As always, it was a wonderful couple of days spent with quilting friends. Thanks to Phyllis for sharing a devotion on Inspiration!
We got so much accomplished. Most of the blocks we made at the Social gathering a couple weeks ago were turned into quilt tops. Several new patterns have been made up for our pre-cut sizes and there are many new kits in the boxes. It will be exciting to see these put together! We received another great donation from our friend, Lin, at Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Besides some kits with beautiful florals, there was yardage of adorable baby flannel. This was all distributed in order to make simple baby blankets we can give to several of Hope's mission partners. It's so fun to see what we can do with what we've been given.
One thing we are going to try and monitor is our collection of pre-cuts. We're just getting too many. So the new challenge is: before you bring your smaller scraps back to HQ, why don't you turn them into a block? We're collecting 9.5 or 12.5 blocks and I'll put them together in kits for scrappy quilts. You can use the 3-6-9 measurements that we've been cutting or you can use the improv method to make your block! We will continue to have one or two bins of precuts as many like to sew with these. But we are definitely downsizing!
Another great option for using your scaps is making half-square triangle (HST) blocks. Here is a great example of how easy it is to put just about anything into the same quilt and look cool! (Thanks Sandy!) Here is a basic tutorial about making HST
http://www.blossomheartquilts.com/2012/07/hst-tutorial-and-maths-formula/
We will also do some technique teaching in December to see
how we can make HST many ways. You can see how this creates so many
options for interesting quilts. This link was titled 180 layouts for
HST. https://www.pinterest.com/arizonagirl/hst-layouts/
We turned in quits for Sleep in Heavenly Peace as well as
LSI. Seven wheelchair blankets were given to the Care Ministry as well. Eight dog beds were delivered to the ARL. We've heard the news lately
about the many Afghanistan refugees that will be coming to Iowa. Many of
our quilts will go to them. And there was a recent dog-hoarder story
where over 500 dogs were rescued. Even our scraps can serve to bring
comfort to our four-legged friends❤.
It's coming up before we know it. Put our next retreat dates on your calendar now so it doesn't get lost in the business of the upcoming holiday season. January's retreat is on the calendar for the 20th, 21st, and 22nd.
As always, don't forget to check out the PHOTOS page for all the quilts and wheelchair blankets and bags. Forgot to get a photo of the dog beds 😕
Enjoy the Thanksgiving season!
