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.

February 9th Work Day

Fifteen Hope Quilters were working on Okoboji, Mercy PICU and women’s shelter (now referenced as Domestic Violence Services) quilts on Saturday, February 9^th.  Some quilters came and stayed for the whole day, others for part of the day.  We had a great time visiting and quilting together.  At the end of the day there were quilts ready to be delivered to Mercy and to C&FI.  We also worked on the Ghana altar cloths.  There is still much work needed on this project.

On Monday, the Mercy PICU and women's shelter quilts were delivered. 

We’re continuing to work on the quilts for Okoboji’s Christopherhaus dorm.  So far seventeen quilts have been delivered out of the 37 we committed to making.  We have several more ready for delivery.  The earlier goal was to have all of the quilts completed by the March 9^th work day.  I believe this can be pushed out to April 13^th.  Family Camp season will start soon, and we’d like to have all of the quilts at camp and ready to be used.  Here's a link to that schedule for 2013.   http://www.okoboji.org/camp-programs/family-camp/   If you are having difficulty in getting a quilt finished, please bring it to the March work day and we’ll work together on it.

 We do handwork to finish and label the quilts

Sorting blocks for placement;  fabrics need to be ironed as well

 Visiting, catching up on news and family and events is an important part of the comradrie of quilting together.  We share stories and we help each other on our quilts.

 

Progress is being made on altar cloths for the Ghana churches. 


 

 

 

 

February Events - Work Day and Retreat

Saturday, February 9th is our regular work day.  We'll continue to work on the quilts for Okoboji's Christopherhaus dorm as well as quilts for the Women's Center and Mercy PICU.  Bring a sack lunch and beverage, along with your sewing machine and associated notions.

Friday and Saturday, February 15th & 16th is the 2013 quilting retreat.   There are 20 quilters signed up for the retreat.  Please let Linda Bergeson know if you've signed up but are now unable to attend.   You can work on personal projects - get one or more of those UFO's finished this year.

January Work Day

Hope Quilters met Saturday, January 12th for a day of fellowship and quilting.

We've been working on quilts for several groups, including the Okoboji Bible Camp's Christopherhaus Dormitory, Children & Families of Iowa Women's Shelter, Mercy Hospital PICU and Riverside Bible Camp 2013 Quilt Auction.  A number of the quilts have been quilted and are ready to be completed with binding and labeling.

Several Hope Quilters made and donated two quilts to Mentor Iowa.  We presented them to Marty L and Kevin O at the January work day.

We're still looking for people to make altar cloths using the fabrics brought back from Ghana.  These altar cloths will be given to the new churches provided by LCOH's 2012 Lenten project "40 Churches in 40 Days".  The mission teams will deliver the altar cloths on the 2013 trips to Ghana.  Praise God!  There are some 120 new churches being built in Ghana from that project.

January 12th Work Day

Hope Quilters will meet at 8:30 on Saturday, January 12th for a day of fellowship and quilting.   Come for all or part of the day.  Bring your lunch.

Representatives from Mentor Iowa will attend the meeting to explain what their program does in working with youth in our community.  Hope Quilters has donated two quilts for their upcoming auction.

There are a number of mission projects we're working on including the Okoboji Christopherhaus Dormitory quilts, Children & Families of Iowa - Domestic Violence Services, Mercy PICU, Riverside Bible Camp 2013 Quilt Auction and One Body - Adults quilt project on "The Story".  We're also working on the designs and sewing of the altar cloths for the church plants in Ghana. 

If any of these projects interest you, please come join us.  Even if you don't quilt or sew, we'd like to have you visit and find out what Hope Quilters is all about.

December 8th Work Day

We awoke to a covering of snow this day.  Broke the record of 279 days since the last snow way back in the early part of the year.  But that didn't stop the quilters from coming to work on this Saturday.  Speaking of years - this was the last Hope Quilters work day for 2012.   The next work day is January 12, 2013.  Looking forward to seeing you.

There are many pictures from the December work day.  We now have quilts completed for three more rooms at Okoboji Christopherhaus dorm.  An additional three rooms of quilts are nearly complete.

 We're making four or five quilts for each room, coordinating the colors, or the patterns, or the borders. 

 These are a few of the quilts going to Okoboji.





We need batting.  Lots and lots of batting for our mission projects.

Using several tables along with some chairs, we get the batting cut to size to fit the quilts.  Big scissors, big tape measures and teaming make the job easier. 

These quilts now have backing, batting, binding and are ready to be quilted.  They'll be donated to a local Domestic Violence Center.  There are baby sized up to large twin sized quilts in this group.

 

More quilts that members made for various missions.  God has blessed Hope Quilters with many talented quilters.

 More quilts that members made for the various missions we serve.  God is certainly here among us, guiding us to use our talents to make these beautiful quilts. 

 We don't know who will wrap up in these quilts, but just knowing that someone in need will be kept warm is what motivates us to make them.

 

And we still use the floor when necessary.  Trying out the backing to make sure it fits the top.  Need enough extra for the binding, too. 

 

November Work Day

Saturday, November 10th

Who could believe we’d have 60’s and 70’s in the middle of November in Iowa?  A few of us stayed inside and worked on various quilting projects even though the mild weather beckoned us outside.

 The second Mentor Iowa quilt donation is nearly finished.  It's very bright with the orange backing.  The top is batiks, pieced by Jody E., who also added the binding.  Several HQers worked on finishing sewing the binding down.

We utilize the floor when we have to, as in laying out enough fabrics to make up a backing for another quilt.   This backing will need to be pieced to be large enough. 





Several more beautiful quilts in progress.
 

Next work day is Saturday, December 8th at 8:30 a.m.