Scraps make Great Donation Quilts!

Hi, all!

This week our guest blogger is Cynthia Brunz, who blogs at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework - and boy, does she have that right!  She has some great tips for ways to make charity quilts using what you have on hand.  Many of us want to make charity quilts, but don't have the resources to spend a lot of money. Well, she has the perfect answer!  So without further talking on my part, here's Cynthia!

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I try to make a handful of quilts every year to donate to various causes like Sarah's Hands2Help quilt drive or locally to a couple of kids' organizations.  This year I am hoping to donate at least six.  To ensure I am always working toward my goal, I look for ways to get them done throughout the year.  And because quilts can get expensive to make, I like to keep the cost of these quilts down. 

My answer is to use those scraps!

One of my secrets is to participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge over at SoScrappy.  You pick your block design and how many you want to make each month.  On the first day of the month, Angela announces the color and those are the scraps you sew your blocks in.  By the end of the year, you have a scrappy rainbow quilt. 

Last year I made string blocks all year and ended up making this fun quilt.

And if you don't want to settle on one block, usually there is a Rainbow Scrap Challenge sampler quilt along.  This year Angela is teaming up with Mari over at Acedmic Quilter.  Here are my blocks for the first three months.  The instructions for each block are always easy to follow.

Participating in these two events usually yields me at least 3 rainbow quilt tops each year.  And they all come from the scrap bin!

I also try to make all of my donation quilts from 100% scraps.  Not having to go out and buy fabrics for the background or borders sure makes my pocketbook happier.  I have a whole Scrap-A-Palooza gallery of quilts over at my blog (Quilting is more fun than Housework) that has lots of ideas for turning scraps into quilts.  There are ideas for just about every size and shape of scraps.  And almost all of the designs are made from 100% scraps.

Another way I keep the costs down on my donation quilts is I always keep a stock of backings I was able to get at a great price.  I usually buy in 4 yard cuts and try to have a variety of colors.  In fact, I have been known to start with a backing piece and pull scraps to match for the front of the quilts.  This little trick ensures you have a backing you know works!

I have finished up my Hands2Help quilt and will be sending it off soon to Quilty Hugs.  I decided to go with some happy pinks and yellow to hopefully brighten a challenging day for someone receiving chemo.  It was made with large scraps, some leftover strings and a whole lot of good thoughts!

So I hope some of these ideas inspire you to turn your scraps into some donation quilts.  It really does warm your heart to know you will be bringing comfort to someone who could use a quilty hug.

And finally a big thanks to Sarah for organizing this annual Hands2Help event!

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Wow!  Thank you so much, Cynthia!  There's a lot of inspiration there - I especially love those log cabin circles!  And it's amazing how far scraps will go - I've made a bunch of scrap quilts this year, and haven't made a dent in my stash of scraps - it just takes a little bit of creativity and thinking outside the box.  I'm planning to check out Cynthia's Scrap-A-Palooza gallery of quilts, too - I bet there are some good ideas hiding over there!

Keep working on those quilts - there are lots of people who need a good quilt-y hug out there, just waiting for it!

Hugs!

Sarah

PS - I'm looking for bloggers who want to participate in this year's 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop - if you've got a great Christmas idea you've been itching to share, drop me a line (salliesue57 at gmail dot com) and let's get together!