Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge - The Finale!!!!

Hi, all!!


Who would have thought, way back in early April, that we would end this challenge in July with 47 active participants? If my count is correct, those 47 participants have sent in 60 quilts - amazing!!  

And this is their week to shine - I'm asking each to link up their finished quilts below so that you can see the beautiful work that they have done!  They have worked hard to create special works of art and love that will bless the lives of orphans in Romania, taken there and distributed by Judi and Clint Madsen of Green Fairy Quilts.  This is an annual trip for Clint and Judi, and I know we are all honored to be a part of it this year.  

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And now, although I know at least for me the good

feeling I get when I give away a quilt is 

reward in itself, we have some generous

sponsors who have provided giveaway items

for our wonderful participants!

The following is a list of the sponsors and 

the prize they are providing....

Sharon Vrooman of Vrooman's Quilts

is donating a Robert Kaufman "brights" solid roll-up!

She's also donating a $25 Gift Certificate to

Green Fairy Quilts' on-line shop!

Pam Nagle of Auntie Pami's Quilting Adventure

is donating a Verna Kit by Kate Spain!

KatieQ of Katie's Salt Marsh Path is donating two charm packs of Benartex Heritage Prints to one lucky participant!

Rebecca of Chasing Cottons is donating six of her patterns to one lucky participant!

Cathy of Wondrous Woven Fabrics is donating a jelly roll of Warm Memories by Kansas Troubles!

Peg and Becca of Sew Fresh Fabrics are donating a  Blooming Brown and Blue Stash Builder Bundle! It contains one fat quarter each of Amy Butler Daisy Chain Happy Stripe, Desert Bloom Cactus Toss in Brown, Honey Vine in Chocolate, Paintbrush Summer Leaves and Lattice in Chocolate from Anthology Fabrics. 1.25 yards total.  

Leah of Burgundy Buttons is donating a $15 gift certificate to her fabulous on-line shop!

Julie at The Intrepid Thread is donating a fat quarter bundle of Joel Dewberry's Heirloom in the winner's choice of colorway!

Anna Luna at Crafty Girls Workshop is donating a $25 gift certificate to her awesome shop!!

Kate of Kate Conklin Designs is donating five sets of two each of her great quilt designs!!

Shannon of Fabrics 'N Quilts is donating a $25 gift certificate to her on-line shop!!

Melanie of Above All Fabric is donating a Make Life Jelly Roll from her shop!

Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Quilts is donating a $20 gift certificate to her shop!

Judi from Green Fairy Quilts is donating a Meadow Friends Jelly Roll from her shop!


And then, in a special giveaway for participants who sent in more than one quilt, Judi from Green Fairy Quilts is offering a bundle of five of her quilt designs, winner's choice!!


So, those of you who participated in the 
Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge, 
link up your quilts below!  
It can be a new post, an old post, or a flickr picture. 
Be sure to get your quilt mailed to Judi no later than 
August 5th, 2011 - everyone whose quilt arrives by 
August 14th will get an extra entry in the 
giveaway drawings.  I'll be drawing on August 15th 
and will post the winners on my Monday post that day; 
you'll also be notified by e-mail!

And those of you who are visiting tonight, check out the links and leave these ladies some bloggy love - they've worked hard!  And consider joining us next year - it's fun!!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I get a Whoop-Whoop??

Hi, all!


It's Friday - are you ready to get your Whoop Whoop on?  I hope so - and I hope you've done better than me in getting something ready to show off!  


My sewing time this week has been limited - a three-year old who is determined not to take a nap really takes a toll on sewing time!  But I did manage to get my two bee blocks done....

Oh boy that's boring isn't it?  oh well, you all need to link up lots of pretties below 

to make this blog post worth reading!!

On the non-sewing front, I've been working hard on finishing up the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge - lots of stuff that has to get done before Sunday's final link-up!  I hope you will stop by and take a look at the beautiful quilts created by the ladies who participated - it looks like there will be around sixty quilts going to Romanian orphans with Judi of Green Fairy Quilts as a result of the challenge!  So stop by on Sunday and give all those ladies a big whoop whoop!!


So now it's your chance to shine - show us what you've been working on this week!!  And remember, you've got until Saturday night to link up!!


Hugs!


Sarah

What's Cookin' at The Sweatshop, Week #2

Hi, all!


Well, since I started a new feature for Tuesdays last week, I kind of felt like it needed a name.  As I sat up here sweating (it's REALLY hot here in middle Tennessee right now), I fondly recalled what we call it when we get together to work on ministry quilts - The Sweatshop! Thanks to Google and Picnik.com, we've got that great image above to spur us on to greater heights!


So - - - what's happened in The Sweatshop this week?  

Blue Beauty - the front...

...and the back.

This beautiful quilt, pieced and quilted by Diane Wingo, who blogs at DEW Quilting and comes to sew with our quilt ministry ladies, went to a gentleman in the final stages of cancer.  He is courageously living life on his own terms and we hope that this brings him comfort!

Flower Garden

This beautiful quilt top was paper pieced by Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts before she donated it to our quilt ministry.  I added borders and backing and quilted it up.  This week it went to a member of the team working to distribute the upcoming Christian movie "Courageous" who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  If you haven't heard about this movie, you really should check out the website.  It is being produced by the same group that did "Fireproof" last year, and is absolutely excellent!  Please go visit the website and be sure to go see the movie opening weekend, September 30th!  You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll walk away changed......  Here's one of my favorite scenes from the movie...

Last Friday, my friend Kathy came over to quilt a very large quilt on my Juki, and brought with her this enormous stack of quilt flimsies for the quilt ministry....

Added to the seven flimsies I already have ready to quilt, we've got quite a stash going of quilts to fill needs we don't even know about yet.  These are all Great American Jelly Roll Race quilt tops - four of them made by our kids' group at Summer Camp, and three made by the ladies in the ministry group.  I think there are three or four more out there that haven't made it here for quilting, too!

And then today, I got to meet with two local quilt bloggers - Vicki of Dotty Jane Designs and Kari of High Pitched Barking - to gather up the last of the middle Tennessee quilts for Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge.  Their quilts have joined mine and those of Diane of DEW Quilting to form this glorious stack....

Aren't they just amazing?

These will go in the mail tomorrow, making their way to Utah and Judi of Green Fairy Quilts. In early September, she and her husband Clint will be winging their way to Romania to distribute quilts, food and school supplies to orphans there.  You can see the video of last year's distributions if you click on the Hands2Help tab at the top of my page.

It's also been a really good week for donations - take a look at my entry hall!

And this is just the stuff I haven't processed yet!  Fortunately, I've got a couple of friends who live to organize - and they're hopefully going to come over next week when I start empty-nesting again and help me get it all organized...

So that's what's going on in The Sweatshop this week!  Hope you're staying cool where you are.....

And be sure to come back on Sunday, July 31st for the final linkup for the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge.  Check out all the beautiful quilts made by the wonderful ladies who have participate in this challenge, and maybe get inspired to join in next year!!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday #57! Where did the week go?????

Hi, all!


How did it get to be Monday so soon already?  Time just flew this week, but unfortunately not because I was doing much sewing.....  Let's see how I did on last week's list...

1.  Put the border on Lilli's quilt.

I didn't get to this - although I have high hopes

of working on it today during naptime...

2.  Piece a back for Lilli's quilt.

Another fail - didn't get to this either!

On a separate front though, I did put a border on sudoku quilt top pieced by my friend Kathy...

3.  Bind the fourth quilted ministry quilt.

Hooray!  I did get the binding done on this quilt...

4.  Quilt at least one more flimsy!

...and I quilted this pretty top, pieced by Sharon Vrooman!

5.  Make my bee blocks for Nicole....

Unfortunately, something else I hope I'll get to during

today's nap time.  I think I've finally figured out what

block to make, that will work with the fabric she sent.

(Apparently, I don't do so well with "whatever" blocks!)

I wasn't completely lazy during the week, though - 
I did pick up donationsfrom two different local donors - 

four or five big bags each of fabric and notions - 
and about half of that is sorted into the quilt ministry stash! 

 And I did a bunch of administrative work for the end of the 

Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge.

So what do I hope to get done this week?

1.  Finish those bee blocks!

2.  Put a border on Lilli's quilt.

3.  Make a back for Lilli's quilt.

4.  Get the local Hands2Help quilts in the mail!

5. Finish all the admin work for the Hands2Help challenge!

6.  Quilt at least one more ministry quilt.

Since this is Lilli's last week with me before she starts preschool, I may not get to everything on this list - I'd rather spend my time playing with her!  

See what we're working on today?

But I'll definitely work on completing #1, #4, #5, and #6, since those are obligations! 

What are you working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah 

Surfin' Sunday - featuring Pickle Dish!!

Hi, all!


This Sunday I'm very pleased to introduce you to another lovely quilt blogger - Lesly from Pickle Dish!

Now, I found Lesly's blog very early in my blogging days - she used to have an amazing close-up of a quilt on her header, which showed me that stippling didn't have to be teeny-tiny.  So when I was getting ready to do my first free-motion quilting just about a year ago - and I was terrified, because I'd never done it before and didn't have anyone to ask about it - I e-mailed her to ask her if she could give me any tips about how to proceed.  We passed several e-mails back and forth, and with lots of encouragement from her, I FMQed my first quilt!  Having done many many more now, I think she can take lots of credit for getting me well started!


Here are a few examples of the beautiful quilts you can see on her blog....

This is her new header photo - after she
inadvertantly threw away the first one I saw!

She was judged the overall winner of The Naked Bed Challenge
with this beauty!!

And look at this spectacular English-paper-piecing!

I love the color in this one - calm and peaceful,
but never boring!

And just to show that her talents aren't limited
to making quilts, check out this bag!

She wrote a lovely blog post on her typical day here that will give you an idea of her life.  It's also got some really cute pics of her family and doggies!  I hope you'll check out her blog and spend some time there - Lesly is a talented, generous, friendly quilt blogger and well worth getting to know!!

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And just a reminder - next Sunday is the end of the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge!  

Be sure to come back and see the beautiful quilts 

created by the 49 participants in this challenge - 

they've worked hard for a great cause!!

Later!

Sarah

Can I get a Whoop-Whoop?? Busy Week With Not Much To Show....

Hi, all!

Well, it's Friday again - I hope you are all surviving this epic heat wave (at least in the States) well - maybe it means you've been able to stay inside and sew!  I've had a busy week, but haven't been able to sew too much - just finished the binding on these two beautiful quilts that were pieced by Sharon over at Vrooman's Quilts!

The Newspaper Quilt
(it's black and white and red all over!)

A paper-pieced beauty -
"Flower Garden"

Detail of one of the paper pieced blocks...

Sharon does such beautiful work, it's a pleasure to finish off one of her flimsies!!   These will find homes with people in need of comfort through our quilt ministry - you'll see them again when they are gifted.

On other fronts, I've been working on the final admin stuff related to the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge - 

I suddenly realized the final due date is in just 10 days, with giveaways to be confirmed, etc.  These ladies have worked so hard on their quilts - they deserve to be recognized on time!!  You can see some of their beautiful quilts on the Flickr group now, but I hope you'll come back on Sunday, July 31st to see all the quilts linked in!

So that's my whoop whoop (albeit small) entry for the week.  What have you been working on?  Big, small, finished or not, link up and go visit the other links and leave some encouragement for your fellow crafters!  It'll make both of you feel great!!!  And remember, you can link up through Saturday at midnight......

Hugs!

Sarah