January 2020 Work Day Recap

We sang about snow last month and Mother Nature must have remembered.  Friday we watched as the day got more treacherous by the hour.  By 3:00 pm most had left, taking their machines with them in case they couldn't get back the next day.  Those who left early called with warnings of the icy roads.

You may have thought the month would be a bust. Not So!  The demo on quilting with rulers will be postponed, but let's not assume that some icy roads can keep Hope Quilters down.  We still had 31 finished quilts and blankets to go to Missions!

We even dropped off the quilts for missions on Friday as we weren't sure we'd have an audience for Show and Tell.  So check out PHOTOS page to see pictures of all this month's finished quilts. By Saturday only two gals were left with sewing machines and that meant two more Joppa blankets and one Emoji got done.  The rest came for fellowship and snacks, and how fun that so many of you just stopped in for a chat.  What a great example of the power of relationship.  

There was also some continued discussion on the future of Hope Quilter's Ministry.  

                              *****Change of Location*****

There was a consensus that in order to continue to have a bit more of our supplies available, and since Waukee Hope campus has graciously agreed to help out this Ministry with some storage space, it was agreed by HQ members that we will be moving our monthly meetings to the Hope Waukee campus.  Given we get all the details worked out, this will be effective for our next (February) meeting and if you are on the mailing list, details will be shared via email.

From Jody:  God never said life on this earth would always be easy.  Figuring out where to store fabric for quilts is certainly not the most critical topic of the day.  But put in perspective, it did create some angst for all of us.  I am so blessed by your willingness to put your faith in God.  If we let Him guide our ministry, I believe we will continue to see opportunities unfold in front of us and we will be fulfilled by his Amazing Grace.  Thank you for your prayers and support!

December 2019 Work Day Recap

Our final meeting for 2019 was another awesome weekend!  If you ever thought, "Gee, I should stop in and visit these Hope Quilters sometime," December is a good month to do it!  The cookie table was brimming over with holiday offerings! 

To continue the holiday festive mood, we sang a song about sewing to the tune of "Let it snow" which was "Let me sew":

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But my fabric so delightful

And since I've no place to go

Let me sew, let me sew, let me sew!

I don't see signs of stopping

And my idea's are popping

Unless my stash gets down low

Let me sew, let me sew, let me sew!

When I finally get set at night

And my blocks are cut out right

I won't have to go out in the storm

So I'm making a quilt that is warm

The fire is slowly dying

And I'm not out buying

But as long as I love to sew

Let me sew, let me sew, let me sew!

Looking at the number of quilts we turned in to Missions this weekend for so many of our local agencies it appears our members were all living by these words (sewing while it's snowing ☺!) Show and Tell is such a neat time during our weekend.  (Check out PHOTOS page!)The beauty and innovations are inspiring.  We turned in 24 finished quilts and blankets for Joppa.  Around 15 more also came in just needing the binding put on. 

Planning for our training/sharing topics for 2020 has begun!  Here's what's on the schedule so far.  We will explain each topic in the reminder emails the week before each session.  That way you can decide if it's something you want to learn about. We'll also have a specific time for the topic so you can plan to be there if interested.  Blog readers are encouraged to join us!

January: Quilting with Rulers by Linda Danielson and Doris Rumpp

March: Improvisational Quilting by Mary Helen Schiltz and  Norma Hamilton

May: Hexi Quilt As You Go by Christy Hart and Cathy Frueh

Our final business was the annual total of 244 quilts and blankets donated in 2019.  Local agencies benefited were Wildwood Hills Ranch, YESS, LSI, Joppa, Hope Ministries, and Ruth Harbor to name a few.  You will find links to these organizations on our Hope Quilters Missions Page.  Our auction quilts brought around $4,000 to assist in Riverside and Okoboji Bible Camp programs.  But besides the generous gift of quilts, the best treasure of all are the friendships and love that are shared in the group.  Jody wrote another verse to the "Let me sew" song for Hope Quilters!  To be sung joyfully with all your heart!  Here's to quilting in 2020!  

We're thankful we have each other

And means to help another

As long as there's needs we know

Let us sew, Let us sew, Let us sew!

Retreat dates have been confirmed and are on the sidebar →
Also, update on June Hope Quilter's meeting date adjustment:  June 5/6, the first weekend.

November 2019 Work Day Recap

Our focus this month was finishing up more JOPPA blankets.  We turned in 17 more this month and with this weather change, they will be much needed and appreciated.  As we continue discussing the changes at Hope Quilters, ideas and input about fabrics and storage for JOPPA materials are welcome.  If you want to learn more about what this "JOPPA" stands for, go to our Hope Quilters Mission page and click on JOPPA to find out more about this ministry.

This month, we tried out two simpler methods of finishing the Emoji quilts.  Both were fairly quick. Each had their pros and cons.  One method was tying with embroidery floss, the other was sewing one together like a JOPPA blanket and machine tacking.  Our December project will be centered around working on the Emoji quilts.

The continued and ongoing discussions this month:

1.  Discussion of challenges of storage, alternatives to working around storage limitations, and meeting places.  Don't hesitate to give your thoughts to the group because all input is appreciated.

2.  Continuing to explore and put into action training opportunities as well as New Member focus.  This ministry has been very blessed with willing people who want to help out but that means we may have let the ball drop on some basics as we've grown.  We'll start with the need for help with learning opportunities as well as New Member and Beginner materials.

Finally, with snowfalls and that extreme cold that nobody asked for, it seems appropriate to start thinking of Christmas.  A question was asked and yes, we do meet in December but our meeting falls on the same day as Lutheran Church of Hope's Women's Christmas Brunch.  The Brunch is always very nice and please attend, and then just stop by HQ to see us as well.  You can always sit down and participate in tying the Emoji quilts with us! 

In this month of Thanksgiving, it did not go unnoticed the support, involvement, love and good feelings that continue to be shared amongst the group as we go through some transition.  As long as we continue to be the hands and feet of God, serving with Love in our hearts, we will continue to grow stronger for each other and for those that we serve.

Quilts and blankets turned in this month found HERE.

October 2019 Work Day Recap

Hope Quilters will be going through some changes and as with all things in life, these changes will create some sadness, but also some fortitude and even some excitement as we wait on the Lord to see how He wants this ministry to develop and continue to serve HIS purposes!

It was still a bit of an emotional weekend at Hope Quilters though as we made hard decisions on what stays and what goes in our HQ "closet" stash that we've gratefully used and relied on for years, but needed to downsize some supplies.  But all is not lost as we were offered storage space at the Waukee Campus and are so very grateful for that opportunity!   

Attendance was excellent both Friday and Saturday.  Many volunteers stepped up and jumped in on the JOPPA blanket-making, quilt binding and labels as well as closet cleaning.  It was a tremendously productive weekend for our mission outreach.  We had 66 quilts and blankets turned in this weekend!  What fun it was to see the variety of creativity that everyone participated in!  We still have several JOPPA kits that need to be sewn together so we'll continue with those in November.

Some changes to look forward to in the future:

1.  Learning opportunities.   We are going to take the time to do some teaching on techniques.  We had several examples of how people are managing to make quilting easier.  Look for an upcoming session on prepping your quilt for quilting.  Improv or Crazy quilting is an interesting way to use scraps to make interesting quilts.  Not interested?  That's okay.  These will just be options.  The monthly email will include the Technique we'll work on and supplies needed (if any) and then you can choose whether to participate or not.  There will always be all the other fun Hope Quilters activities going on too.

2.  Quilting:  Our focus will be turning more towards helping our members learn how to finish their own quilts.  There are always options.  We haven't explored as many of those options as we've relied on our long-arm quilters.  This does not mean that you each have to quilt your own top.  Some ideas we will be exploring:

          1. Some long-armers are willing to open up their quilting rooms to have a group 

              over to learn the art of quilting on a long-arm machine. 

          2. Others are willing to quilt their own but haven't had any training and need some 

              tips.

          3. Coordinate directly with long-armers to get those larger quilts finished.   

              We will be exploring our options in the months to come.

  

3. Basic Quilting How-Tos:  As we've grown in size and activity, one need that has emerged is providing the basics needed on making quilts from start to finish for new people joining our group.  Volunteer coaches will work with newcomers to walk through all of the basic steps to get familiar with them.  Additional basic information will be supplied on our Facebook Group Page and the Blog.  

So as we change course, let's take some time to figure this out together.  We can spend the rest of the year finishing up some projects and consider planning how to approach others in 2020, prayerfully and with His guidance.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; 

I will counsel you with My eye upon you."  

Psalm 32:8 

And some of those 66 amazing quilts?  You can find them here: PHOTOS

And a limited-time page for those absolutely adorable EMOJI quilts is up, so take a look!  EMOJI

Lastly, in September we had a representative from the Iowa Chapter of Sleep in Heavenly Peace share with us about this ministry.  You can check out some photos on this limited-time page:  Sleep in Heavenly Peace

September 2019 Work Day Recap

This Hope Quilter's Weekend had us working up until 2:56 pm!  (We need to close it down by 3!)  The fabric was a'flyin' all over the place!  The reason for the flurry was finishing up supplying fourteen Emoji quilt kits so members can be working on them at home or at the retreat IF THEY WANT TO (not a have to!)  So much fabric cutting was done and by golly...THOSE KITS GOT FINISHED!  Much clapping and laughing and rejoicing (and collapsing) ensued!

We may get frazzled, we may get tired, we may feel under pressure to "get it all done", even with the best of intentions of providing warm quilt coverings for those who need them most.  Our devotional was so good this month to talk about our need to take time to worship the One who gave us not only the gifts we have to help others but who more importantly gave us the gift of salvation by giving His life for us so we can enjoy eternal life with Him.  From the devotional:  "We worship God because we need to and because He deserves it."  Life can be so stressful, but worship centers us, sets our sights on what matters most.

Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, 

where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand.  

Colossians 3:1 

Along with the Emoji Twin Quilt Project, there were the regular things like getting binding and labels on a few quilts that were brought in the last couple months.  We're also getting geared up for the JOPPA focus during our October weekend.  In all, we delivered 28 quilts for designated missions this month!  Enjoy looking over some of the beautiful and creative quilts that were turned in here on the PHOTOS page.

And also, if you are having a bad day...just look at these emoji faces and SMILE!
GOD LOVES YOU!

August 2019 Work Day Recap

Taking a moment to just thank God for all that He provides for this quilt ministry.  From fabric donations to skilled and gifted quilters (who give much wisdom and patience to us other less skilled quilters 😄), to providing needed batting for all the quilts, and supplying long-arm quilters and non-long-arm quilters to actually QUILT all of these quilts!  God is SO good!

This weekend there were SEVEN boxes of donated fabric waiting for our crew.  Throughout the day two more ladies brought in more donations. Hope Quilter's bins and shelves are really full with some great stuff!  God is SO good!

This weekend over 35 quilts came in from quilters, ready for binding.  No, you did not read that wrong...THIRTY-FIVE!  God is SO good!

This weekend a few dedicated gals put together around forty "kits" to be ready-to-go for our JOPPA weekend in October, along with sorting through all that donated fabric and giving it a home, and other quilting "kits" are always being organized and put together to make it simple for new quilters to grab and take home to work on.  This group has a good sprinkling of organizers and those who love to swim in all that fabric!  God is SO good!

Some other items of interest:

• The Riverside auction raised $475 from the quilts we donated.  Okoboji results not in yet.  
• Emoji Project Work Day netted some PRETTY DARNED CUTE blocks, wait until you see them!  PHOTOS

I don't think we can say it enough...God is SO good!

July 2019 Work Day Recap

What a beautiful weekend of quilting with faithful friends!  Lots of activity as always but also a lot of love.  You may not know that we set aside a "Devotional time" every Hope Quilters Saturday.  We sit in a circle and someone reads a devotional, and then members share any "Joys and Concerns" that they feel comfortable sharing.  Sharing is not required as you attend Hope Quilters, but it's just a really good place to pause in our busyness, meditate on God's word for a moment and give thanks for all He has been doing, and uphold one another in prayer.

This group is so good at helping each other to stay focused on this truth: 

John 16:33: "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

In case we need another reminder of how good God is, let's talk about quilting.  It's a good thing Michelle ordered three more rolls of batting because we had at least 20 queen and twin-sized tops go out for quilting on Friday!!!  This has been a huge answer to several months of prayer!  Thank you to all those gifted long-arm quilters who volunteered to help out with this big need!  

Missions has let us know that there are a few more organizations Hope has partnered with and that Hope Quilters will have more outlets for quilts:

·  Wildwood Hills Ranch of Iowa  wildwoodhillsranch.org

·  Primary Health Care  phcinc.net

·  Waukee Area Christian Services  waukeechristianservices.org

Some of the project ideas that are being discussed and planned for the upcoming months:

JOPPA:  In August, we'll be doing an inventory for our October JOPPA workday.  

Children's quilts:  Many of the new agencies have needs for twin-sized quilts that appeal to children.  We have lots of children's fabrics still but a majority of our fabrics are tailored for adults.  We'll be getting creative on how to use colors (blues, reds, greens) and add kid-like interest (bright colors, applique, focus blocks) to our patterns.  

Overflowing Orphan Block box:  We are going to try some group projects to start using these blocks.  One thought is to "pass around" a quilt = each quilter does a row and then passes it to another quilter.  This can be a very fun project and it will be exciting seeing how the quilts turn out!

The Emoji Quilt:  With all the teenaged twin quilts we have an outlet for we thought it might be fun to do this as a group project.  A pattern book has been provided and we are planning to get this organized to do at the September retreat.  Participation is on a volunteer basis but should prove to be a fun project.

Some of the quilts turned in this month on PHOTOS page.