Marcia and Diane

A couple of posts ago I told you that I was taking a trip up north to pick up some pillow cases from a couple of gals in my online quilting group.

We decided to meet in the middle.  As luck would have it Diane lived right about in the middle. So we decided to make it a ladies afternoon and have lunch together.

This group is getting together for a retreat later this year.  The plan was that we were going to try out a restaurant that might be able to cater in two meals a day to us.... leaving us more time for sewing!  Best laid plans... turned out that the restaurant was closed that week.  I think spring break probably played a big part of that. 

 No worries though we did not go hungry.  Diane had already prepared a yummy salad for us..... AND she had a cheesecake for lunch.  I am so grateful that I have friends that were not offended that I could only have 2 small bites of cheesecake!!!!!

Diane stayed behind the camera....but I think you can tell from the photo below how the afternoon went.  My sides hurt for a couple of hours from all the laughing we did.  I think I am going to need to do some planks to get ready for that retreat later this year....or bring lots of Aleve with me.  :-)

Not only did Diane play hostess for the afternoon.

She also whipped up some pillow cases for our challenge.

Some were adult themed, some were children themed.  All will be loved and used!

Officially these 18 pillow cases are 69-87.

Marcia has a unique personal challenge going on this year.  Earlier this year she turned 60.  She decided that she was going to celebrate all year long by doing 60 activities of fun.  One of the activities was to sew up 60 pillow cases and donate them to a local charity.  Shortly after she came up with the list of activities for the year I put out this challenge.  So Marcia moved up this activity to help reach the goal.  All I can say is that she must of had steam coming off that serger!  Once again we have a wonderful mix of children and adult pillow cases.  All truly beautiful and wonderful!

Officially these are pillowcases 88-148.

You would think that the pillow cases would be enough.... I think it was above and beyond enough....Marcia talked with her father Stan. You see Stan loved a good auction or yard sale.  When there were bargains, Stan snapped them up.  Stuffed animals happen to be something he found on a regular basis.  Marcia convinced him that Iowa Comfort might be a good place to donate part of his collection.  So these guys came back to Marcia's house where she got them all freshened up by washing and drying them.

Now the real fun was the day after my ladies afternoon.  It happened to be grocery day and I hadn't unloaded my car yet.  Which means hubby saw the back end full!  

I quickly explained that as soon as I got everything photographed that I would get a delivery over to the center.  (I had just got everything into one room, and now I had things spilling over into other rooms again.) Lucky for me Marcia and Diane told me I could use their photo's so I could get that delivery made quickly.

They were so grateful for the pillow cases!  I have to say though it was the toys that touched them so much on that day.  They were getting ready to make Easter baskets for the children, and they were having issues filling out the baskets.  These toys came at the perfect time.  I know each and everyone is going to make a small child happy this weekend.  Love it when things like that work out.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

April 1 is right around the corner

Last Thursday was Adel Quilting and Dry Goods open sew day.  Actually it is both Thursday and Friday, but I only go on Thursday.

I knew going in that I was going to work on pillow cases.  I had several already pinned, and I had another 10 that was cut and ready to go.

Little did I know that there was going to be a pillow case factory going on Thursday.

Sue D. was at open sew.  You might remember me telling you about her, she is allergic to sewing pillow cases.  Fortunately for me, she is not allergic to cutting them.  So Sue went to work on her stash of flannel and kitted 14 adorable pillow cases.

Here they are ready to be sewn together by someone.... and since I had already dedicated a chunk of time for pillow cases.  I decided it might as well be me.

Here they are all sewn up and ready for delivery.  These cases are so soft, warm and cuddly.  They are also much prettier than the ones I was working on from my stash.

Officially these are pillow cases 44-58.  Whoot Whoot we are a little over 25% to our goal of 250 by April 1.

I also had cases that I had cut from donated fabric.  I worked on them over the weekend also.

Not nearly as pretty as the ones that Sue kitted, but still very functional and most of these are in pairs.  So they could be used on a family bed if need be.  You will notice on these the cuff and the body of the case are the same fabric, then I added a pop of color on the flange.  Remember there are no rules for this challenge.... okay so there is one....done.

Officially these are pillow cases 59-68.

While at open sew Joyce took several cases to work on for me.  I will show you those in the next couple of posts.  Nancy H also brought me some goodies for a future post.

I am heading out today to have lunch with some quilting buddies from Northern Iowa.  They have pillow cases for our challenge.  It will be good to catch up and have some laughs.  There is always laughing when Marcia is around.  {wink wink}

I have 10 more pillow case kits to work on this week.  My goal is to do 2 a day.  These 10 are flannel so I am waiting for my machine to come back from the repair shop.  My regular machine is much more sturdy than my traveling machine.

Thank you Sue D, Nancy H and Joyce S for your donation of material, talent and time.  You guys are just the best!

More donations next week!

Hope everyone has a great week!

finished ICQ # 168 and 169

So this is still show and tell from before my visit from my sister.  I was trying desperately to manage fabric.  So I was concentrating on fast and furious and panels were at the top of that list.  Now this little panel is upside down.  For what ever reason I was unable to get it turned.  I picked this one because as I work on Hope quilts to finish I am trying to alternate between boy and girl quilt.  The two quilts in the previous post one could go either way, one was a boys quilt and this one is a little girls.

Officially this is Iowa comfort quilt 169

After finishing 3 Hope quilts I turned to a bed size quilt.  This was a panel that was donated to us.  It is actually a queen, and will either be used on a housing family bed or will used as a family transitions away from the center.  As a resident leaves the center, the center assists in setting up there new housing as much as possible.  

Iowa Comfort quilt 168

Jan M. graciously did the binding on this quilt for me.  Jan has been so generous over the last several years with her time, stash and talents.  She is a true friend with a generous heart, thank you so much.

Jan  also donated these six pillow case kits from Adel Quilting and Dry Goods.  I plan to get them sewn together this week.

Mark your calendars.  I am planning on having one community sew day on May 2, 2015.  We will meet in the large room at the Adel Library from 10:00 am to around 3:00 or 4:00 pm.  I have several kits that I am hoping will can get pieced for future quilting. Most of them will be bed size quilts, although some of them will lap size quilts that can be used as Christmas presents at the center. 

Hope to see you there!

ICQ # 166 & 167

This is going to be a quick little post, with some show and tell.

I have been really busy since Kellie left working on customer quilts.  As of last night I am all caught up on those customer quilts.

I plan on spending the week working on sewing pillow cases together, and maybe making some doggy pillows and or blankets.

Prior to Kellie's arrival I did have a couple of projects completed and now is the time to show them.

This little panel was donated to us.  I decided that it didn't need to be cut up and I could just quilt it as is.  Officially it is Iowa Comfort Quilt 166.   I sent along a Harley bear that was donated by Theresa H, as the companion buddy on this quilt.  I thought maybe it would keep the bears on the quilt company.  

I learned how to machine bind on this quilt.  I still am not real good at it....but thank you to my teachers Celia and Jan!

Another little panel that I just quilted up quickly.  

If you look closely you will see that the backing on both quilts are the same.  That is me trying to be time efficient and manage fabric.  
Although the top is of a sail boat, the back had bears on it....so I sent along another Harley bear with this quilt. This one was a little boy bear, I thought it only right since the top said "It's a boy".

Penny W. mailed these 4 pillow cases to us, to help our challenge.  They are bright and cheerful, and as you can see these cases do not have that little flange on them between the cuff and the body of the case.  Now I only bring it up to remind everyone that there are no rules for this challenge.  All one color, flannel or cotton, flange or not....the only requirement is that they are done.  Preferably by April 1, 2015, but I will take them after that.  

Officially these are pillowcases 40-43.

I want to thank Celia and Jan for spending time teaching me how to machine bind.  I expect to be using that method on all of our Hope quilts in the future.  I think with the amount of washing they will be getting that machine binding will serve them better.

Thank you also to Penny for the pillow cases, I hope you know that you have brought joy to someone in the near future.

We have pillow cases!

Our local quilters are such good people!  So generous to those in need.

These quilts were donated by Jan M.  She made them from her stash of flannel.  They are warm and cozy. The center thought these would be given out right away giving the recipients a little extra warmth during our cold winter. 

 Officially these pillow cases are 7- 15 on our donation challenge.

 These fourteen quilts were donated by Jackie O. I love the variety of them.  We have cases that can be used for children and adults a like. The center told me that they were going to keep the snowmen aside, and use them during the next holiday season.

Officially these pillow cases are donations 16 -29, in our challenge.

Lonnie K. decided to help out in the challenge also.  Lonnie made four pillow cases from her stash.  I had called and asked her to kit me 6 pillow cases from the sale material at Adel Quilting.  When I went in to pick them up Lonnie decided that she was going to pay for the kits and put them together for me.

Yep our local quilters are just GREAT PEOPLE!

Officially these cases are 29-39.

So we are 39 completed in our challenge of 250.  I know we have more out there, but we can always use more!  So please consider donating.