Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? It's All Thanks To You! (My Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry)

Hi, all!

Here it is, Friday again, the end of October, only 62 days until Christmas, AND the beginning of the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  (Not to mention a little thing called Quilt Market, but since they didn't invite you and me, we won't talk about that, will we?)  Are you ready to get your whoop whoop on?  Possibly, like me, you are whooping about a long-completed quilt as part of your Quilt Festival entry - feel free to link it up here too!

So now, I'd like to welcome those of you who are popping over here from the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  We are so glad you're here - feel free to join in the whooping if the linky is still open!  We whoop it up every Friday, so come back and join in the fun!

And now, for my Blogger's Quilt Festival entry...

Earlier this year, I realized that our quilt ministry, Piece*Love*Quilt, was going to give away its 500th quilt this year.  So we asked all of the people who had participated in the ministry, whether by making quilts, donating fabric, quilt blocks, flimsies or finished quilts, or doing any of the many administrative chores, to create a "hand block" to be made into a commemorative quilt.  We called this "The Helping Hands Project".

Many months later, this is the quilt that we created from the blocks provided by both our local members and the many people across the country and around the world who have joined us in ministry.

We even created hand blocks for those people who didn't hear about the project - if we could find a record of you participating, you are represented in this quilt!

It was so neat to see the personalities of each person come out in their block.  The only requirement for the block was that it have a hand on it - there were no specifications for color, size or style.

We also worked in these beautiful little paper pieced hearts that were donated to us by a longtime quilt-y and bloggy friend!

I really want to know how this quilter created her handprint in print!  She incorporated many words that represent our ministry, including the name of the ministry!

Here's the current logo for our group, designed by my beautiful niece, Rachel!

I had a lot of fun quilting this quilt - so many different blocks gave lots of places to try out new quilting designs!

I really like this block - her hands are threading a needle!

I experimented with negative space quilting on this block, putting a heart in the background.

Tried out some feathers - - - I'm please to say my feather stitching has improved since this was done! 

Joanna put a little tiny quilt on her block!

See Sharon's block in the upper left?  It has a beautiful garden fabric on it (unfortunately I cut it off in the picture) and I have always thought of her as connected to gardens!

And P.'s block is so - - - well, P.!  All bright colors and peace signs!

So many different, beautiful blocks...

...all colorful and creative...

...representing so many helping hands!  We could never have done all the good that this ministry has done without the help of each and every one of the many hands that have helped create it!!

Just for fun, here's a shot of the back - the quilting was so pretty to see on the reverse of the quilt!

And one final shot, the "artsy" one!

The new part of the story of this quilt is that we presented it to our church this past Sunday, to commemorate our 500th quilt and to honor all the many people, both in our church and around the world, who have been a part of reaching that milestone.  The following is a video of our presentation to the church.  In interview format, we talk about how our quilt ministry started and other things related to it.  It's a little bit long (you've been warned) so I won't feel bad if you don't watch it!

Ministry Spotlight: The Piece*Love*Quilt Ministry at The Glade Church from The Glade Church on Vimeo.

So that's my whoop whoop for the week, and my entry into the Blogger's Quilt Festival!!  

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And now it's your turn!

What are you whooping about this week?

Do tell us - we want to whoop right along with you!

For you new folks, it doesn't have to be a finish - 

Just something that made you dance the happy dance!

The linky party will remain open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

PS.  Be sure to go check out all the other beautiful quilts that have linked up to the Festival - there's tons of inspiration out there!!!