August Work Day

Usually August brings hot weather to Iowa.  Not this year - yet.  The Iowa State Fair is in full swing; families are on final vacation before next week's school year begins; and the weather is a bit cooler than usual, with folks taking advantage of the great weather to be outside. 
But a few quilters stayed inside to work on Ghana altar cloths.  We also sorted through the wonderful fabric and thread donations just received the past several weeks.  We're so grateful for these donations which enable us to continue to make our quilts for those who need them for comfort and warmth.

 The families of Mrs. Joan H. and Jan B. have given Hope Quilters large, beautiful stashes of fabrics and quilt kits.  Connie H. dropped off another large stash on her way to the fair.  Just when we begin to run low on some fabrics, God provides through wonderful people who donate their no longer used fabrics.  A huge Thank You to all for your generosity.  These fabrics will be used in quilts and some in the Ghana altar cloths.

Christie E. brought in the large supply of threads which will help us sew and quilt the quilt tops we make for our missions.  We even used some of the thread this day sewing on the Ghana altar cloths.  What a wonderful gift to add to the Hope Quilters "stash".




This day we worked on making altar cloths using the Ghana fabrics and fabric out of our Hope Quilters supplies.  These altar cloths will be taken to the Ghana churches that have been built from the "40 Churches in 40 Days" 2011 LCOH Lenten project.  Praise God!  There have been well over 100 churches built!  We have a lot of work to do to make altar cloths for all of these churches.  

While a few Hope Quilters work on these, others continue to make quilts for those in need, using the newly donated fabrics shown above.  GOD is good, and it's great to be in the family of quilters doing HIS work.

A few of the altar cloths being constructed.

 

Mercy PICU Quilts

Here are the latest quilts delivered to Mercy Hospital PICU on Tuesday.  This completes Hope Quilters commitment of fifteen quilts for 2013.  We always pray that they won't all be needed, and that there will not be a need for more than our annual goal of fifteen.  The PICU serves children from age 2 to 18 who are critically ill or injured.

July Work Day

July 13^th was a very busy day at LCOH.  Hope Quilters had our monthly work day; preparations for VBS were well underway with training and practice sessions; a quarterly luncheon was being held in the Bridge; weddings in the Chapel; regularly scheduled meetings in many of the classrooms.   What a wonderful place this is, it’s always great to be here in God’s house, as our church family and friends are doing His work in our varied ways.

For Hope Quilters, quilting was not the order of the day.   We spent the time working with the Ghana fabrics to make altar cloths for the new churches in Ghana.  The original altar cloths we made were not large enough, so we’ve adjusted the sizing.  A simple pattern was designed to allow us to quickly make several that can be sent with the next Ghana Mission Team later this month.  We also had several already made that we will also send along.  Praise God!  There are now 110 churches built in Ghana, thanks to the generosity of LCOH during the 2012 Lenten “40 Churches in 40 Days” project.  The Word of God is spreading across that country.  Now we need to step up and complete the commitment we made to use these beautiful fabrics to cover the altars in these new churches.

Quilt Retreat June 2013

June 21st and 22nd Hope Quilters had a quilt retreat at home - LCOH.  The pictures tell the story of the fun and comraderie we had.

June Work Day

Saturday, June 8th is the monthly work day for Hope Quilters.  We'll gather together at 8:30 a.m. for welcoming and catching up.  Devotions and business will follow at 9:00 a.m.  Bring your sewing machines and notions; cutting mats, rotary cutters, irons and ironing boards will already be set up for us to use.
Bring a sack lunch and drink.  We'll sew/quilt until around 2:30 p.m. before we put our fabric carts away for another month. 
The HQ quilt retreat will be June 21st and 22nd, here at LCOH.  Come and work on whatever you would like to start or finish one or two of those UFO's that have been lurking among your fabric stash. 

Quilts for ASP Mission June 2013

Pictured are a few of the quilts that will be going with the ASP Mission Team in June.

Serving God by making quilts for those in need.

 

These quilts are smaller sized for children.







 Larger, bed-sized quilts.

All of these quilts (and more) will be given to families in Appalachia by the mission team.

 

May Work Day

May 11^th saw some sixteen Hope Quilters working on our varied projects.  Here is the pictorial view of the work being done by this busy group of quilters.

Show and tell quilts:

 

 

Hope Quilters are also making small pillow cases for breast cancer and other medical needs.  Shown are some kits that have been made up, ready to be sewn.  These pillows can be requested through Hope's Care Ministry.

 

 

 

A pillow with one of the pillow cases.

 

The Okoboji project is nearing completion.

 

 

 

Quilters busy with new projects.  We help each other learn new techniques, new patterns and blocks.

Helping hands to pin-baste a new quilt

 

 

Learning how to cut some new blocks using a triangle tool.

 

Here's a Ghana Altar Cloth

It has been made so either side can be used on the altar.

We're planning a Saturday Sewing Day soon to use the rest of the Ghana fabrics

to make more of these 84" X 72" altar cloths for the new churches in Ghana.

If you would like to help sew these altar cloths, please contact Hope Quilters.

We are not "quilting" these, but they will have a backing fabric.  Some may be

double-sided as this one below, others will have a plain, solid back.