Quilt top donations!

As promised in last weeks post.  This post is about two quilt tops that were donated to Iowa Comfort.

Jean V. donated these two tops to us. I love every thing she brings to me.  It doesn't matter if it is a quilt top to quilt for her or these donations.  I always keep the pictures to remind me of future projects I can kit for Iowa Comfort or make for my own family. 

Here is the first top.  Jean had made a crayola quilt for a family member...and had fabric left over.  She told me that she was not going to put that fabric away and started making four patches.  And as you can see, she then set those 4 patches in a four patch unit.  

I am always amazed at how I see something new in a quilt when looking at a picture of it.  I knew the four patches had white in them...but I didn't see the diagonal line until I looked at this picture.

Jean even sent a long a backing for this quilt  AND made the binding for it.

This quilt top is a little bigger.  You can see it is the same design just this time instead of white diagonals, we have colored squares which are offset in white.  Jean also scappy sashed the blocks to help use up those scraps.  This quilt is large enough to go on a twin bed and I know it will be used for many years to come at the center.

I love this top! And it is going to be something that will easily go with any decor that CIAC may have.  I am going to start cutting my white scraps into pieces that can go into a remake of this quilt.

Thank you Jean for your donating your stash, time and talents to Iowa Comfort.  You are going to make someones life just a little brighter in the near future!

2014 photo gallery

Over the weekend my IT guy came by (also known as my youngest son) and was able to get the current photo gallery up on the main page.

I guess I didn't realize that I had a limit of how many pages I could have....so something had to go.  I decided to take down the page that had fabric donation sites.  

It was really a no-brainier as I am not currently accepting fabric donations.  Of course as I learned in the Postal Service, every rule has an exception to it....so here they are.

I will gladly accept backing material.  

Just this past week I had someone (who wished not to be named) donate seven and a half yards of 108 inch wide muslin to me.  That backing material will allow me to finish 10 of our hope quilts. I will accept donations like that all day long!

I am still working on managing small cuts of fabric, read less than a yard.  If you had some of that kind of fabric you were hoping to donate... I would ask you to consider making a pillow case and donating it.   The center can use pillowcases and it will get that fabric quickly into a finished project.

Lets talk about the doggy beds.  My house is over taken with doggy bed material. I have closets full of large bags waiting to be cut down.  So here it is folks.  I can't take anymore material for doggy beds.... and the exception to the rule will be unless you have already cut it down to usable material.  That means no larger than  two by two squares or long slivers, read no wider than 1/2 inch cuts by width of fabric.  Those two cuts are really what works best for the beds.  And if you are willing to donate your scraps cut down to those sizes I will take them.  I need them ready to go from my car to being able to pour them into a bed.

Special thanks to Joyce S.  she has taken two large bags of doggy scraps home and chopped them down for me.  I really appreciate that.

Last night I had four quilt tops go out for binding.  Thank you so much Deb Y, Jan M, Nancy H. and Joyce S. I so appreciate the help with getting these finished and on their way to the center.

This week I have two customer quilts coming in and I hope to finish up 2 dog beds and at least two of the hope quilts. At least that is the goal.

Hope everyone enjoys the weather.  Next week I have a couple of donation quilt tops to show you.

UGH! Why won't it work?

I have been working on the website this last week.  I have a tab for the 2014 photo gallery, it has pictures of all the delivered quilts. 

But for whatever reason the tab will not show up on the home page.  I am going to have to have my IT specialist fix it for me, just frustrates me that I can't figure it out on my own.

Until I get it up just know that I delivered 9 quilts to the center on April first.  Most have them have been shown in individual post this year.  I have also delivered 8 large dog beds to AHeintz 57 shelter. Hawkeye wasn't all that happy with me about that, he doesn't like to share them!

As I am sure most of you know, we have started giving a beanie baby with several of our Hope quilt donations.  Nancy H. has donated most of them from her private collection.

This past month at quilt circle Theresa H. brought me these.

 Now aren't they just adorable! And although I didn't do it intentionally...we have the three little bears and the three little pigs all decked out in their Harley gear.  

These little guys make me want to go out and buy some Harley fabric and start sewing it up in Hope quilts.  Even if I don't get that done, I am sure that I will find the right quilt for each and everyone of them.

Thank you so much Theresa for sharing these little guys.  They are going to brighten a childs life, I just know it!

This week I am going to try to get another couple of Hope quilts quilted, I have people asking for them to bind!  Life is good!

Have a great week everyone!

Mother nature!

I think Mother nature is trying to help me out.  I had all kinds of things on my to do list outside this week.  But I feel like she has decided that I need to be inside working in my quilting room, and at my desk instead.  It is just to cool and windy to be heading outside for any chores so inside I stayed.

I have been a little crazy this week, worrying about my sisters visit.  Now just so you all know where the crazy comes into play: I have been fretting over what to fix and where everyone will sleep for the better part of two weeks now..... they aren't coming until mid July.  Okay there is the crazy! 

Preparing for their visit, there are three coming for 1 to 2 weeks, I have had to go and buy a couple of new small appliances.  A coffee maker, because they really need their morning coffee.  A new toaster, okay I will be honest...mine was old and gross and I was just to embarrassed to let them see it, and to lazy to clean it up well.  Actually I did try to clean it up....my dear husband told me to throw it away because I got to much liquid in the controls and he was afraid that I would get a shock next time I tried to use it.

I bet about this time you are wondering Deb what does any of this have to do with Iowa Comfort?

The answer is that I needed some place to put those small appliances, along with a few others and there was no more storage in the kitchen.

So I have gone to the closet in my walk room that I took over for a fabric closet.  I don't need the whole closet, but I need at least four of those cubbies for kitchen storage.  If you look at the picture above you can just barely see that I had fabric on actual bolts, as in not mini bolts like those on the bottom shelves.  I pulled that fabric out and decided to make pillow case kits out of them.

With the large bolts gone I could put back up the middle shelf  on each side and have my four cubbie holes back for those small appliances.

I took half of those bolts one evening this past week and made these kits.

There are thirteen pillowcase kits there.  Unlike other kits we have kitted, these kits only have two colors of fabric in them.  The body of the case and the cuff are the same fabric, and there is a small flange of a different color between the body and the cuff. Using two colors instead of three made it much easier for me to kit.

I recently had someone ask for pillowcase kits, and now I have some to share with her.  I do plan on kitting more of these....maybe in this coming week.  It is a quick way for me to manage some of the donated fabric and still use it for the purpose it was donated.  

The center can use 50 to 75 pillowcases each year.  So if you have a yard of fabric that you just don't know you will ever use, think about making a pillowcase and donating it to Iowa Comfort.  We will get it to someone that will truly appreciate it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYWCma9wgM

Above is a link to a tutorial for pillowcase construction from Missouri Star quilts.  

Maybe my sisters will be sewing some of these up for me.... insert evil laugh!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

 

WIndy!

Happy April Fools day everyone!

In an effort not to repeat last weeks tardiness, I have made myself set down at the computer to write this post prior to going downstairs.  

I tried to get a picture of today's quilt outside....but the wind was not having any part of that.  After picking the quilt up off the ground for the third time, I brought it and my camera back inside and did the best I could for a picture.

This is another one of Becky's creations.

As you can see it is a large quilt, and will be donated to the center to be used on a family bed.

Becky was truly a talented piecer.  I have made a lone star quilt before....but I did it the easy way, with a quilt smart panel, no inset seams no biased edges.  Becky made this on the way they were made originally!  I have such respect and admiration for her talents.

Joyce S. volunteered to bind this top for me.  I just love the generosity of my friends!

I spent yesterday afternoon working on a customer quilt and chopping up doggy bed stuffing.  I think that fabric multiplies in the closet!  I am not sure I will ever get through it all.  I did deliver 4 large dog beds to AHeintz57 dog shelter on Saturday.  They were thankful for the donation.  And have three more that I need to make the shams for and then they will be ready for donation.

I also worked on getting a delivery ready for the center this week. I should be able to take 9 quilts to them sometime this week.

Well the rake is calling my name, so I should go out and finish what I started yesterday.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. A special thank you to Joyce and Becky for their talents and generosity!