Packed for the Retreat

After 5 days of fighting a sinus infection, I'm feeling better and am ready and packed for the quilting retreat. The food is made....we take turns making a meal for the group so we only have to cook 1 time in 5 days. We also take snacks along to share with the group. My snacks are homemade salsa & chips and 3 cheese spinach artichoke dip that I will bake in the next few days. I'm making breakfast casseroles for our breakfast and the homemade carmel sticky buns are ready to go! They look delicious! I have a friend who is bringing smokies, fruit and juice for our breakfast.

I've been putting aside sewing for the past week so I have things to work on while at the retreat. I can't wait to dive into some new fabrics for a couple of quilts, for some new baby quilts and to make more pillowcases. I will be teaching some classes for 2 different quilts and a large bag. The quilts are made with 2 1/2" strips of fabric, sewn into simple blocks. Then we cut the blocks in half and sew them back together with different halves. The large bag is made with 5" squares of fabric that you can buy as a set of 40 to 44 squares. My friend Sharon is teaching a braided table runner and 2 pillows made from strips. The ladies that come can pick and choose which project they want to do.

We will also be knotting baby quilts that we are giving to Hope Center in Ft Wayne. We have 19 baby quilts ready to go with more fabric being brought along to make more. I also have fabric to make another 6 pillowcases. I plan on having the ladies hold up some of the pillowcases and we'll take pictures. I'll also take pictures of the baby quilts and of the retreat and post them next week.

I'll see you next week and share pictures and stories of all the fun we had!!

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Teaching others to Sew

Once a week I volunteer at a local residency for young woman who need help from depression, Eating disorders, abuse, neglect, etc. Right now we are working with teaching the woman how to sew and make a lap quilt. Most of them are really excited about the quilts and are doing well with each process.

I've taught them how to use a rotary cutter and ruler to cut their fabric. We're making a simple 9 patch square. It's easy enough to make because all the squares are the same size and yet they can incoorporate more colors into their quilt if they like. The young woman are in the sewing stage now. They are eager to learn simple tricks to help their sewing go faster and be more productive. For many of them this is their first experience using a sewing machine and working with fabric.

Some of the quilts will have sashing strips between the blocks while others will not. Once the quilt tops are together we will show them how to knot and finish the quilts. We're hoping that by late spring all the quilts will be done.

The fabric that the young women have used was all donated. We are now looking for people to donate some battings so that we can finish up the quilts this spring.

Another project we are thinking about doing with the young ladies, is making pillowcases. It would be a smaller project and they could make them as gifts or to be donated to a local charity.

It's exciting to see their progress and to see their excitement grow as they get more and more blocks done. Hopefully we are sparking a new interest in them and some new quilters may be born!

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Pillowcases for the hurting and needy

America Patchworks is collecting 1,000,000 through local quilting stores to give to needy and hurting children & adults. The store in Bluffton IN is one of the stores you can take pillowcases in to, and they will get them to the organizations. I took in 3 the other week that I had laying around my sewing area.

Today I was looking through my fabric stash, and I came across another 3 pillowcases, one of them being my most favorite one I ever made. It's a "Cat in the Hat" fabric with coordinating fabrics. It's just too cute! So I dug around some more and found fabric to make 1/2 dozen more. One is a snowflake theme, 2 are zoo animals, 1 is hearts themed, 1 is bright blue/yellow flowers print and the last one is bright dinosaurs. It's an opportunity to give to people/children who are hurting, needy and need someone to care about them. And as I sew them together I pray for the person that will receive this pillowcase.

When I get more made I will post a picture of them so you can see them.

As I was looking for fabric to go with the main fabrics in each pillowcase I came across 9 quilt blocks all sewn together in blues/oranges. Another baby quilt!!! So I'm working on putting another one together for the Hope Center.

There are so many ways we can help others if we look around where we live. And sometimes we find ways of helping that is just so much fun!! I encourage you to see if there are ways you can help out hurting needy people in a way that is not work to you, but just fun!!

Off to sew some more!

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More Quilting Fabric?

After looking at all the fabric I have right now, I've decided to not buy any new fabric, unless absolutely necessary to finish a project, bag/purse. I need to use up some of my stash. We all know how that is suppose to work, right?! Well today I had, yes I will say I "had", to go into a quilt shop to pick up some door prizes for our upcoming quilt retreat. I decided that if I didn't have my purse or any money with me, and that included the checkbook and credit card, that I wouldn't buy any fabric!

I walked around, stroking the fabric, dreaming of what I could make with this fabric or that one, saw some new fabrics I haven't seen before, some new patterns, but I did not buy anything! Oh how I wanted to!! Those fairy frost fabrics just sparkled and screamed, "BUY ME!" And the new line she got in had me salivating!! But I stayed strong and resisted going out to the vehicle to get my purse and money.

I did tell the store owner why I wasn't buying anything and that maybe next time I come I may have some money to spend. Now I just have 1 more quilt store I have to go to in the next week to pick up their door prizes. This store we are going to visit during our quilt retreat. One or two days of the retreat, we drive the 20 minutes to the store. I will be ready when we go in a few weeks with a $40 gift certificate and one of their purchase cards worth another $30.

Now, to just resist the temptations of the fabrics that call to me when I enter a quilt store. I guess I'm really a quilter!

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Quilts for South Africa

In Wooster, South Africa, there is a group of volunteers who ran a Kibbutz el Shammah for children. It's a place where children can come after school for programs, a home to children who need a safe place to live, a place where many other ministries are carried out. Most of the people who run these programs are volunteers, many of them South Africans.

Last night I meet with the head woman, Shanette, who runs this organization. They go month to month on fianaces to keep this place open. Many of the teenagers that come to the Kibbutz end up volunteering there, after they have given their heart to Christ and dedicate themselves to helping others.

Many years ago my friend Sharon asked me to help her make quilts to give to the people who volunteer there, who run the programs. A quilt to these people becomes their prize prosession. They cannot believe that others who don't know them could give them such a gift. We had given 17 quilts away and for the past few years, they didn't need anymore. Now because of the turnover in staff, there is a need for more quilts. We will begin making quilts again for them. Most of the quilts are a double size in bright colors. I will post pictures of them as we get them made. As we make the quilts, we pray for the Kibbutz and the people running it and for the many children who desperately need a place they can go to.

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Getting Ready for the Quilt Retreat

This is a new experience for me...setting up a blog page. My friends have told me for years to start a blog page. I hope to get pictures of the purses/bags that I have to sell on the page soon and pictures of my quilts. I will also share recipes with you as I love to cook! My 2 sons, Brandon & Bryce 16, love to help me cook and they look up lots of new recipes. Some of the recipes are old family favorites.

Right now I am busy getting ready for a quilt retreat that happens in February. I am teaching classes on two quilts and 1 large bag. This bag is not one that I sell so I will share the project with you at a later date. Most of the fabric is cut and I have samples of the projects almost done. I just need to set aside time to quilt them on my long arm.

I'm also working on putting together some baby quilts. Some of the quilt tops were made by other quilters but most of them I made from scraps of fabric either from my own stash or from friend's stash. I then sandwich the front, backs and batting together and sew it like a pillow case. Then I turn it right side out and stitch the closing shut. I stitch around the outside of the quilt with matching thread. I plan on taking about 12-15 baby quilts to the retreat so that other women can knot them. We then will donate them to the Hope Center in Fort Wayne IN. They will be given to young women who are pregnant who aren't sure if they want to keep the baby or not. As I sew on each quilt I think about the unborn baby's life that may be saved.

Wish me luck on navigating this site. Sewing and quilting are easy for me, but computer work doesn't come quite that easy.

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