Friday, August 31, 2012

Helping Out When Disaster Strikes

Many of you know I'm a consultant for My Lazy Daisy, a direct-sales company that sells complete quilt kits. Look at this article that Diane Card, co-owner of My Lazy Daisy, sent me! I'm so excited!!! :o)

Click here to see the article!

The donations I'm receiving daily are ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! My thanks to each of YOU for "helping out when disaster strikes!" You guys are so AWESOME!!! :o)

Hugs!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

One for Sarah's Church Ministry

This quilt has been added to the pile to be taken to Sarah's the next time I am headed her direction.


I have misplaced the pattern somewhere in my mess so I can't tell you the name or designer. I did make a few changes. Since I wanted to use the 2.5 inch squares that I already had  I decided to make the geese one piece instead of using 1/2 sq triangles. The quilt measures 64 inches square before washing. Super easy quilt to put together - trimming up the large 1/2 sq triangles was no fun at all, but once that was done I  enjoyed making the top.

UPDATE: Thanks to Debra I have the name of the quilt - Glory Bound by Paula Barnes.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Quilting For Good Linky Party #8

Hi, all!

Once again, I have to apologize for being late with Quilting For Good Tuesday - I just can't seem to remember to do this for some reason!  But thanks to a good kick in the seat of the pants, I am here with you now.  If I forget again, please don't hesitate to do a little kicking of your own - I really appreciate it sometimes!

So here's one of the charity quilts I worked on this week - - -



This is a 1600 quilt pieced from patriotic fabrics by the mother of one of our regular ministry members.  It will be going to a young Marine who has been diagnosed with cancer throughout his body.  But I also want you to see the back of this quilt....



The four blocks in the back were donated to us by Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts.  (Hi, Sharon!)  You might recognize the second one down - her fabulous eagle block! I was so excited to see that block in the box of donations she sent - and then within half an hour we got the request for a quilt for the young Marine.  I think that the eagle was definitely meant to be part of this quilt!


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So that's just a little bit of what I've been working on this week - I'll share some of the other things with you in the coming weeks!

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



3rd quilt is done

 
This is the 3rd quilt for a friend who's family lost their home to fire.
 
 
I'm loving the back as much as the front.
 
The other 2 tops should be back from the quilter tomorrow. I was able to quilt this one with straight lines on either side of the seams. I'm aiming for delivery by early next week.
 

Monday, August 27, 2012

Quilt of Valor - part 2


This QOV was made from the pattern "Migration" from The Quilt Asylum. It is a fun quilt to make. The pattern doesn't include the red border, I added it to make the quilt a bit bigger. The background has little red stars and the red border has little white stars. This quilt is going to Colorado. The quilt is 60x75.

Quilt for MHC

I had a blast helping make quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest in Grand Rapids, Michigan last Saturday. They had collected 1,000 donated blocks; about 15 people worked on putting them together. The pattern was a quilt-as-you-go method, so it was easy to get a whole quilt put together and done in a day. This is the quilt I made. These all ended up with pretty fronts AND backs. I ended up liking the back even more than the front. Today I'll be posting more pictures at my blog, so come on over and see the prettiness, here. --carol e.
Front
Back

Friday, August 24, 2012

Quilt of Valor



This QOV is off to Alycia. I promised her the pattern and then decided I should send a quilt along with the pattern. I love seeing the pictures Alycia shows on her blog. There is no greater feeling than seeing a quilt I made wrapped around one of our Heros, it is an honor to provide quilts for these men and women.


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Close to home

I had a very busy weekend. A coworker of MJ and her family lost their home to fire a week ago.  They are all Ok.   They have 3 kids so I decided to make them each a quilt.  I didn't have any appropriate tops on hand so I needed to start from scratch.  God bless a well stocked stash.


These are 2 of my favorites.  I got them off to the quilter yesterday.



I started the third last night, a 1600 jelly roll quilt.  That one I can quilt myself.  Hopefully by the time I get this one done the other 2 will be back.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Quilting For Good Linky Party #7

Hi, all!

It occurred to me today that I completely forgot Quilting For Good Tuesday last week - sorry!!  But hopefully that means you've got lots to share from the last two weeks!

I want to show you a quilt that I worked on this week - I needed something traditional for an older woman with cancer, and fortunately, a lady at church had just donated a beautiful fan pattern quilt top that just fit the bill!


The original donated top was huge - this is only a part of it.  There is at least enough to make one more quilt from it, and maybe two!  I did a little creative seam ripping and took out this six by six block section, added a pretty floral border, and this pretty quilt was born!


I had fun with the quilting on this one - since I'm out of batting and can't get to as many quilts as usual this week, I decided to play around with my new long arm machine, Jolene!


I did petals in the quarter circle, squiggly vines in the fans, and organic echo quilting in the negative space.  It really went pretty quickly, considering - and it was lots of fun!!

A pieced back - and isn't it pretty with the sun shining through
showing off the fans?
This quilt is going to a woman who had battled cancer once before and has just found out that it has returned.  It was requested by one of the women in our quilting group, who works with her.  We're hoping that this will give her a big dose of comfort and love!!

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



Sunday, August 19, 2012

Donation quilt

I am donating this quilt to help raise money for a little guy named Mason with Leukemia.  It will be auctioned off here in Placerville, CA at a spaghetti feed for him and his family.  I hope it raises a bunch of money to help this little guy out...please say a prayer for Mason.


Wonky Dancing 16 patch


Julianne

Sewing for Vets

Its been a productive day, I have been finishing up 5 lap quilts that I pieced at the last "Sew for Vets" meeting.  I got them all quilted and the bindings on.  I hope they keep our Veterans warm!

Have a great week everyone!!

Julianne

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Small and Simple

Like Elizabeth in the last post...
I'm giving these SMALL quilts (potholders)
close to home.

I try to make them for the new members
of my church.

It's a LITTLE something that says WELCOME!!


I usually use scraps or orphan blocks!!
This time I used my DUMP and SEW method. ;)

I always add the church cookbook and wrap it up pretty.

I love giving quilts...
EVEN when they're SMALL!!!


Saturday, August 11, 2012

Giving closer to home

I believe this posting falls within the Giving meaning of this blog  it's just a bit smaller.

I have a friend in SC who had a heart valve replacement earlier this month.  She’s a quilter and I didn’t think she needed a quilt but she did need something more than a get well card. I did want to send something quilty.  I decided a mug rug would be perfect.  My favorite part of Mug Rugs is that mine are from my head and heart not a pattern. 



I thought this conveyed my feelings exactly.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Quilting For Good Linky Party, Week 6

Hi, all!

Well, at least it's still Tuesday - although barely!  I've been meaning to get this post written all day - but the story has been evolving, changing each time I try to sit down and write it.

Some of you may know about Camp Bluebird, which is a camp designed for adult cancer patients and survivors.  It provides a place for education, fellowship with people going through similar situations, and generally a fun time for people to get together and visit with old friends.   My friend Cindy, who is a ten-year cancer survivor and also a member of our church quilt ministry, took me last year. New campers are paired up with experienced campers, and if they request it, they will be paired up with the same experienced camper each time they come.



Last week, my friend Cindy found out that one of her "campers" had been told that she had a recurrence of her cancer.  Cindy immediately jumped into action and started making a quilt for her.  The center of this beautiful, vibrant quilt is a small top sent to us by Kate of Kate's Arty Bits in Great Britain.  Cindy paired the beautiful batik center with some bright strips from our stash, some leftover hand-dyed fabric for the corners, and black sashing and borders.  A beautiful quilt top, all put together and finished in two days!



Sunday rolled around, and Cindy got a phone call - her friend found out that her cancer was not only back, but back with a vengeance - and hospice had been called in.  They only gave her a matter of days to live.  The quilting frame at church already had a quilt on it, so Cindy called me to see if we could load it up on my frame and get it done fast so she could take it to her friend.  Of course!  So she came to my house late Sunday afternoon, and we got the quilting and binding done in about an hour and a half. I don't think I've ever done one quite that fast before!  Cindy did a great job quilting this, using a hot pink thread on the top and black on the back.



Monday, Cindy went with some other folks from Camp Bluebird to visit her friend.  As they walked up to the house, her friend's husband was on the porch, speaking with someone.  They walked inside the house, and her friend's 11-year old daughter was sitting on the sofa in the living room, all alone.   Cindy said that seeing her sitting there was when she realized exactly who she had been making this quilt for - and she walked over to her, handed her the quilt, and said, "This is for you."  She wrapped it around her and hugged her.

Cindy got to see her friend, but said that she really wasn't aware of who was with her.  She and the other ladies from Camp Bluebird went back out and sat with the daughter for a couple of hours, talking with her about her mom and sharing stories.   The little girl stayed wrapped up in her quilt, hopefully gathering comfort from all the love Cindy put into it.

Cindy's friend went home to be with God a few hours after they left that afternoon.  

I'm so glad that Cindy listened to the little voice that told her to give this quilt to her friend's daughter.  I hope that each time she uses it, she will feel all the prayers that went into it.


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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


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Quilting For Good Linky Party, Week 5


Hi, all!


I'm so sorry - I completely lost Tuesday somewhere there!!  Getting back to taking care of my granddaughter after vacation apparently sucked out more brain cells than I anticipated - and I completely forgot about Quilting For Good Tuesdays.  But that's ok - it's always a good time to talk about charity quilting!!


Today I want to share, not a new quilt that our ministry created, but a story about a quilt that we made a while back.




This pretty quilt, named Heartstrings, was made from blocks sent to us all the way from England.  Kate, who blogs at Kate's Arty Bits, sends us some of her charity tops and orphan blocks when her mom comes to visit her in England.  


We got a request for a quilt for a young single mother who has pancreatic cancer, and this top was finished up and sent to her.  None of us had ever met this young woman, but we thought that this top would be a nice cheerful quilt-y "hug" for her, and would remind her that people were praying for her.  A few days ago, I received an e-mail from the friend who requested the quilt for her. She told us that this young woman's favorite symbol was the heart - something we did not know when this top was chosen!  She said that the quilt really touched her and that she kept it with her all the time.  She's recently been told that there is nothing else they can do for her medically, so we hope this quilt is giving her some extra comfort and serves as a reminder of God's constant love and care for her.



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