Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Wheel chair quilts

As many of you know we started a new project this year.  Our quilts are smaller but going to an under served population.  Our senior citizens.

This year we are concentrating on wheel chair quilts, and a slightly larger version of the quilts at 45 x 45.  So far most of our quilts have been 36 x 36.  I had 13 of the smaller version in my finished closet that needed to be delivered.

Several of my friends have had first hand experience with local care facilities.  It is really important to me that our quilts went to facilities that truly care about their residents.

I reached out to my friend Jackie.  Her father Jim was in a care center in Winterset.  Jackie only had wonderful things to say about the staff.  Being the great friend she is to Iowa Comfort she also contacted them for me to see if they would be intrested in our quilts.

This past Thursday I delivered our quilts to the facility.  I happened to arrive at the facility during a Bible study session.  So over half of the 29 residents were in the common area.  I immediately realized that all but four of them were in fact in wheel chairs.  At that moment I wished I had enough quilts for each and every one of the residents.  As I waited for a staff member to come and collect the quilts, I happened to see one lady in the back watching me.  As the staff member took the quilts from me, she reached out and asked if she could have one.

The staff member asked me to wait for just a moment.  When he came back he asked if I knew Jackie.  I told him that I did and he asked if I could possibly deliver the photo below to her.



Although Jim is no longer with us.  The staff happened across a photo of him during one of the facility outings.

Remember what I said about wanting to make sure that the quilts went to a great facility.  I think keeping this photo on the off chance that they might get it to Jackie makes this a great facility!

I look forward to visiting them again, with another load of quilts. 




PS.  Life is very hectic right now...so posts may be spuratic during the summer.






Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Owen





Oops you caught me.  I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago and set them for an auto post.  But life got in the way  this past week and I forgot to write the post.  Guess I better do that now.

Owen visited a couple of weeks ago, and after a brief nap he found me at my cutting table.  The conversation went something like this.

Owen: Grandma why so you have garbage in this bag?

Me:  That's not garbage Owen, those scraps are going to be doggy beds like Hawkeye and Frannie have someday.

Owen:  I don't know how these could be doggy beds.

Me:  I make a pillow and then stuff it with these scraps.  When I am done we give it to the shelter for dog's and puppies that don't have homes yet.

Owen: I want to help.

So we set out to empty that bag of scraps.  Now when we started the floor was clean...just saying. I cut the cases for the beds, and Owen stood by the sewing machine table and ran the foot pedal while I guided the fabric.  That was his favorite part of the adventure.

Then it came time to stuff the cases.  As you can see from the pictures above, that was not as much fun as he thought it would be.

By the time the two beds were stuffed, Owen announced that he was going to go find Grandpa.  Leaving me to finish them up.




Our finished projects, waiting for delivery.  Best part about it is that bag is empty once again.




Speaking of things we do for our four legged friends.  Carol W brought by a supply of fleece and batting scraps to be used in those projects.  The batting is being used today, as I make a few puppy quilts.  The fleece will be put away for future dog bed projects.  So much easier to only wash the case.

Thanks to Owen for his assistance in making the beds.  A very special thank you to Carol W for the supplies.



Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Down to the wire!

I absolutely hate change!  I am a creature of habit, and learn by doing things over and over and committing it to memory.

So I am really struggling with Windows 10 and my new camera.  The downloading of pictures is now an evening event, what use to take me 5 minutes... now takes close to an hour or more.  

I was finally able to get the latest completed projects downloaded....just in time to get todays blog post created for posting.

I may have shown you these tops before, but here they are completed and ready for donation.




These three quilts were all donated by Jan M. the first two she used up blocks that were left over from previous quilts.  

The pictures don't do the quilts justice.  They are created with deep rich colors.  They could be used by either a male or a female, so make them perfect for our wheelchair quilt program.

The last quilt is bright and cheerful, and reads female to me.  I can see this quilt being a point of conversation with those bright elephants.

Jan always does such amazing work, and she is so generous with her time and talents.  Thank you so much!

Now I tried to mimick Jan's cut and sew method in the third quilt.  I am not very good at it.  LOL  I am much more comfortable with following a pattern, but I gave it a go with the quilt below.


I had some wine themed fabric samples.  Just enough fabric to stack and wack, and sew it back together.  I thought at the time that it would make a nice gentleman quilt, and it will.  I don't think that I will try this process again.  Hopefully it will still bring a smile to someone's face.

These quilts along with several others will be donated later this week.  They are going to a senior center in Winterset.

A special thanks goes out to Betty W for binding all of these quilts for me.

This week I am going to spend some time working on my other passion this coming week.  So next weeks post may be brief.

Have a great week everyone.


Tuesday, May 3, 2016

As promised

I am having problems with my computer this week.  So this post is going to be short.  Lots of show, and just a little bit of tell.

Last week I showed you the first portion of Betty's donation and I promised I would share the rest today.  So here goes.





Every time I get a donation from Betty, I sit and look at the design.  I know that Betty is working from her stash.  Now I have tons of stash, but I evidently lack Betty's vision.  She makes beautiful quilts and rarely do I see the same pattern more than once in the same donation. Each of these are simple and yet perfect for a small child. (glad I photograph them all.... I can go back and use them for inspiration once I start piecing again) 






I also have a several panels, but I never thought about using them like this.  These are just adorable.  I know that  Betty had a hard time giving a couple of them up.  I did also, they were just so precious.  But I know that whoever ends up with these quilts are going to love them so much more. It would have been a crime to have tried to hold on to them to try to find the right child to give it to.



This is my favorite quilt of the donation.  It was Betty's attempt at a Holy Scrap Quilt. A challenge quilt sponsored by Jacque J at Adel Quilting and Dry Goods.  I was physically unable to make that quilt (hence all the puppy quilts from previous posts). Betty had a few problems with it also so this is her version of the project.  BEAUTIFUL!

Thank you Betty for your generous spirit.  I know you have made many children very very happy.