Unexpected Pleasures

In February Cara of Cara Quilts held a Charity Challenge to encourage quilters to donate to shelters for abused women/children or the homeless.  I never got a chance to blog about it, but I put together 3 canvas tote bags filled with basic toiletries and brought it to the closest Women's shelter. The items were things we take for granted, but need in our daily lives.  Each of the bags held:  a toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, a bath scrubby, body lotion, body wash, a bar of soap, lip balm, and deodorant.   My husband and I also brought a large shopping bag with extra toiletries, canned goods and old cell phones which the center converts to be used for calls to 911.   It wasn't a big deal for us since we try to buy extra items when they are on sale to donate through our church.

Over 200 people responded to Cara's Challenge.  She held a drawing and her sponsors provided lovely prizes.  I was lucky enough to receive a $50 gift certificate provided by 1 Choice 4 Quilting.  I was thrilled to visit Shawna's  lovely online shop and chose a French General Maison de Garance jelly roll and 4 Fig Tree Strawberry Fields charm packs. When the package arrived 3 days later there was a pretty Thank You card and a package of Schmetz quilting needles inside.  I immediately opened one of the Strawberry Fields packs.  It's a beautiful collection.

Sarah over at Confessions of A Fabric Addict gave away 2 Moda Jelly Rolls as part of the Hands to Help Charity Challenge and I was lucky enough to win the Origins by Basic Grey jelly roll donated by Judi of Green Fairy Quilts.  Thank you to these generous bloggers for encouraging others to support people in need.  I can't wait to use these very special fabrics.

Fun Link

I found a great site that I would love to share.  If you love to make bags and totes, this site is a great resource.  DIY Bag Lover has links to free tutorials for every kind of bag and tote you can imagine and a few you never knew you needed.  

Anatomy of a UFO

A UFO no more

As I was sewing the binding on this little quilt, I couldn't figure out why I left it to languish in the closet for 2 years.  I have lots of UFOs that I have been dragging out from their hiding places so that I can face up to them in the light of day.  I keep asking myself, "Why didn't I finish this?"  In this case, as I was about to put on the border I noticed that I didn't like the color combination on 2 of the blocks.  I took the quilt apart and made new blocks to replace them. Unfortunately, after I was finished, I noticed that I sewed one of the blocks in the wrong direction.  I ripped it apart once more and turned the offending block the correct way.  I was so sick of looking at the quilt that I put it away.  Months later, I took it out again to cut the borders and binding, I noticed another set of blocks that I didn't like, but left them alone.  After putting on the borders, I realized I miscalculated and didn't have enough fabric left for the binding.  The quilt was banished to the closet once more.  Finally, I gave in and used the same fabric for the binding as the backing.  It wasn't what I wanted, but it would get done.  Once it was finished, I liked it.  I realized I should have left it alone in the first place and it would have been done 2 years ago and probably would have been just as nice.

Sharon over at Vrooman's Quilts is one of my favorite bloggers.  She creates wonderful quilts and explains the hows and whys of her projects is a manner clear enough for me to understand.  I really love to read about the different swaps and challenges she participates in.  She gets so much done, I'm not sure if I believe she is really only one person. There is a new button on her blog for the Hands 2 Help Charity Challenge.   It is a great way to have fun, use up some stash, and to spread love through one of your quilts.  Check it out soon because the sign up runs from Sunday, April 10th until April 13th and challenge partners will be assigned on April 15th.

Getting down to business

This week we have been blanketed with snow twice.  Our backyard shed is almost covered.  It's not melting very much and we're running out of room to put it.  I've been spending a lot of time indoors and keeping busy.

In July, the online Sunshine Quilters Guild lost  Bev Bennett of Alaska, a dedicated and inspiring  quilter.  Bev, a widow, did not have children of her own so she devoted most of her retirement  to making charity quilts for children.  When Bev died, she had an amazing stash, but her step-children were not interested in obtaining it.  Linda, another Sunny, went through the stash dividing it into stacks that would fill Priority Mail boxes and sent them out to anyone in the group who agreed to pay the postage.  When the box arrived at my house in early fall, the first thing I did was to take it to the laundry room.  Bev was a smoker so as I opened the box, I immediately placed like colors into the washing machine.  There was so much fabric that just the thought of ironing it left me exhausted 
The Sunshine Quilters support 2 groups;  Wrap-Them-In-Love (WTIL), and Wrap-a-Smile (WAS). WTIL is a non-profit organization that brings together quilters to collect donated quilts and distribute them to children around the world.  Some of the quilts go to orphanages for children awaiting adoption and to areas that have suffered natural disasters.  This program also supports the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.  
Wrap-A-Smile (WAS)  supports a Rotary program called Rotoplast which sends medical teams to third world countries to perform free cleft palate and lip surgery.  When it was  found out that the children were wrapped in paper when they came out of surgery the group WAS started  to make sure each child was snuggled in a quilt they could keep.

I've spent the last few days ironing and cutting the fabric into strips and charm squares that can be used for simple children's quilts.  The timing was perfect because Kelly, over at Charming Chatter is hosting a sewing party  on Saturday.  Participants are asked to work on projects that represent the word they have chosen to guide them this year.  I posted about my word, "Calm," back on January 5th.

Knowing that a huge stack of Bev's fabric has been sitting in my sewing room for months has made me feel guilty for not getting projects done for the Sunshine Quilters.  I'll be taking my time on Saturday, sewing and remembering Bev and the way she inspired everyone who knew her to care about children who need a hug.

Calm

Calm

Stillness; lack of agitation or excitement; tranquility; serenity.

This morning as I ate breakfast, I looked out at the birds visiting the feeder on our deck.  I was trying to decide if there was one word that I felt would describe how I want my life to be.

Kelly of "Charming Chatter" (Home of the Charming Girl's Quilt Club) has proposed that we, "Choose a word that identifies what we'd like to see more of in our lives in 2011 - what we want to cultivate in our lives!  It's a word to reflect throughout the year." 
In choosing my word, I have been guided by the writings of St. Francis de Sales. You don't have to be religious to appreciate what he has to say. 

"Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.  Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset."

I think we all crave calm in our lives.  I often find myself stressed because someone else's  lack of planning has caused an emergency in my life or because I can't say, "No!"    Resolutions come and go so I won't be making any this year.  Instead, I hope to  establish a new way of approaching life and developing a calm spirit.  Will I be successful?  I think just making the attempt will make a big difference.

Christmas Swaps

I have been trying to get myself back in the groove of posting, but I keep falling down on the job.  I did manage to finish 2 charity quilts that were presented to the Veteran's Hospital by members of  the charity quilt group I belong to, the Quiltniks.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of them.

I did manage to take pictures of the items I made for a Christmas swap sponsored by the Sew Delightful Designs embroidery Yahoo Group.  This is the first embroidery swap I participated in and the only thing I knew about my swap partner, Leola from VT, was that she likes Sunbonnet Sue.  I sent her a hot pad and apron with Sue designs,  3 FSL ornaments, and 2 hand towels.  All of the designs are from Embroidery Library.  Sorry for the quality of the pictures, they were taken using the new Fuji camera I got for Christmas.  My old camera did not have 1/10 the bells and whistles of this one and I am struggling reading the manual to learn what I am doing.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the front of the hot pad which was the same color as the apron.  It had a red work embroidered Sunbonnet Sue building a snowman.

My swap partner Leola sent me a lovely Christmas fat quarter, 5 FSL ornaments and a bar of Lemon Verbena soap made by a local company where she lives in Vermont.  The ornaments now hang on our Family Room tree.

Everyone posted the swaps they received on the Sew Delightful Designs group photo pages.  I was delighted with the results and feel more confident about participating in the future.

Happy New Year!!

In spite of all the goodies our family has been devouring over the holidays, I still felt the need to make something special for our New Year's breakfast.  When my children were younger they liked to make Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls.  They loved the way the tube popped when you opened it and it was something they could make by themselves.  I decided that cinnamon rolls made from scratch would be the perfect start to the New Year.

If you haven't visited Suzanne McMinn's blog, "Chickens in the Road," you are really missing something special.  She has a wonderful take on rural life, crafts, gardening, and recipes.  I used her "Overnight Cinnamon Rolls" recipe and the results were terrific.

The batter was easy to mix.

The dough only had to rise for an hour before rolling out.

You can let them do their final rise in the refrigerator overnight or pop them in the oven after a second rise of 30 minutes.

Every roll disappeared.