Little Blue Chair

This little Blue Chair is finally on it's way "home".

I waited a REALLY long time to

send it off to the

Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative!

I drag my feet about silly things sometimes!

I love this little chair.

I hope it raises LOTS of $$$ for Alzheimer's Research!

It's Wonderful to do something I LOVE to do....

that at the same time.... helps others!!!

Win. Win. situation.

;)

This little chair is assigned #11,180.

See???

Lots of people must be doing something they love to do!!!

That's a BIG number!!!

A couple more Cradle quilts

I definetly got My Mrs Claus on this week and whipped up a couple more small quilts.  

I tripped over the pink novelty scrap while cleaning up and thought it would only  get lost again if I put it in a scrap box or drawer. There was just enough for these 2 quilts. 

I did the one without binding first. Really not thrilled with how it looked so I did traditional binding on the second one.

This is the other color way of the zig zag fabric. Works perfectly

Quilting For Good Linky Party, Week 4

Hi, all!


It's that time again - time to link up and show off your charity quilting efforts!!  It can be a quilt you are working on or have finished, or it can be a post about a cause you support, or it can be about donations you've made to help out a quilting charity!  Join in the fun, and check out the other links to see what opportunities for Quilting For Good are out there.....


Today I'm going to focus on the lovely women that I quilt with at church...

These wonderful women stepped up this week and took six quilts that were quilted but not bound before I left on vacation, and are finishing them up this week.  I honestly don't know how we could do as much as we do without each and every one of them!  Most of them work outside the home, but still find time to piece tops for the ministry, and step up and go the extra mile when asked.  Thanks so much, girls!!  Next week I should have some beautiful finished quilts to show off here.

And now it's your turn!

Show us what you've been working on this week -

Progress shots,

Finished quilts,

Donations you've sent to others!

It's all Quilting For Good!

Hugs!

Sarah

Thank you, Mrs. Claus

    Hi, I am Debbie from Stitchin Therapy  and I want to share a little news about Get Your Mrs. Claus On.
There is an amazing group of gals at the HGTV Message Board that deserve hugs and cheers.  I can't say enough good things about them.  They committed to the Get Your Mrs. Claus On project earlier this year.  Their goal was to make and donate a doll quilt representing every state.  The head organizer there is Nicki, who has been a diligent cheerleader  for Mrs. Claus and kept things rolling along.   The last box of doll quilts arrived and this group has donated 126 doll quilts!

   Enough words, how about some photos of the variety they created.
 

   So thank you, Mrs. Claus---each of you have earned the title.   Your gift of fabric and love will brighten the hearts of little girls this season.    May we all try harder, be braver, live stronger and love deeper.    
Thanks for inviting me to share and post about the Mrs. Claus project.  

Quilts are for giving...a variation

 Most often the quilts I give go to a group's cause, like Project Linus. But, like 9 patches, there are variations. The quilt above was made from some FQ bundles I got from Carol E. I cut them all into 2.5" strips and did a fence rail variation. Three fabrics for the rails, and then offset them with a strip added to the top or bottom, alternating. The other part of the variation is that this went to a semi-local 3 yr old girl who was having open heart surgery. A tiny little girl named Teagan. I heard she loved the Barbie fabrics. Thanks again for sharing Carol *VBS*

This quilt, which is snuggle size, is another variation on 'giving'. It's amazing how the Universe arranges connections so effortlessly. My 5 kids are adopted. My oldest daughter and her birth mom in MI, were re-united and added another layer of connected-ness to our family circle. The best friend of the birth mom lost her husband  a few years ago. DD and I wanted to express our love to her birth mom and her friend.

An offer was made to do a 'memory' quilt for the friend, using parts of Larry's shirts. Since neither DD, birth mom, or friend are quilters, what was sent was"interesting" to say the least. But I was determined to make it work. Everything in this double 4 patch was Larry's except the light blue and the border/binding. It is a tied quilt with a flannel backing.
And along that same line, sometime in this year, I will be making a memory quilt of T-shirts for my DD#1's best friend who lost her 14 yr old unexpectedly last year. She's not quite ready to let go of his clothes as yet, but she's very receptive to a snuggle quilt. I'm hoping it will feel like a hug from her little guy.

Two for Get Your Mrs.Claus On

Just had to whip these up.  Been working on a big project and needed to do something that would give me some instant gratification. 

Read about this qroup here yesterday and thought it would be a great use of time and stash.

This is Tink, my nosey girl.

 

I was only planning on making one of these last night but you know how it is, small projects lend themselves to multiplying.

I did some straight line quilting, one cross hatched and one either side of the seam lines.

I found a lot of this backing fabric in 2 different colorways in my drawer of novelty fabrics.

the other version will show up in the not to distant future I'm sure.

A Different Kind of Giving

I fell in love with this idea from Debbie at Stitchin' Therapy  - please visit for all the details and inspiration.  A group of volunteers making children's toys for various groups - listed on her site.  And when Deb broke her shoulder and then surgery - she sent a shout out for help in getting enough doll quilts for the cradles and doll beds.

We all have scraps, orphan blocks or starts of projects sitting.  I dug first into my pre-cut scrap barrels.  A 12"x 18" cradle quilt goes together so quickly.

I know we all have those left over triangles - perfect home for them in a little  14" x 18" doll bed quilt. 

And she had the cutest button designed for you all to add to your blog and get the word out.  I plan on digging into those orphan blocks for more little quilts to send on.  Do you have some orphan blocks, HST's, odd charms, or bits of a quilt never finished??  Consider makeing one (or several) of  these little blankets of love to make some child's Christmas a little brighter.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon
  

Quilting For Good Linky Party - Week 3!

Hi, all!


It's time to link up your charity quilting efforts again!!  It's really neat to see everything that is being made and given for good causes - and to hear about all the causes I didn't know about!  It was good to meet our first Australian linker, Gina, who shared all the places she donates to in Australia....


Here's what I worked on last week...

I joined together with several ladies from our quilt ministry and taught these thirteen up and coming quilters how to make a quilt top!  These quilts will be going to New Orleans this fall to be given to grade school children there.

And now it's your turn!

Show us what you've been working on this week -

Progress shots,

Finished quilts,

Donations you've sent to others!

It's all Quilting For Good!

Hugs!

Sarah

A Baby Gift

This little quilted book could be made and given to lots of babies. I, however, will not go into mass production. One was enough for me. I made this for my great-niece who will be born any day now. To see the photos of the inside pages, check out my blog, here - Giraffe Dreams. (couldn't get the link to work) http://giraffedreams.blogspot.com/2012/07/rainbow-book-quilted.html

Flimsy Stage...

These 6 tops were donated to Margaret's Hope Chest last summer. They all are about the size of an afghan, roughly 40" X 60". I enjoyed making all of them, at different times during the previous year but felt no need to finish them or own them, as quilts. The ability to 'send a top' is a great help if you have physical limitations.

A gathering of quilters....

and quilts made for donation to a 'need'. Hi, I'm Finn, and I have been blogging at Pieces from my scrapbag since 2005.  The quilt above was made for a teenage girl in MI, as part of the Wrapped In Hope prison ministry. This one was tied with green perle cotton and has  flannel on the back for snug-ability!

 And yes, if it looks familiar it is... same pattern as the first but different color combo, 4 colors vs  3 colors. This one went to a little boy as part of the Quilts 4 Leukemia project. His favorite color was red, and he loves dinasors. I can't remember if it was tied or machine quilted...more and more senior moments lately, LOL

This quilt, also made for Quilts 4 Leukemia, a few years earlier. Red and white are to be the primary colors, but no pattern in particular. This one is a Jacob's Ladder variation. Again, it was tied. All of these quilts I made are with flanne backingl to add the 'snuggle' factor. I've made many donation quilts over the years of blogging, and plan to continue doing so.  I've sent just the tops sometimes, and the whole quilt at others. Getting the tops finished is fairly easy, despite health considerations, and I'm always happy to find a project that will take quilt tops for volunteers to finish up.

Quilting For Good - The Linky Party! Week 2

Hi, all!


It's Tuesday again, and time to link up and show what you've been Quilting For Good this week!!


Here are the three quilts our quilt ministry, Piece*Love*Quilt, made and distributed this week...

The top for this pretty quilt was donated by Verda, who I met when a blog friend of mine brought her local quilting buddies on a FART (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip) to my neck of the woods.  Verda sent us a huge stack of quilt tops for our quilt ministry.  This is just the first one to be quilted.  You'll be seeing many more of them in the coming months!!  This quilt is going to a woman who is dealing with leukemia.

This quilt was pieced by a member our our quilt ministry and is going to a man who has just been diagnosed with colon cancer as a complication of Crohn's disease.

And this beautiful red quilt, pieced by Pam, is going to a woman going through treatment for breast cancer.

*%*%*%*%*%*%*

This week we'll be working with 1st through 5th graders, teaching them how to piece a simple quilt top for quilts that will be going to New Orleans in the fall.  I'll be showing you the quilts they create, hopefully next week!!

*%*%*%*%*%*%*

And now it's your turn!

Show us what you've been working on this week -

Progress shots,

Finished quilts,

Donations you've sent to others!

It's all Quilting For Good!

Hugs!

Sarah

I'm Blushing With Embarrassment....

Hi, all!


I volunteered to help Julie by making the blog button for Phoenix Quilts, and then found out this afternoon that (blush blush) I'd done it incorrectly, and it only took the button-pusher to Flickr!  Oops!  


But the problem has been corrected now.  So if you grabbed the button before now, you might want to throw away your old button and grab the new (and actually functional) one!!  It's right over there in the right sidebar.  


So sorry!!!


Sarah

Quilt for Phoenix Quilts

This is my second quilt top for Phoenix quilts. It will go out in the mail this week.  I posted about Julie's new blog over on my blog today.  Hope this helps to get the word out.  The link to Phoenix quilts  is          
http://phoenixquilts.blogspot.com/2012/07/welcome-to-phoenix-quilts_07.html

Selina

Phoenix Quilts (aka Operation Wood Hollow)

Dear Fellow Quilter,

First of all, THANK YOU for the quilts that you have sent to Phoenix Quilts (aka Operation Wood Hollow)!!!  Your generosity is so AMAZING!!!  :o)  I've been watching this blog since Sarah told me about it and have gotten teary-eyed as I've seen people write about the quilts they are sending to Phoenix Quilts.  So AWESOME!!!  :o)

I really appreciate you taking the time to read this message.  I know you are very busy, but I feel what I have to tell you is so important! 

As you know, there are several wildfires raging across the Western United States.  At this time there are approximately 750 homes that have been completely destroyed by these wildfires, and I’m afraid that number will only increase as we get further into the fire season.

I am creating a non-profit organization named Phoenix Quilts, and we would like to place a quilt in the arms of each family that has lost their home to these terrible fires.  That means 750 quilts need to be made and distributed to these people.  

On June 25, 2012, I put out a call for help to the followers on my quilt blog Having Fun Quilting! and have received commitments for HUNDREDS of quilts to be sent to Phoenix Quilts.  In just four days since we began receiving quilts, we have already received 143 quilts! 

Obviously, there is no way I could make enough quilts – not even with the hundreds that are being sent to me by my followers – to give a quilt to each of these families who have lost everything.  That’s why I’m coming to you.  Would you be willing to help us spread the word about Phoenix Quilts by writing a post about this on your blog or website?  Would you be willing to donate fabric, batting, quilt blocks, a quilt top, a completed quilt, or make a monetary donation for quilting supplies?  We would like to spread this information all across blogland to our big quilting “family” to give some comfort to those who are beginning to rebuild their lives from the ashes that was once their home!  We think a quilt would be an appropriate way to do that!

Please go to Phoenix Quilts for more information or e-mail me at julie@cut.net.

Thank you so much!!!

Hugs!!!


FYI - you can now put the Phoenix Quilts button on your blog - just grab the code from the right sidebar!

Big Crumb Quilt

When I first read about Operation Wood Hollow on Sarah's blog, Confessions of a Fabric Addict my “Big Crumb” quilt came to mind. I'm not a pink/pastel person but back in 2010 I had decided to clean out larger pink scraps from my growing piles. It started with 9” blocks and 4 square blocks and quickly regressed into scrappy rails and anything goes. I thew in some other pastels, including some fabric samples I had received from a friend.

I loved how this quilt was coming along... but I'm not really a pink person, and my DH is definitely not.

It has sat in the UFO pile for 20 months or more, and I have pulled it out to send Julie. It measures 63”x81”.


Also pulled out this flimsy, measures 40”x60”. I immediately saw why it had sat for over a year. It had 4 blocks with white background that just blared “I do not belong here”. Looks better after replacing them. Most blocks are 4½”x7½”.

Sending Julie the 2 tops. I don't really have any backs that match, but am sending yardage that she can use for other backs.

It feels good to get these tops out of my UFO pile and on their way to comfort people. Thank you Julie for starting Operation Wood Hollow!

Operation Wood Hollow has changed names to Phoenix Quilts. 

Quilt Donated to Aids research 2012

This colorful string quilt went into a silent auction to raise money for Aids research.

Quilt donated to Margarets Hope chest

This quilt was a donation to a recipient in Margarets Hope Chest.  It went to a young man in Georgia whose dad is incarcerated.  He is 13 and his dad requested a dog theme..I really hope he loved it.

Quilt top for Julie in Utah

Heres a picture of a quilt top I made. This top has been mailed to Julie in Utah  http://havingfunquilting.blogspot.com/   she is getting together quilts for the forest fire victims under the heading Operation Wood Hollow. 

I hope it gives someone comfort.  I'm hoping to send more Julie!

string quilt

Here's my newest donation quilt!

The scraps in this one were given to me...

and instead of sorting them...

filing them....

and

storing them!!!!

I quickly put them together!!!

Yippee!!!

Now I'm Wondering ......?????

IS it easier to organize scraps...

OR...

just GET THEM SEWN together!!!!

I bet it's a toss up!!!

;0

IMOB (Read on to learn what it stands for!)

Hello everyone - it's so fun to be a guest blogger on this fabulous blog!!  Thank you, Sarah, for the invitation - I want to brag on the generosity of a whole group of fabulous quilters!

I want to tell you a fabulous story about a woman named Bev...  Bev Bennett, from Alaska.  Normally I don't share people's last names on the web for protection of their privacy, but in this case, it will be ok - don't worry....  Mixed into the story will  be photos - photos of quilts, of course!!  Like this one: 

Bev Bennett was a member of the Sunshine Yahoo Quilt Guild, an online quilt guild founded by another great woman, Terry of the Northeast.  The Guild donates quilts to Rotary International - the quilts go with doctors on medical missions to very poor countries, where they donate surgeries to children who have facial disfigurements, like cleft palette.  When each child awakens from surgery, they are wrapped in a beautiful quilt... like this little child in India.............. and they get to go home all snuggled in the quilt.

Bev loved quilting for this project, and during the long, dark Alaska winters, she would take tops mailed from other members and quilt them on her domestic sewing machine at an amazing rate - she was a fabulously prolific quilter...turning out fabulous quilts ready to go into the donation box to some distant land.

You've noticed by now that I am using past tense... about a year ago, Bev, who usually posted regularly to the list, suddenly fell silent - and after a few anxious days where we worried about her, we learned that she had passed on.  (to counteract that sad note, let's look at another quilt)

Well - enter a friend of Bev's from the Sunshine Guild...after talking to her family, this great friend, Linda, went to Bev's house, and packed her stash into boxes which she mailed across the country to 'friends of Bev' who took those scraps and made many, many charity quilts. 

Another friend of Bev declared the nine-patch the 'official Bev block', and invited people to send in 9patches to her - she received 1,200 blocks!!!!!  Good work, Gail!

More than a year later, we are still assembling 9 patch quilts, and packing them for shipping... here's a photo I entitled "A Basket o' Bev"...

and here's a small group of quilts all out for some fresh air on my back porch! 

This post is a testament - to Bev, first of all - thank you, Quilting Angel.  But it is also a testament to all the 'helpers' - her friends Linda and Gail, and everyone who is still sewing with her stash and scraps!! 

I bet Bev never imagined that 'her' quilts would still be coming to life a year after her passing...

How many quilts were made in IMOB (in memory of Bev)?  Many, many, many.  We don't know - we just didn't count - and , anyway, they aren't over yet - there's still more 9-patches in that enormous stack of blocks. 

I hope she knows.................good work, Bev, and friends of Bev!

Submitted with a warm heart,

Kate

(aka the Quilting Professor, http://quiltingprofessor.blogspot.com