Scrap Strings Request

I saw an amazing quilt made by my friend, Carin, and would love to make one myself. 

I first met Carin and her mom at a retreat for Margaret's Hope Chest.  

If you want to see some folks making a difference, please check out their site. 

 Maybe you are looking for a charity to become involved with?  This one is fantastic.  

Check out their website and read about their mission.

So PSA over, and back to Carin's lovely quilt and what I need from you, my gentle readers.

 The quilt is made up of pieces that are 1.5" wide by up to 4.5" tall.  

So the pieces could be as small as 1.5" x 1.5" up to 1.5" x 4.5" and any size in-between.  

Once you have 1.5" wide pieces you just keep sewing them into one l-o-n-g string. 

 Think ball of yarn type of  long, or roll of binding long.  

I am thinking this will be the perfect leader/ender project.  

Don't know what a leader ender is?  Check out Bonnie Hunter's post about it here.

So I suppose you would like to see this quilt eh?

From the photo you can see what I mean about the 1.5" pieces.  

Here is where you come in.  

I would LOVE it if you would begin your own string of these pieces for me.  

Don't throw out those itty bitty pieces, sew them end to end and when you get a really, really long string fold it up and mail it to me.  

That's it.  

I will then cut the long strings into 15.5" strips and sew them together to make 15.5" blocks.  

In this photo, if I remember correctly, Carin made the blocks 18", 

but I want to try for a little smaller but not too small.  

Do you think you can help me? 

 For some odd reason my scrap bin is full of purple and gray right now, LOL. 

 I just need some diversity of colors.  Please don't just send the scraps unsewn into a string.  

I am drowning in my own scraps!  

After I get home from Florida, I plan on cutting from my scrap bin many of these 1.5" pieces so I will have them ready for making them into leader/ender pieces.  

No rush, I have no time line for this.  

If I get more than I can use I will just keep making blocks and donate the quilts

.  Like to help me out?  

Email me and I will give you my address.  

My email is 

mamaspark@gmail.com

I will be posting about the latest wedding quilt tomorrow so I hope you will come back!

~XOP~

Cloud Nine

I was out shopping a few weeks ago and 

came across a pattern that I thought would make a great donation quilt.  

It is called Cloud Nine and is by Villa Rosa Designs.  

I decided it would make a couple of great quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest.  

I did one in U of M and one in MSU fabrics

First the MSU 

(of course)

Close up

Then the U of M quilt top

Close up

After working with both the black and the white as backgrounds, 

I like the look using the white much better. 

 I am making a third one for someone special so that will have to be shown later.    

This top goes together so quickly, and finishes at 56 x 70" 

 Perfect donation quilt size.  

I am handing off to the quilter tonight and

 hope to have them back by Monday to bind and enter in the 100 Quilts for Kids. 

 I am going to machine bind as that will go so much more quickly.  

Wish me luck!! 

What is your go to donation quilt pattern??

~XOP~

Gifties and Secrets

That seems to be what my sewing consists of lately!  

Things completed that I can't share until I gift. 

 New projects begun for gifts. 

 So what to do?  

Why begin a few new charity quilts of course!  

When I was out of town recently I saw a simple pattern on a little 3 x5 card and thought, 

this would be a perfect Margaret's Hope Chest donation quilt.  

Also I could count it as one for the 100 quilts for kids, 

although I am not sure it will be finished in time for that one, but I am going to try.  

I donate all year to MHC though.  

Here is the top I was working on all laid out

It was a super easy one to make and went together quickly.  

I am planning on making a Michigan and Michigan State one.  

I figure they get a lot of girlie quilts so thought the sports teams would be a good idea.  

Last year Carin from MHC told me they were the first 2 chosen!

  Makes me feel so good!!

The top is finished but my quilter is out of town for the week. 

 Not sure she can get it done in the time frame to make it for the 100 quilts, but I am going to try.  Maybe I will get the MSU top finished this week?

  I have it all cut out.  

Planning on laying it out tomorrow night at quilting where I have a BIG space. 

 I also cut out a NCSU top with this pattern to use for my daughter who is attending school there. 

 I thought I might be a nice couch quilt.  

I sat down to rest and Fatty McFatty jumped right up and 

put her arms around my arm and would not let me get back up for a time. 

 Silly kitty!  

(Maybe she needs to go and visit her Auntie Dianne???)

 I decided it was time to try a new recipe this last week too.  

It was called Meatball Sandwich Casserole and it was amazing!!!

Even my hubby loved it.  

Super yummy and super easy, my kind of dinner!!

LOTS going on with my dad, long story short we are moving him into a retirement community.

The estimated move will be the first week of October.

WAYYYYY too much work to do to get his house ready to sell too.

Can you say Hoarders???

Have a wonderful week!

~XOP~

Margaret's Hope Chest Work Day

I hope everyone here in the US is enjoying their holiday weekend. 

 I was ill most of yesterday, food poisoning, but am feeling ok today. 

 I had to drive an hour to pick up DH yesterday and

 had to stop at a rest area for awhile, if you know what I mean. 

 I wasn't sure I was going to make it. 

 I went right to bed with my heating pad, when we got home.

Last Saturday I spend a wonderful half a day with some amazing women

 making quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest.   

Amanda Jean Nyberg was there and who doesn't love to spend time with her?!  

We all worked with blocks that others had sent in. 

 It was a block that Amanda Jean had done a tutorial on.  

Oh look, Amanda Jean was sewing too!

 This was the set up and there were ~20 women there working.

It was fun day with a lot of wonderful women, making quilts for a great cause!

Here are a couple of finished quilts. (Both sides)

Carin talked about receiving this old quilt and re-making it into this one. 

 It was really beautiful!

Amanda Jean spoke about her book and was happy to sign a copy for you!

Next was a small show and tell done by Amanda Jean too.  

 

I was the most excited to see Ticker Tape in person!  

This is a beautiful quilt!

 

This is a top that Amanda Jean made using her scraps. 

 I love the Art Gallery solids she used for the backgrounds. 

 I have a bundle of these and this would be a great way to use them. 

 It would also be a good way to use scraps as a leader/ender project too!

 

I am so happy I was able to participate in this great work day and

 look forward to doing so again in the future. 

 So Carin, if you need/want help setting this up again let me know and

 I would be happy to help you out!

~XOP~

Finds, Friends and Fabric

My weekend was eclectic. 

 Scratch that my LIFE is eclectic! 

 I did a lot of things this weekend that were not connected except that they were done by me. 

 I did some gardening and boy was it HOT. 

 I did some cleaning and laundry, not very exciting. I also did some shopping, cutting and sewing.

 I decided that I need a new shower curtain.

 I also decided it was time to cut into my precious FQ bundle of Bliss to make said shower curtain. 

I am using the pattern Happy Hour by Terry Atkinson 

 I saw this made up as a shower curtain on Terry's blog a LONG time ago and loved it! 

 So that's what I am going to do... eventually.

 Hey at least it is cut out!  

I have a few other things to get done and they have a deadline. 

 I figure I have 6 quilts to make in about 2-3 weeks!!!  

Two for Yolanda, 3 for MHC, one that I can't talk about, (yet) and *then* the shower curtain.  

I have to say that my friends are so good to me.   

Pauline sent away for a free pattern for me. 

 Cute right?

Thanks P!

Cori and I were talking about my making some quilts for MHC and their drive for kids quilts.  

You can read about what they are looking for here. 

 I like to donate to this group as they are in Michigan and I know the people running the charity.  They are in particular need of quilts for boys and young men.  

Desired size is 40"X 60", so not that large.  

Anyway, Cori and I were talking about this and she sent me off with a JR to use for one (or maybe 2) quilts for some of the younger boys.  

Thanks Cori (now go and check out her wonderful shop!!)

I think I am going to try this pattern by Amanda Jean. 

 I think I can adapt it for a jelly roll.  

What do you think of using white for the other part of the pattern?

I'm trying to use from my stash and I have loads of white.

 Interestingly enough Amanda Jean just blogged about sending blocks off to MHC for an upcoming sew-in on August 25th.  

You can read about that here.  

The link to the pattern for the blocks can be found here.

Whew that's a lot of information! 

 It would be great if you could join in! 

 I wracked my brain to see what I could come up with for older guys and thought,

 "you can never go wrong with sports teams". 

 So I am working on Michigan and Michigan State tumbler quilts.  

I have the U of M one done and ready to send to Liz. 

 I have 6 of the 11 rows done on Sparty's quilt.  

These tumbler tops went together in just over 3 hours and used 1 1/2 yards of 3 fabic.  

If you have a GO and want to help, you can whip one of these babies up in no time!!

Well maybe in 3 hours anyway.

I'm going to stop right here.  

I have more to share, but will save it for tomorrow. 

 I know I don't like  posts that go on and on and on, LOL. 

Have a wonderful day!!

~XOP~

100 Quilts for Kids

YIPEE I got both of my quilts finished!!  I put a little stamp on them so anyone who knows will know they were made by me.  Wanna see them?

Little Flower

Farm Tumbler

Here is the little stamp

These two beauties will be on their way to Margaret's Hope Chest (hopefully on Friday) for the 100 Quilts For Kids.  Please consider making a donation to your local charity for a child and join in the fun!

I am working furiously on a second chenille blanket. Got the first one all finished, popped it in the wash last night and the dryer this morning. Will take pics tonight. The second one is kind of a surprise, I can show you some peeks but not the whole thing until it goes to it's new home! Then I just found out 2 more people in the lab are expecting! I have one chenille done and put away, so just one more of those for gifts, but I got stuff to make 2 Halloween ones (so dang cute!!)

I really need to finish a quilt top for a friend that I began so that is priority #1 for the weekend. Need to finish my star block too for the Star QAL at Moose on the Porch. My block will be the fourth one so keep watching for it! I have to write something about myself too, I have no idea what you might like to know. Questions welcome!! LOL   ~XOP~

Saturday Oh Glorious Saturday

I had a wonderful day today. It was one of those quiet, no one needs me for anything kind of a day. The sun was shining and the birds were chirping. I got to sleep in and I don't have to weigh in until Monday! (The final weigh in) I went to Zumba, baked some muffins, cooked some squash to make into soup tomorrow, did some cleaning and filed some quilt paperwork. DH cleaned the family room and did a spot on job of it. Then we went to Dixboro to the General Store there and met up with our DD2. I got a new candle and some handmade candy canes. Then we drove to dinner with our DD2. It was a nice night. Now we are home and getting ready to watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I love that movie!

I wanted to share a quilt with you though before I go to watch the movie. Do you remember when I went to Grand Rapids and got to meet Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts fame? Well I finished a top and now the entire quilt is done. I really love how LTW quilted it so I thought I would share it before I send it on to Margaret's Hope Chest.


I had this fabric from some fabric sample cards and I thought it would be perfect for a boy's charity quilt. Actually another woman made one too but she used brown for the sashing where I used light gray. I really love this quilt. I had enough of the fabric squares such that I kept enough to make another top from it and left the rest with Carin to make another top. I'd say I got my use out of those samples, wouldn't you? Four quilts all together. I also have this same set of fabric in the red and blue colorway (also samples). I plan to make some more of these tops to donate too.

Ok so that catches you up with what's going on over here. I am going to throw some laundry in, pull some more things to file while watching the movie and just enjoy my time alone with my DH.
XOP

Ahhh, Labor Day Weekend

How was your Labor Day weekend? It is nice to have some time off from work. For some reason that extra day off really helps doesn't it? Any everyone's kiddos should be back to school today here in beautiful Michigan. I only have one kiddo still in school and I am not sure college counts, although, it sure hurts the old pocket book when they register and get books, OUCH!

My weekend fun began while driving home from work with my DD1. I like to look for hawks as I drive along. Now here is a weird fact for you about me, I find that whenever I am worrying or really trying to puzzle something out and I see a hawk it means a solution is near. If I see a crow it will not be a positive end to whatever I am thinking about. Weird but true for me. Do any of you have talisman? Anyway, I digress, so we were driving home and she shouts out hawk and then just stares at me until I finally ask, "What?" To which she replies, "It was a dead hawk on the side of the road". Now I know you are all asking why does this matter? Because I have a history of picking up raptor road kill and taking it to have it preserved. It is illegal to keep even a feather of a protected bird, but the DNR doesn't want them (Told me to throw a Great Horned Owl in the trash, but not to keep it!) I found out that I can donate them to a school though so this is what I do. I don't think it had been dead long either. Of course it was on the highway and I had to go a really long way around to circle back to it but I did and DD1 jumped out and picked it up and put it into a box I was going to use for mailing a package to someone. Once we got it home I put it into a plastic bag and put it into my freezer. Funny story with that too. DH went out to the freezer to get something for dinner and came into the house and asked, "Why is there a dead hawk in our freezer?" Not surprised or upset just wondering, LOL!! He's a keeper!! The hawk will be going to Grand Valley to a professor there that teaches taxidermy at the college but here is what it looked like before we put it into the freezer.

Most of the rest of my weekend was uneventful. I did a lot of work around the house, cleaning and laundry etc. I did some reading which took up a lot of my time. then yesterday I decided I needed to do some quilting. Here are the last two Jelly Roll Quilt Along blocks finished.

Whew I can cross those off the to do list now. I am waiting for some inner border fabric so I can finish this off.

I started a new "to do" list. It included setting my Sept and Oct goals, so here they are:
1-Cut sashing and borders for JRQAL blocks CHECK
2-Assemble JRQAL quilt CHECK and give to the quilter CHECK (DONE AND GIFTED)
3-Cut sashing and borders for Between Friends quilt and put with the ever growing blocks until I can assemble them (I am using the blocks as leaders and enders and have half of the blocks I need for this top already done!)
4-Make the Curious George quilt for Mason CHECK (DONE AND GIFTED)
5-Trim all the t-shirts that I have fused for the t-shirt quilt
6-Finish mermaid quilt and turn in for auction CHECK
7-Take out the Halloween quilt from Ellen and begin it.
8-Time permitting make another quilt for MHC with the "man" fabric
9-Cut fabric for Hocuspocusville for LTW's dad to trace for me CHECK
10-Work on finishing the redwork for Rabbits Prefer Embroidery

Since I will have some time before I get another challenge (if I make it through) I thought I should try to finish some of the other quilts up that are sitting around. I think I should be able to get this all finished, time will tell!

The next thing I did was to work on the mermaid quilt. I got the "waves" done and sewn to the top, put the white on top of that and then made a back. I decided to try to quilt this myself as it is small. I love how it looks all pinned up don't you?
Thanks Allie for the basting tutorial, it worked for this one!

Then I gave the quilting a try. I don't quilt my own quilts very often but this was small so I went for it. It took me about 3 hours! Now I remember why I hand them off to LTW! Although there is something satisfying about doing your own quilting too. What do you think of her? The quilting is far from perfect but I am happy with it. It just needs the binding which PTM will do for me and I can donate it to the auction. I need to set a minimum bid, what do you think??


I got a back sewn together (from stash) for the manly quilt I made at the Margaret's Hope Chest Quilt weekend. I will be bringing that one to LTW to do though, too big for me! I'm sure this catches you all up with what's new at my house!

The Weekend Continues

On Saturday morning we all went to Carol's church to sew. We sewed for a little bit and then Amanda Jean talked, showed her quilts and did some demonstration of the process she uses when she is sewing. Most impressive was the fact that she sewed while standing up!
Carin is in the pictures with Amanda Jean too.

I want you to meet some of the other people that were there too. Carin (in charge)and her mom Carol and sister Amy.

Carin's best Friend Jen (I had to take this photo. She is a new quilter and wanted to be there to support everyone, so she was pressing for people. I hardly think the pregnant person should be on hands and knees pressing, LOL. She was a lot of fun!)and my roommate Kate with Amanda Jean.

I brought some fun manly fabric I had picked up from some fabric cards. I thought it would be great for a guy quilt. I did not know what the quilt would be but as it turns out it was perfect. I had enough to do mine and I gave some to Rebekah and she made one too!! She did hers with a dark brown background and I used Kona Ash. I like them both!

You should all know by now how much I HATE having my picture taken and yet, somehow I have been in more photos recently than in a long time, LOL. I leave you with this last one and it is me with Amanda Jean as I was getting ready to go and see my dad.
Thank you for a wonderful day Carin and Amanda Jean. I hope you will do this again next year!!