T15:04:00.001-05:00

Unfortunately, it's the time of year when people come down with illnesses, so a few of our ladies couldn't make the meeting. But we had four of us, and although we didn't do much 'sewing', we figured out a lot of where we are heading and what 'homework' needed to be done!

We talked about the challenge with the HeartstringQuilt Project 6 month challenge, which made us look through the 'heartstring' box to see what quilts are in what progress. It was VERY productive because Margaret is finishing a child's lime green top,

Nancy will continue making lime green with selvedges,

Kathy is making white centers with homespun plaids (my favorite!),

and Janet took The leftover pink blocks from Oct 2009.

We have one QOV quilt with one more row to go (my homework), but Kathy has been going like crazy on the RWB HS blocks. She has a son going to Afghanistan in three weeks, so she's been 'on a mission' to create these blocks -she brought in 96 blocks- enough for two adult quilts!! (I borrowed 6 from her pile to finish this one - shown- and she's gonna make 6 more to complete the two we need to put together. I think I'm gonna put them together all differently, so they can each get their own 'name'. -- I LOVE to name them!!)

I'll be posting them and adding them to our count. I'll be posting photos of them as they get done, too. Come May and June, we'll be focusing on 'backs' to add to these, and hopefully, the June 6 hr event will consist of putting these together and tying them.

We did talk about going to Marden's, but I think a few of them can't make the trip due to car sickness/ can't sit for extended periods of time. We'll take a poll through emails to see if a trip is in the offing. (Maybe I'll just go with my hubby for a day trip!)

Two more found a home!

2012-01-30T23:03:00.000-05:00

Two more quilts found a home last week.... in the process of blessing one quilt ("Lasagna with Tiger Stripes") on Sunday, a parishioner (LR) came up and spoke of a co-workers husband who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. She was very emotional about it, and it 'would be the perfect quilt', she said. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of this one. After going home to package it up and write a note with it (all our quilts arrive with notes), I had my daughter drop it off one morning before work. I hear it was so well received.

We also had another one ("Orange/Purple Scrapworks") that needed to comfort a woman (MY) in her late 50's/ early 60's who is suffering with Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. I personally delivered this quilt and met the woman and her husband. We received a thank you (not always done, never expected, but always grateful) that I'll share with the ladies at the next meeting. This was the back of another quilt, but I told the ladies if I could find a backing in Maine, then I'd make it into the front of a new quilt. (I'd used up all the 'scraps of fabrics' from the other quilt, hence the name.

We also finished another quilt (thank you, Muriel for binding it) that was a quilt 'fairy' gift. In the fall of last year, we found that someone had left us a few quilts that were just squares serged together into small quilts. Since we have not many requests for baby quilts, we put two of them together (they matched) and added 'side borders' to widen the quilts and voila, it was a top! I think I'll call this one "Blue Stone Path", since the squares are like cobblestones, and the borders along the sides make it into a path. (Isn't it funny? I've been pondering the name of this quilt -- I think they all need names-- for three days and it just came of me in the middle of writing that sentence!) This presently has no home....

Maybe next meeting we can just play with the jar quilt!

"Can We Quilt?" event

2012-01-14T21:42:00.000-05:00

Today was a great day...
There was not a lot of preparation (good on MY part) and although we only had 6 members show up, it was rather productive. If you've looked at previous postings, you'll see I tried to give a few 'hints' about what we'd be working on. I didn't even tell the members of the group. (It's much more fun that way!)
This is what I thought we'd work on.... (only three sections to put together, really). I wanted them to work on a 'jar quilt'. I'd been collecting a bunch of fabrics for my own jar quilt and decided that since I wasn't getting mine made, I'd live vicariously through the group project. (At first, I thought that was a terrible thing to do, but we had so much fun, that I didn't regret it at all!)

Here is my 'mass production' of jar lids. It would have been a great idea, until I figured out that the lids were the 'exact' size of the jar openings. If you look at a mason jar, the lid really does extend over the opening a little. Crap. That means I better have some other fabrics to make bigger lids, as I think I cut all of the lid fabric for the 'smaller' sized lids. (I did have some others, but they will be different).

This is the sample I drew up for the ladies of the jar and the lid.

The samples of the jars were a smaller size than I planned to make for the group quilt. The 'raspberry' fabric is the correct size (5.5" x 10.5"). I added borders to the 'samples', but I figured that when we made the jar blocks, we'd decide how wide to make the side bars that separated the jars when they sat on the shelf.

These are the pieces I had to have pre-cut.
Once I set everything out, I knew I would be cutting more sections, depending on how many and what size jars they chose to make. (We almost made them all, they enjoyed making them).

As much as the weather was good (no snow--OH! I said the 's' word!!), I think someone forgot to set the temp in the room above 64 degrees! It did get rather chilly in there. Poor Anna is freezing!!

Janet and Kathy were busy sewing jars.... My mom, Muriel kept busy ironing the sections of the blocks all morning.

Once we got going, we trimmed the blocks and laid them out on the tables, just to see what the plan might be to organize them on the 'shelves'.

We finally realized that if we spread out the black fabric, and laid the jars on it, that we'd get a better idea of what it would look like. We also added the pantry shelving so it would really have an audition. (Nothing is sewn in place, just 'placed', so we could move it around. Notice that we decided the shelves were getting kinda 'boring', all being the same size -see the above example). If you look at the one below, see how we made the top shelf divided and the next one down would be a 'short' shelf? It was more asthetically pleasing to the eye, don't you think?

We started really getting crazy (which is why the quilt top never got put together), and thought of adding a moth to the corner (or should we embroider a spider web in the corners?).
Or maybe figure out how to add a cricket/grasshopper to the top of a jar...

And how many grandmother's would have added a ruffle of fabric under the top edge of the cupboard? We thought yellow might be nice (nothing is written in stone, so we're still poondering ideas). Anyone have any ideas to offer? We'll be working on this for the next few months, I'm sure. Please feel free to make comments.

The other thing that did get done is that Marilyn was able to drop off the red, cream and blue HS quilt that she put together (she couldn't stay and play...:-( ). We may add a border or just make it this big. Next month, we'll look for a backing for it and maybe get it ready to be tied.

We also finished tying a blue /pink quilt and got it trimmed. Now I just have to sew the binding on it (hope to get it done on Monday-- MLK day), and have my mom finish hand-sewing it and add a label.

Not a bad day at all.........

Dec meeting- Back up and Running!

2011-12-10T10:34:00.000-05:00

Now that the power is back on (see previous post), we are back in session!
It's always good to get together with the ladies and see what they've gotten done since we last met (some do take home homework!)
And of course, we have a moment of personal 'Show and Tell".

This is a quilt by Margaret M (on right), who didn't really start quilting until we got this group together in 2007 (although I think she sewed some)... Great job! (This is a gift for someone who picked out the fabrics for her (Margaret doesn't like orange).

She had the quilting done by the lady who sometimes quilts our charity quilts, Laura McCarrick. Love the teapots, since I'm a tea drinker.

This one is so rich with color, and the color of the varigated thread is 'prime'!

Last one she brought wasn't further than a 'top'.... looks nice, M.

Here is one that Kathy (one of our newest members) worked on. She's made most of the blocks at home and during the meeting, some tied a blue/pink quilt while others placed the blocks for this quilt. Janet, Mary Ellen and Marilyn pinned this out, and Marilyn took it home to put together. Can't wait to see it in January!

Mary Ellen also finished a lasagna quilt (forgot to photo it, but will and will post soon) that I've decided to call, "Lasagna with a Tiger edge", since the binding looks like tiger stripes. I have to put a label on it, then it's done!

We did send off a quilt to Margaret's friend of 30 yrs who is suffering with liver cancer. I have to post the details later (notes are at church). See side bar for which quilt.

If I can get the label and ties and maybe a binding done for the blue;/pink quilt, we may end up the year with 23 projects done!

A ps.... sometimes it's meant for a quilt to go where they go. One of our parishioners came up to me after a service this past Sunday and thought she needed to request a quilt for her sister-in-law who was waiting to hear if her cancer is reoccuring (they are pretty sure it is). If it is what they think it's not good news at all. This lady who will receive the quilt is in her 70's and very small. She loves purple (and don't you know it, we had three to choose from). "Orange Comets" was just the right quilt for her. Glad we can send some prayers and comfort her way... We're praying for you, Bonnie.... (and no, there is no cost to request a quilt, but we also thank those who feel the need to donate to us, so we can continue what we do). Thanks, Kim.

Storm Alfred cancels our Nov mtg

2011-11-07T19:10:00.000-05:00

Due to the fact that our church had no power for the week, and we had so many families without power, or power, but lots of debris to contend with, I decided to cancel this month's meeting.

These photos are of my front and back yard... and the tree that came down between our house and the garage (they are separated by 10'). God was watching over us. My prayers were just for 'no structural damage and no injuries/loss of life' and I got it. Thanks be to God.

First meeting after break

2011-09-21T19:57:00.000-04:00

After a nice summer off (actually too much time off for me, because then it's hard to get back into quilting), we had a nice meeting with some 'show-n-tell' quilts, some updates on requests and some new faces!! Sorry, no photos this post.

First of all, welcome Kathy, and Laura. Kathy was introduced to us by Marilyn and Laura wanted to just 'check us out and help in any way' (she's a parisioner). I won't post last names to at least have some privacy for our members.

Some things brought up at our meeting.... We have three requests, ALL of which were able to be filled. THAT'S a rarity, so it was nice to be able to do. One request was for my cousin, D.P. who is battling ALS. another was for a parishioner, WP who is battling pancreatic cancer and another SA who has been suffering with a dibilitating disease that no one has been able to diagnose correctly (at least that's the last I've heard) and she is now house-bound. I was able to deliver WP's quilt (given to his wife at church on Sunday), and another parishioner (who provides us faithfully with rotary cutter blades--thanks Edith) volunteered to deliver it in person. I will send off the one for my cousin with my mom, when he's home (she visits his dad every month).

We also finished pinning a lasagna quilt (we rolled it out with pool noodles) and Maryellen took it home to quilt. We also had one of our quilt fairy quilts put together and the 'new girl', Kathy volunteered to pick out borders to make it wider and she'll take it home and add those. I think she even picked out a backing to go with it....if I remember correctly, it was fabric that I'd donated-- used to cover a love seat a long time ago.

I was hoping to send some 'homework' with the girls so we could make some black centered HS blocks for Mary Johnson of HSQP. No one took anything home, but they may surprise me and bring some to next month's meeting. Speaking of next month's meeting, last year I had to postpone the Oct mtg, due to my work schedule. I hope I don't have to do that again this year.

Okay, more clues to our Jan mtg project (the mystery)....I'm having the ladies actually make part of the project without really knowing what they will be working on. The 'focus' fabric will not be seen until Jan's event, but they will be cutting 1 1/2" strips our of black fabric, with some cut into 1 1/2" squares. Also, we'll be needing some marble-y browns and tan for part of it...(this doesn't sound pretty yet, does it? Don't worry it will be). I'll see what I can come up with next mtg.

For now,.... sew long...

Winter Quilting Event... (hint)

2011-07-12T22:47:00.000-04:00

Between now and Jan 14th, I'll be hinting at what we will be working on at our Jan 6-hr quilting day. I really want to keep this a surprise, but the 'fun factor' is too much for me to keep quiet about. So, let the hinting begin... Hints are capitalized...

What CAN we do that will be different? Something we haven't tried before. Something to FEED the souls. But I don't want to keep everything behind closed doors. We should at least keep one door AJAR...

Any ideas, yet?

It's FOOD for thought, at least...

I love it!! Thank you...

2011-06-28T22:39:00.000-04:00

Here is a recent recipient of one of our quilts.... the nice part is the quilt pattern is called Soduko and this lady plays Soduko every morning with her best friend (one of our 83 yr old members).

She was so comforted by it, she dozed off.....
It's machine quilted by Laura McCarrick with angel wings (design) and it's appropriate in the fact that this lady's husband died in the accident she was injured in.

Somehow, the quilt spoke to us that it needed to be with her.

Summer off...

2011-06-26T20:51:00.000-04:00

Well, I have a few things to organize, schedules to plan, a quilt or two to 'fiddle' with and come Sept. we'll be back to having fun and finishing more quilts.

Last Year's Record broken!

2011-06-12T13:25:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it isn't the MOST we've ever made for this group in one year, but it just went over last year's numbers.

We have just struck 20 quilts/items made for the year!!

I recently gave four away... Black Rose Panel (to a young woman with ALS, who is now bed-ridden), Rectangle Sudoku with Wings (given to my mom's BFF, who was injured in a terrible car accident- broke 6 ribs, collarbone and split lip-stitched-- and who's husband died), Shattered Italian Tiles (to a young woman who is going through 9 months of chemo for breast cancer), and Monet in Teal (to a woman who is going through her 3rd bout of cancer). And thank God we are blessed to have more in our stash for others.

I have two in my house I'm working on.... one that needed quilting (SITD) and binding(an orange one that WAS a pieced back-turned in to a top). One that needs to be pin-basted and tied, then bound (lasagna).
I think I'm gonna be a tad more laid back this summer. After all, I have a wedding I'm imvolved with for my oldest daughter (July 24th).

Sad news.....

2011-06-10T14:00:00.000-04:00

Back in spring of 2010, we sent an emergency quilt to a friend of Mavie (of Maine). Mavie, a well known quilter on the Yahoo group, HeartstringQuilt Project, didn't have a finished quilt, but felt the need was urgent. We sent off one of our quilts that had been blessed in St Mary's during a service, with Mavie's thanks. Check out our last post regarding this amazing lady, Jackie L.
http://peacebypiecequilters.blogspot.com/2010_03_01_archive.html

The sad news... Mavie's friend passed away recently. Under the quilt. Her husband will find comfort in holding onto that quilt, I'm sure. Thanks for the update, Maive. It means a lot to us, too.

Mavie sent us 48 heartstring blocks as a thank you (I'm sure to replace the empty spot in our church's stash- it wasn't necessary, but appreciated). We put them together and named the quilt, "I Got the Blues in Maine", because it had blue center strips in each block.

We backed it with a lovely yellow print which we rolled the backing over to the front to make the binding and sealed the deal.

June Event!

2011-06-05T18:10:00.000-04:00

What a success this was! Although I didn't have people show up right away (and let me tell you, I got nervous), I did end up with a great crew. Let's see... who showed....

Margaret M, Muriel S, Brenda K (who is usually in FL when we meet), Janet G (who's dad is doing much better-- must have been the quilt we sent him! LOL), me, Marilyn L, Carol "C" G, ... yup, that's it. Seven of us.

Here is my mom, Muriel (age 83) and Margaret on the right working on Wonky Log cabin.
Here is the noodle table (you'll see them in action later in this post), and the "Fishing Lines" at the other end, ready to be tied.

Marilyn's "Monet in Teal" was finished and ready to be sent to it's recipient, but it need to be blessed on Sunday. I'll send it from work tomorrow.

We were auditioning the binding for "Shattered Italian Tiles" , but after tying it, we decided to roll the backing over and use that. At least we have some extra bindings to use at some point.

Margaret rolled the backing over and is pinning this, so I can hand-sew it. Then it should be done.

Marilyn is stitching the rolled backing, used as the binding on this one. Almost done... yea!

Now, this shows the pool noodles in action. The backing and batting are rolled on the back one (left). The top is rolled on the (right one). Line them up, then press out wrinkles (if you have any--since you should have hand-pressed them out when the initial rolling was done). I think they tied it as they rolled it (although you could pin it instead. Just move the pinned area off the table in front of you and you can keep rolling the two noodles 6"-8" back further. We figured out we need a stiff dowel in the center of the noodles so they don't curve. Of course, they ended up with wrinkles on the back (we fixed them), but they figured it was because they were talking and having too much fun!

BTW, Brenda (middle), what are you using those scissors for?... lol (I know the truth, don't I?). I'm SURE you were helping "C" and Janet...

Marilyn's done! Now that one can get blessed.

Number 3! This one is finished....

This is the backing, but we 'oops-ed' the label on the backing, so we had to 'patch it'. It worked, but we still have to label it.

What WAS the best part??? (other than getting four quilts done and ready to bless..)

Dessert, of course! I had a blast making home-made ice cream cones (and waffle bowls) the night before. I brought all the fixin's for ice cream sundaes

Now, who says we don't have fun!!!!???? (this is me)

The funny part was, that a few others in the church found us and we offered to share our dessert... and after a discussion of the waffle cone maker and where I bought it, I heard there was a 'run' on the store and three of our parishioners bought them out!!!! (at $15 each they WERE a steal!)

Glitch

2011-06-01T21:53:00.000-04:00

Just got a heads up that there will be a reception after a wake/funeral at 4pm on the day of our event. (!)

What do we do now? I usually have a relaxing time taking all the tables down, cleaning up, etc. after all the ladies have left. Now, I'll feel as though I'm rushing to be out of there much earlier than usual (we usually have our quilting event from 9am-3pm or 4pm). Now I'll either have to have it from 8am-2pm or move it to another Sat.

I'm hoping to talk to the secretary to see what can be done.(we can't move it to another part of the church as the only other space is downstairs and I'm NOT lugging ALL the stuff needed for our event, to the other end of the church AND down a flight of stairs! I'd rather move the date. We spend too much time going into our cabinets for supplies and that's right off Anderson Hall (where we both need to use the space). Hopefully, we can find a compromise. Hard to have to change the plans at this stage of the planning. Somehow, God will provide (just wished his timing was different, ... but then, it's HIS timing, not mine. )

Pre-May mtg

2011-04-25T07:16:00.000-04:00

Well, we've gotten a few quilts to the done stage since our last mtg.

1. "Geisha's Fan-fare"- My name for it, anyway. We added a fabric to the back that looks like a map, and it seemed to fit the Oriental front.

2. "Peachy Cream"- We chose a nice dark brown for the binding and my mom sewed that to it. Looks nice.
I have a few more that need to be finished to the top stage and then maybe put together at the June mtg (all day event).

I have three thoughts for the June event...
   1. Orphan blocks
   2. New blocks ideas
   3. tying marathon again (seemed to work fine last time).

We did give a few quilts away this month. "Where's My Shirt?" went to Nadine B. in OH, just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The quilt was requested by her daughter in Toronto. We sent it out UPS ($23) to the daughter so she could have the kids sign the blocks (hopefully, it will be subtle, although it's Nadine's quilt now, so she can do what she wants with it).

We also gave Edith B a quilt for her Aunt Sally in CO. She has carcoma. We gave her the "Purple Batik HS/Aqua" quilt. Edith will get it to her aunt.

One of our youth in the church will be going to Mexico for a mission (2nd yr) and asked to bring a quilt with her. We have no problems with it as long as it isn't used as a gift to the padre that is in charge of their mission. It needs to be used for a family in need. Until next mtg...

April meeting- Massage Therapy

2011-04-05T09:47:00.000-04:00

Well, not actually massages, but the backs ARE being worked on. lol. Just not OURS....

I really wasn't sure how many would be at this meeting, as our UConn mens game would be tonight (that's what I'd heard- I don't watch it). Our March and April meetings are always a little dice-y because of March madness. However, we ended up with 9 women there and we really got a lot done.

Hazel was there VERY early, so I got her started on some leftover Project Linus quilts that I took from the weekend's 'quilt-a-thon'. Four PL quilts, done! (They just needed tying).

I had also come over very early yesterday and set up the tables and set out the quilts that we had bought backings for in Maine, and made sure that the backs actually 'fit' the tops (some needed to be altered/divided). I split and divided three. So, when the ladies got there, we had a brief show-n-tell of a few of the projects in the works, then heard of the recipients that quilts were being requested for.

One recipient contacted us (actually the daughter did) after finding us online, googling the type of cancer her mom was diagnosed with.After finding out a little about the mom and her family, the ladies and I decided to send her the quilt she requested- (that's my favorite) with a suggestion of how to include her grandchildren in it. I had thought of 'pocket prayers' for each of the family members, but the ladies suggested that, because the fabric on "Where's My Shirt?" is so light, maybe the family can trace their hands on some of the blocks and sign their names. We'll suggest that (as it's much quicker than waiting for us to make the minis).

Here are the ladies tying one that we finished (I'm doing the binding at home).

We also have two others to contact to see if they would like to have us send their requests out at this point (we have been finishing a lot of adult quilts... something we were short on). As we finish them, we are posting them on the sidebar, by year. Once they have a home, we post that too, so you get to see where they reside (the quilts, not the recipients! lol).
Our Rectangle Sudoku quilt needs to get blessed this coming Sunday... Mom finished the binding on that.

These two shots, showed how close we came to the edge of the backing- we'd already widened it. We wanted to roll this over to make the binding, so I guess I'll have to trim off an inch from the edges.

I have three to finish at home. One above, to just machine-stitch the binding on (was gonna give it to my mom, but it's a rolled edge, so machine quilting is easy and fast), and two - see the peach quilt that Marilyn made and donated) to machine quilt (I have an idea that this will be nicer than tying- the quilts 'told me' that's what they'd like, too). No, I'm not that crazy, but the quilts do tend to let us know what works and what doesn't work on them. This one I'd like to call "Peachy Cream", but I'll check with Marilyn to see if it already has a name.

We also planned to meet in May, but have our 'summer event on June 4th, not sure what we'll work on yet, but it will get planned soon. Then we won't meet again until Sept. (unless they convince me otherwise...grin).

Field Trip!!

2011-03-31T20:25:00.000-04:00

We started this last year, doing a field trip to Marden's (store in Maine), and this past Tuesday was our day. I got a 'heads up' to call the fabric dept manager and 'alert her' that we were coming and I thought considering last year's trip, that would be a good idea. She was excited that we would come all the way up to Maine (from CT), she even put out the cookies! Literally!!

They gave us sooo much fabric for our Project Linus event for this Saturday, probably thousands of dollars worth! FREE! And 10% off everything, some things were even 50% off when they were already on clearance. Amazing.... They are such good supporters of our charity quilting. We are so blessed to have them on our list of contributors.

Here are some of the fabrics and the tops that I had to match up....

This is one (front) that we made a pieced back for and no one wanted me to waste it on the back. So I said if I found a backing for BOTH of them, I'd make it into two tops vs. a top and a bottom.

Well, I found the backing for this one, too (the dark purple/blue will be the binding), so we have an extra top.

This is a green lasagna quilt...great 'forest' backing.

This Shattered Italian Tiles will get a brown backing, and we'll use a section of the leftover tiles for a part of the back. It'll be cool, you'll see.

This aqua was voted by all the ladies, as it will go around the outer edges and be the binding, too. It should bring out all the beauty of the border's feathery strokes.

This one looks weird, but in person, the striped backing will be beautiful. We'll use a black binding which will look great on both sides!

These two fabrics will be great in some future block.

This 'shirting material' will be beautiful on both of these two tops...We still have to put a blcak border around the second lasagna quilt.

We did learn something valuable last year.... After taking 3 hrs to get there, we decided to eat first, before shopping. Come noontime, we were 'fed and happy' (so to speak...) and ready to shop. when we got to Marden's, Bonnie did indeed have the cookies out. lol...

I only bought what we needed for the backings and some replacements for the frontal altar cloth I've been commissioned to make for the church's main altar by our priest, for a total of $70. Some of the other amounts spent were in the ranges of $160, $124, $48, $80, etc.... Not too bad for the 2 1/2 hr of shopping.

Maybe we'll go again in late summer. Who knows what we'll need. (Actually, we won't need anything at all). It's always a fun trip though....Re-energizes us.

Just in Time

2011-03-19T10:50:00.000-04:00

We had a request, very casually, for a parishioner who has been in a Rehab center and not attending church recently. She was very involved with choir, and her family has been VERY involved with the church for many, many years. In fact, one of our halls is named in their honor, Anderson Hall.

In finding out info regarding the health of this woman, we found she had recently been diagnosed (unbeknownst to the woman making the quilt request) with cancer. We made arrangements for this woman's sister to pick out a quilt and hand-deliver it to her in the hospital.

We were thankful she got to find some comfort in it for the short time she lived after. She died Monday morning (one week later). Isn't it interesting how God works at just the right time and speaks to the right people in just the right way.... Rest in peace, Karen.

Behind the scenes

2011-02-21T06:39:00.000-05:00

What you don't see behind the scenes that is going on, is ladies BINDING!!

I had given the ladies quilts to bind and I've been getting them back like crazy!! Muriel (my mom) loves to bind, so I've been 'throwing' them in her direction, but Marilyn has been a 'house a-fire', too! I just received quite a few back (check out the list on the sidebar-right- for February 2011) and can't wait to get them blessed (next Sunday). We are creating quite a list of recipients (that's always a good thing), so I hope to send some quilts on their way, to do the work they do (comfort). So far I have lots of kids quilts, some could be lap quilts, so the goal this year is to make more adult-sized quilts.

There. I said it. Now let's make it happen.

These are the quilts that got blessed... I was honored to have the "Where's My Shirt?" quilt on the main altar... this was a special project that the plaid shirts that we cut up for the blocks came from parishioners donated shirts.

This one I especially loved the label that went with it...

I'll be posting some tutorial photos soon of the blocks I'm having the ladies try at the Mar mtg. One (the quilt we'll make from these blocks will probably be called "Black Diamonds at Sunset") took a little while to figure the 'right' way to put these blocks in order, but I've figured it out. Putting it in a tutorial will help the ladies with a computer be able to refer to this blog to refresh their skills when they need it.

Can't wait to meet in March. We also need to figure a day to take a field trip to Marden's (in Maine). I think this is getting to be an annual trip. I personally don't need any fabric (unless it's for a backing), so my expenses will be slight. Part of the Mar mtg will be to decide which quilts we have made into tops that don't have anything we can make into backs and bring those to Marden's with us to find a back. Last time we did that, Marden's made out with other people there getting inspired (from seeing our group's quilt tops) and therefore buying more material than they originally went there for. We are good business!

"Let's Tie One On"-quilting event

2011-02-13T17:10:00.000-05:00

Well, did we have a great time, or what??!!

We had beautiful weather, plenty of projects to finish and 9 women show up to help. I am thankful Margaret came even though she had a baby shower to go to at 1pm that day.

We had the room set up on Friday, laying out all the quilts that we had sandwiched and backed. I even put the embroidery threads at the tables to save time.

This is one of my favorites... It's one that I asked the parishioners for a specific donation. I told them to look in their closets and see if they had a plaid shirt that they just couldn't wear anymore and donate it. I had a box at our church and every week a few would show up in the box. Then our 'ironer', Pat H. decided we weren't getting them fast enough and she bought a dozen of them at the thrift shop in town and WHAM! we had MORE than enough! Thanks Pat.... This is what I planned on making with them (but we have plaid heartstring blocks that we're making too, so plan to see more plaid quilts. They make great 'guy' quilts, although I LOVE this one! I think I'll call this one, "Where's My Shirt?".

This was my experiment, Free form Stars... I can never quite get the color right when I take a photo of the blocks, but it's really stunning in person. I loved the batik in the background. Named? "Orange Comets".

We had a demo table that we never got to address in any manner, because we 'visit' so much. I'm sure I'll come back to that in the future.

This is another favorite of ours... This was a panel print from Marden's in Maine (last field trip), I just added the black borders on it, and we hope to quilt around the blocks to make it look as though it was pieced. Named? "Black Rose Panel".

This was a cute idea... envelope blocks (I saw one online in a photo and decided I could design it from memory. Not bad, huh?) I call this one, "P.S. I Love You". We plan to put a 'real' envelope pocket on the back for the label. These envelopes you can't open, but we'll make one for the label on the back that you can open.

This cute boys heartstring quilt was made by Margaret when the hearstring yahoo group had their yellow center string project going (how long ago was that?)... Named? "Yellow HS Boys quilt".

Pat B.'s cream heartstrings are finally getting done. She gave us about 5 different size ones 18 months ago...Boy, it does take us a long time to finish things, but don't they say, "anything worth something is worth waiting for".

This little cutie, called "Critter's Picnic" was finished before this event, we hadn't had it Blessed yet. We did that on Sunday.

The supply table.

Batting and cutting table. (And another quilt to sandwich).

This is the tops we have in the wings... they have no backings yet, which is why they haven't gotten done.

Some of our members brought in their personal quilts to show us (always inspiration). Anna did a beautiful job on this quilt.

Marilyn does lovely work. She has been a quilter for years.

The back of this quilt is beautiful...

even the little owl. I love it.

This quilt, Marilyn donated to our group. It's a beauty!

This was another one she wasn't sure what to do with (we suggested a chocolate brown border). She donated that one also.

And these were a 'stack and whack' set of blocks she just was 'trying out'. We found a sashing fabric, so that may be another quilt when it grows up. We'll keep you updated.

Now they have finally settled down to 'work'. Ya know, sometimes you have to crack that whip to get them all to focus.Here Marilyn and Margaret work on the envelope quilt. We tied it from the back so we could tack down the flaps without the strings being a distraction. We found a navy blue binding for it. Marilyn will take that home to finish.

Anna and Wendy (a new guest) were busy tying Pat's heartstring quilt.

Since Pat H. (our diligent ironer) couldn't make it, my mom (Muriel) filled it. See what a wonderfully big space we have to work in? Praise God and St Mary's for that.

Jane and "C" were having WAYYY too much fun! But this one got finished to the pre-binding stage (I have the bindings to finish this one at home).

These guys are still at it, and it's going quite well....

Almost done....Anna, Wendy and Muriel are pinning the binding (the backing is just rolled over) and I'll sew this one before the end of the day. No label, but it will get done!

Almost done.... go girls!

Here is this one, sans the navy binding. Marilyn will finish this one.

This one is done!! We'll bless it on Sunday.

Anna is rolling over the backing (green plaid) for this one. Once we did that, we realized it was slightly crooked (the back plaid), so we are cutting it off all the way and I'm cutting the strips from the leftover plaid to cut 'straight' and attach it. No one will notice that the back itself isn't straight. (Okay, now that I've posted that here, someone will look when they get the quilt. Darn).

Sunday morning, this quilt and "Critter's Picnic" baby quilt were blessed. This is June T. who was given this quilt for her cancer treatments. I hope it keeps you warm, June.

Just an update a week later...

here are some of the finished quilts as the last minute touches are done on them.

PS I Love You...the only thing I need to add to this is the functional envelope on the back (we'll put an uplifting message in the envelope when we know where this one is going).

This cute little one is one of Heartstrings Quilt Projects "Yellow centers"..with boy fabrics.

Hey Mavie, this one is from the blocks I picked up from you in Maine last May. You had given us these blocks to thank us for your friend's quilt we made for her. My grandson LOVES this one!! Not sure where it's going, but it's got HIS okay. Named? "I Got the Blues in Maine".

What do you do when you get a quilt finished and realize one of the seams is pulling away?/??? You sew two selvedges together (raw edges to raw edges), open it up, then blindstitch it over the seams. Worked for me!

Thought this was a cute heartstring label for a couple of our quilts.

Upcoming Quilting Event!

2011-02-04T07:10:00.000-05:00

Let's hope the snow doesn't continue to cancel everyone's plans on the 12th of Feb!!

We are so excited for this stage of events. This will hopefully complete many of the quilts we've been working on and had to put aside for 'emergency' requests. Some have great stories in the piecing and the process of getting to the stages that they are.

I have one that I 'accidently' got to a top stage just last week (at home). I found a border that matches the one we all thought would be beautiful, but there wasn't enough for a wide border of it. Now it's complete!

This photo shows the inner narrow border (that's what we all wanted to be the outer wide border... but, alas, not enough. Now we've found a way to use it and a wonderful outer border to accent it.

This is the last one we had with no outer border discision. Found fabrics that were the same style as the sudoku blocks and it works!

So keep your fingers crossed that the weather holds out for us...pray, pray, pray.... See you there, I hope. All is welcome for any amount of your day.

Thanks be to...

2011-01-18T06:57:00.000-05:00

Sometimes we get a thank you that is just so touching, ... so appreciative, that in sharing it on our blog, I hope it inspires those who donate to continue doing what they do. Not just the quilters in our group, but those who donate batting, money for supplies, threads, fabrics, time... You are so appreciated by me and I feel blessed we can do this.
Recently, we sent a quilt to a parishioner who's been dealing with cancer and having a rough time. Here is her letter to our group.

... Dear Nancy and ALL the Peace by Piece Quilters,
I can't tell you how surprised and honored I was to receive the absolutely beautiful quilt you made for me. I was so touched by your kind thoughts and prayers for me it brought me to tears.
The work that each of you do, Piece by Piece, Stitch by Stitch, Hand in hand, is truly a beautiful calling.
Thank you from the bottom of the heart. I know I have been "touched by Angels"....

The card that this note came in was equally beautiful and I know that it was expecially chosen for it's words...

... Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained ANGELS. (Hebrews 13:2- NKJV)

Blessed are the angels who walk with us,

Though we are unaware

Those people who take time to listen,

To understand and care.

Blessed are those with unseen halos

Earned through deeds of love,

For they will always be for us

Sweet blessing from above....

This is why we do what we do.

Where do we Start?

2011-01-04T07:29:00.000-05:00

Well, we didn't have too many people for our January meeting,... Muriel and me, Jane, Margaret, Marilyn and Pat (our ironer).

We did get a quilt sent home with Marilyn to finish quilting and she'll use the back to roll over and finish for binding. She got it finished by Tuesday night and dropped it off. Thanks Marilyn!!! You are amazing!

We sorted through the quilt tops that we need to finish and put a backing on the PS I love you (envelope quilt). That one was hard to find a backing that would look okay and not overpower it (believe me, you CAN overpower a quilt from the back), but still look like it actually 'went with' the quilt. We all seem to love this design, so we may make more of these. We'll tie it from the back (so the ties hang back there) and make it so the 'tacking' of the ties get put through the tip of the envelope to 'seal the flap'.

We also pieced a backing for the Green/raspberry HS quilt (cream center strips) that we thought matched just beautifully. We got it pinned together and put it aside for the Feb quilting event. I will probably get more batting for the event, but it was good to go over and organize them.

I will go over on Friday (my first day off for the slow season at work,) and check out what we need for embroidery thread colors. Make sure I have enough big-eyed needles for tying the quilts. We should be all set other than that.

Hopefully, it will feel like a quilt show when we get the quilts (made from this event in Feb) blessed in church.

December's meeting - Lots of quilts 'almost' done

2010-12-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

In our organizing session this month, we needed to all be aware of the recent requests we've gotten and to see where we are in finishing some to fill these.We have a little kids quilt, "Critters- Bugs in the Grass", that is ready to go to Eric. I have to write the letter that goes with it (actually done now), and deliver to his Aunt Lelia.

We also had a request for a parishioner (Betty B), from another member (SB), who is going through some very tough cancer treatments (and I believe, some trials-medically). We put together the "Blueberry" top previously, but sandwiched it and tied it at our meeting. All I need to do it do a slight wavy stitch through the border and bind it (will the back wrap around the front enough?... we'll see). I hope to get that done, at home, by Sunday. Then we can get it blessed with another one -"Dots". Hm... I haven't taken pictures of these yet. I guess I'll have to and post them later.

This is a panel that I added black strips to the top and bottom to lengthen. I figure we can use it for a top and stitch around the log cabin strips to make it look pieced. The ladies said we should use some border black fabric for the sides.... That can get done at my house this month.

We put this together at our summer block party event. At least we had the strips into columns. I finished it at home. Our thought was to put a 'tie' into the points of the envelopes. We'll put one with a real pocket in the envelope for a label on the back.

We did come across one that needed a 'fix' job. Does it look crooked? We 'rushed' to get the borders on at the last meeting after hastily cutting this off.... but never squared it up. Once I got it home and looked at it, it just didn't look right. So I measured it. Duh.... the right side was 61.", the middle was 62" and the left side was 62.5" long. Well, I guess this will be my project this month to remove the borders, even out the length and put the borders back on.

This one was part of the many vertical lasagna quilts we made at the block party... Added a soft green and it will be done. Nice to have some 'guy' type quilts.

Another lasagna quilt.... no borders yet. It's a little more yellow than it shows in this photo.

This was one I finished (probably wheelchair sized), that still may get a border.Probably black, but I'd like to have the 'points' stretch into the border. Believe it or not, this started out as lasagna strips, meant to go as a rail fence, then got 'adjusted', since the rail fences looked 'broken'. I call this one "Shattered Italian Tile".

Janet made this wonky Log cabin quilt... we'll put that in the 'tops' pile and work on that soon....

This lasagna quilt had the lime green border added by Marilyn. Stunning addition. Thanks Marilyn!

Another top pile...."Starlight Prisms"

Maryellen made this one, I believe....

We even had time for a slight 'show and tell' from the members...

This beauty was made by Margaret for her husband. What a nice present.

Marilyn stretched these lovelies to make a larger quilt. Beautiful border!! Nice choice of fabrics, too.

Another Margaret quilt....using heartstring blocks, adjusted. I took a photo of the quilting that was done (by Laura McCarrick-great choice of threads, Laura!)

And last, Marilyn used a great focal fabric for this pattern... and doesn't like to have scraps left, so used up the rest of them to make the design for the back.

Great work ladies!!!!!

Progress at home

2010-11-20T19:42:00.000-05:00

I've been progressing on one of the take home projects that we sometimes have. I took home all the leftover 3.5" strips of fabric that should have gone into another lasagna quilt. And, boy, were there a lot of them. But I'm doing something different with them. I started making a lasagna quilt until the layers got until 4 strips wide in the stripset.

I cut the whole stripset into 12" square blocks, put two together, right sides together.

I then, penciled a diagonal line on each one, and sewed 1/4" on each side of the line.

I then cut the line, opened up the blocks and voila!

Put a few together and they look like Shattered Tiles. Not sure which design I like, but it works.

November means Business!

2010-11-05T10:05:00.000-04:00

We had a great Nov mtg, not because we got to see what was accomplished, but we got to see how far we've come and what needs to be focused on. After a brief 'business' mtg, we made some decisions on who would be willing to write thank yous for all the donations we get, who would keep records of where our quilts go and made a decision that's been long in the making regarding tithing 10% of any monetary donations BACK to the church. We are blessed with their generosity to give us the space we have to work on these quilts and their support in our ministry. We even made a few decisions on our lasagna quilts that were done at our last quilting event in the summer.

We also got to do the fun stuff......Sorting through the projects we have in stages (many of them are almost done!), and deciding when and how to finish them. Two quilts were taken home, both to add borders on, then we can decide on the backings and add them to the "Tie one On!" pile. We hope to have another 6hr session in Feb on a Sat to tie all the quilts that are at that stage, then my mom will be inundated with bindings to do!! Go MOM! (She's 82 and sharp as a needle....lol).

I believe we counted 6-8 quilts to tie, so that will be great to finish them. We may at that point have a 'quilt show' of sorts to have them blessed before Easter.

Busy scedule causes cancellation

2010-10-09T08:29:00.000-04:00

Due to my work schedule (October being the busiest month of the year), I had to cancel our October mtg.
We did however, get to have a quick Sept. mtg (I think having it on the day after Labor day Monday throws people off, so I'm not sure how to plan for that month anymore- only 4 people showed up).

We did get our Quilt of Valor quilt done...Here is my grandson, Malakai holding it up (kinda)... this is the front (heartstring)

and we used a panel that was bought at Marden's for the back, but since it wasn't wide enough, we split it in half lengthwise and added an strip down the middle (added the label on). We had to change plans for where it was originally intended, so it's available at the moment.

Our Summer Block Party 2010....

2010-10-09T08:18:00.000-04:00

I never got the chance to post how our summer block party went this year.... It was HOT!!! and Wonderful, because we had some publicity in the local newspaper/online version, and some ladies from Wilimantic, CT came to join us. They seemed to have a great time, so I'm assuming it was a hit!

This was how the room was set up....

Here is the 'Post Office' where we are assembling our envelope blocks we started sooo long ago. They are the easiest block to make... figure out the size rectangle you want and using a paper template, figure out what size square to make for the 'flap', as you will cut a square in half diagonally and have two flaps. I put two different fabrics together, sew them around all four sides (right sides together), then cut in half diagonally, turn inside out, and you have two envelope flaps!

Here is the designer's house where we put together two child sized heartstring quilts with bright yellow centers.

Cricket (in red) is at the Italian Restaurant and Jane is working on the Chinese coin strips at the Bank of Beijing.

Margaret is working on the QAYG blocks at the Better Batting Mattress Co, (recycling plant).

Anna is getting needles threaded for tying the Yellow heartstring quilt. This one actually got finished to the point of sending home with my mom to finish hemming the binding.

Here is Muriel at the Emergency Medical Center, but she had no 'patients'... The quilt in front is at the Hog-Tied Deli, waiting to be tied.

Here is one of the new ladies that joined us, at the Strip club, cutting up strips of fabric for the Bank and the restaurant.

Here is the Founding Father's house where we cut up foundation blocks.

Nice design at the Post Office... sorting letters never got to be this much fun!

One thing they all loved was the dessert! Sand cake!!. It's like dirt Cake, but you use pecan sandies, or sugar cookies to crush up for the top and you serve it in a pail vs. a long pan. It was delish!!

This is the lasagna quilt in progress.... all over the floor!

Marilyn was layering the lasagna and Anna (close) was sewing (sorting) coins for the cash drawer at the bank.

Lasagna quilt still getting layered.

This heartstring quilt was finished tying and the floral backing was to be wrapped around to the front for it's binding. This one had a home to be sent to as soon as it was done......All in all, the girls really did have a great time. I'm glad it's over though, because the day we did this was over 90 degrees!!! And the girls stayed to the end... thanks, ladies. We really did get so much done. Everyone agreed that we should do this (6 hr day) more often than once a year. Just not sure when we can get together. I'm planning the next one for early June.

Reactions to quilts...

2010-06-27T21:46:00.000-04:00

I just got a phone call today from a member who 's been active in our church for almost 40 yrs. During our church service where our Priest Blessed our recent QOV quilt, I hung up the quilt like I always do on the front railing. I think people like to look at them as they walk by for communion. This woman said she was so moved after the service by this quilt that she actually cried when she looked at it. Two other women were doing the same as they admired it after the service, also. It still needed to be hand-sewn on the binding (my mom's gonna do that), but I knew it may not be available for a blessing by the following week. (I hope to connect with the soldier it's going to (he was wounded by an IED in Iraq), as he came home in May. (The photo is under the previous post)

This makes what we do seem very important to the parishioners and keeps up going. Yea, ladies!!

Spring vacation Project in Maine

2010-06-13T22:05:00.000-04:00

We got a few things organized at the last mtg, so that I would be able to get supplies in Maine (my vacation spot) to finish a few quilts we've had requested. Enid's Yellow/Blue HS quilt top came to the meeting without borders. It was taken home by Enid with fabrics from Anna's stash (Dark sky blue) and Marilyn's excesses she had given me (beautiful yellow), to add the borders, then to hopefully get it to me (had two wks to finish the borders) before I went to Maine. She did good! I got it the two nights before I left and took a few others needing 'something'.

Since I brought my sewing machine up to Maine with me, I figured I'd at least get the backing done (pieced) on these few quilts. This was the view (and the weather was liek this for 12 out of 14 days!! Who could beat that??)

I found the perfect backing for the Yellow/blue HS top. It had a deep blue sky with clouds and some man-in-the-moons on the fabric, which went perfectly with the planets on the front. I'm calling this one "Sunshine and Space". It's for a premmie who was born in Dec 2009, 3 months early. He's about 10 lbs now, so making it normal baby quilt size worked out fine. I didn't have the top with me to match the colors, so I'm thrilled that I had enough (split it diagonally and 'streched it') to use for the backing. This photo is showing it split, just not extended yet.

I even got the binding done for this one and enough for another one (great blue/white stripe).

I felt the need to extend the top of this QOV quilt, because the panel that we were using on the back would have gotten cut off, if I didn't. This panel, I split in half up the middle and inserted a red strip (wide), added the label and figured it could trim it if needed. It should be perfect.

Mavie Q, a Heartstrings member (from Maine), made us 'some blocks' as a thank you for her friend's quilt (friend was very sick and needed one NOW- thankfully, we had one to send). I picked them up in Maine (at her house) and decided on this pattern of putting the blues together. I did get them together, even though I'm posting this design-in-progress photo. Thanks SO MUCH Mavie for the 48 thank you's....!!!

I did finish splitting and combining the pink/black /poodle squares (finished ones are the top left pile). I'll bring them to the next mtg.

The surprise I'm getting soon is that Cricket, another Heartstring member, took one of my first quilts ever, and added the borders around this to finish this quit for our group. What a great gift!! Thanks Cricket! Can't wait to see it in person.

Organization Station

2010-06-13T20:36:00.000-04:00

This wasn't in my plan, but it was necessasary. I wish I had taken a picture of the before because it is amazing at the difference, but the ladies in charge of taking hold of the reins were already there, when I arrived for something else.
I had planned on meeting another woman (Deacon Karen) to help with a project that she thought we could help with (fabric wise)- we couldn't, and I fell upon all these 'workers' hauling things out of various closets in our church's conference room and trying to sort them. We have one of the closets (and I didn't think about it until that day, that WE have one of the narrowest doors for storage) and my husband's group, Parish Life (the fun stuff) had the one next to us. I'm thankful that I was there, because they were dealing with 5 other groups and they weren't involved with them, so had to presume which certain items belonged to each group. I KNEW what was in our closet and my DH group, so I went about organizing our stuff.
It really felt good to do this and it gave me a chance to donate some of the stuff we have been given/donated that we wouldn't probably use to another quilter who makes quilts for the homeless in her area. I'm sure she will use it well.

I spent 7 hrs there (well, okay.... I DID go out and bring back lunch!). The only things I didn't sort through was the fabrics we have for backings. I'll do that probably today. Ok..... they're done!(See above)

Did you ever have the hiccups?

2010-05-09T17:41:00.000-04:00

Our mtg got moved, due to overscheduling, to a Thurs instead of our usual Monday. The only problem was that the turnout wasn't as good as usual and I really wanted to see one of two shows that I love to watch, Survivor, so we made it an early evening. (4 people showed (me included) and then 2 others showed 20 mins before the end of the mtg. not much to get accomplished.
The one nice thing that came about it was tht Enid brought a beautiful bunch (16) of planned blue and yellow heartstring blocks to the mtg and we figured out what to use for as border, outer border, cornerstones and backing. Even the binding color... It will go to a premmie who is now about 8 pounds now. Hopefully, it'll get finished in the next month or so.(Although I'll have to take a photo of it later).
Margaret also made some yellow/blue/novelty prints heartstring blocks (20 of them)- 10 girly and 10 boy-ish prints. She will be doing a little more (12 ) to make two quilts that will be 16 of each. Very cute!!
I will be taking a few quilts with me to Maine when we leave in a week.
The ladies at least each took a few pink/black blocks to slice and dice. It should be all set to put into a top when we get back for the June mtg.
We did have three bags/totes of fabric for Cricket and her homeless quilt project, so I hope to see her at the next meeting.

Two quilts off...

2010-04-18T18:31:00.000-04:00

We will be delivering "Lime Lasagna" to a very elderly woman from church who fell in her condo and shattered her arm. It will be a long recovery and felt we needed to send her some comfort. It's the quilt on the left. (This one was Blessed by the Bishop).

We also got Alexa Marie's quilt finished and Blessed at Sunday's service, so I need to contact her grandmother to send this one out. It's a heartstring block quilt in the shape of a star...(the swimming fabric anyway). We didn't have a lot of the swimmers fabrics, so splitting the blocks with string blocks have double the amount of blocks we had to play with.

She is a 9-yr old with cancer in her leg. She had surgery to replace her knee and a rod in her leg, they removed the cancer (hopefully all), so I think it's perfect timing.

This is the back of it... Hannah Montana fabric. The binding is hanging in the plastic bag. WE didn't get a photo posted of it finished, but it is...

Marden's March Madness

2010-04-09T21:03:00.000-04:00

Okay.... there was only 5 of us... However, we should have warned them we were coming. REALLY. Cricket and I knew what to expect, so as much as I had mentally put a $35 budget in my head, and Cricket's budget was slightly higher than mine, WE would know how hard it is to STICK to a budget going in the store. The ladies had chipped in $5 each (for buying backings) for the tops we had made, but I knew one of the ladies that couldn't go had said she'd donate some money and my mom was gonna add a little; so when we got done, I only went $15 over budget (for my personal stuff) and once we have the additional $$ come in, we'll have only gone $10-15 over-budget on the PbPQ donations (and that's already in the church budget-special funds).

Please take note that all the bolts on this table (second photo) are ONE person's purchases....(no names to protect to guilty, LOL).

These ladies that waited on us were AMAZING!! "The boss" on the right of Jane, was gracious to give us 10% of anything we all bought, because we were making charity quilts, Project Linus, and Con-Kerr Cancer pillowcases. (they are collectors of Project Linus quilts....)

We spent the day there.... felt like the night, too! We arrived at 11:15am (3 hr car ride), then shopped until some of us were ready to drop!! By the time all the fabrics were cut (some of us REALLY behaved- others, NOT!), it was 3:30pm and we WERE STARVED!!!!!! As Cricket's fabric was undergoing the 'knife', I (who was in the van with the rest of the ladies) went back into Marden's and got m & m's, granola, ...you know... the special stuff you want to survive on if the van goes into a gully (I call it "gully food").

Okay... now at home...Well, this is the stuff for me, plus the backings for church group.... the pile in the front are the quilts that we were trying to match fabrics for.

Boy, was it nice to spread it all on the table. MY pile is on the far right., church quilt tops on the far left and the two piles in the middle are the fabrics for church use.

Here is a few photos of the QOV backings...

Some wonderful fabrics... nothing was over $2.99 yd. Some of the designers were Michael Miller, Henry Glass & Co, Timeless Treasures, etc. good stuff.!

Here is some Easter egg type of fabrics, we have a quilt or two in mind.

The top fabric in the photo below, could be borders on the Yellow/blue heartstrings block-party blocks. The ocean waves will go on the Blueberry quilt, and not sure about the top fabric, but ain't it pretty?

The black fabric in the middle will go for borders, pretty swirls of color in it.

Great kids fabrics.

Landscape fabric panels with a nice terracotta marble-y fabric to use somewhere....

Wouldn't this look great cut into strips for heartstring quilts? Just funky enough for me!! Yeah!

Loved these prints.... Never thought I'd find the bottom 'map' fabric. I used it 5 yrs ago to make my grandson's quilt. Do I dare tell you it was $1.99 and it feels like silky cottons..... heaven.

More of MY personal stash....

This is also, mine....

Okay, here is some of the tops with their counter-parts. This one just had all the brights in it that were in the top.

Four panels long will make this backing (we're planning to add a border on this quilt for a returning wounded veteran).

This one I'm sharing the 'map' fabric with the PbPQ to use for the backing on this quilt.

... the left is the border?, and the right is the backing. Will make a cute kid's quilt.

Waves for the blueberry...

And this light print for the border and maybe even for the backing.

The one thing I discovered with I got home with all my goodies, is that when they laid out the bolt on the cutting table, they folded over the raw edge, put the fold on the edge of the yardstick (on the table) and then began the measuring. The thing I loved was that they amount of fabric that they folded over, was at least 6-10 inches of fabric, so most of our 1.5 yds really measure at almost 2 yds!!! I love MARDEN"S!!

Last large quilt requested

2010-04-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

One of our members called to see if her sister-in-law could have a quilt... She was in a car accident and has numerous broken bones, and a chunk from her knee. The recovery will be long so I hope this quilt brings her some comfort. Thanks, Anna for letting us know. I didn't think we had a photo of it, but I found one.

Dunkin Donuts Quilt- bye bye

2010-03-20T18:33:00.000-04:00

I got a request for one of our quilts for a friend (in her late 50's) of our former deacon, Karen Fedorchak. Karen's friend is undergoing surgery for breast cancer and she wanted to know if we had one without a home.

I chose the "Dunkin' Donut" quilt, hot pink and oranges against black and whites. I LOVE this one. I thought it had breast cancer fabric in it, but that was another one. I think she'll like it too.

Tropical Tiles Heartstrings Quilt

2010-03-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

This little beauty which I've decided to name "Tropical Tiles" was put together by Anna Robillard and put together (from the borders out) by the rest of the ladies at the beginning of this year. It was blessed during a Sunday service. the ties are extra long, so prayers may be tied into it by doctors, nurses, visitors, etc so that comfort might be gotten from the knots (prayers) you feel in the ties.

We got an emergency request for a 47-48 yr old woman with leukemia, from a member of Heartstrings quilt Project (yahoo group)- Mavie Quarles. I offered to send this one, since it had no home. I mailed it off to Jackie L in Maine today. She is a registered nurse at a medical center, in the adult cardiac intensive care unit, has gone on numerous healthcare missions to other countries, just the kind of women you really respect and care about. Hope if brings some peace and comfort to you ,Jackie. Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Mavie.

March Madness...?

2010-03-03T20:37:00.000-05:00

Well, this was a productive mtg!! First of all, the pillowcases we made for Jan and Feb (for the http://www.allpeoplequilt.com's/ 1,000,000 Pillowcase Challenge) gave us a total (made from the group) to be....(da tah dah daa!), 89!! Thirty-seven will go to the Con-Kerr Cancer organization, 20 will go to the local shelter and 32 to Alycia (member of HeartstringsQuiltProject) for her QOV quilts. I had the ones we made, prior to this mtg, blessed in last Sunday's church service, so I'll deliver them this week to the respective places.

These are some quilts that one of our members donated to our cause. The Drunkard's Path is more for my reference to go with a set of plastic rulers she gave to me. The Black/White and the other green one are Lasagna Style quilts, and the red/green one looked like a slice and dice quilt. (Note the pillowcases in the baskets? They're already blessed.)

This one really just needs a border (I think they found a gold fabric), but it also needs a larger one (maybe teal?)... We'll see. It's for a 9-yr old girl swimmer with bone cancer (relative of a parish member). Do you see the star? "Swimming Star"?... Get it?

We had quite a few members last night and it was good, because we needed to find a few things for upcoming quilt requests (one for a premmie), so Anna & I sorted (some even took strings/crumbs home to sort), and got rid of some fabrics we know we'll never use. We'll use them for more heartstring quilts.

Muriel, Marilyn and Enid worked on Chandler's quilt. Marilyn donated the pretty blue binding for this quilt. It just set it off beautifully! The pattern is a Wonky Happy Block put together by Janet G. Nice work, Janet. Even the back looks beautiful! Mom has one more side to finish. I'll post that photo later.

One of our members, Enid finished a beautiful yellow heartstring quilt. Not sure where it's going yet, but once we get it blessed this coming Sunday, we may have a taker.

I also, finished fixing a border on this beautiful quilt made by one of our members (it was "waving at us"). It was nice to go there a little early (2:30-3pm-ish) to set up and sew in the quiet of the church hall. It's no longer waving so frantically, lol.

This one was found in our quilting area, must have been done by a quilt fairy... We're gonna donate it to Heartstrings Quilt Project. It's bigger than we feel we can quilt. Great QOV quilt, though when Mary gets done quilting it.

We are also planning a trip to Marden's - right after Easter- to buy fabric for backings (mostly), but I'm sure those that come will be spending some money to fill their own stash. It's a great place to get fabric (although it's in Sanford, ME- 3.5 hrs away) at a really reasonable price ($2.00-$3.50 vs. $10-12 a yd, for the same designer fabrics... RJR, Kaufman, Timeless Treasures, etc). I'm gonna hit it again in May when I'm on vacation, but this one will be a 'field trip' for the group. We set aside 4 quilt tops that need a back...we'll bring them with us. What fun!

February mtg-- Can you say... "productive'?

2010-02-03T22:43:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a good turn-out and boy, were the girls productive!! Marilyn brought another basket full of pillowcases and Margaret brought in the seven that she took home the 'parts' for. I tried to separate them into kids and non kids, as the non-kids will be going to a local shelter and Alycia's QOV NSF project. The kids ones will go to Conn-Kerr Cancer (drop-off at the CT Children's Medical Center in Hartford).

This group is for the kids...

Here are more for the kids (think we have 29 so far)....

These are the more adult ones for the shelter and Alycia.... I think how we talked about dividing them was to bring all the adult ones to the shelter and have them choose, since they would know how many women and men they usually have stay there....

I found a few more for photos..... I think we ended up with close to 60 pillowcases.

I, originally, thought I'd get the Gold/Purple HS quilt sandwiched, but I realized the ladies were diving into making a back for Chandler's quilt (this is a little girl with Leukemia, who loves the turtle across the street from her house-lives in a pond. Her mom and one of our members know each other from a book club). ... And they were having such a good time with it, I let them go. They found a great block and added a border around it, but then I had to tell them they needed the back to be slightly bigger (at least 2-3" a side) than the front. I should haven't taken a picture of their faces.... :-( We had plenty of the back's border material, so we divided the center panel into quarters.... It worked out fine! And we have a wonderful quilt shop owner, Laura McCarrick, who will be quilting Angel Wings design into it.

And THEN we tossed around a few ideas for our Strips and Strings Log Cabin blocks, pattern from Mary's Heartstring blog. This was one idea...

Or we could do furrows...(is that the name of this pattern?)

Here is Janet's Purple Log cabin.... I'd love to call it Lilac Garden or Lilac Logs. Not sure what it will be til we're done. Isn't it a beauty???

We figured out we have enough to make a 4x6 block purple, a 5x7 block size scrappy and more scrappy blocks for a smaller size, maybe 4x6 blocks (we always add some borders to it to expand them). Works for us!!

Great day even having "Cabin Fever"!

2010-01-17T15:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I must say the "Cabin Fever" was a success!

We had some things worked on at home before the event ( 19 Pillowcases by Marilyn alone), but all in all, it was very productive. Here are some of the pillowcases that were done by the end of the day.

We had 13 women show up, and while some had to leave at noon (party animals!- one being my mom at the age of 82!!) and Cricket and Ginny (and son Steve, who I kept calling Scott!- hey, Steve, that's a compliment, since I have two sons in the family named Scott) got delayed by the tractor trailer accident on I-91 in Enfield, they still got a couple of hours in. I even extended it until 4pm. It was even nice to see an old friend, Linda H from my old guild chapter. Thanks for inviting her, Marilyn! Here Linda is showing Donna how to make her first pillowcase.

We had lots of goodies that people brought to share and thanks to Jane P who knew how to set up the coffee machines, we had great coffee. Everyone kind of had their lunches when and wherever they were.

We had some strips already cut before we started. Some donated and some we cut up there. Marilyn's shoulder wasn't doing well after surgery, so she was kind enough to come just to cut 'pillowcase kits' to be ready when we switched over to making them.

After getting some brief instructions on Mary's Strips and Strings Log Cabin pattern, everyone kind of dug in to the strips and started spitting them out. Janet found a lovely bunch of purples and put them together with the cream strips. They came out nice. I think she ended up making 11 blocks (I'm sure we can add one or more to that and put a border on it. I personally have TONS of purple to add.) Cricket and Ginny still had some work to do on their's (12) , although they got 14 done between them that were finished. They will add the 12 to the pile by the NH sew-in at the end of the month.

Here's Anna getting started.

Once they started, they found they had to keep track of which color strip to add next. We did take Mary's advise and just 'cut' off the mistaken strip vs. seam ripping it off. Much faster. I did find each table having a sample was beneficial and I even printed off a few copies of the instructions. That helped, too.

Ginny and Cricket gave some great advice to the group regarding the care of our sewing machines which I know I for one, found VERY beneficial!! (I'm a bad woman, I don't think I've ever oiled mine-- the saleswoman said I never had to !!) After the NH Sew-in, I'm sending mine to be serviced!!Jane and her friend Peg had fun, but,... Peg, don't I see you seam ripping??... NIX on that! LOL

I found putting the irons at the ends of the table groups worked out much better than at the far end of the hall.

Janet finally got to the measuring stage... how much more will she need for those last sides? I LOVED her jacket!! Those colors are my favorite.

Here is my mom heading off for a birthday party for her 90th yr old 'beau'. ( I heard she had another party on Sunday!! She's more of a party animal than I EVER was !!!!)

Linda's pillowcases were hanging off everywhere, while Peg and Jane diligently worked on log cabin blocks.

I think we ended up with 35 blocks done and trimmed, but Janet had a little more to do for her 11, and Cricket, the same with her and Ginny's 12, I had a little more to do on my 8, so I think we may have ended up with enough for 3 log cabin quilts (24-30 blocks each, if we put borders on them). Hopefully, we'll get them tuned in at the Feb. mtg.

By the end of the day, this is what was left for making pillows. I scooped them all up and may make the rest of them by the weekend, depending on the babysitting schedule. If I can't get them made, I'll have them cut up into kits, so we can sew them at the Feb mtg.

Dec Update

2009-12-19T18:11:00.000-05:00

I shipped off the Moose quilt 2 to BR on the 18th of Dec, and it should get there in 3 days or so.Oh, and I did take a photo of the back of the Moose quilt2 ... where all the moose REALLY live!

I also have several different bindings for the Yellow Heartstring quilt, so I'm gonna cut and prepare them since I know we'll use them in other quilts.

I also took the maroon (Cranberry Crush)heartstring quilt home to finish the ties and did that while watching tv. I thought I could be soo smart and trim back the batting and roll the backing over for a binding, but one edge is almost even with the front edge, so I have to trim it exact, then add a separate binding. I did come across a great binding fabric for it, so I finished that one. My grandson, Malakai, decided to 'test the quilt' out and approved. I always wash them before we distribute them, so I didn't mind.

Maryellen brought in the Lasagna quilt and my mom finished the binding on that... we just need to add a label to it.

This is one of Pat B's heartstring quilts (I'm calling it Pat B's 4x5), that we added a dark green inner border and a great faded green/ lavendar floral to the outer border. Looks great, don'tcha think? We'll always have a need for a wheelchair-sized quilt. Good job finding those fabrics ladies!!

Dec mtg Accomplishments

2009-12-12T08:57:00.000-05:00

We had a nice turnout... not as many as I'd like to have had, but we did get a lot done! First some photos....

This is the Moose quilt for a little 10 yr old boy with lung cancer. I'm calling it "Moose on the Loose". I need to take a picture of the back since that's where all the moose really live! It's out second moose quilt for Charlotte's Garden, but made quite different from the first. All we're waiting for is the address to send it to him.

We also had a few quilts to 'finish'. Boy, it's interesting to realize that even in this group, we create UFO's. This top was made by Pat B. Here you see my mom (in the middle), with Maryellen (left) and Enid deciding on the color floss and how close to put the ties.Okay, off they go...

Pat B. brought in 4-5 Heartstring tops she'd put together of different sizes while recuperating from knee surgery. They all had the same/similar fabrics in them, but each one ended up with it's own personality. However, as per usual, Pat doesn't put on borders (she hates making that decision), so Dot and Margaret went through the fabrics we had (and some I brought from my own stash) to find borders. Here is one outer border that we didn't realize would be a perfect fit! The picture above shows the inner border of deep green. Very classy when we get it done!

Janet G. was also working on the last Happy Block for a quilt for a little girl going through chemo treatments. She was made aware of her through her book club. I will wait to tell the 'turtle story' when you see the posted photo of the quilt in Jan.

Maryellen brought in the "Lasagna for Two" quilt (I'll post a photo soon) that she had SITD quilted, I took it home and trimmed off the batting and rolled the backing to the front for the binding. Mom will hand stitch that, then all it needs in the label.

We also made plans for our quilting event in Jan 16, 2010. It will be called "Cabin Fever"... where we'll be working on Strips and Strings style Log cabin from the HeartstringsQuiltProject blog. Scroll down on this site to see instructions. It will be held at our church from 9am-3pm. see the side bar for details.

Nov Mtg Results

2009-11-10T23:56:00.000-05:00

We had a good turn-out for our mtg, and we only had a couple of things to work on... the "Moose quilt #2" (top shown in pieces still). We got it to the 'top' stage and framed it, but we felt we needed to add a little to the top and bottom, so I'll bring it home and see what we can buy for that. I'll also look for backing on it. I hope to work on it this weekend. Last weekend was too busy (babysitting, mtgs at church and good-bye party for nephew going in tot he Navy).

Pat B. has been steadily working on HS tops with a cream center.... FOUR of them... various sizes. Some which she'd like borders on (she doesn't do borders! LOL), so I took one home to see what I have for border materials at home. (I found a few, then bought a few to match).

We even got a few more Christmas stockings done (I have to add 18 hangers to equal amount of stockings). We have a total of 75! Three were crocheted- donated from our last year's "Christmas in New England" Fair at church. (See next post below)

Christmas Stockings Flying to the Troops!

2009-11-10T23:43:00.001-05:00

Well, after our last mtg in November, I gathered up the Christmas stockings we were making for the troops and counted ...75 !! Good job ladies!! This photo was taken by Fran B who will be filling them and sending them on to the troops, since I was such a twit for not taking a photo of them before packing them up.

All but, three were fabric--- some quilted, some not. We even had a few tiny red crocheted/knitted 'pouches' to put a candy cane in. We sent them off yesterday to Fran Benson, who's with Operation Care Package, to fill them with all kinds of goodies and send them off to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. I really hope this is the last year we need to do this. ... (as in 'end of the war', and the troops can come home!)

A few deliveries....

2009-09-24T21:09:00.001-04:00

Okay, in the last two weeks, we've sent off the Moose Goose quilt to 'KL' who has brain cancer. Hope it arrives safely... (I'll check the tracking number with UPS tomorrow).

We (I) also delivered our Amazing Grace quilt to Father Chip Elliott (our former rector). He was very touched by it (as was I to work on it)... It was the only quilt we've given away that I've hand-quilted. Truely a work of love from all of us. As you can see, he's on crutches (occasionally) and is 'booted'- that's the heel/ankle that was crushed... but he looks great! (Think the quilt's already working)!

Great progress tonight!

2009-09-02T19:05:00.000-04:00

The ladies were so good about putting the ties in the Moose Goose quilt. It was very easy and fast to do. I trimmed the edges and will take it home to put on the binding.

Marilyn took home Father Chips quilt to finish the SITD on the inside border. Once that's done, all we need to do is put the ties into the 9-patches around the outer edge, label and bind it. Done!

The ladies were pretty excited to start another moose quilt for a 10-yr old with lung cancer on Charlotte's Garden. I figure we can have the top put together at the next meeting, since I'm gonna cut up the fabric for them to piece together. We have some leftover moose fabric from the back of the Moose Goose that we'll use. Plus some blues and greens, etc. It should look cool.

Moose Goose Quilt

2009-08-11T06:43:00.000-04:00

Finally have the top done... I hope to have the backings pieced and set to 'pin-baste' so I can bring it to VT when I go up for 4 days next week. (Or should I let the ladies at church put the ties into it?)... Maybe I'll just pin-baste it in VT. After all, we meet Sept 1st next.

Day at the Orphanage Event- Success!

2009-07-19T21:37:00.000-04:00

What a great day for a "quilting bee", so to speak...(Actually, it was a little muggy for me..whew!) This quilt (I may call it Prisms), was put together in design at the last mtg and Mary Ellen brought it home to put the rows together. I'm not sure what we'll do for the borders, but a nice black frame might be good before we extend the sides...

I went over to the church the afternoon before and spent three hours just sorting through the blocks and putting them on tables to have the ladies get ideas for the designs that we were to create for this little babies....(blocks). I'll try and tell you a little about the various groupings..

This one was a challenge I gave the ladies... Bright center strip, black on one side, white on the other with bright corners. We made two other quilts with some of the blocks, and these were the leftovers.

The ones on this table were two "Sudoku" (one squares and one rectangles) quilts that Mary Ellen made and then decided to donate them to the group. The top one, I chose to add a warm brown batik as a border, and the other one at the bottom of the picture, has a few fabrics that are auditioning... (I got voted down on the bright teal and the pink... oh well.) The Pink blocks were leftovers from a few Breast cancer quilts we put together. The note on the blocks at the bottom, says "Too small", as they were cut less than 9.5" square. So I have to remember when making more that they get cut 9.25" sq.

This is a closeup of the quilt with the backing (green) and the yellow binding already in a zip-lock, pinned to the top... Ready to go to the quilter (probably me...).

This one is sixteen blocks that Marilyn made and just wanted to try a two color variation (blue-red). The three up in the corner, were stragglers from the Prisms quilt.

These were various HS blocks... no consistant center strip (or even squared up to the center, per se) but I tried to blend them together according to color...I think they ended up being paired up to alternate with the red center blocks (later in this post).

This one was a block that I learned at a workshop. I'm not sure what I thought to do with it, but was pretty and I had a bag full of fabrics that would go with it. The rust 'prairie points' are 3-D".

This is the "muted cranberries",... they were the first attempt for Heartstring blocks by a new member, and although the center four HS blocks (cream and maroon) had no foundation blocks... she has since learned to do them better, I liked the split design to them. The other four blocks I though might go with them... maybe. However, Dot got them to work on and she decided to put the plaids with them... She took it home to finish.

This is the Bright/B&W blocks and the Red/white/blue HS blocks. Not sure whether it will stay with JUST RWB, but we do have a good amount of them.

These are strictly red center HS blocks. They'll get together in a quilt with very little help.

These went up to join with some of the blue centered ones, I believe...

This table had three choices on it. Clockwise from top; yellow/gold HS blocks. They were all made the same, same centers, same set of fabrics on one side (on all of them) and another set of fabrics on the other. Very stunning. It ended up with a gold border, and a yellow purple wide border on the outer edge. (the Border fabric was one I hated in my stash and had donated it, so it's good to see it got a good home. Halloween Happy blocks are next, not sure how they will get designed... and the left has the red/green plaids that got put together with the cream maroon blocks shown earlier.

This is the crew photo (minus Phyllis and Pat) when we finally thought to take a group photo. You'll see Phyllis and Pat in other photos, don't worry. Left to right: Muriel, Dot, Cricket, Jane, "C", Janet, me (Nancy), in lime green and Anna.

Here are Muriel, Dot and "C" working at making sure the blocks we had were all trimmed to the correct size.

Here's Phyllis, Cricket (a guest who came from MA to help- she's part of the heartstring group, like me) and Janet. (Hope they don't charge consulting fees...LOL)

Here's reliable Pat. She always says not to let her sew, but she's a great ironer! She even brought her knitting to do in between ironing.

Here is a quilt that we finally got the borders on (we've had it in the 'closet' for months! Don't know why we haven't finished it, other than other quilts get pushed in front of it). Thanks Cricket!

Jane (who is charge of our annual Quilt-a-thon for Project Linus) is working with Janet on the Yellow/gold HS quilt.

This is a trading patches that just never got a chance to 'play' with any of us. Next time...

I actually DID put down the 'whip' and let them have lunch!! LOL I made strawberry shortcake for dessert (Mom -far right- made the biscuits). ...ok, all I did was buy the whipped cream and smush the strawberries the night before.

This little frog Happy blocks set had filler blocks put inbetween for this affect. It should look great!

These blocks (misc HS) got connected with some of the red centers and were joined with sashing (black). It should look really striking when it's finished (almost got there before we left).

Unfortunately we only had the hall until 3pm (although I knew I could stay until close to 4pm), so the quilts that got taken home were the Yellow/gold HS, the Frog HB, the Cream/Maroon Plaids HS, the RWB HS, and the Bright BW HS blocks. Hope to see them at our Sept 1st mtg.

Since I have the last one at home, I'm not sure what will get done with it, since I also have Amazing Grace to finished the quilting and bind (we're putting in prayer ties in the outer edge), and we are starting a new one for a 15 yr old girl with brain cancer who likes moose and the color red.

Oh, just not enough hours! Why CAN'T I BE RETIRED????

These poor guys never even got to see the light of day! Next time...

A couple of stragglers

2009-07-06T14:24:00.000-04:00

Here is one quilt that got finished recently... Raspberry/Orange Popsicle. My mom finished the binding, so it's ready to go when needed. Laura McCarrick did another wonderful quilting job on it "Angel Wings" pattern).

Amazing Grace was brought to church and pinned using the long tables in Anderson Hall, while the service was going on . We did get to make most of the service (Mom & I), but it needed to get pinned.

We also need to check out what to do with our orphan blocks. I have organized an event on the 18th of this month to put together all our orphans into quilts. Here are some of the groupings we need to figure out what to do with.

Halloween blocks

and Frog blocks.... I took them home to see what fabrics I could use on the 'space' between. I have many more to 'match' up with my stash. I'm on vacation so I guess I'll have time.

In preparation for the summer mtg

2009-06-26T20:30:00.000-04:00

I just got a quilt back from our local LAQ, Laura McCarrick, trimmed it and have it ready to add the label and sew on the binding (that's already pieced together, ironed and ready to apply). It's a little wild, but I think it's bright enough to cheer up any girl (at any age.) Dunkin' Donut colors, don't you think?

I recently learned our former priest fell from a ladder, fractured his ankle and his knee and is in rehab. I think I should get to working on his quilt NOW.

Finished quilts for the Summer

2009-06-15T18:06:00.000-04:00

Well, we have a few quilts that got finished before the summer started... they were Blessed on Sunday (with the exception of the emergency quilt). This one is for a friend of Paul Briggs', who lives in NH. The friend was diagnosed with brain cancer last fall. It's name is "Blue-min' Heart". It was quilted by Laura McCarrick with a design called "Angel Wings" (our signature design). Thanks, Laura.

This is the front and back of our "Purple Stripes". We stitched in the ditch on this one...no home, yet.

We had this one rushed off to a friend (who is dying) of one of our quilters. This is Lasagna for Two. We hope it brings the comfort and love this person needs in her final hours.

A Day at the Orphanage!

2009-06-08T21:24:00.001-04:00

This meeting will be on a Saturday, from 9am-3pm. July 18th, 2009. Bring a lunch, and I'll provide the drinks and desserts for the day.

Hopefully, we can plan and play with the 'orphan blocks' to rearrange them into some funky quilts. I'll try and bring lots of background material to play with for sashings. Let's see what we come up with! Bring your sewing machine if you feel better using it, but we will have at least 3 set up. Always bring your basic sewing bag (scissors, seam ripper- whom I've decided to call "Jack".... Jack the Ripper?) and we can always use more rotary cutters, mats, etc. Please mark them with your own labels, so you get yours back.

Come enjoy the process!

June mtg-Show and Tell!

2009-06-08T19:42:00.000-04:00

This was a night of Show and Tell with the fabrics I brought home from Maine (Marden's). There was a lot of 'ooooh-ing' and 'aaahhhing' and feeling of fabrics. EVERYONE was amazed at the quality of the fabrics I got for $1.99-$3.99. In the local quilt shop, they go for $7.99-10.99! The lady in charge of our annual quilt-a-thon was very happy to get her 'package' of backings for the baby quilts.

Once we put the 'eye candy' away for the night, we got on with the task at hand. Three of the girls got into trimming the batting from the edge of a heartstring quilt for 'Kipp'. He is a friend of our priest, who has brain cancer. Laura McCarrick did a beautiful job machine quilting 'angel wings' (her signature design for us) into it. Thanks, Laura. (You may be hearing from a woman I work with, to do some work on her mom's quilts).

We also trimmed the purple strippy quilt, which I SITD, now it just needs a peach binding. I had it in the 'binding bucket', already pieced together, folded in half and ironed... ready to apply! How efficient are WE?? Somehow I wasn't really pleased with the SITD on this. Notice the 'pulled' stripes, due to my sewing. Not sure how to correct that yet!

Sometimes we spend the evening making decisions. Sometimes we need each other. Just to be there.

This was an evening when a plan comes together. This quilt was a test with our black centered HS blocks. Making an optical illusion was the fun part. And we even have enough to make another one similar to it.

Okay, my initial name for it.... "Psychedelic Star". The other one may get named "Psychedelic Sister".

We sent home "Lasagna for Two" with Marilyn to bind (it was a collaborated effort from Margaret M & MaryEllen on the quilting). She dropped it off to my house in a week. Very fast! It looks great, too! Thanks, ladies...

We got a little publicity in the local papers (submitted electronically to itowns article ). The vestry had asked me to submit something about our group to the papers awhile ago, and I had something written, but it was too long (956 words). They wanted the article to be no longer than 500 words. Talk about how to cut so much out and still say what we're about!...hmmm. Such a shame, because lots got taken out that would have been nice to have stayed in. I'll post the original article for those who would like to read it.

We had to change the date of our 'summer project'... which will be "A Day at the Orphanage" where we'll put together the orpan blocks into quilts. We have quite a few and we may end up with a few more before that mtg (July 18th, 9am-3pm... bring a lunch, ladies). Hopefully it will be as much fun as the last one -- A Summer block Party (I know, it won't be quite as exciting).

Two quilts Blessed on Sunday

2009-05-18T13:40:00.001-04:00

Appropriately, we had and animal quilt ("Cats and Dogs ala Mode") to be Blessed this Sunday at which we had an "Earth Mass" and parishioner's animals Blessed. It was crazy seeing parisioners bring in their dogs (no cats were there), turles, hamsters into church suring the service.

And NO, I didn't bring my cats! It's a blessing they stay living on ANY given day. And besides, they like being home....LOL

The other quilt Blessed is pictured a few posts down... Framed Butterflies

Perfect timing!

2009-05-18T12:49:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a few things for the group at home... finished our strippy quilt's quilting (needs to be trimmed and bound), made a few black HS blocks, etc. , but I've been so busy with the May fair that I haven't even gone online much. But sometimes, something happens at the right time, and you never know why.

While I was at the fair, running around crazily, trying to find last minute things for people, a woman walked up to me... I saw her coming at me and thought "What does Anne need?" hoping it was in the direction that I was already heading. She quietly touched my arm and said, "I was wondering if I could have your group make my cousin a quilt. He has brain cancer." Of course, I said absolutely! "That would be so great", she said. I told her I have the perfect one and asked her if she'd be at the 10am service tomorrow. The look on her face and her comments after, made me realize how shocked she was that we already had one ready to go. I think she thought maybe she could plan on one in a month or two. (I actually thought she was gonna cry).She was so touched by the idea that she could have it NOW, and send it to him, she was speechless, which made me choked up.

I had my daughter bring it over when she came to the fair and was able to give it to her that afternoon! I just need to write a note to go with it. That I could do tomorrow....

There is always a reason why some of our quilts don't have a place to go right away. I think they know there is a place for them, even if we don't. (Yes, our quilts are pretty smart!)

Charity quilt photo

2009-05-05T16:47:00.000-04:00

Pat B's Brown-green quilt pictures from crafts photos on webshots

Tying a heartstring quilt-tutorial

2009-05-05T14:51:00.000-04:00

Here is great tutorial on how to tie a heartstring quilt....

http://maryquilts.blogspot.com/2009/05/on-todays-agenda.html

Charity Benefit successful!

2009-05-05T11:29:00.000-04:00

My daughter's culinary school in CT had a benefit on Sat for the "Sunshine Kids" and they asked our group to donate a quilt for their auction( See two posts above this one....) We donated a quilt last year- kid sized- that reaped $600 for their cause! This year, I sent two quilt, a child sized (blue/green with bugs) and an adult one, muted soft browns, pinks, blues... still about a throw/couch size. I was surprised when they picked an adult quilt, but realized after that the auction was attended by adults and the quilts were to be auctioned off for THEM, not the children. My daughter said the Chef was VERY impressed by the quilting done on it...thanks to our local 'angel wings' quilter, Laura McCarrick.

The bidding started at $400, and the evening ended with a bidding war between two ladies, one of whom bought it for $875.00!! Whooo hoo! Kiddos to YOU, Laura, and to the ladies of the group!!

May mtg --posted on the wrong blog!!

2009-05-05T10:58:00.001-04:00

I made the posting for the May mtg on my personal blog, by accident. Click on the link (on the line above) to see what we did for this month.

QOV quilts done... # 615-616

2009-05-04T14:00:00.000-04:00

Just took a look at Alycia's blog... http://alyciaquilts.blogspot.com/

She finally got a chance to quilt our last two QOV quilts (along with our first quilt - #158--they are #615 and #616 on the sidebar...scroll WAAYY down!). She is up to 625 quilts!! You GO GIRL!

Actually, I give credit to our ladies who work so greatly every month on numerous projects. I'll be posting some more photos....

Do I dare say we have one more D9P quilt to put together???

Sunday quilting!

2009-04-16T22:08:00.000-04:00

We'll have a chance to sew on Sunday, after the 10am service. Jut a few things to 'finish'. I have a cute little boys quilt to put 'prayer ties' into for Charlotte's Garden. I think it's called Space Odessey II. Hopefully, will find out where it's going this week.

This one is beautiful.... not sure where it's going yet either. Think we should call it, "String Garden".

Not sure how the Sunday mtgs will go, we only had 4 people at the last one, but it's quiet time to quilt...that's nice.

Mtg Faux Pas

2009-04-02T17:38:00.000-04:00

Leave it to me (not a sports person-- unless it has wheels, Nascar or skates) to plan a mtg on a night that the UConn Huskies are playing in the March madness basketball games!! (It IS basketball, right?)

I had a great turnout (14 ladies- just about a record!), but a had 4 split within the first hour, then a few more left ahortly after when they heard it was a 'game night'.... but at least those who stayed, helped cut some strips for 'homework'... which for those who didn't stay long enough to find out what that was.... you are making heartstring blocks with a plain black center, then any colors throughout the rest of it... similar to this.

We did get the last row attached to the 'Blue-min' Heart' quilt for the priest's friend, Kipp W. and the lasagna quilt got pin basted (I'll try and SITD this week), and the rest of the lasagna strips were taken home and they've already been returned to me sewn together! Go, Marilyn...

I showed off Fr. Chips quilt, but I'm working on that one at home.... I'll post photos soon.

St Mary's Quilt-a-thon

2009-03-29T15:48:00.000-04:00

Although I couldn't make it to this year's event, I heard there were 23 ladies there, and they had a total of 140+ tops!

Way to go, ladies!!

Freedom to quilt!

2009-03-29T14:42:00.000-04:00

This is the first mtg we'll have that I can be there REAL early, since I'm on lay-off (two months worth). I have two quilts turned into me (from Beth and Muriel) that are done! I'll have the ladies check them out, then they will get Blessed on Palm Sunday and hopefully, we'll have a few more done on Tuesday (31st).

These are some of the ones I hope to have tops done...

The Blue with the black and white ("Blue-min' Heart") needs 6 more blocks added on, then we can find a backing and get it done for Father Paul's friend with brain cancer. I have one of the 'done' ones that could be used, but it has some pink in it, so I'll have to have a vote on it with the ladies Tuesday.

These are the samples of the envelope blocks. We have SEVERAL, so I'll need a couple of people to organize them into a top. The question will be whether they will be completely scrappy or going only with a few colors (two or three).

I hope to have the butterfly quilt done at this mtg. It would have been done at the last, bar the 'wrinkle', but I hope to have the binding done for it.

lso hope to have Father Chip's quilt top done...I'm working on that on my design wall. It's looking good, if I do say so myself.

I also saw our Happy Blocks arrived safely in Mary's hands.... check out the thurs Mar 5th post...

...http://maryquilts.blogspot.com/2009/03/mail.html

Correction on date of next mtg

2009-03-23T14:22:00.000-04:00

Our next mtg will be moved to TUESDAY, Mar 31st, not on our usual Mondays.... Another group is mtg at the church on Monday. See you then!

Post March mtg....

2009-03-11T11:37:00.000-04:00

Lot of things got worked on at this month's meeting.... with ten of us ladies there. Welcome to Mary Ellen who is new to the group. It is wonderful that Enid brought you to us. I hope you enjoy coming. Among all the ironing and sewing, two of our quilts are being bound (at home), and we have a few more being tied (Prayer quilts).

We were able to send out our quilt, "Mints on my Pillow/Nightshades" today

to a parishioners daughter who is suffering with cancer and we're finishing up the blocks for another brain cancer sufferer who is a friend of our Priest-in-charge. I hope to have that one done before next mtg.

Hey, ladies!! We also have set aside some sewing time on a few Sundays between noon and 4pm. The dates are Mar 22nd, April 19th and June 21st. Mark your calendars and join us (Bring a sandwich for lunch or share a snack. I'll provide drinks).

It was fun to see the envelope blocks everyone made. We'll put them together at one of the next mtgs. Finally able to get my photos loaded into my husband's computer, so I can post them. My computer is just giving me the 'fits', since it has about 1/100th of an inch of FREE space left on my harddrive!

March Mtg

2009-03-02T12:27:00.000-05:00

Due to the snow storm "Demi", we are meeting on March 9th... next Monday, same time. We have two of our charity quilts back from the local quilter, Laura, so we can bind them on Monday (Bingo and Earth & Sky).

I'm posting some variations of Heartstring quilts we may want to try... I LOVE the black centers...

And we may want to try a variation still of this one, where we put one half of the block one color and the other half another color and see what kind of a maze we make.

We have taken care of the parishioner in need of a sleeping bag, donated by Muriel S. Thanks, angel....

Also, know that if any meetings get cancelled, call my number or the church (860-649-4583) to find out if we're on. I hardly think we'll need this 'service' any further into the year, hopefully no more snow!

Pre-March mtg

2009-02-22T16:56:00.000-05:00

Okay ladies, for those who saw my selvedge quilt and liked the idea, here is Karen Griska's selvedge blog.... check out some of the great ideas she has on it. Scroll down when you get to this site.

http://www.selvageblog.blogspot.com/

The QOV quilts were delivered to CO.

The Happy blocks were delivered (all 323 of them). (I had quite a few that couldn't be sent because of poor construction --less than 1/4" seam, curved seams, too small a block, etc. I don't remember who did them (menopause memory) and I don't want to know. I will just bring them to the next mtg to show everyone what we need to watch out for. I'll let you know how to fix the problems, so if you recognize the block as yours, you will know how to correct it for future blocks. I'm not saying this to criticize anyone or hurt feelings, but we must remember that the people we are sending quilts to may not be able to 'fix' a pulled seam, or a rip (due to poor construction) expecially after these quilts have been washed a few times, so we need to make sure that we make them WELL. I didn't have time to take them apart and 'fix' them, so we'll use the ones that were too small in a 6.5" block
In the future, when we make a certain size block, measure the block after trimming and adjust any 'short' seams before turning them in, or make it oversize and we'll trim at the mext mtg.

Bring any envelope blocks that you've made (please measure them before bringing them-- they should be 5.5" x 7.5"). We will be laying them out and see how we want to join them (sashing, what color could make them blend, etc).

We will be taking a look at the quilts that are in various stages and finishing them before we start any others. (Don't I ALWAYS say this, then we start some fun thing or another....LOL).

I will bring the chenille scarf that I was showing you all at the last mtg. (I have directions for those who want them), I also have a mini sample that you all can try cutting with scissors and a chenille cutter to see the difference).

For those who don't know, our church is having a 'Quilt-a-thon" on March 24th from 9am-2pm (Tues). All are welcome, bring a friend, your lunch (drinks and dessert will be provided) and stay as short or long as you want. This year, I CAN'T make it, but think of me...) (Maybe we can make a few tops to have them finish at the quilt-a-thon.

Also, since we always meet at night, would you all be interested in getting together one Sunday afternoon a month, say from noon-4, to sew? Just flat out sewing, no lessons, no 'meeting', just sewing.....? If you think you'd like that, we could check with Sandy every month to see what's available. Just a thought.

Happy Block count, and QOVs

2009-02-12T10:24:00.000-05:00

I have a final count soon of the Happy Blocks that we're making for HeartstringsQuiltProject for their March Sew-in. Marilyn just called with another 45 or so...which puts her at 100+ alone! Lorraine made at least 140... (drum roll, please....) 323! If we put them into a top that would be over 6 tops!! I'm sending them Thursday to Mary at Heartstringsquiltproject.

I also sent off two QOV quilts to Alycia in CO for her "No Soldier's Forgotten Project". This will put our group at three quilts for them. (They are being sent with tops, backs, binding already pieced together and ironed, and batting).

I have the Brindisi baby's quilt all packaged up and ready to deliver tomorrow. I may hand-deliver it, since we are off to Boston to have lunch with my oldest for her birthday (on Monday). Quarter of a century!

New quilt request

2009-02-06T22:10:00.000-05:00

Our group has had a new quilt request put in by Father Paul, for a friend of his in NH, who just got diagnosed with brain cancer. He's an attorney, in his late 40's early 50's... It is not a good prognosis. I thought we had a brown and blue heartstrings quilt (above) that was able to go to him immediately, but I think it's too small for an adult male. I'd like to call this one, "Reflections of the sky in my own little puddle". We have a blue, B&W HS quilt in the makings.... maybe that should be the one he gets.

We also got a lovely thank you from Barbara W. for the quilt we gave her granddaughter. I'll share it at the next mtg.

Feb mtg

2009-02-02T21:56:00.000-05:00

Well, it didn't seemed like we got anything done at our mtg (productive-wise on our quilts), but the ladies did GREAT on their Happy Blocks for the HeartstringsQuiltProject.

Most of them were done at home and they brought them in.... I thought I did well to do 21, but Margaret did 37, Marilyn did 72 and Lorraine did 147!! Well, Mary, you'll be getting a lot for the Sew-In in March. I may take a look at them and see if we can't put some together for a top or two.

Two ladies worked at sewing the narrow batting together for our QOV quilts. We had some batting donated but it's very narrow.A HUGE roll, and it's free so we're using it.

We had a new member, Enid. I hope you had a fun time and learned a few things about us.

We also had a quick lesson on making chenille scarves... don't know how that started, but I had my fabric for it there and I gave a demonstration. I'll bring the piece in next month.

I also brought in a selvedge quilt I'm making, to show one of the ladies (she found out I was saving slevedges and wanted to know what I was making with them).

Feb Mtg

2009-01-29T19:45:00.000-05:00

We'll be meeting this Monday and I hope we can get a few tops out of the Happy Blocks we're making for Heartstrings Jan/Feb project. I made 21 before the last meeting and the ladies took lots of novelty squares and 'framing material' home to make more (homework).

This little quilt is one 'experiment', inspired by the 9-Patch Pizzazz. I want to name it "Butterfly Sherbert"... It's for a 4yr old girl who is in foster care with one of our parishioner's daughter and she has some emotional issues. I even put prayer ties into it. We'll get it Blessed on Sunday and hand it to the little girl's gramma to deliver.

These two are for Alycia's QOV quilt quota (at present 400 is the goal). I'm not sure it I'll add another border to the red one, but I've named them, "Stars and Stripes Forever" (the white one)

and "Glory wrapped in Red Velvet" (red one).

I want to show the ladies a new block... Not sure whether the name of the quilt will be "PS I love you" or "Love Letters". It's an envelope block (5" x 7" rectangle) and a 3-d envelope flap on it. I'll take some pictures of it at the mtg. I only have some blocks made, but not put together.

I also have some more Black/White/Bright HS blocks to make, as I want to add to a small quilt that we have to at least make it 24 blocks (9"). It's up on my design wall, and I'm adding blocks as they get made. (Maybe I'll have the ladies each make a block).

I have not added any more blocks to Father Chip's quilt. I also want to know how he's feeling first. I can't post that in case he sees this blog.

I have had one of our 'machine quilters' agree to quilt a couple of our little quilts. I have the Bingo quilt top finished (Marilyn put them together and a nice green border, Dot G picked out the backing and I bought some great gold for the binding). I even ironed the binding so it's ready to add when we get it quilted. Perfect for a young person (42" X 53") to snuggle in. And so bright and cheerful!! (See a picture of it in the distance in the posting below)

Jan Meeting- Fresh Start

2009-01-10T10:43:00.000-05:00

Well, It was nice to get together and see what we would start out making for the new year. We had a couple of straggler quilts to finish...and one almost got finished during the meeting (Brindisi quilt).

Janet did a wonderful job piecing and quilting the baby quilt for this premmie (he was born in June and his twin died three days later. He seems to be doing much better, but his quilt was requested by one of the members).

I was hoping to put the missing borders on the QOV quilt, but we really didn't have any border fabric that could match. (Oh, darn, does that mean I have to make a trip to buy fabric??? VBG!!) We do have funds in the church account (all donations) that can be used, so I made a trip during the week and this is what I came up with for addtions to the church 'stash'. We also needed a little bit more beige-y type colors for Father Chip's quilt (the one that's the farthest on the floor in the photo below... I'll post a better picture of it as it gets worked on.) The other two tops are the "Bingo Quilt" and Happy Blocks that I made for the ladies 'samples'.

We found a backing for the "Quilt Bingo" quilt, in the center of the photo. (We took all the 10" bingo blocks that were used at our Dec mtg's bingo game

and Marilyn put them together beautifully, now we had Dot and Pat pick out a backing to go with it.) We even found binding which I'll take home prepare for that stage. I will post a close picture of that one, too.

Miriam and Margaret are busy working on the squares of novelty blocks and their frames.

Lorraine was busy in her spot. These blocks we're making for HeartstringsQuiltProject (Jan-Feb). We'll see what the ladies bring back to the next meeting to see what we send out to this group. We may even have a few tops put together! Here are some of our fun squares!

Can't wait to post more photos.....

First quilt Blessed in 2009

2009-01-04T20:29:00.000-05:00

One day before our meeting and we were able to have our priest-in-charge Father Paul Bless "Nightshades/Mints on my Pillow" during the 10am service. Of course, my grandson Malakai thought it was a 'coo-ell kooweeeahhlt" (translation "cool quilt').

January meeting 2009

2008-12-30T10:15:00.000-05:00

Now that the holidays are over, we are ready to get back to work.

Some of our quilts have deadlines.... QOV (Quilts of Valor, going to wounded soldiers)- March, Happy Blocks/HeartstringQuiltProject-Jan-Feb.

We do have two QOV tops that need borders and backings. Then they can go off to the quilters (we'll try and make some bindings too-- I may be able to make some various R/W/B strips into binding for those). These need to be done so they are finished and sent to Alycia by May. Alycia C. is in charge of the No Soldier Forgotten Project, hoping to send 400 quilts to wounded soldiers sent home from the war.

We also have two quilts for needy children... one for a 4yr old girl, recently adopted by a parish member's daughter (has some health issues), and for a 6month old premmie who lost his twin shortly after birth. These quilts are being worked on by members who took them home over the holidays, and should be to the 'top' stages by the Jan mtg. We will make these into prayer quilts with a little quilting added. (Prayer quilts are tied quilts with slightly longer 'ties', since the ties are used to tie a prayer into each knot. Family members, doctors, nurses and visitors can tie prayers into the quilt as the child keeps it close for comfort.)

Meeting Dates and Times

2008-12-30T09:56:00.000-05:00

As of this year, we will be meeting every First Monday of the month, in Anderson Hall, from 6:30pm to 9pm (although I've been known to stay until 9:30-10:00pm!). We may be meeting in Neill Hall (downstairs) for the winter, Jan-Mar to save on the heat.

Anyone is welcome to attend our meetings, once only, a few times or continually. It would be a good idea to call the church office to make sure there are no changes in mtg times, due to weather issues.

Even if you don't sew, we'll put you to work (ironing, matching fabrics to tops, pinning, etc)... even feeding us grapes (lol).

A New Year!

2008-12-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

I decided our quilting group at St Mary's Episcopal Church needed a blog to keep the members and (future members) updated with our projects. It will also keep us focused on where we've been and where we are going. I hope to post progress on our charity quilts and post lots of pictures!

Some History...

I started this group in July 2007 as a way to minimize my stash of fabric at home. I know I'll never live long enough to use up all the fabric I love to buy (not as much buying going on here as in prior years), so I figured I'd enlist others and then share our gifts to those who need some comfort. At first, I thought it was rather selfish of me to have others help me rid my sewing room of excess, but I now know it was God's way of pointing me in the direction of serving others.

Our group's name came about during a meeting where we were making "Cool Ties" for the troops. I asked all those in attendance to come up with a name describing what we do... bring comfort and peace to others, let them know someone cares about them, and we'll do it mostly by piecing quilts and making other comfort items to send to them. One of our high school students, Jordan P., came up with the name, and it was PERFECT! Peace by Piece Quilters!!

Since the conception of this group, we have made many quilts and I hope to keep an accurate count (maybe on the sidebar) of our many projects and where they have gone.