donation from Diane M

One evening, just before my sisters came to visit, I heard Hawkeye barking at the door.  By the time I got upstairs, Diane M was headed back to her car.

Diane had just been at her mother's house.. and the goal of the week was to continue the pruning of her mothers stash.  (Diane's mother has moved into a smaller space.)

Diane had donated previously to Iowa Comfort.... and on a whim decided to pull off the interstate on he way home to see if I was home or wanted any of what she had.  Her SUV was FULL!  Some of it she knew that she was going to keep.  There was also stuff that she knew she would never use.

I am pretty sure that I did not get pictures of everything, and I do apologize for that.... but I will show you what I did get.

All of the above are pictures of batting.  Some are larger cuts and some are smaller cuts.

 Here is a bunch of fabric that can be used as backing material on some of our quilts.

Then there is a stack of fabric that can be used for the casings and outer shams for our doggy beds.

I took some of that fabric to make this puppy blanket. I also used several of the smaller pieces of batting in this blanket.

When Aheintz 57 has puppies in the shelter they stay in a kiddie pool.  Those kiddie pools needed to be warm and comfy, so I am going to make several of these.  Hopefully this week.

I also have one customer quilt to do this week.

Thank you so much for the donation Diane!  Your donation is going to help make so many wonderful projects for Iowa Comfort.

Whew!

It has been a whirl wind two weeks.  I am not ashamed to admit that the past several days I have slept 10 hours each night.  I had to otherwise I would never of caught up on my missed sleep.

Suffice it to say that we all had a really good time and wore each other out!  I think we were in bed by 9:00 each night, but then we were up most days by 5:00.

One night we were playing with fabric.  I had just picked up 5 bags of doggy scraps from the Adel Library.

First I want to thank everyone that donates to Iowa Comfort.... but I seriously have to change the rules on what I am going to accept as donations for the doggy beds.

Kellie was in charge of getting the wrinkles out so we could determine how to best utilize the fabric.

I put Pam in charge of the Accu quilt.  I have a large stack of 3 1/2 inch squares for future quilt tops.

Danie was in charge of cutting strips from pieces of material that lacked quality or quantity for quilt tops.

Kellie is modeling a piece that eventually ended up in front of myself or Danie.

My primary job, besides chopping down fabric, was to remove fabric from the bags we had picked up and decide if it could be used in a quilt top.

This is when it got a little hairy.  Reaching into those bags I managed to get stuck 3 times in the time span of about 45 minutes. 

 Here is a glimpse of what was also in those first two bags.

There was a big ball of masking tape, and part of a pattern.

A glue stick and embroidery floss.

6 needles and pins, three of which found my fingers.

And this gold metal clasp, that was very sharp!

I have a nice scratch on my hand still from when I found that metal clasp.  Once I found it that was the end of us playing with fabric.  

The remaining material went out to the trash as I was no longer willing to take a chance with being stuck or scratched.

I also will not let any other volunteer take a chance with their safety.

So while I appreciate your donations for the doggy beds, I will only accept future donations under these conditions.

1.  All donations of doggy bed material must have the name and telephone number  of the person who donated the bag of scraps. That way I can contact you if I can't use them.

2. Dog bedding must be already cut down, and ready to go directly into a dog bed.  The accepted sizes are strips no wider than 1.5 inches or 2 x 2 squares. These are the sizes that work well for the stuffing.  Larger pieces do not allow for nesting.

3. Only fabric scraps should be in the bag.  No paper or metal objects at all.

4.  Large pieces that can be used for the casing and shams will continue to be accepted as they are now.

I of course will understand if you choose not donate.  It does take a lot of work to cut this material down. I just don't have the time to do it all myself and won't put another volunteer in harms way.

I hope you all understand.  I hope to make a delivery to A Heintz 57 yet this week.  I have a closet full of beds ready for them. (Didn't get them delivered before my sisters came)

Have a great week everyone.

Becky's Sue Bonnett Sue and Celia's generosity

Counting down the days, by the time you read this it will be less than 48 hours and all of my sisters should be here. (Now that I have just put that in writing.... I am sure someone will be delayed somewhere).

So this post is being scheduled in advance to post on Tuesday.

This week I want to show you our latest finished quilt.

This is Becky's Sue Bonnett Sue quilt.   You can read more about the quilt and Becky
 here:

 http://iowacomfort.blogspot.com/2013/08/beckys-donation-part-ii.html

If that link doesn't work it is the August 3rd, 2013 post.

Here the quilt is finished:

Isn't it pretty!  It is going to look great on one of the beds at the center.

I wanted to show you a close up of the Sue Bonnett Sue blocks.

Each block is hand appliqued on a white block using 2 polka  dot fabrics.  Sometimes the coordinating fabric was just a white with a coordinating colored polka dot.  Like the center picture.  The hat and ruffle on the dress are white with little green dots.

Celia completed the binding on this quilt for me.  I am so blessed that she is so generous with her time and talents.  Without her and my other binding fairies, there would be a pile of UFO's.

So once again THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH  Miss Celia!  You are truly appreciated.

I did not get two quilts quilted this past week, but I am going to bind the last two small quilts over the next couple of evenings.

Enjoy the cooler weather everyone!

T- 8 days

My mind is running a hundred miles per minute.  I am now 8 days until my sisters start arriving.  That would be FIVE of them, and they are visiting for 1 to 2 weeks.  Three are staying with me, the other two in a hotel.

The last two weeks I have been busy with cleaning.  My dear husband is staying clear so as not to be assigned a task.

On the fourth of July I spent part of my day vacuuming my drapes.  When I told my sister Kellie, actually I told her in a text, her and her husband had a good laugh on me.  Yesterday she told me that when she read the text she got an immediate image of an old I Love Lucy episode.  An I Love Lucy marathon would be a pretty good description of my life the last couple of weeks.

My new mantra is that it will all be worth it once I get to spend time with them all...

The only room I really haven't cleaned is the quilt room.  That is on the agenda for this week.  Kellie is going to be staying in there....so I need to get everything put away.

This last week I did manage to get a couple of small quilts quilted for Iowa Comfort.  I hope to get a couple more of the small ones done this week.   So if I have any binding fairies out there, I would appreciate it.

Another one of my fairies brought me a big bag of chopped up fabric for doggie beds.  

I 'll show you that in a future post..... but she had someone give her pillowcases for the center. (they didn't want their names to be posted on the blog)

Here is the bag they came to me in.

  All of the pictures above are of matched sets of pillowcases.

The center really likes it when they can get matched sets for the family beds.

We have a Barney and Daffy pillowcase.

Then we have an NFL, basketball and hockey pillowcase.

Here are two bear themed cases.... although I am sure the intended recipients will be very different!

Four more single cases of various themes.

All in all this donation contained 26 pillowcases for the center.  I know they will appreciate them.  They go through 75 to 100 each year.  Each resident receives a new pillow upon entering the center... and with our donations they keep the pillow and pillowcase when they leave the center. 

We can still use pillowcases....so if your stash has some fabric in it that you now are wondering why you ever bought it. Come on I know you know what I am talking about.  Consider making a pillowcase for the center.  You can drop them off at Adel Quilting and Dry Goods if that is convenient for you.

Okay it is time for me to go put some stuff away in the quilt room.

Have a great week and stay cool!

Feeling Guilty

Yep this post is late.  Which I hate.  The problem is that I have been really lazy the last couple of weeks.  Well not really, but something had to be moved to the back burner and unfortunately Iowa Comfort is what got moved there.

If you follow the blog you know that I have 5 (yes count them 5) sisters flying in from California and Alaska.  They start arriving 2 weeks from tomorrow.  3 are staying for a week the other 2 for 2 weeks.

To say that I am in overdrive would be an understatement.  My mind will not shut off, I keep thinking of ways to entertain them.... I mean really they are coming to Iowa from the beautiful landscape of Alaska and California.  Iowa the landscape of corn and soybeans....and livestock.

The first week is planned with trips to the Amana colonies, wine tasting tours, a memorial service for my Dad at Iowa Veterans cemetery, some grave stomping, the Madison County Bridges and John Wayne's museum, the Des Moines farmers market and a family BBQ, and even  a day of fabric organization.

To lighten my load my awesome hubby contacted Merry Maids to do a deep clean for me, allowing me to focus on the fun stuff.  Let's just say that the last week has been spent with me cleaning.  I just about have it done, but I have a couple of major projects that still need to be done this week.

I am still working on me also.  And between two hours on the treadmill and the deep cleaning.  Quilting and genealogy hasn't gotten much time.  that reminds me I still need to clean the quilting room so sister Kellie can have that room doing her visit. 

I am going to try to get a couple of the Iowa comfort tops quilted this week.  Not sure if it will happen but it is on the schedule.

Hopefully life will be normal when August rolls around.  Right now I am going to enjoy my sisters and the ride, and try not to beat myself up to bad. Hope you all understand.

Enjoy the week, and the holiday.

Jean's DonationPart 2

In the last post I showed you the wonderful quilt top that Jean V pieced together for Iowa Comfort.

In addition to that quilt top, she did a little stash purging.... and donated that purged fabric to Iowa Comfort.

Now before you all remind me that I am not accepting fabric donations, remember to every rule there is an exception.  This fabric meet that exception.  It is quilt shop quality and larger cuts of at least one yard.  Besides they are my rules and subject to change on my whim and desire.  :-)

Lets take a look at what she sent us.

There were several cuts of star fabric in various colors.

And pastel yellow and pink heart fabric.

Then there was these cuts of polka dot fabric.  I would consider two of the fabrics bright, and one subtle.

We have car and truck fabric for a little boy.

Animal themed fabric, from bears to bunnies.

Here we have some eclectic fabric that will make great filler fabric with some of those other pieces.

These fabric pieces are number themed.  The top piece may be big enough to be the backing for the bottom panel.

A couple of more unique pieces.  I think I had the ABC fabric measured to be the backing of the middle panel of farm animals.

There are two of these soft ABC panels.

And then there is this cute panel also.  This one just makes me smile!  I was have tempted to use it as an up coming baby gift....but I was good and didn't do it.  When completed it will be donated just like every other donated top/ fabric/ panel I have received.

I am deep into preparations for the sister reunion.... so I haven't been doing a lot of quilting for Iowa Comfort.  I did managed last week to get my quilt for my own bed quilted, this week I am working on getting it bound and cleaning my house.

Next week I have a donation of pillowcases to show you.

Have a great week everyone!

Awesome Donation

I am not sure what happened this post was scheduled to post on June 10th.  I have been busy and haven't checked the blog since.  So here is the post now and the next post won't be until the 24th to get me back on schedule.  (this post deserves the full week of viewing. :-) )

Jean V. is awesome!  She has donated many quilt tops over the last couple of years. Her quilt tops are always a pleasure to quilt.  They are pieced expertly, always pressed and ready to be loaded on the long arm.  (a longarmers dream client!)

A couple of weeks ago Jean stopped by the house with another quilt top for Iowa Comfort.  She was continuing to use up her Crayola fabric, that she vowed would not go back into her stash.

Lets take a look at the top she brought us:

 This quilt is large enough for a twin and maybe big enough for a double bed.
. 

Jean used her crayola scraps and made four patches and then off set the four patches with the pretty butterfly fabric.

I love all the directional flow in this quilt.  You have the dark lines from the crayola colored fabric, the white patches and the butterfly fabric.

It is a wonderful quilt all the way around! I know it will put a smile on whoever's bed it ends up on over at the center.  LOVE IT!

Jean also brought a whole sack of fabric to donate.  Yes I know I am not accepting fabric donations right now....but with every rule is there is an exception and I invoked it.

I will show you the rest of the donation next week since I have several pictures to show you.

Just a heads up that my sisters are coming for a two week visit in July.  If you think you might need a top quilted, July is almost booked out.  I will not be doing any customer work or quilting for Iowa Comfort the last two weeks of July.

Have a great week everyone!

It was that time again

Over the last month or so I have really been trying to organize my quilting areas....including the dog bed stuffing.  

I have sisters coming for a couple weeks in mid July, and I really need to have a handle on all my stuff!  (Little do they know that by the time they leave for home they are all going to be experts at ironing, cutting and folding fabric......insert evil giggle)

My normal routine is that I stack up the donations until I fill the space and then make a delivery run.

Well as you can see the doggy beds needed to be delivered to AHeintz57 dog rescue.  I could not get one more bed on that pile.  I do have to pile them up like that...otherwise they go to the rescue with dog hair already on them.  Hawkeye thinks he needs to quality test each and everyone of them.

A couple of days after I delivered them.  I saw a picture of one of their dogs on their facebook page.  He was laying on that bottom bed.  I remember when I made that one that I was shaking my head at myself....wondering why I made it so darn big and heavy.  And now I know, it was meant for that particular dog.... any smaller and it would not have worked for him.  Love it when it all works out!

See that pac n play in the picture?  That is where I normally store the finished quilts prior to deliveries.  It was full!  I needed to get the quilts delivered so Owen could have his bed when he visited this past weekend.

I delivered 10 quilts and 5 pillowcases to the center on the 19th of May. They were very appreciative of the quilts, and loved the fact that at least two of the hope quilts were little boy themed.  I should have the 2014 gallery updated by the time this posts.  Quilts 137- 146 were all delivered.

Here is a look at the pillowcases that were donated.  Jana, the director of the center, loved that this months donations came in a set.  They come in very handy for their family quarters.

We spoke briefly about their need for pillowcases and she said the need is still there for them.  When a client leaves they take their pillow and pillowcase with them.

I am going to spend some time cutting more kits, so if there is anyone who would like to work on them let me know.

Thank you to the two people who donated the pillowcases.  Thank you also to everyone who has been cutting and saving those scraps for doggy beds.

Special thanks to Kathy B., she volunteered her time and longarm to quilt the blue quilt from last weeks post.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.