Remembering RuthAnn

Earlier this week I received an email from the Jacque at Adel Quilting and Dry Goods. There had been a large donation off of fabric that Iowa Comfort could have.  On Monday I drove over to pick up the fabric. It was a huge sack, and it was full.

 

This sack of fabric was donated by Carol Morrison.  Carols wife RuthAnn passed away in March, and he wanted her fabric to be used instead of thrown away.  I hope that my family will do the same thing when my time comes.

RuthAnn loved flannel the entire sack was full of it.

 I am pretty sure that this stack was the beginning of a rag quilt.  If not that is what it will end up being....but I'm pretty sure that the stack is large enough to be two laps size quilts.

These two pictures show the rest of the material that was in that sack.  Some very cute fabric in there, that will make some adorable children quilts.

Donna Grove was by the house this week also.  Donna is in a group that makes small quilts for one of the local hospitals.  She always has such cute quilts!  I asked her if she would be interested in taking the flannel home with her to make tops for Iowa Comfort.  The flannel went home with Donna and I just know that every top will be adorable!

I want to thank Carol for the donation, I believe it is a loving tribute to his wife RuthAnn.  I also want to thank Donna for accepting the offer and for the future quilt tops I know that will be coming.

I'm headed out to the farmers market this morning, hard to believe that there are only 6 left in the season.  I guess fall really has arrived.  Enjoy your day everyone!

3 WIPS

I am sure you all know what a WIP is...but just in case I will let you know.  WIP = work in progress.

At the end of our charity sew day we had three WIP's that came home with me to finish up.  They are actually very close to completion and will probably go with me to my open sew day next week.  I should be able to get the tops finished that day. But just because they are completely finished doesn't mean that I can't show them to you now.

  

This first quilt was worked on by Angie Olson, she traveled down from Minnesota to be part of the charity sew day.  I was truly amazed at how much she completed in that one day.  The quilt that she was working on will be a queen size quilt.

 The pink and red fabric was donated precut by Adel Quilting and Dry Goods, I brought along some cream muslin, and Angie went to work making 9 patches.

The nine patches were offset with big muslin blocks.... I had plans for those cream blocks, a pretty feather wreath or something like that.... and then I remembered that I only have 12 of quilting space and those are 14 inch blocks....ah well.  

We ran out of muslin late in the day and Deb Steere went to town and picked some up to finish so Angie could keep working on the quilt.   Thank you Angie, Deb and Jacque, this quilt is going to be so soft and pretty when completed.

The next top I am going to show has fabric that was donated to Iowa Comfort in it.  I am ashamed to say I don't know who donated this fabric....but thank you for the donation.  Dian cut this fabric down into precut sizes for me at our last community prep day.  Marcia and Deb set out making 9 patches for this queen size quilt.  Here are the blocks.

Isn't that some fun fabric!  I auditioned many colors to be the offset blocks....and only black would work.  It is going to be striking!  Do see what happened when planning this quilt?  Look close.....

Yep I didn't have quite enough of the focus fabric for all of the nine patches.  So I made do and 20 of the squares in the 9 patches will be either the turquoise blue or the purple batik.  I think it will give the quilt a little extra character.

Deb Steere brought along a couple of jelly rolls for donation....and Sandy took a liking to one of them.  Sandy decided to make a 1600 quilt (also known as the jelly roll quilt).  Instead of the joining the strips together with the diagonal line, she wanted to add a 2.5 inch square to ends of the strips. to have them look like this.

This jelly roll had pinks, reds, soft greens and brown in it.  Sandy was able to complete the first lap of the race in our allotted time two weeks ago....here is a peek at a snapshot of that quilt.

It is going to be so pretty!

I will of course show you all of the completed tops once I get them done.

I want to thank everyone once again for coming out and sewing for Iowa Comfort.  I know that many of you traveled over 2 hours to attend and I really do appreciate all of your time and talents!

Charity sew day part 3

Yes I know I have had several posts from that charity sew day, and I am telling you right now that there will be at least one more before I move on to something else.  AIN'T IT GRAND TO BE ME! 

Today's post will show the tops that were completed the day we all got together.  This group of ladies were very productive.  Lets take a look at the quilt that Viv Mohwinkle and Renise Frey, pieced together.

The fabric for this quilt was donated by Adel Quilting and Dry Goods and came to us already precut. Viv and Renise had to decide how to put the quilt together.  Finding the right design was important to them.... I think the did a fabulous job!  There was even enough fabric for Renise to put this top together....

The first picture is probably a queen/double, the second is large enough to be a twin.  They even made the binding for these two quilts.  

I think these two quilts will be loved at the center, or maybe they will be kept back and given to someone transitioning out of the center. Either way the quilts are wonderful!

Pat Adney brought a long some blocks made from Bonnie Hunters leader and ender (gee I hope that is what she calls it) system.  While chain sewing other projects she sews two pieces of fabric together, thus not wasting thread. Pat made several 16 patch blocks out of this system.

Then she added sashing, cornerstones and a border to make this adorable quilt.  She also sent fabric along for the binding and maybe enough for a matching pillowcase.  This quilt once quilted will go to the DHS office for distribution as the social workers deem necessary.

The next two quilts were made by Rhonda Huggins.  The first quilt was a panel that I had picked up at the AQS show last year.  It was meant to be a cloth book, but I wanted a quilt so Rhonda worked her magic.

She added sashing to the blocks and some bright borders.... and yes that is binding that she is holding.  The panel is about counting: one fish, two fish....so I think this little quilt could be used as an I spy quilt.  I spy the number 2, or the color blue.  Rhonda is much more creative than I was. After all it has sat in my closet for over a year.

Here is Rhonda's second quilt top.

Simple but so gosh darn cute!  She took a piece of fabric cut it in half and added that bright pieced border and center strip.  Some little boy is going to love to cuddle in that quilt.

As you can see the day was very productive, and we still have enough pictures for one more post.  

Thank you again ladies for all of you support, you are making a difference in someones life.

Lynne and Marcia's generosity

A week ago today was the charity sew day with my IQ friends.  Lynne organized the day at her church for the group and thought about Iowa Comfort as the beneficiary of the days labor (we had to much fun to call it labor....but I am having a brain freeze this morning so it will just have to stand.)  That act alone was extremely generous....but she wasn't done.  

Let me introduce you to Lynne Mulder again.  Hard at work on her block.

These are the additional quilts she brought with her for donation.

All these quilts need are a label, and they are ready to be shipped to DHS to bring a smile to a child in need.  Thank you  Lynne for your generous spirit!

Within any group there is usually that one person that can bring a smile to anyone's  face, in the IQ circle that person would be Marcia Burt.  She comes up with songs and chants, and I do believe she has been known to due a couple of prank phone calls.  She also has a group that does charity sewing for her local area, but that did not stop her from donating to us.  Here is Marcia.

Marcia brought ELEVEN afghans for donation to the center.....in addition she donated the following tops to us.

Aren't they bright and cheery!  Just like Marcia, I am sure these quilts when finished will brighten someones day! Thank you Marcia for your generosity!  

And believe it or not there is still a lot more to share with you all in the next post, so make sure to come back on Saturday.

Have a great day!

Start your engines!

I have so much to show you all!  That is could possibly take to mid September to show you all of the quilts and quilt tops that have been donated over the last week.

First lets start with the quilt top that was donated by Leslie Jackson.  Leslie is one of the members of Circle of Friends, that is hosted by Adel Quilting and Dry Goods on the third Monday of each month.... she is also super creative.  She whipped together this little top for us....and it fits right into the Hope quilts project.  This quilt will be donated to the local DHS office, and will be given to a child at the discretion of the social workers.  The project is designed so that a social worker can pick up a quilt to give to a child before they leave the office. So a stock pile of quilts will need to be on hand, so no child will be left out.....lucky for us we have a jump start on the project already.  

Here is Leslie's quilt, won't that quilt bring a smile to a little boy?  She is also putting another one together that is car themed.  

The hope is that these quilts will bring a little comfort to a child, on a day that would otherwise be very trying.... I would bet money who ever gets this quilt will hold it tight!

Switching gears (still keeping with the car theme here...hehehe) I want to tell you just a little about the charity sew day this last Tuesday.

It was a GREAT day, hosted by my friend Lynne Mulder.  We belong to a group of online quilters called " Iowa Quilters" or "IQ" on the website connecting threads.  It is a fun place to connect to other quilters and the IQ group is very active.  Lynne thought a charity sew day was a good way to get several members together for some fun... and boy was it fun....and productive!  

I can't show you all of the pictures in this post but I thought I would show you what my car looked like coming home for northern Iowa on Tuesday.

See all those bolts of fabric.... those were donated by Deb Steere.  She just went to a room upstairs and brought it to use ....just incase we needed it, and then donated it to us.  Thank you Deb!  

That sack in the seat, those are finished quilts that Lynne donated, all they need is a label.  I will show you those quilts on Tuesday.

This was my back seat going home.... all I am going to say right now is that it was NOT that full when I left home that morning.  There are many donations in there that we will break down over the next week or so.

And of course the trunk.  Now I will be honest the trunk was pretty full going up. But see that basket....it is full of completed tops!  All of which will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Well the post is already a long one so I'll cut it off here.  Make sure to come back and watch the reveals.

Today is a travel day

I left for northern Iowa this morning for a charity sew day . 

An online quilting friend thought it would be fun to have a charity sew day with the online group.  This group was founded by Melzee from Dubuque, she started a group called Iowa Quilters on Connecting Threads a couple of years ago.  The group is mainly Iowa quilters....but there are also several gals from surrounding states.

Lynne thought it might be fun to get together before the fall harvest and holidays set in....and she suggested that Iowa Comfort might benefit from our sewing today.

I have loaded the car up with a ton of fabric (both the backseat and trunk are loaded) and hope that I will come home with a couple of tops to quilt later.

The one thing that I know for sure is that when this group gets together......people will have sore faces and sides....because there is always a boat load of fun.

Leslie Jackson has donated another top, I don't have it photographed yet, but I'll have it on the blog Saturday.  It is so cute!  It is going to be a hope quilt that is for sure.

Hope you all have a great day!

And there I go planning again!

You would think a grown woman would have learned her lesson by now.  I just simply can not plan anything at this point in my life..... I set myself up for the fall with my last post.  

I said that I was going to get that last quilt quilted (and I did) and then bound by this weekend..... that's not going to happen.

At least this time when the universe decided to mess with me it was a happy outcome.

Wednesday morning my sister got a call form Iowa City that her and her husband needed to come to the hospital.  This was 2:00 am, they had a liver for him!  He had his surgery on Wednesday afternoon....and I have been staying with her until yesterday afternoon... so no working on Iowa Comfort stuff the past several days.  My brother in law appears to be on the mend.... I am so happy for both of them.

Here I go jinxing myself, but I will try to get that binding on that quilt later today.... my euphoria about being all caught up is short lived.  I know I have another donated quilt top waiting for me at Jacques shop.  I'll pick it up today. 

I have a busy week ahead of me..... I will have lots of pictures next week.

Just a quick note

I am still working on those scrap pieces of fabric.  I find it odd to see how a grocery sack of scraps can condense down to such a small amount of organized fabric.  I am on my third grocery sack, and I have less than a gallon size bag of slivers that did not make it in to a square, brick or strip.

Today I loaded my last quilt top for Iowa Comfort, by tomorrow it should be off the longarm and ready for me to bind this weekend.

This will be the first time since January that I have been all caught up.  I figure that it will last about a week.  An online quilting buddy has organized a charity sew day, and Iowa Comfort will reap some of the rewards from that day.  Adel Quilting and Dry Goods also has an evening of service scheduled that will benefit our group.

I may try to get one more community sew day scheduled in late September early October, to get us through the holidays.  At the community prep day, I mentioned that it might be after the first of the year.....and you would have thought I had kicked a puppy!  So I will try to get one on the books before everyone gets busy with the holidays, and I get busy with customer quilts for Christmas. 

Alright the post is already beyond a quick note.  I will tell you about the charity sew day on my next post.

Have a wonderful day!

Stripping in De Soto

Remember this photo from last week?  Yes that was some of the fabric that I still needed to cut down into pre cut strips, bricks or squares.

Well I have spent pretty much every night this week with my cutting mat and rotary cutter working on that pile of  fabric.

I am still not done with it, but I thought I would show you how far I have come.

This is where I sit at night working on that pile of fabric....one piece at a time.

Here is a pile of some of the finished strips sorted by size.

A friend of mine sent me a picture of a scrappy quilt, and I knew that it would be the perfect project for all of these strips....don't you agree?

I hope to make a couple of full size quilts from those strips in this pattern for the center.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

Hope quilts

As promised today I have information on the goals for next year. 

We will of course continue to take all orphan quilt tops that anyone is looking to find a new home for.  Today I had someone ask if they needed to provide the backing and batting for those donations. No you don't.  I have customers that pay me to quilt their quilts. Those fee's buy backing and batting material for the comfort quilts. 

The most exciting news is the Hope Quilts.  With the help of a friend at the Dallas/Madison Dept of Human Services, we have found a way to help the youth of those counties.  Next year the focus will be on quilts for kids that need a little bit of comfort.  These quilts will be dropped off at the local DHS office, and the social workers will have access to the quilts and can deliver it to a child in need at their discretion.

The Director did ask if we would would consider making a few additional quilts for adults.  They occasionally need to remove an elderly person from a home.  I think we can do that also.

The Hope Quilts should be from baby/toddler size to a good size lap quilt.  40 x 40 - 60 x 60...and all sizes in between.  You get the idea, hopefully they will be bright or bold.....but we will take them all.  A good example of the type of quilts I am hoping for are on Adel Quilting and Dry Goods blog yesterday....the featured quilts are the ones made by Donna Grove.

I am also going to try to create some wheelchair quilts for the local nursing homes.  I am hoping that the local high school seniors might be interested in this project. I have a lot of flannel that would work wonderful for this project.

So the goals are lofty for next year....and I know we are going to bring a lot of comfort to our community.