Quilts for Those in Need of Comfort

The last ten days have been brutal for the state of Texas and the City of Boston. When these horrible things happen I know as a quilter I always wonder what I can do to help. One of the things I love about this addictive hobby of mine is that quilts are so comforting. Quilts help cure the most simple to the most complicated of ills. While it is a small gesture, it is amazing what a quilt and the love that is sewn into it can do!

The Boston Modern Quilt Guild is collecting 12.5 inch tall by width of your choice blocks in blue, yellow, gray and white to make quilts for those in need of support after the bombings at the Boston Marathon. They also need donations of fabric for sashing, binding and quilt backs. More information can be found here. There is also a Flickr group to upload pictures of your blocks once you are finished. If you can, I think this would be a great way to help the Boston area start the healing process!

Judy who writes over at Patchwork Times is collecting quilts for the people of West Texas who are in need of comfort after the fertilizer plant explosion and fires. She is collecting completed quilts of any size or if you have completed tops and she has time, she can quilt a limited number. You can find more information about this quilt drive here. I'm sure some of you have quilts that are either finished or nearly finished that you don't have plans definite plans for that could provide comfort to those in Texas.

I hope you can find some time this week to sew for people who I'm sure would love to know that they thought about and loved. Spread the word to your friends, co-workers, church members or blog readers.

Tonight after the kids are in bed, I think I'll pull some fabric to make this block for the Boston Modern Quilt Guild. I collect the charity quilts for my quilt guild, Burke Quilter's Unlimited in Burke, VA and one of the very nice members gave me a quilt last week and I will send it off to Judy this week for the people of Texas.

WIP Wednesday

I've been busy, busy, busy sewing lately! Unfortunately I don't have much to show for it, but I've been making good progress.

This one just needs the binding sewn to the back and it's finished. My plan is to wear my children out this morning and then work on it this afternoon after they've crashed. I really want to take it to my Guild meeting tonight for Show and Tell. I just love this quilt so much! I can't wait to show it to you once I'm finished!

I really need to add the borders to this one, but I just haven't found the time or space.

 I think I will work on it Saturday with my Quilts of Valor sewing group. There is always lots of space there. Not to mention I get to sew without my children around. That always helps my sewing progress!

Remember this?

 I just need to do one more row and then I'll have a completed top. I really want to finish this in time for Mother's Day this year. I think I said that last year too, but this needs to be the year. My aunt deserves her quilt! I love Nicey Jane! It's a good thing I love her otherwise I don't know if I could give this one away...

I have finished two Quilts of Valor Anniversary blocks. If you would like to make a block (or two) to help celebrate please see this post. They are really easy to make and good for using up scraps of red, white and blue fabric!

Last, but certainly not least Hurst's stocking. I'm making good progress on this one! I think I can, I think I can finish this by Christmas. I so wanted to finish Santa's head, but he really wanted me to make the train. Needless to say, he won. I think it's looking pretty good!

I'm really hoping to keep up the momentum this week. A couple of these quilts have been in progress for a long, long time and it will be nice to finish them. My one big goal this year was to finish most of my WIPs. I have way too many and it will be such a relief. I hope this year will cure my bad case of "startitis". I have such lovely projects in the works. I really hate that I lose interest in them so easily.

I joining in today at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday. Won't you join me?

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I'm so excited this year about the Blogger's Quilt Festival! I love to look at all of the quilts every year, but this year is special for me because I think I'm finally going to be able to participate. I can't wait!

What about you? Are you a Quilt Festival pro or have you just been admiring the quilts every year like me?

Start thinking about what you might want to share with everyone and mark your calendars! The Festival starts on May 17th and lasts until May 31st. See Amy's blog post for more details.

Quilts of Valor 10th Anniversary Block Drive

I wanted to write a quick post about something near and dear to my heart. As I'm sure you have noticed, I am a big supporter of the Quilts of Valor Foundation. If you have ever wanted to get involved, but haven't been able to commit to a whole quilt, I have a great alternative for you.

To celebrate the ten year anniversary of the foundation, a block has been designed and all the blocks are being collected at one central location. The blocks will then be made into beautiful Quilts of Valor. I can't wait to see all of these beautiful quilts that are going to come from this block drive. How special for our nation's heroes to have quilts made by people throughout the nation!

This little block is super easy to make and will make good use of your red, white and blue scraps! So you wanna make one (or two)? Follow this link to the Quilts of Valor website and download the directions. Please feel free to pass this on to your friends, family, guild members, church congregation, anyone who you think might be interested!

WIP Wednesday

This past week did not find me spending much time in my sewing room. I have made absolutely no progress on my Quilt of Valor. Instead I have spent the past week making valentines for H's preschool class. We've also been taking advantage of the awesome weather lately and playing outside practically non-stop. I do wish we could get one real snowstorm before this season is over, but I have to admit all this sunshine is giving me spring fever! Yesterday I cleaned out the birdbath and dug around in the flower beds. H kept asking if we could go to the store and buy flowers. Not yet buddy, but soon!

I did get to work on the Christmas stocking a little in the evenings. I finished Santa's sleeve and his pipe this week. Last night I started on his pants, but I think I might have made a mistake. I'm going to look at it later with fresh eyes. I really hope I didn't mess up! I hate unpicking all those little stitches!  

I wish I could say that things will be different this coming week, but I don't think so. The rest of the week is going to be busy in the evenings and this weekend my husband has a rather big home improvement project planned. Wish us luck! My husband is pretty handy, but I have to admit I'm a little nervous about this one! It's going to be pretty hard to play with the kids while my fingers are crossed and I'm holding my breath! Needless to say, I don't think I'll have much time at the sewing machine. Since he's not planning on starting his project until Saturday morning, I'm going to try to spend most of Friday evening working on my quilt.

I'm linking up with everyone else at Freshly Pieced this week. Later today I'm hoping to look at everyone else's progress and maybe that will encourage me to finish that quilt top!

W.I.P Wednesday

I've made good progress this week. I like having a daytime project vs. a nighttime project to work on. That way I can tell what kind of week I've been having. This week I've been sleeping until the boys wake up, so I've had very little time to work on my latest Quilt of Valor. I have managed to sew all of the blocks into rows during naptime. Now I just need to join them together and add the borders. I think I'm going to have to sacrifice a little couch/cross-stitch time this week to work on the quilt. I really want to finish this one up so I can work on my other W.I.Ps. This is a free pattern called Bricks-RWB designed by Mary Johnson of Mary Quilts. The quilt goes together really quickly, but makes quite a striking quilt.

I am very pleased with the progress I've made on H's Christmas stocking! Every morning when he comes downstairs he asks to see what his stocking looks like. Needless to say, that little extra pressure has given me the drive to work on it a little bit every night, even if it's just one row. Maybe I need to have someone in the military call me everyday and ask about the progress I've made on my Quilt of Valor!

Here's a picture of Santa's tummy:

I can't wait to finish this! I think it's going to be so cute!

I'm linking up over at Freshly Pieced for W.I.P Wednesday. Won't you join me? If you're like me and have some projects that need finishing, W.I.P Wednesday really helps you accomplish your goals!

Until next time, have a great day!

W.I.P. Wednesday

Oh, it's been a long time since I've done one of these posts! I'm hoping if I get back into doing these it will inspire me to work on my projects. I really need to clean out my sewing space especially of the WIPs!

I'm still plugging along on my Quilt of Valor. I haven't made as much progress as I would have liked, but slow and steady wins the race!

I try to do most of my quilting in the morning before everyone else wakes up and if there is time in the afternoon while little G naps. At night, after the boys go to sleep, I like to do handwork. That way I can spend a little time with my handsome hubby on the couch. It is a little too messy in the sewing cave currently for him to spend time with me in the basement (hanging head in shame).

I started this cross-stitch Christmas stocking for H this week. I was going to make quilted stockings for the boys, but I fell in love with cross stitch again last year and subsequently Shepherd's Bush's stockings. I'm making Harry's stocking for H and Thomas's stocking for G. Won't these be beautiful over the fireplace I WILL own one day??

The pattern is pretty easy, but these babies are huge! I'm hoping that since I'm starting in January at least one of them will be finished this year. H really wants his stocking, so I'm getting lots of encouragement/nagging from him. I think I'm going to have to get some of these labels for these stockings!

Sometime this week I need to sew the binding onto another Quilt of Valor. Saturday I'm going to the Mother Seton Parish Quilting Angels meeting and I want to turn this in. I really want to work on the cross stitch in the evening but, I will have to start sewing on the binding tonight if I'm going to finish it by Saturday. Oh well! It will feel really good to finish a project and get it off of my couch downstairs!

I'm joining in the fun at Freshly Pieced today, won't you join me?