Hope Quilters to be featured in DM Register

 

LOCAL QUILTING GROUP TO BE FEATURED

AT OKOBOJI QUILT AUCTION

 

The "Hope Quilters", a group from Lutheran Church of Hope in West Des Moines is being

featured at the August 1 quilt auction which will benefit the ministry of Ingham Okoboji Lutheran

Bible Camps. The group was chosen for its faithfulness in donating many beautiful quilts to

IOLBC over many years. These ladies are on a mission "to serve God in the world by making

quilts that give warmth, comfort and support for those in need." Hope Quilters began as a small

group which made one quilt its first year and currently is creating and donating over 90 quilts a

year to needy people locally and globally. Jody Eubank, chairperson of the group, shared that

the organizations who receive their quilts are those that are supported by the church. The group

is blessed with donations of fabrics and is pleased that the church has the space to store the

needed supplies. Jody encourages people from all skill levels to participate. She has made

various kits to get beginners started. Quilters are not required to be members of the church.

These ladies are wonderful representatives of a church whose mission is to "Reach out to the

world around us and share the everlasting love of Jesus Christ." To learn more about Hope

Quilters, visit hopequilters.blogspot.com and to learn more about IOLBC visit www.okoboji.org.

July Work Day

Thanks to Rachael for capturing notes about the day.  Sounds like the group was small but very productive.  And in Rachael's words "We had a great day of quilting!!! ".   Praise the lord for blessing this group with a love of quilting and such a desire to serve Him.

 

Some tidbits:

• The 5" blocks were found.  I understand they now represent 2 beautiful tumbler quilts.  No pics yet but I'll try to capture them for the next email or get them on the blog. 
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• Batting was cut for several of our finished tops and Norma took many of them home!  I bet she's anxious to put that quilting machine to work since it's been gone for so long.
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• Rachael is getting creative with strips sets.  I can't wit to see what she comes up with. 
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• It sounds like I need to get more kits made up.  Look for more of them at next month's meeting!

 

I received an email from  a Hope member who is looking for some help. Take a look and let me know if you have any recommendations to offer up? 

I know nothing about quilting, and I have a 35-year-old quilt in desperate need of repair.  It has several tears, plus seams that have come apart.  Is there anyone that's part of the Hope quilting group that can handle difficult repairs or knows someone who could?

 

 

June Work Day

Well Saturday turned out to be a full house!  We had 15 or 16 people show up throughout the day.  Five of them were first time guests and hopefully most of them will come back.  Ginni, you're excused as I realize the trip from California may be prohibitive  

What a blessing it was to experience the energy in the room.  We got a ton done.  Show and Tell was the longest part of the meeting.  We had lots of beautiful quilts to look at. There were 6 or 7 people piecing. Several people were cutting out projects.  We had a few small donations to sort through.  We found backs for 4 or 5 quilts.  Linda prayed for us to find a quilter and before the end of the day I believe 10 quilts went out the door with Sandy and Suzanne!  We finished 6 quilts that were dropped off with Missions.  They will go to JOPPA and YESS.  Whew, are you tired yet? 

 

Check out the Photo tab to see the activities of the day.  Here are just a few.

Zoom in and look at the embroidered Noah's Ark blocks.  So cute!

 

A great quilt for LSI.

 

Rachael like her pink.  Just not all the small pieces.  But she did a great job.

 

A very simple way to use some strip sets.

April Work Day Recap

 

Thanks to all for another energetic and productive work day!  5 quilts off to Missions, 5 more ready for the auctions, another 5 off to the quilters and 7 or 8 more that we found backing for.  WOW!  Thank you, God, for the generous donations of materials as well as the faithful servants who are Hope Quilters!

Check out the pictures of our newest creations on the Photos tab.

Just a reminder that we have a retreat coming up on the 24th of this month.  This is time for fellowship and time to work on your own projects.  We have Room 101 on Friday, starting any time.  I'll be there around 8am.  We can stay as long we want on Friday.  We will also sew on Saturday.  Church opens at 6:30 so you can start as early as you want and we'll finish at 3pm.  Fee is $10/day to cover Friday dinner and Saturday lunch.   There is also a snack table so feel free to bring something to share.  Coffee will be provided.  Bring a friend if you like.  There is always plenty of room.

Here is the end result of the project I showed in the last post.  Quite a clever group we have.   

Finally, take a look at the new page; Jeans for Joppa!  A new ministry in partnership with Hope's Men's Ministry

February Work Day Recap

There was a fairly small crowd on Saturday.  It was also pretty quiet in the room.  People were busy at their tasks I guess.  And the talkers were not here this weekend.......you know who you are.

We needed batting for about 12 finished quilts.  7 finished quilts were distributed for missions or the auctions.  Others worked on new quilt tops.  A great day all around!

 

Our faithful Sister of Batting



A repurposed quilt.

Thinking and rethinking this design. 
Look for the new result in an upcoming blog.

 

Another big topic of conversation was around the Quilt Auctions.  Both auctions are schedule for August 1st.  This is the weekend of our summer quilt retreat.  Since we are being honored at the Okoboji auction I will be attending that one.  Others attend the Riverside auction each year as well.  A suggestion was made that we could cancel the summer retreat and for anyone who was interested we could instead plan a road trip to the auctions.  Plans for the road trip will continue to be formulated so keep that in mind.

Finally, we worked on the idea for creating quilts for the Joppa ministry.  We've had several jean donations and Georgia brought us lots of yardages of heavyweight fabric (denim, broadcloth, corduroy, etc) that could also be used.  The men's ministry is gearing up to collect jeans for us.  Jeans for Joppa is what they are calling it.  Look for a page on the Blog, soon, to explain.

 

 

Quilts to Robin's Nest

Several of our baby quilts went with the group on the Robin's Nest Mission trip in January.  Here are a few photo's.  The kids loved their quilts!

January Work Day Recap

Tubs of fabric, batting and binding and 24 finished quilts, OH MY!! 

Our work day this month was certainly a flurry of activity.  14 quilters showed up including some new faces.  We had the fun of combing through 2 more generous donations.  There were 24 quilts ready for distribution so the group decided which should go to LSI, Hawthorne Hill, ASP, Navajo and the guilt auctions this summer.  We have great mission partners who love to receive these creations. 

We had a visit from one of the Joppa coordinators.  We talked with Robert about whether they had a need for blankets to help keep these people warm.  We discussed the opportunity to make some Jean quilts for him to distribute to those who had a need.  We are going to try this for a little bit to see how it goes.  If you have any old denim clothes (jean, shirts, jackets) that you are willing to donate we will experiment with some quick and easy ways to put jean quilts together. Bring your donations to the upcoming retreat, get them to me or leave them in the closet in Room 214.  Let's see if we can spread a little warmth in some new ways.

Our next big event is the January Retreat.  I hope you have it on your calendar for January 23rd and 24th.  We will be in room 101 again.  We can sew all day Friday and til 3:00 on Saturday.  The church opens at 6:30 so feel free to come any time.  I will probably be there to set up before 8am.  We will order pizza Friday night and then something else for lunch on Saturday.  We ask for $10 per day if you are eating with us.  Otherwise, I will have a coffee pot and a cooler if you need to keep anything cold.  People have just brought treats to share.  I'll have paper products and silverware. 

I would like to get an idea of how many people we will have.  If you are considering attending could you reply to this email and let me know.  Also, feel free to bring a friend or family member.  We always welcome new faces.  And to help you plan ahead, we are confirmed for the additional following dates   April 24-25 and July 31-Aug 1 .

 

I thought these pics did a good job of showing the fabric action of the day.  See the blog for more pictures of many of the quilts that we were able to donate. http://hopequilters.blogspot.com/p/photos.html

A table full of donated fabric and another one full of completed quilts.  We've been busy last year.