Quilting with Friends, aka Momma's Day Out

I have a confession to make...
With the exception of my mom and one of my best friends, I've never sewn with other people. No retreats, no quilt classes, nothin'. It's not that I'm anti-social...just more that my sewing time is squeezed in bits and pieces, at random times, and not many retreats start at 11 pm!

But until I joined the quilt blogging world this past spring, I didn't realize that I was missing out by sewing all by myself. But then I started seeing how much fun everyone else was having, meeting their blog friends in real life, having sewing days, and I wanted in.

Add into that the fact that my sewing output has ramped up considerably since I've started blogging, and I've been left feeling that these projects I'm making need a purpose--that they need to go to some greater good, rather than just for my own creative pleasure. Giving quilts to charities was the easy answer.

Now, as Joey on the show Friends said in an infamous quote that gets used frequently at my house, "Put your hands together." (He was talking about jam and girlfriends, but it works for group quilting and giving away quilts too!)

So needless to say, I've had this past Saturday marked on the calendar for most of the summer. A group of West Michigan quilters (along with some out-of-towners from Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Cincinnati) convened at Queen Bee Quilt Shoppe in Grand Rapids to assemble 1000+ blocks into quilts for Margaret's Hope Chest.

Here's the sewing table. One concerned husband wondered about having all those high-powered sewing machines plugged into a few power strips. Happily, fuses only blew once or twice.

We took these blocks:

Sandwiched them around batting squares, and sewed them into rag quilts.

Jill and Jessica show off their quilts--they were both FAST sewers!

Check out the vibrant colors!

Stephanie and her rainbow beauty! I was thrilled to find out that Stephanie is part of the Kalamazoo Log Cabin Quilters Guild, as I'm very slowly getting to know people there.

Here's the quilt I assembled. I readily admit that I chose an easy color combo rather than going for the rainbow effect because I wanted to soak up all of the conversations going on around me rather than be distracted by block order.

That being said, I still managed to pair one pink block with one purple block when making sandwiches, so the pattern on quilt back is slightly off. (Shh...don't tell!)


These lovely ladies made everyone feel at home. At left is Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts, who brought her book and some show and tell quilts, as well as plenty of enthusiasm for the day of sewing. Next is Carol and her daughters Carin and Amy. Carol and Carin run Margaret's Hope Chest, and Amy, as she describes it, provides emotional support.

Carol, Carin and Amy have turned a family tragedy into an outpouring of love and hope, giving quilts to people in need. It is such a neat organization--if you're looking to give a quilt to charity, please check them out! Margaret's Hope Chest also collects blocks to be assembled into quilts (like the blocks you see here). This fall, another block design will be posted on their blog if you're interested in making some for future quilts.

Here's Amanda Jean, showing off one of the quilts from her book. I have just the triangles saved to make a version of this quilt!

And talking about her book, Sunday Morning Quilts.

All in all, it was a thoroughly delightful day, full of neat women, friendly conversation and quilting for a good cause. I didn't do a final count, but I think we made at least 10, maybe closer to 15?! Ladies, let's do it again soon!

p.s. Posting to Fabric Tuesday on Quilt Story and Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I Get a Whoop Whoop to share our fun!

p.p.s. I have spent all my free time this week machine quilting a quilt for a book tour blog hop next week. Can't wait to show my quilt next week, but it made for a quiet blog this week! 

Fabulous Friday: A winner, a finish, charity blocks, and gray???

Lots to share today! First, the winners for the Garden Divas fabric giveaway, courtesy of Random Number Generator, are: 

Congrats, gccmom and Karen O! I'm sending you both an email for your mailing address. Whoever responds first can choose which bundle they receive.

My kids are sound asleep and my husband is away for the weekend. That means I'm sewing! And my best friend, Kathy, is coming to visit tomorrow, to hang out with me and the kids, and you guessed it, sew! Here's to a productive weekend and nice long naps by the kids...

Kathy's birthday was this past week. She turned 29 again, or so I like to say, since I'm 9 months older than she is! She is also the subject of my "finish" for the week. Of course, if you've read my blog at all, you probably have already guessed that my finish was also a "start" this week. Specifically, last night. I made her a medium-sized (11" square) zipper bag using some of the fabrics from my beach bag and some other scraps. Here it is:

I love the lining fabric! I'm looking forward to giving this bag to Kathy tomorrow. I hope she'll like it. Also, I'm linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I get a whoop whoop? Friday to show it off!

I have also taken advantage of 40% coupons from Hobby Lobby the last 2 weeks and treated myself to new rulers to replace the ones I broke. I think I was too embarrassed to reveal that in addition to my two 6.5" x 24" rulers, I also cracked and then snapped my 12.5" square ruler a month or so ago. Argh! But I'm now the proud owner of these two beauties!

The only drawback is that the long ruler is 6" wide rather than 6.5". I've been using a 6.5" ruler for about 12 years now. Any guesses on how long it'll take for me to cut a wide strip the wrong width? But what can I say? I'm a sucker for a deal...and for 40% off I'll just have to pay attention!

I used my new square ruler to cut the fabrics for these blocks, made for Margaret's Hope Chest. I have three sewn and will do the rest this weekend. SO much easier to cut large squares with a ruler that isn't broken in two pieces!!

Super easy blocks, and they changed the deadline to August 20th if you want to make some. I'm planning to meet up with them and help them join the blocks into quilts at the end of August. Can't wait!

And finally, for this week's Fabric Friday...a few gray fabrics from my stash. I just finished reading the racy book that everyone's talking about...50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James. And it inspired me. (Not in that way!! This is a QUILTING blog!) I started pulling out my "shades of grey" fabrics. Stay tuned next week to see what I'm going to do with them...and how you can be involved!

Have a great weekend!

p.s. Hoping someone can help with this. Earlier this week, while browsing blogs (either from Quilt Story or WIP Wednesday, I think?) I came across a blog with a week's worth of zipper tutorials. I didn't bookmark it at the time and now of course I can't find it. Can anyone send me the link? I need to beef up my zipper skills, especially for when I make my sister's boppy cover.