I May Have A Scrap Problem... Let's Talk Strings!

Hi, all!

Oh, it has been a scrappy week at my place!  I've been keeping up with my daily scraps - they are all neatly cut and in a box - and we even did some major cleaning and sorting at church!  I wish I had taken a "before" pic of the pile of scraps we are sorting right here...

...but it filled up the empty spot on this floor - I'm guessing about 64 cubic feet of scraps!  The photo above is just at the beginning of the  scrap sorting - we well and truly covered about 14 feet of table top with huge stacks of scraps sorted by color, and this is what we uncovered...

One of our ladies even said, "There are BOOKS back there?!?!?!"  It's probably been more than a year since we have had that spot cleared!

But today I want to talk about strings. We've all got them - those strips of scraps that are too good to throw away, but if you are like me, your strings may be starting to run you out of house and home!

Just to keep it real, this is my actual string hamper, taken about fifteen minutes before I started writing this post.  Pitiful, isn't it?  But I have found a great cause that may give me some inspiration to use up some of it, and maybe you'll join me!

My friend Kat over at Kat and Cat Quilts runs Covered in Love, a charity that gives comfort quilts patients who pass away in the hospital.  Placing a quilt on the bed warms up the room, and is taken home by the family as a memento and transitional object.  She is holding a block drive right now for...  you guessed it...

String Blocks!!!  The drive is going on until the end of February, and she's got a tutorial for these particular blocks (they are foundation pieced) right here.  You know the great thing about foundation pieced blocks?  You can use up that absolutely hideous yardage you bought because it was just too good a deal to pass by - but when you got home and came to your senses you said, "What was I thinking???"

And your donations will help Kat create lots more beautiful quilts to spread warmth and comfort!

So how about it? Will you join me and make a block or two (or more!) for Kat's block drive?  Let's see if we can make a dent in our string collections while helping others!

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And remember, it's almost the end of the month - next week it will be February, and time to share how we did on January's goal and see what February has in store!  

Have you got your scrap monster on the run yet?

Hugs!

Sarah

Hands2Help - Time for Guest Blogger Kat!!

Hi, all!

It's Sunday, and time for us to welcome another guest blogger for the Hands2Help Challenge!  This week, we will be hearing from Kat Drinkwater, who blogs at Kat & Cat Quilts.  Kat runs one of last year's H2H charities, Covered in Love, and she's going to tell us about her experience with Hands2Help.  I can't wait for you to hear from her, so I'll let you get right to her part - but be sure to stick around all the way to the end of the post to see some of the results of this year's Challenge!!

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Hello! My name is Kat and I run Covered in Love which was one of the charities fortunate enough to benefit from the H2H drive last year.  I wanted to let you know what a blessing H2H was for us and encourage you to keep sewing on your quilts for this year!

To give you just a little bit of background, I started CiL 2 years ago to benefit patients in the hospital where I work.  Our mission is to give quilts to patients who are dying or have died in the hospital to warm up the room and so the families can take them home as a keepsake.  To date over 150 quilts have been given out! 

Quilters from all over the world contribute to CiL, mostly through the block drives hosted on my blog.  I am a full-time Nurse Practitioner student, part-time nurse, and do the majority of the quilting for CiL myself, all of which can get exhausting as you can imagine!  I can't tell you what a relief it was during H2H to get so many quilts that only needed a label to be done!

Quilting Assistant #1

Prior to H2H last year we had been getting by with just enough quilts. As soon as I got them done they were up to the hospital and given away. The 50 quilts we got during last year's H2H drive put us ahead for the first time, and we've stayed ahead ever since!

The infusion of new, completed quilts from quilters like yourselves can give a huge morale boost to a little charity like mine, besides of course allowing us to reach more people.  So keep on sewing as H2H wraps up :)  I got some late quilts last year that missed the H2H deadline, but even if it comes in December you can bet we'll still be glad to see it!

PS - I know Sarah has some link ups here during H2H for you to show off your progress.  I wanted to let you know that I also have a linky every Wednesday for charity related sewing, if you want to link up!

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It makes my heart sing to hear that H2H had a lasting effect on Kat's ministry - I know from personal experience what a relief it is to have quilts ready to go when there is a need, instead of having to finish one in a hurry.  See what you have done?  You guys rock!  

And today I heard from Amanda Kelly, who runs Stash Builder Box, which is the conduit for our donations to Camp Hobe this year.  She sent me this picture.....

...which was what she picked up from her post office box this morning.  She said it was mostly H2H donations...

And these are just some of the quilts they received today!  She says they have a stack of ten already.   In her words, "Camp Hobe is going to have some happy campers come June!"  

Look what you have done!  I am so proud of all of you!!!  You are making a huge difference in the lives of so many - keep up the good work!!

Hugs!

Sarah