Hurricane Sandy quilts delivered!

Oh, how I wish I had a photo of Ed Johnetta's face when she heard how many quilts we were donating! She was such a love to come and pick up the quilts we had for her chapter (Quilts for Kids). She was so excited to see it was me that she was dealing with (we'd just been emailing back and forth to set this up), and then to hear we had 30 quilts...., well, you'd have thought she died and went to heaven! She said the girls in her chapter usually make a pickup of a few quilts, maybe 5, but 30??!! Never!

After we got them loaded into her car, we discussed how important it was for both of us to make sure they got to help those in CT first (if possible), since we had such horrible devastation to our shoreline. Once she got them home, she sent us the email she sent to the regional chapter of Q4K, and a thank you to our group. Oh, Ed Johnetta, you have no idea how much we thank YOU. I only wish I could actually go with the quilts to see where they end up residing....

October Preparation

It's two days before our meeting and I want to prepare the ladies for it. Yes, we'll be doing our normal tying of any remaining quilt tops, but I want to have some things put aside for the January quilting event (6 hrs).

We need 'manly' quilts.

I have some great ideas and plans, but may send you all home with homework!! Notice that the date it will be due is JANUARY 2013. Gives a lot of time to play...and you won't have too many blocks to make, so it should be relatively easy.

If you are wondering about our "Canning quilt", it hasn't been forgotten. I know it's a very involved quilt, because we have no 'pattern' to go by (THIS is what is called 'flying by the seat of your pants') so I want to wait until April (our next 6 hr event) to put this top together.

We have given a few quits away since our last meeting, and I'll catch you up on those recipients.

See you Monday!

September Photos!

I hadn't figured the way to get the photos to you, as they have to go through Picassa albums first, I guess. Here are some of the quilts the ladies finished and brought in...

Carpenter's Star by MaryEllen. She did the quilting on them too.

Front...

 and back...

 These two are so cute....

 This one will have to go back as the 'pre-quilted fabric' didn't have any fabric on the backing, so Kathy will adjust it. (So nice to have talented sewers in our midst)

 This one below has "Lazy Leopards" on it.... so relaxing

 These two are 'sister quilts.....with Dogs and Chicks

 This one I had Kathy donate to an Alzheimer's group. It has different shaped buttons in the centers.

 "Cows in the Pasture" is the perfect name, since the cow fabric is framed, and framed and .... (I almost had a moment where I named this "Corral Crazy", but I didn't.)

 This cute Lime Centered Heartstring quilt has fun and bright fabrics for any kid!

 This we're still working on. It has a name though,..... "Cotton Candy Pink"

Wowwy, KaZowwy!!

That's all I can say......

We had a great turnout this month, it was so surprising! Two reasons, really.
First, it was the first meeting of the year (school year) and although we usually meet on the first Monday of the month, this being Sept, we met on the SECOND Monday of the month and that will sometimes screw up people's schedules, so we usually have very little people remember that it's even on this month.

Second, I didn't advertise much (in the church bulletin, or any other way). I'll get better at this one someday soon, I promise.

Well, the ladies surely surprised me this month, in any event. You can always tell who has air-conditioning in their sewing rooms. This summer was exceptionally hot and my sewing room faces the south side and is on the second floot, so I wasn't in there ALL summer! But Mary Ellen and Kathy were phenomenal with what they put out.

This is one of the last of the lasagna quilts, which I'm calling Lasagna Leftovers. We finished it that night and as soon as we had it blessed on the following Sunday, someone requested it for a friend (Rebeckah M) in VA who was having a very hard time with "Pots Syndrome".  She also requested one with motorcycles for the husband who has been ill for some time.

We had another one similar to the one above, that went to Jessica T's uncle in WA who is suffering with stage 4 Pancreatic cancer. I sent that out from work last week.

I also had one called "Enid's Black Beauty" that Lynn K requested for a former roommate who has been having difficulty after surgery (ovarian). She's already had breast cancer, and now this. Lynn said she's a bit of a wild one, a rebel, so I pray that she fights hard on this one. Lynn took it home to deliver to her friend.

 

This cute little one was made by Mary Ellen. I called it Baby Blue bubbles, since the fabric on the backing is soft little blue bubbles. These are adorable.

 

See the next post for photos.....

 

We did discuss that we haven't very many 'manly' quilts, so I think I'm planning to have them work on 'homework pieces to bring to the Jan. mtg. I did pick up some beautiful fabirc with leaves and birch branches on it (greens, grays, browns) that may be great for a border and/or center strips for more heartstring quilts. I pulled all the fabrics we had in the cabinets at church that would go with it and I think it will be beautiful!.

 

We also have some plaids still (LOTS!) that we can use with a dark center strip to make some HS blocks for Jan. 2013.

 

The nice thing was, some people who haven't been able to come to the meetings lately, were able to show up (Pat, Dot, etc)... nice to see you ladies. We did miss Janet. Will see you in Oct., I hope.

 

 

Deli Sandwiches in June

Our June meeting was actually one of our two 6 hr quilting events of the year. "Making sandwiches at the Deli" almost looked like it wasn't gonna be too well attended with only three of us there. Slowly one more appeared, with another to come after bringing her cat to the vet. With a phone call to one more (who wasn't coming because of work--that got postponed until Sunday), we ended up with six ladies who were so excited to be there!

We had quite a few tops to 'sandwich' and a couple of backings needed to be adjusted, done.
More were taken home to be bound, and quilted, but we got 5 quilts almost to the done stage. These three came in from the last meeting, finished.

Tooling Around was from a panel that was made from a Quilting by the Yard quilt kit that was given to one of our members (MEZ) by one of her quilting friends.

Same with these happy squares. They were leftovers from a previous meeting/homework assignment.

Enid was playing with some batiks and had fun with this. I call it "Enid's Black Beauty". Thanks, Enid!
The Frog quilt is a great kid one. That one got to the binding stage, but Marilyn took it home to finish that part.We got the binding for this (and the backing) up in Maine at Marden's. We had the top from 2009 and just couldn't find the right material to make it bigger until this last trip to Maine. It's made with Happy blocks, so I call it "Frog Hoppy". This one is really done, just not in these photos.

We were playing around with Kathy's latest Quilt of Valor blocks and came up with this configuration. Nice I think.... We sent this to Alycia in CO who is our QOV go-to person.

I took this home to quilt it and bind it. We'll roll the backing over to the front to use it as the binding. This great red backing (you'll see it next post) was also gotten in Maine at Marden's.

 And it's always nice to see our member's projects that they are working on....Margaret brought this one in... It's lovely!! I love black, white and brights.

Well, we are off for the summer (too hot to quilt), so enjoy the blog until Sept. (2nd Monday).

Quilt in the shade!

Another shipment off-Tornado Quilts

Today I sent off another shipment of quilts (actually, they were donated from the quilt-a-thon we had at church in March for Project Linus) to Sarah B in KY. She will see that they get to the victims of the tornadoes in the midwest. I'm including four pillowcases to wrap up the adult ones for delivery.

We sent off 10 baby/child quilts along with a good assortment of stuffed animals. We can't see sending a quilt to a little kid who's lost all their toys (or had the ones they found to be dirty/damaged), without also giving them something to cuddle up to.

Thanks to Jane who is in charge of the Project Linus event for donating these quilts.

Thanks to Ruth who donated some of her cherished teddy bears. There were only two that couldn't fit in the box of quilts, so we donated them to the church's annual May Fair (if we couldn't use them, that's were they were headed anyway).

We couldn't do it without the support of our family at church!!

April mtg

The April meeting went really well. Since it was on April 9th and we were heading to Marden's (discount fabric store in Maine) on the 17th, we needed to organize which quilt tops needed to go with us to find a complimentary backing for.This one was started at our Log cabin 6-hr event (Cabin Fever) years ago, but never finished. I took it home and added the outer border and cornerstones so we'd know how large the top would be. We found a vibrant red print (with black) that I'm hoping to sandwich to it, in June, and wrap the edges around to be the binding. It should be stunning! I'm naming it, "When I get old, I'll wear purple".

This adorable one by Mary Ellen (gray center strip-vintage material) was taken home last month and bordered with Dick and Jane material. It is so old-fashioned!

 I name it, "Look Dick, See Jane Quilt"

This one Enid made using a black batik print for the center strips. She was gonna take it home and add a border (thin) using a similar black batick print, then we'll see where we go from there.

Mary Ellen made this one completely during this past month. Cute fish fabric on the back!! Some little boy will love it... Name: "Boys a-Fishin' "

This is the back of one Marilyn made, but  I forgot to take a photo of the front. Name: "Double Brown Derby".

Thsese are some of the pillowcases that will be going to Alycia in CO, who handles our QOV quilts. Kathy S did them in honor of her son being in Afghanistan.

 We had a total of 7 quilts that went to Maine with us for backings, although I didn't take photos of them before we went. We'll put them together in June. Great accomplishments!

Urgent needs

One of our parishioners, Barb W., was brought to my attention. Her daughter's friend Kim, had been diagnosed with breast cancer, that matastized into pelvic, back and shoulder cancers. She could desparately need some comfort by our quilts.

Barb picked out "Peachy Cream" to have us give to her.
This is the message from Barb after giving the quilt to Kim.

She really loved the quilt and immediatey hugged it. She couldn't believe people who didn't even know her would do such a wonderful thing.

Kim......... it's what God wants us to do.

----------------------------------------

We also had an urgent request for a quilt to send to "Tank" (in Louisville, KY), who is going through kidnet dialysis. He's 71 and this is very difficult for him.

We sent him "Homespun Warmth". Actually, we sent the top to Sarah B (tornado victim distributor in KY) with a backing and she'll get it put together.

Quilts to go to Tornado Victims

This February has been a tough year for the Midwest. They have been devastated by tornados, some to the point of whole sections of town wiped out.

A member of Heartstring Quilt Project ( a yahoo group online), Sarah Buaer of KY, is willing to distribute quilts to those in need in KY and southern IN. We have donated three quilts, leaving our supply down to five.

Donated quilts:
This is Purple Strippy's front....

 and this is the back...

This is Marilyn's black and gray lasagna quilt (couch sized)...

... and this is the Easter Eggs quilt. A great child's quilt.
 Thank you Sarah for doing this......we hope it brings some comfort to some scared kids (and parents).

Update: While having dinner at Bolton Congregational Church on St Patty's day, the 'church shop' co-ordinator donated some afghans, hats and stuffed animals for us to send with these quilts. My grandson, Malakai gave me two of his stuffed animals and my daughter Julie gave some of her gently loved dolls to send. What else does a little kid need (who's lost all of her house/toys/belongings), but a huggable toy and a blankie?

March mtg Means Lots of Tops!

Wow, have we got lots of tops completed!!!
The ladies were phenomenal this month getting their homework done. As much as there were not that many at the last meeting, those that were, took home hearstring blocks that were started and not finished. Some were leftovers that didn't quite work with the others, some were just not finished to make a complete top and put in storage for another meeting. So,... after pulling out all the ones that were in various stages, we decided to complete them to help the HeartstringQuilt Project Challenge (Feb-Aug 2012)--thanks for the push, Mary.
Here's what tops were finished.

This one Margaret finished (since she started it). She even had a cute tan print background fabric and we'll put a red binding on it.

This one is adorable... Also, it was a surprise, from Mary Ellen. Soft gray centers, with Dick and Jane fabric border.

You can even see the print in this close-up. How Cute! We found a 'vintage' backing and will get a maroon red binding for this. I think the name may be, "Dick See Jane Quilt".

This one, Mary Ellen added more black centers and it may just get a soft yellow binding. Looks like "Easter Morning", to me.

This one is my Lime Green center with Selvedges as the strings...hence, "Lime Green Selvedges". I may add a border or two and leave it.... or may keep making more to make it 5 x 7 blocks instead of the 4x6 blocks that it is now.

This one I love.... my personal favorite! I call it "Homespun Warmth". The blocks were finished by Kathy and I finished putting the blocks together (here just laid out at the meeting) at home. So warm and cozy!! We have another set to put together too, but not anyone's homework yet.

And Janet took our breast cancer centers (pink)blocks  home and added some green and pink blocks to complete this. She wanted to make it bigger and add a border, so we picked out some soft pink (that reads solid) and a bright green (narrow inside border) to finish this. Can't wait to see it next mtg. I call this one "Cotton Candy Pink).

I really think we got so much done at this meeting.

Oh! I almost forgot.... I finished putting together the RW-CB blocks together that Kathy had brought to last month's mtg. I did different placements so they were different from each other. Here they are...

Three Diamond Storm

 Corner Posts

These two will go to wounded veterans who have come home. We will send them to Alycia in CO, who sends them where they need to go. Thanks, Alycia. (Pillowcases are coming, too).

Pillowcases finally delivered

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

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!)