What's Cookin' at the Sweatshop?

Hi, all!

Can you believe that January is almost over?  And I've still managed to keep one of my main New Year's resolutions - to post each week about the quilts we have given away as part of the Piece*Love*Quilt ministry!  We've given away a few more this week - so let's see them!

This cute little quilt, pieced by Pam, is going to a brand new baby boy - and it's being held by our newest member, Piper!  

This pretty quilt, made by our friend A.D., will be going to a 22-year old woman with spina bifida. She is confined to a wheelchair and is undergoing some health issues related to her condition.  This is such a beautiful cheery quilt - our prayer is that it will brighten her days as it warms her and gives her a big quilt-y hug!

This beautiful scrappy quilt was also given to us by our friend A.D., and has been given to a pastor from West Tennessee who is battling Stage 4 lymphoma.  As he undergoes tests to determine future treatment, we hope that this quilt will give him hope and comfort.

The next two quilts will be given to our pastor to be given away at the semi-monthly prayer and healing services that he holds.  At times he feels that someone needs to be able to take a hug home with them, so we try to have quilts on hand for him to use.

And for those of you who have asked, yes, a tornado hit our town of Mount Juliet, TN last night. Fortunately for my hubby and I, we live on the opposite side of town from where it hit.  Unfortunately, straight line winds took down a missions building that was under construction at church...

...but that's the only damage that I heard about from the folks I saw tonight at church.  We were very fortunate!

And we've received some more donations...

This pretty quilt top and some fabric from P., 

and some hearts from Sharon!

We've also received three more hand blocks for the Helping Hands Project...

From Sharon...

From Sheila...

And from P.!

I just love how individual each one is, and how much they reflect the personality of the giver!  If you have ever donated to our quilt ministry, or to the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge, please click on the button on the top right of this blog to learn more about the project and send in a block!

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Now, on a slightly different note, but not too far flung from the ministry update, I want to let you know about a fundraiser that Pam, a member of our quilt ministry, is holding.  She made this absolutely beautiful quilt with a great story, but she has now decided to raffle it off to raise money for Blood:Water Mission. 

 She's hoping to raise enough money to put a well in a village in Africa!  Well, she's having a giveaway this week to raise awareness, and you can check it out here!  I know I'm going to be kicking myself for this, because I really want this quilt!  But it's a great cause and I want to help her reach her goal....

So that's what we've been working on this week in the Sweatshop!  Thanks to all of you who help make our work possible!!

Hugs!

Sarah

The Leap Year Traveling Stash is Ready To Move ON!!

Hi, all!

Yep - I was the lucky recipient of the Leap Year Traveling Stash last month, and now it's the 29th - and time to find a new lucky person to play with all this goodness!!  Take a look at the lovely fabrics in this box...

...and there are some really nice non-fabric items too...

...but not an overload of them!  Nice!!

Here's what I took from the box...

...and here's what I added in!

There's a good bit of yardage in the first two pieces, and the bottom two are not as large, but still good sized.  I would have added some more, but this large mailing box is filled to the brim with lots of fabric goodness!!

So now, you ask, how can you get your hands on this stuff?  Here's what you need to do if you want to win it!

1. You must be a blogger so you can "pass it on" to another blogger on the 29th of next month.  This way it can keep on giving all year long and beyond.  Keep us posted about where it's going.

2.  You must be willing to ship it on to the next person, within a day or so after your giveaway (starting on the 29th) closes.

3.  You may take anything you like, but for every item you remove, you must replace it with another item, or more, to keep the box filled to the brim.  Items do not need to be new, but if they are not new, they must be gently used.

4.  You may fill the box with: orphan blocks, books, patterns, notions, rulers, and definitely fabric, anything sewing or craft related.

5. There is a note in the box that logs where the box has been.  Please add your info and place the note back in the box.

How to enter?  Leave a comment on this blog!  Let's make it interesting, though - how about if you tell me what you were doing crafty ten years ago?  You don't have to be too specific, let's just see if we are constant in our crafts or fickle as the wind!  Just to be up front about it, ten years ago, I did lots and lots and lots of cross-stitch!  Usually the heirloom quality pictures that took about six months of near-constant stitching to complete.  

I've got lots of them hanging around my house, but my eyesight has aged (boo hiss!) so that it's no longer as pleasurable to do it.  I didn't get into quilting until about three years ago, and that was just an accident!  

If you post about the giveaway on your blog, you can leave a comment with a link here for an extra entry, too!  Good luck!!

Hugs!

Sarah

Oops - almost forgot! I'll announce the winner on Friday's Whoop Whoop post - entries will close Thursday afternoon at 5 pm CST.

Make-A-List Monday -

Hi, all!

I hope you all are staying warm and cozy this winter - we're having the strangest weather here - it was in the 40s over the weekend, 61 today, 70 tomorrow, then back to the 40s!  My daffodils are starting to yellow up - I may have to go out and harvest them if it gets cold again!  They say that if you don't like the weather in this part of the country, wait five minutes - it'll change!  Oh well, at least it keeps us on our toes!  And yesterday, I managed to back into my garage door - how's that for bright?  

On the cold days, I have been doing some sewing - not as much as I had hoped, but some!  In February, my little girls will start staying home with their mom three days a week so I've been enjoying playing with them this past week.  I'll have more time for sewing when I don't have them as much!  But let's see how I did on last week's list...

1.  Make two quilts for ministry needs.

Done!  Well, I quilted them...

...somebody else pieced them!  More about these on Wednesday...

2. Make two quilts for the prayer and healing service.

Partly done - these are quilted, but still need binding!

3.  Work on the second commission quilt.

I've traced all the letters and cut them out, and started to cut out the center of the quilt, just before naptime ended.....

4.  Design the messenger bag pattern.

Haven't gotten to this one yet.  Bummer...

5.  Make some more scrappy trips blocks.

Done!  I'm up to twelve now...

...but I can see that the second one down on the right side is not fitting in - we'll have to see how it goes as I make more.  This is a true scrappy quilt - I'm using anything and everything that comes to hand!  But that light block may have to go...

6.  Work on my knitting.

Done!  I had some waiting time this week, so I took it with me!  I'm about 2/3 of the way done - can't wait to finish it!

7.  Visit all the links from last Friday's whoop whoop party.

Done!  And there were so many pretty things this week!

8.  Enjoy those little girls!!

Done and done!!  We've been having a big time - Lilli has been doing a good bit of hand sewing...

, and Emmy has learned to crawl!  Here she is playing with one of her favorite toys...

So I didn't get everything done last week, but I made a respectable dent in that list.  Let's see what's on tap for this week!

1.  Bind the two ministry quilts.

2.  Make that messenger bag pattern!

3.  Work on the commission quilt.

4.  Make more scrappy trips blocks.

5.  Set up a schedule for my "free days" without the girls.

6.  Write a blogpost for the Leap Year Traveling Stash!

(Yes, that's right!  Tomorrow you can enter to win the traveling stash!! Be sure to check back...)

I'm sure there's more I should be doing, but I'm absolutely drawing a blank...  So maybe I'll get more done than this!

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

Hugs!

Sarah

PS - - be sure to check out the Leap Year Traveling Stash Giveaway here!!

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? I Love Orange...

Hi, all!

It's Friday - are you ready to get your whoop whoop on?  I am!!  I'm so excited to have a quilt of my very own to whoop about today - 

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Last July we went to the beach for a week of fun and sun.  Well, of course, I had to take my sewing machine and a project too!  Vacation is when I indulge myself and make a project for our house.  Last year it was this quilt...

...which I made for my husband.

This year I took my stash of orange fabrics, mostly from Kate Spain lines and some Chrysalis, and decided to use one of Jamie Elfert's patterns, Blue Me Away, to make my vacation quilt.

By the end of the first evening, this is what I had...

...a lot of pieces!  This quilt was much more intricate than the quilts I usually make, but so much fun - I was surrounded by lots of little pieces and having the time of my life!

I returned from vacation with a tan and this...

...but it still needed a border.  The grunge fabric I had originally thought I would use just wasn't right.  So I dug in my Kate Spain stash and found a print from the Serenade line that was perfect for this quilt...

...and this is how it ended up!  As my husband says, it's VERY orange - but I just love it!  Last week I had some time on my hands, and no little girls underfoot, so I did some fancy quilting...

...which shows up really nicely on the back!  This was so much fun - my quilting still looks a little drunk, but I'm getting better - there are feathers in all the chunky pinwheels, pretty swirlies in the borders, and some back and forth in the white borders.  I decided not to quilt over the small pinwheels, because of the seams.

And here's one last shot, just because it's pretty!



Looks like I may have a hard time holding on to this quilt... LOL!

In a strange quirk of fate, I shared the flimsy for this quilt on another whoop whoop Friday - and when I went back and read it again, I found the video of Emmalyn getting her hearing aids and hearing for the first time.  And today Emmy is having her second cochlear implant surgery!  

QUICK UPDATE: Emmy's surgery went very well - she went in about 8:30 and was home by noon.  Pretty much textbook, unlike the first one, and hopefully she's sleeping now, since she kept her parents up all night last night!!

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So that's my whoop whoop for the week!!

What have you been working on?

Share - we all want to see and cheer you on!

So link up and dance your happy dance...

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight!  

Be there or be square!!

Hugs!

Sarah

What's Cookin' At The Sweatshop?

Hi, all!

How did it get to be Wednesday already?  This week is flying by!  We've made a few quilts this week, and received a bunch of donations, all of which I want to share with you!  So here goes...

This quilt top was donated by Carol C. and bordered up by Pam.  It is going to a man who suffered a severe heart attack last week and is currently in the intensive care unit.

This pretty quilt was kitted up by one of our non-sewing members, Angie.  It's going to find a new home with a woman who has been battling cancer for many years, and has recently developed a brain tumor.  Her medication caused her to fall and she broke her leg, so she's dealing with that on top of everything else.  We felt a quilt-y hug was definitely in order!

And this quilt, which was donated to us by our lovely friend and honorary member, Anonymous Donor (A.D. for short), is going to find a home with a woman who was just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  She battled breast cancer many years ago and now cancer is rearing its ugly head again.  Our prayers and best wishes go with this quilt and hopefully will bring her some comfort!

And now for the donations....

A beautiful stack of quilts from A.D....

...some quilting templates...

...some cutting templates...

...and some patterns, too!

A.D. also gave us a whole bunch of mini-bolts to help organize our fabric - awesome!!

39 yards of fabric from Carol!

Mina sent this beautiful quilt top...

...along with this beautiful batch of fabric...

...and these lovelies...

...and some fun blocks!!

So it's been a busy week, and some busy times ahead getting all of these donations processed and organized!  But that's a good problem to have...

Thanks to all of you who help support our quilt ministry!  There's no way we could accomplish all that we do without your help and you are greatly appreciated!  PS - if you haven't heard about The Helping Hands Project, please check out the tab at the top of the page - we received another hand block today...

From Carolyn!

It's so much fun to see the different blocks - each as individual as the person who created it.  I can't wait to see how they all look together!  So please please please, if you've ever sent a donation for our quilt ministry or made a quilt for the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge, make a block and send it in - our "Helping Hands" quilt won't be the same without your block!  

Hugs!

Sarah