Hands2Help - Inspiration from Guest Blogger Wendy!

Hi, all!

Welcome back to another Hands2Help Sunday!  As we get closer to the end of the Challenge, I am loving all the beautiful quilt pictures that show up in my in-box.  You are all fabulous!  This week is a check-in week, our last one before the final linky party at the end of May, so be sure to show off your progress in the link-up at the end of this post.  I'll be adding a post later this week showing all the quilts

that our non-blogging friends have sent me.

And now for our next-to-last guest blogger!  Wendy has a beautiful blog full of scrappy creations over at Swirls of Fabric, and has some fabulous quilt-y inspiration for us today, all geared toward simple comfort quilts!  While she doesn't provide full tutorials, most are simple enough to figure out with the few tips she does give.  So grab a cup of coffee or a Diet Coke, sit back, and soak up the goodness!

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What a treat to join Sarah's blog with this guest post! I have been so inspired by her blogs, and so amazed by the outpouring of support from the quilting world to contribute beautiful quilts to worthy charities.

 

Bright Florals on Point Donated to a Woman's Shelter

 

I have been sewing since I was a little girl. My mother and both grandmothers were beautiful seamstresses. After mastering felt bean bags at a young age, I started making clothes for myself. Whenever I visited my maternal grandmother, she was always working on flannel pajamas and small flannel quilts for the local children's hospital. A great inspiration of sewing for others.

Pixel Star donated to Quilts of Valor

Made with 5" squares

After years of sewing clothing, home decor and occasional baby quilts for friends I made a strong pivot toward quilting. My children were young and I could easily start and stop quilt projects during nap-time or in the evenings. I am fortunate to have a guest room in my home where I leave my sewing machine set up and I can simply close the door and walk away. I made "big kid" quilts when my children moved out of their cribs, and quilts for myself and friends, but I quickly realized I had many more quilt ideas than recipients. I joined a Project Linus group which met weekly and helped make quilts for that organization while my pre-preschoolers ran around the church where we met. I loved letting my children help choose fabrics and make design suggestions for Linus quilts.

 

Stacked Rectangles in Blue (Tutorial Here)

When my children started school, I joined a local quilt guild and my quilting world really opened up. Over 100 talented women with wonderful show-and-tell plus fantastic and inspiring speakers and workshops. Best of all, a thriving charity quilt committee. Our guild donates between 200 and 400 quilts each year to local organizations, many to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, CT. I love that each camper can choose his/her bed in the cabin based on the quilt, and take that quilt and pillowcase home after their week of camp. I chaired the comfort quilt committee for four years, putting together kits with donated fabrics. I searched out simple patterns for the kits and enjoyed seeing the finished quilts stack up in my basement. The kits are great for beginning quilters, and nice for anyone who wants some immediate quilting gratification. 

 

 

A simple Bordered Square Quilt from a Guild Kit

 

I have made dozens if not hundreds of quilts for charity over the last 18 years. I love seeing the design come together as I put blocks up on my design wall. Scrappy quilts are my favorite. Sarah's tutorials this year for string quilts are right up my alley with lots of fabric memories in each quilt.

My favorite scrappy quilts are one or two colors. Below are some favorites from the past which I hope will inspire you to dig through your scraps and make a quilt to share! I have added a few notes about the "formula" for the quilts, but no detailed patterns. Feel free to adapt as desired.

Each block is 14" square, donated to a local woman's shelter.

 

A perfect quilt for a jelly roll or leftover 2.5" strips,

each piece is cut 2.5" x 6"

Purple and pink 2.5" x 4.5" bricks
combined it with a single background fabric.
Similar to a pattern by GE Designs.

Each block is 8" square, half are surrounded by a white border.

The blue & green prints are cut either 2.5" x 8.5" or 2.5" x 6.5".

Rainbow crumb blocks in "dancing squares" setting.

Setting inspired by Bonnie Hunter's Dancing Nines.

Rainbow string blocks, each block is 9".

Twisting rectangles, 

inspired by quilt instructions posted by Maryquilts.

Twisting Rectangles with Wonky Yellow Strings

The yellow string sections are 6.5" x 9.5", the blue borders on 
each block are 2" x 9.5" to make 9.5" squares

Many blue-ish 4.5" squares with a 20" focus star.

This would work equally well with charm squares.

Wonky red crumb and string blocks surrounding a 20" focus star.

The outer edge is 4.5" squares.

 

Scrappy "Plus" quilt.
Each plus is made of two 3.5" squares & one 3.5" x 9.5" rectangle.

I hope some of these quilts inspire you to play with your scraps and share your love of quilting with others! I blog intermittently at Swirls Of Fabric if you want to keep up with my quilty creations.

 

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Well, if that doesn't inspire you to make a quilt, I don't know what will!  So many beautiful quilts loaded with joy and comfort for someone - what could be better?  Thank you, Wendy, for sharing your creations and inspiring us!

And now it's YOUR turn to do a little inspiring!  Link up below to share your progress with your H2H quilts.  Maybe you're finished, maybe you're just starting - it's all good, and whatever stage you're at, someone needs the inspiration you will provide.  So show us!

See you next week with another great guest blogger!

Hugs!

Sarah