January 2025 Work Day Recap

It was so good to be able to meet this first month of a brand new year!  December threw a mini blizzard at us, so the meeting was canceled on Saturday.  Some members did get in some sewing on Friday, before the weather turned bad.

It was great to see so many of you again, and it was also lovely to see several new faces!  Thank you, members, for making our new friends feel welcome. 

Show and Tell was fun.  Besides some beautiful quilts we had walker bags and pillowcases to show and share.  Check out the blog for PHOTOS!  We had 30 items donated for Mission projects! 

The Iowa Quilt Block is still taking pillowcases to help support Ryan's Smiles, which provides pillowcases for kids in hospitals.  They get a lot of young children's prints but don't get as many pillows themed for teens or young adults if you'd like to help out and make some of them.  We have a bin of pillowcase kits in our Hope Quilters closet. 

We kicked off the year making Walker Bags.  We are grateful for one member walking us through the directions and giving us helpful hints.  Four walker bags were turned in to the Care Ministry but there were probably 10 or 12 more in progress this weekend!  Thank you for taking on this project as it is really appreciated by Hope's Care Ministry.  The challenge is going out to all members to try at least one bag this month!  There will be a few kits for these bags put together, and you may want to try making one at retreat!

The retreat is just two weeks away!  Starting on Thursday, January 23rd we have 3 days of sewing and socializing.  The retreat doesn't look a lot different than the monthly quilt gatherings but its focus is definitely fellowship.   This is time to work on your own projects.  There are usually a lot more snacks!  We'll probably eat at local restaurants for meals.  All the HQ supplies and fabric will be available.  Many people elect to work on Mission projects, and there's nothing wrong with that.  So let's just call it what it really is...another weekend to sew with friends!  More details will be in an upcoming email.

The other special event is our Winter Sewcial which will be in February.  More details for this event will also be in the upcoming email.

Until then, stay warm in your cozy sewing rooms and enjoy creating!

November 2024 Work Day Recap

Another great month at Hope Quilters!  Twenty quilts were turned in.  We also welcomed three new members!  Us regular members enjoyed meeting the new people and it's always fun to see what everyone is working on!

The only meeting agendas were:
1.  To remind members to be aware of what is in the stuffing we supply for the Book Pillows we make, to make sure no needles, pins or staples are on the cut-up fabric.

2.  Tips for quilting a top continue to be discussed, as in how to encourage members to try some quilting on our domestic machines.  

3.  Learning to long-arm details are still being worked out.  Stay tuned!

Some newer members were asking about the organizations where we send the quilts.  This blog has a page called Hope Quilters Missions that has recently been updated with many of the organizations Hope Quilters Ministries support.

And now, here is the PHOTOS page, go take a look and see the many designs and color schemes of the lovely quilts!  At this holiday season of thanksgiving, our group humbly knows how blessed it is, and we are very thankful to be able to meet and do this work together.

Happy upcoming Thanksgiving!  🦃

October 2024 Work Day Recap

Well, ladies, I’m not sure how Friday went, but I was there to see how much creativity was going on in the room on Saturday!  Some really cute panels-into-quilts being worked on, and one member finishing her very first quilt!  YAY!

The ladies that attended the first “Sewcial” ever, couldn’t stop talking about it!  If you missed it, we hope to continue having these events, because they are fun and it’s a great way to get to know one another better.  The Leadership Team provided soups, and everyone brought really good finger foods and desserts, yum.  There were prizes given away, and a fun Pictionary-type game we played.  I hope you’ll join us the next time!  

The only agenda going into the meeting was simply to stir up interest in learning how to start quilting your own quilts.  Hopefully, more to come in way of a small class or one-on-one learning in the months ahead.

And then…there was the quilt show!  Oh. My. WORD!  NINTEY-FIVE QUILTS!  It was a good kind of overwhelm, and thank you for all the folders of the quilts for helping with that task.  Our devotional was on the olden days of flowered feed sacks and how nothing went to waste during that era.  Isn’t that exactly what we do with everyone’s donations that are not needed anymore and we take what God provides and NOTHING GOES TO WASTE, from beautiful much-needed quilts, to book pillows, to dog beds!

LSI/Ellipsis - 26
Altar Cloths - 26
Agape - 19
Sleep in Heavenly Peace - 9
Door of Faith - 7
A Daycare - 7
Auction Quilt - 1

Part of why there were so many quilts is because we didn’t turn any in during our September Retreat.  So we really were looking at September AND October’s bounty of quilts.  The quilts will be on the blog PHOTO page, and you can go look for yourself at the amount of hard work that has been done in the last two months.

I hope everyone felt as satisfied and fulfilled as I did, at the end of this month’s gathering.  You all work so very hard, and the quilts are beautiful.  And someone this winter will be kept warm and benefit from your generosity.

August 2024 Work Day Recap

Well, we couldn't really call it a sewing weekend because not much sewing got done. 

Here's a picture for those who volunteered and what your efforts produced:  

Yes, we unwrapped yards and yards of fabric bolts, stuffing our closet bins full!  Thanks to all of you who stopped to shop for your next project, as well as help organize this abundant blessing.  Several ironed and cut fabrics to make cool new kits.  Some put Altar Cloth kits together for people to take home to work on.  

A little chaos did reign over the weekend.  Everyone was willing to help but it was a little complicated trying to define clear tasks.  All attending were troopers.  Thanks for your patience and help!

We had our normal devotions and show and tell on Saturday.  It's good to stop and slow down, allowing time to learn more about each other as well as getting updates on those we serve.  We heard about the beginnings and mission of the Dress A Girl organization and we also had an update on Sleep in Heavenly Peace and the goal of beds that they had achieved.  Our last update was about our contributions to the quilts auctions.  Our quilts raised $1,590 to help Riverside and $2,325 for Okoboji.

Show and Tell was wonderful as always.  Forty-nine quilts to support our Missions!  Twenty of these were Altar Cloths!  We're under 10 left to make...WOO HOO!

It was fun to see people "shopping" for their next project.  The ideas were flowing and it was fun to see people get excited about the new kits and making fabric selections to go with the panels that were donated.  One thing we found as we were cleaning out the "old" is a large selection of orphan blocks.  We have these grouped in collections that might work together in a common quilt.  One Hope Quilter took one of these to start thinking about a Gypsy Wife-like quilt.  She'll be designing this at the Retreat in September.  I think some of you will find this fun.  There are still more groups of blocks if anyone else is inspired to try this.  And if you have made a Gypsy Wife-like quilt before feel free to post it on FB for others to see the idea.   

So, another successful weekend of fellowship and high-energy quilting craziness has come and gone.  Thanks to all of you for your support of this group.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

July 2024 Work Day Recap

What a great way to spend a miserably hot Friday and Saturday!  Quilting with friends is always fun but quilting for God with sisters in faith once again fills everyone's hearts.  

The early starters on Friday were met with a wall of boxes and bags in the closet.  A donation had been dropped off but no one realized just how big it would be. Seven large garbage bags and three boxes of finished quilts were included.  These were all sent to Lutheran Services of Iowa to benefit their Immigrant program.  In addition, there were eleven smaller boxes of fabric to sort through.  It's always a joy to look through fabric and several joined us around the sorting table, picking up yardage for their next project.  Some were donated to the Ewalu Bible Camp Quilt Auction in October.  Two bins of yardage were also donated to LSI for the immigrants who have access to sewing machines and are outfitting their new homes with items like drapes or clothes.  So many people benefit from the donation and the donor is happy to have it well-loved by others.  

So the donation surprise set the tone for the rest of the crazy weekend.  We were also catching up since we weren't able to have HQ in June.  Show and Tell was awesome as always.  Not counting the donated quilts, HQ turned in 62 quilts!  Twenty-seven altar clothes were added to our count (209 so far!) The others will be distributed to Door of Faith, Families Forward, Agape, Ellipse, etc.  Fifteen baby quilts were also taken over to the NICU. 

Again we saw some new faces at HQ this month. Many who heard about us through the Palm Sunday altar cloth event and visited and still coming back!  This project has been such a blessing in so many ways. 

We were blessed with a visit from Yoelevi during the meeting.  She was on the mission trip to Ghana and told us a bit about the experience of delivering the altar cloths.  She shared her heartfelt description of the joy these people have obviously found in Jesus despite the very few worldly possessions or comforts they have in their lives.  Yoelevi is interested in helping in our mission and learning to quilt so we are working on getting her a machine and I think she'll be back again.   I hope you get the chance to meet her at future meetings.  You'll be blessed!  

Once again we are partnering with our favorite local quilt shop, The Iowa Quilt Block to make pillowcases for Ryan's Smiles.  Here are more details on the pillow case pattern and Ryan's Smiles cause https://www.facebook.com/share/p/3sYaNFv367HxNqFE/.  Any pillowcase pattern will work if you don't want to use this one.  Feel free to use HQ fabric to make your pillowcases. When you deliver 10 to the store you'll get a coupon from the store!   Shelley's goal is 1000 pillowcases by the end of the year.  We helped her last year and I know you'll take up this challenge again this year.   There are many kits already made and will be available at HQ.  You can also get into the closet at Hope this summer during church office hours.  The quilt shop also has pillowcase kits if you prefer.  And they have a GREAT sale going on, if you want to pick your own fabric.  It's worth the trip for sure!

There is much thankfulness for all of you and your servant's hearts.  Quilting weekends at Hope can be unpredictable and oftentimes hectic.   The amount of grace you've all showen as we work through the challenges of this growing group are humbly appreciated.  The Holy Spirit has blessed us richly and we will continue to ask for guidance as we grow and nurture this ministry.  Thank you for coming along on this journey!     

May 2024 Work Day Recap

Love, love, love the enthusiasm and participation of all you quilters.  Twenty-six people were in attendance on Saturday alone and there were more that only showed up on Friday.  What a lively group!  The enthusiasm for serving others through quilting as well as supporting each other as friends and sisters/brothers in Christ is a joy to see and experience.  Friendships are forming, design challenges are bringing people together through creative thinking, common links are being discovered amongst new friends and your willingness to step in and volunteer for tasks is wonderful.  A big thank you to those who are taking on some official roles, and also to the group for cleaning up on Saturday.  You gals had things taken down and put away in less than 30 minutes.  Many thanks to everyone and your servant's hearts.  We give all the glory to God for what He is doing through you all.  

We heard from one of our members, whose husband is on a mission trip in Ghana right now.  They took nearly 70 of our altar cloths with them.  We'll get some of the pictures up on the blog next month and she can share more stories after her husband has returned.  

Forty-one more altar cloths went to Missions.  Our donation of quilt tops is down to one bin.  We'll keep finishing these and then many of you are making your own designs so I'm sure we'll hit the 267 count before year end.  We have done around 187 so far.  The altar cloth count is amazing but we are still continuing to support our other agencies in town.  There were also 21 other quilts shared with Missions and Care Ministry.

The measuring and documenting of 18 quilts we had reserved over the past year for the Riverside and Okoboji quilt auctions has begun. They will add to a tab on the blog if you want to take a look, click here.  

I pray that you are getting outside to enjoy God's creation. The greening up of everything, sprouting seeds, and blooming flowers hopefully make one hApPy!  And those rainy days or hot afternoons still make for good quilting time!  Thanks for all you do!

Blog PHOTOS here.

April 2024 Work Day Recap

 Praise the Lord ♥️    

That's what comes to mind when looking back on Hope Quilters this month.  The anticipation for the new participants from our exposure during the Lenten Project was reflected in discovering about 8 people who arrived early to get things set up, and all the extra tables from the cart were used!  Plenty of space for the new friends we looked forward to welcoming.

We were blessed with many new faces (I think 8 or 9).  This altar cloth story has really been a blessing to us, inspiring many to join us in our efforts.  It was refreshing to see new interest.

Altar cloth project is going well.  Fifty-six were turned in on Saturday.  With the others already collected, that makes around 120.  Around 40 of these will be going to Ghana already with the Mission trip in May.  Isn't it amazing how God has worked in this story?  Even though our focus has been on the altar cloths, there were also turned in eighteen quilts for delivery to LSI, Ellipse, Families Forward, Care Ministry, and the quilt auctions.  Several walker bags for the Care Ministry and lots of book pillows were turned in also. 

Your creativity, energy, generosity, and love continue to shine in each and everything we do.  Included in this post is a testimony for a Holy Spirit class at Hope.   The focus was on the Holy Spirit pointing you towards using your spiritual gifts.  Our hope is that you'll see the breadth of the Holy Spirit's work within what you do as part of Hope Quilters.  We are so much more than just making quilts for those in need (and that's a very noble cause by itself) but our hope is you'll experience the Holy Spirit through this involvement.  

Click HERE for testimony.  

Next up is the retreat on April 25, 26 and 27!  Be thinking of those retreat projects!!!

Finally, don't forget to take a look at the PHOTO page!  Be blessed!