Sunday, March 10, 2013

March 13th Work Day

Rain in early March here in Iowa - means Spring is not too far away.  What better way to spend a rainy day than with fellow quilters?  A small group of Hope Quilters gathered Saturday working on their projects, going through several batches of donated fabrics and generally having a great time together.  Of course snow is coming down as I enter the recap of the work day.  It won't last long this time of year.  Later this week the temperatures are predicted in the mid to upper 40's.  Bye Bye snow.

No pictures this month, but we're still working on the Okoboji Christopherhaus project as well as putting quilt tops together for the Mercy PICU, the C&Fof I Womens Shelters and future mission projects.  Also a new roll of batting arrived so pieces could be measured and cut for the next round of quilt tops to be quilted.

February 15th & 16th was a Hope Quilters retreat weekend in Valley Junction.  We had a good time with food, fun and getting to know one another better.  Looking ahead later this year we may have another retreat.  More information to come for possible dates and location.

As always with quilters, nothing goes to waste.  The smallest of scraps are turned into quilt blocks.  The fabrics that are not 100% cotton, or for some reason aren't suitable for the quilt tops, are further donated to My Brothers Keeper, an organization that makes sleeping bags for the homeless.  One of our quilters was kind enough to see that our supply of MBK's fabrics would be delivered to a local quilt store for transport to the local group in Prairie City.

The target date for the quilts to be completed for the Okoboji project is the April 13th work day.  If anyone is needing a bit of help in finishing their top(s), please let Norma Hamilton know (gnhamilton@q.com).  We'd like to get the quilts up to camp well before the Family Camping Season begins in late spring.

As noted in an earlier email message, we now have the work dates scheduled through August.  Refer to the column on the right side of this page for those dates.