Make-A-List Monday - So Much To Do!!

Hi, all!

First of all, let me tell you that I am still reeling from the devastation that I've seen on CNN of the Oklahoma City tornado site.  A million thoughts are running through my mind about how I can best help out in this situation - I've seen one group making memorial quilts for the teachers at the schools, but I have a feeling that there will be many families left homeless and belonging-less.  Those numbers will probably be out in the next day or so, as the search for survivors reaches a conclusion.  If anyone else is interested in helping organize some type of quilt drive for those families, or knows of one already established, please let me know! You can leave a comment below or email me directly at salliesue (at) clearwire (dot) net.

Now let's see how I did on last week's list...

1.  Pull together my sewing studio and Lilli's craft room.

Done!  Well, as well as it's going to be for now - I've got lots of sewing to do!!

2.  Clean out and re-organize the garage.

Done!!  It looks so good!!

3.  Bake lots of goodies for Lantern Lane Farms.

Done!  3 dozen muffins, a Derby pie, a loaf of banana/chocolate chip bread, a loaf of peasant bread, and a three-layer deep chocolate cake with whipped cream/cream cheese icing!

4.  Make a ministry quilt for a woman with cancer.

I didn't get to this one, but I did find one finished in the quilt room for this woman.

5.  Write a Sweatshop blogpost.

Done!  If you missed it, you can read it here.

6.  Write my Blogger's Quilt Festival post.

Also done!  If you missed it, you can read it here.

7.  Photograph and list new items for the Etsy shop.

Didn't get to this one...

So pretty much, a week with no sewing, at least until Saturday afternoon, when I quilted three quilts for the ministry, and put binding on one of them on Sunday so it could go to its recipient today.  

We had a whole bunch of quilt requests come in toward the end of the week. So here's what I need to do this week!

1.  Quilt the Drunkard's Path on the frame for the ministry.

2.  Bind two girls quilts for the ministry.

3.  Bind a woman's quilt for ministry.

4.  Quilt two H2H quilts.

5.  Complete three tops for Quilts Beyond Borders.

6.  Quilt the three QBB quilts.

7.  Work out a response for the Oklahoma City tornado victims.

8.  Photograph and list new items for the Etsy shop.

So that's what I'll be working on this week.  It's certainly enough to keep me out of trouble!!!

And just for fun, take a look at this video - my cute littlest granddaughter - she's growing up so fast!!  Guaranteed to make you smile....

And now the question is - - - what are you working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Hands2Help - Check-In Time and a Shout Out!!

Hi, all!

Sunday again, and it's time to check in and let us know about your progress on your Hands2Help quilt(s)!!  I know some of you have already sent your quilts off - - - but don't panic if you still haven't started!  The final link-up will run from June 2nd to June 8th, so you have two to three weeks to finish up!  You can link up your progress at the bottom of this post, or just leave a comment if you prefer....  it's all good!

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And now for the shout-out!

Many of you participated in last year's Challenge.

One of the charities was The NOLA Project -

quilts for children in St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans, LA.

That area was still undergoing reconstruction following Hurricane Katrina.  I want you to see the quilts that were donated as part of this challenge....

From up high above them...

...and down low, among them!

These quilts made an amazing spread on the floor of the foyer at our church (freshly vacuumed, of course!!) and were an awesome sight to see!  

The next Sunday morning we spread them out on tables so that people could see them and pray over them...

And the following Sunday morning they were placed at the front of the church.  People came forward at the end of the service and prayed over them before they were taken to New Orleans by our senior high mission team.

A week before our Senior High students were scheduled to leave, Hurricane Isaac hit the New Orleans area.  When they arrived, they found that many of the residents of St. Bernard Parish had been flooded out of their homes again.  Some of them had just returned as their homes were finished being repaired from Hurricane Katrina.  So some of your quilts went to school children, but others went to families who had lost everything - again.  It was a huge blessing to have something tangible to give the residents of the Parish.  Thanks to all of you again who sent quilts for this particular charity last year!

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And now it's time to link up or leave a comment!

Let us know how your quilt is coming along!!

And remember - there are some fabulous prizes

for those who reach the finish line

and link up between June 2nd and June 8th!

Hugs!

Sarah

Note!  If you're ready to mail your quilts, e-mail me for the address!!

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? While the Kiddies are Away...

Hi, all!

Wow, it has been a busy week!  My little girls have been at the beach on vacation...

  

...and while they've been away, I've been working on big projects!  

First off, my husband decided that he could move his drums out into my sewing room so that I could move my stash and tabletop machine into the same rom that my long arm is set up in, so last Saturday this is what the rooms looked like...

My sewing studio:

As you come into the room...

A better view of my worktable...

And the view from behind the sewing machine.

And the drum set/quilting machine room:

A long view of the room...

Miss Jolene...

...and the drums!

And here's what they look like now, after a whole lot of moving and organizing!

My "new" sewing/cutting table,
with lovely new level pedestals!

The stash wall, after much needed organization!

Miss Jolene now stands over lots of scrap storage!
No sense in all that wasted space!!

And of course, the new drum room!

It's still not quite finished, but it's so much better than it was!  I've got a bit more organizing to do, and Lilli's craft room looks like a bomb hit it - she's not going to be happy about that, so I'd better clean it up before Monday!  But I'm loving my new space and can't wait until I have a chance to sew in it...

But that's not all!  On Tuesday, I hired my friend's teenage kids to come over and help me muck out the garage!  (My gift to my husband for Father's Day...)

Before...

...and after!

Honestly, I don't think I knew there were countertops in that shop area!!  It's hard to tell from the photos, but there's lots more floor space available now.  We took a full pickup truck load to the Goodwill, and another one to the dump.  My hubby's going to move his Bowflex down to the garage so he'll have a whole little workout area there with that and the treadmill - and now there's room for it!  The garage stays pretty cool most of the year, so it's a good place to work out.

And then yesterday I spent the day making baked goods for a local non-profit's bake sale - three dozen muffins, a three-layer cake, a derby pie, a loaf of Karen's awesome banana bread, and a loaf of peasant bread!  Whew!  But now it's done...

So that's what I'm whooping about this week - a very productive (if non-sewing) week!!  

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And now it's your turn!

What are you whooping about this week?

What's got you dancing the happy dance?

Share - we want to dance along!

The linky party will remain open

until Sunday night -

Be there or be square!

Hugs!

Sarah

PS - I'd love it if you'd visit my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, too - the story of a great group quilt made by my church's quilt ministry!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival! A Whole Lot of Good Wishes....

Hi, all!

Well, it's that time of year again - International Quilt Market (which most of us can't go to) and the Blogger's Quilt Festival, which most of us can participate in!!  Woohoo!!  Huge thanks to Amy of Amy's Creative Side for hosting this Festival twice a year - it's an enormous amount of work for her, but so much fun to participate in!

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To tell the story of this quilt, I first have to tell you the story of its recipient.  

Christy joined our quilting group last summer.  She had never sewed before, but wanted to learn. A couple of lessons in, and she was coming to the church on Fridays to sew in the new Sweatshop (our fond name for our dedicated sewing space!).  She started out with a major project, and with very little help from any of us, put together this pretty quilt...

...and then moved on to making baby quilts for the quilt ministry.  She pulled many sets of fabrics for baby quilt kits, and made about six tops like this one...

...and this one.

Then, last October, we received a prayer message that said that Christy was being life-flighted to a local hospital after a seizure.  It turned out that she had suffered a brain aneurysm and was being kept sedated while they tried to determine how best to treat her.

Springing into action, e-mails started flying trying to determine the best quilt we could make quickly for her.  We decided to use Beth's "dump-and-sew" technique so that everyone could make blocks out of their own scraps and bring the blocks in to church that week.  

This block was made by Deb and her young daughter Katy Beth.  Katy Beth was bringing Deb pieces of fabric to use, and when she brought the Disney princess, Deb reminded her the quilt was for a grown-up lady.  Katy Beth replied, "Well, isn't she a princess, too?"  Deb had to agree with that, so the Disney princess remained...

You might recognize the monkey and plaid fabric in the center of this block - they are also featured in one of the baby quilts that Christy made, shown above.

       

These two blocks are personal favorites of mine - the red and white strip in the first is a scrap of a dress I made for my daughter for her eighth birthday (about 20 years ago), and the black and white check with red hearts in the second is a scrap from a dress I made my oldest granddaughter for Valentine's Day the year she was two.

The block on the right was made by a visitor to our group on the night we assembled this quilt.  It was the very first thing she ever sewed!

The block on the left is part of a group of paper-pieced blocks donated by Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts.  We decided that they would be perfect for this quilt, and worked them into several blocks across the quilt....

Many of these blocks have pieces of quilts we've made for the ministry - so many memories contained in one quilt!

And then a reminder for Christy, written on one of the blocks...

Unfortunately, while Christy survived the brain aneurysm and many surgeries and procedures, she will probably never recover enough to rejoin us and begin quilting again.  But she made a profound impact on our group and will always remain in our prayers!

Specs on this quilt:

Finished size:  60" x 80"

Improv piecing - Dump and Sew technique 

Pieced by the ladies of Piece*Love*Quilt,

the quilt ministry of Gladeville Baptist Church,

Gladeville, Tennessee

Quilted by Sarah Craig on Jolene,

her Artistic 26 long arm machine

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Thanks for sticking with me and reading through such a long post!  If this is your first time visiting my blog, I hope you'll come back again!  I do a lot of charity quilting through my church's quilt ministry, and right now I'm hosting the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2013 here on the blog.  There's also a linky party each Friday so you can get a Whoop Whoop! for your week's accomplishments.  Come join us!!

Hugs!

Sarah

What's Cookin' At The Sweatshop?

Hi, all!

It's been a busy week at the Sweatshop - actually two weeks, because I failed to write a post last Wednesday.  So let's get right to it!

This pretty quilt went to a couple going through some stressful days.  He is a pilot (hence the flying geese) and she loves French country and the color blue.  Lots of swirly quilting on this one!  I hope they realize all the prayers that went into this one while I was quilting it....

This quilt, pieced by Deb, went to a couple whose son was killed in a military training accident.  I love the colors in this one.  Peaceful yet strong - two qualities we prayed for them.

This quilt, pieced by Deborah, went to an elderly woman who is in declining health.  She loves pink and purple, so this quilt should help her feel wrapped in love!

This quilt, donated by A.D. went to a couple who have several family members sick or who recently died from cancer.  They are questioning God's purpose in all this and need lots of prayers.  We hope this quilt brings them some comfort, too.

This quilt went to a  middle-school girl whose mother died last week in a bad traffic accident.  Her school reached out to our church and asked if there was anything we could do to help reach out to her, and we had this fabulous quilt donated by the lovely A.D.  The colors are so lovely and vibrant - I hope they help her remember the happy times with her mother.

And this quilt went to a 10-year old boy who was diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder.  This illness is so horrible - I can't even imagine what his parents must be going through.  We hope this quilt will help this little boy through some difficult times.

We also gave a beautiful quilt, pieced by a new member, Rita, and quilted by our new long-arm quilter, Debbie, to a young woman who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it!  Hopefully I'll still be able to get one and if I do I'll update this post so you can see this pretty quilt...

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We are now up to 65 quilts for the year, and 487 quilts since we started three and a half years ago.    Just a reminder about the Helping Hands Project - if you've ever made a donation to our quilt ministry, I'd love it if you'd make a hand block to go on a quilt commemorating our 500th quilt and all the helping hands that have built the ministry to date.  If you've been thinking about doing this, it's time!

And thanks to all of you donors - please know that we couldn't do this without you!!  You are an important part of this ministry!

Be sure and check back on Friday for the Bloggers' Quilt Festival - I'll be telling the story of a very special quilt!

Hugs!

Sarah