Sweatshop!

The blocks keep pouring in!  Thank goodness for time away from work for Thanksgiving so I can get down in my sewing room and SEW!  I'm about to turn that room into a SWEATSHOP, with some time set aside to EAT!  My brother is hosting this year, so that takes a huge weight off my shoulders.  Plus, I just finished a major project at work, so that is a relief, too.  I've been working my tail off lately, getting only 4 and 5 hours of sleep most nights - I can't survive like that for long!

So here's what came on Monday:

95 quilt blocks (including 42 from 1 person!) - thanks, Sue S, Teri J, Barbara R, Karen W, Susan R, Gloria B, and Judy C! 

And here's today's mail:

3 blocks from Michele in Ontario - thanks, Michele!

a cheater cloth backing from Lynda in Nevada - so cool!

And a batting and some yardage from Lynda, too - thanks, Lynda! 

Monday was also the third meeting of my quilting class at the elementary school.  Since they had deconstructed lots of jeans at our first meeting, I cut the denim down to 7.5" squares, and they started sewing them together, rag quilt style with some up-cycled linens on the back.

only 2 rows of 5 are sewn together so far with one more set of five ready to be added 

We also started to work on our county fair entry quilt.  It is to be a combination of colored (with crayons) and embroidered blocks, so they started with some embroidered blocks, using a simple backstitch, to spell out "CENTRAL ELEMENTARY, READY TO QUILT".  Some of them took right to it and completed or nearly completed their letters.

Some of the completed or nearly completed letters - we used red, blue and green variegated #8 perle cotton 

Close up of one of the letters - bigger stitches than I suggested, but for these kids' first time, I think they did great! 

Others really struggled, and I have some knotted messes to untangle before next time, but all in all, it was probably our best class yet.  Right at dismissal, one of the girls came up and hugged me and said, "I love you!"  My heart swelled so much it hurt!

OK, here I go, less typing, more sewing!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!

Special delivery!!

I'm back!  What a wonderful trip to NJ and NY.  Part of the joy was not having to drive - the boys and I rode on the sleeper bus with my husband's basketball team, so during the ride I napped, watched movies, got some work done, and worked on the binding for the disappearing 4-patch quilt.

On Friday, I got a ride to Keyport, NJ to deliver quilts to Hillary, the President of the Blankie Depot, which is right in one of the affected communities.  (on the drive there, we saw boats upside down in people's yards - very surreal!) I dropped off 5 quilts there (I still wasn't done with the binding on the 6th).

There were 180 other quilts in her dining room, too, all scheduled to be distributed on Monday. 

Hillary is not a quilter, but is a fan and friend of quilters, so she had some treasures in her house that she allowed me to photograph.

Hand quilted and hanging on her living room wall - I love the pattern and the colors 

Close up of a hand quilted tablerunner in her living room

Then, on Saturday, the boys and I went to NY to visit Victoria.  (visit her site, she has a more complete photo of the quilt) I did some binding in my hotel room,

and on the train to New York, but I finished the binding on the quilt while sitting in her awesome loft in the garment district.  She joked that part of how she can get so much done is living and working in what used to be a sweatshop and having the spirits of all those garment workers from days gone by helping her out.  I love it!

And you know what else I loved?  Getting an in-person peek at her quilts in her newly released book, 15 Minutes of Play.  I'll definitely be buying this one!  It is technique, not patterns, and her quilts are so creative and inspirational!  I'll be honest, I was pretty star struck while I was there - I've been reading her blog for years and have so much respect for her.

After leaving her place, the kids and I walked to Bryant Park to ice skate on Citi Pond.  Apparently, my boys have never gone ice skating before, but they took to it like ducks to water.

The purpose of the trip wasn't just for quilt delivery, of course, but also for basketball.  My husband's team won their season opener against Tufts on Friday, then lost a heart-breaker to Rutgers Newark on Saturday.  Since my husband is from New Jersey, much of his family came out to support him, which was wonderful!

His mom, his brother, his sister, his niece, two cousins, his aunt and his aunt. Even more people came out Friday night, but of course I forgot my camera!

Then, when I arrived home, look what was waiting!

35 packages in the mail!

It took me an hour and a half to open it all and record all the addresses in my spreadsheet. (Please know that if you've sent me anything, you'll be receiving an official THANK YOU in a couple of weeks.  For now, I'm just trying to keep up with the mail - and my job, and my kids, and my afterschool program quilting class, and karate, and cub scouts - so I'm not emailing anyone directly, just listing names on here under MY HEROES and adding them to my spreadsheet for later.  I hope you understand.)

All those packages yielded this - 312 blocks, one pieced backing and 3 other solid backings, lots of yardage, $100 for batting, 65 assorted other quilt blocks, lots of yardage, some flannel squares

Thanks, Julie, The Quilter's Group, Cheryl, Hetty, Ruth, Pam, Charlene, Judith, Kate, Betty, Candy, Diane, Nicki, Selina, Maureen, Erin, Megan, Sarah, Ellen, Linda F, Gain, Patricia W, Linda B, Karen, Suzanne, Patricia C, Valierie, Patty, Doreen, Alice, Sharon, Barb, Becki, P Thomsen and the Sew Blessed Quilters!

AND

A Jelly Roll quilt top that I may try to add borders to in order to make it twin sized - thanks, Alice! 

A fun, completed baby quilt - thanks, Barb!

And a completed snuggly flannel baby quilt - thanks, Barb!

The notes of encouragement that you guys include are so sweet, but I gotta tell you, this wouldn't happen without ALL OF YOU!!!  You guys deserve the thanks!  Without you, I may have gotten two quilts done and up there, but more than likely just one.  Instead, we are going to keep dozens of people warm this winter.  THANKS!

Erin

The Princess and the Pea?

Tomorrow afternoon, the boys and I are headed to New Jersey on the bus with my husband's basketball team.  While there, we are going to deliver our first 6 quilts to Project Linus New Jersey on Friday, and then meet with Victoria Wolfe (of 15 Minutes of Play and Bumblebeans fame) on Saturday to learn more about the quilt drive taking place on her side of the river.  My plan is to alternate recipients - I want to make sure they are going to people in both New York AND New Jersey.

So, in anticipation, I laid out all 6 quilts on my bed for photos.  Let me tell you, I am so tempted to cuddle down underneath all of that warmth and beauty!  Or lie on top and pretend I'm the princess from The Princess and the Pea!

I'll sew the binding on tonight and then hand stitch it down on the bus tomorrow.  Thanks, Mary Ann, for assembling and quilting.  

A completed quilt donated by Mary Ann - thanks!

A completed quilt donated by Anita.  Thanks, Anita!  This is my favorite!

Another completed quilt donated by Anita.  Thanks again, Anita!

Can you believe Anita completed and donated THREE whole quilts?  Thanks again, Anita

I love this quilt, so had to put up another photo - thanks, Maria!

And look at all the other quilt blocks that arrived yesterday - 132 more blocks bringing our total to date up to 461.  That's nearly enough for 11 quilts!

Week one of my READY TO QUILT workshop is done at the elementary school.  If I do this again, I will definitely limit the number of kids in my workshop.  Honestly, I didn't think that many people would be interested, but I have 23 third through fifth graders and ten K through second graders.  I thought the younger kids would be harder, but nope!

Nevertheless, I think the classes were a success.  All of the kids made a bookmark out of upcycled denim and a fabric of their choice.  They disassembled the jeans for the denim donation quilt.  And they all began designing and picking out fabric for their composition book cover.  I don't know what the protocol is for sharing photos of those kids, so here are my two goofballs with their bookmarks.

And last night was a cub scout Pack Meeting.  I brought in a bag of ties so the boys could learn how to tie a tie, led by none other than my son, Jason, tie tying expert extraordinaire!

and I also brought 3 international students from the University, so the boys could learn about languages and cultures in other countries (from left to right, China - Rwanda - Vietnam).  Look, they are learning how to tie a tie, too!

And finally, we collected our Operation Christmas Child boxes to send to kids overseas, and look how many the boys packed!  I love the variety of expressions on their faces.

Please know that I'll be out of town until Sunday morning, so there won't be any new names added to the My Heroes list until I get back.  I'm so excited to spend a couple of days away from work - work has been kicking my butt lately!

Play date!

I went to my quilt guild meeting on Saturday, hat in hand.  I told them about the Hurricane Relief Quilts project, and showed the quilt top I've completed and all the quilt blocks that have arrived that I haven't had time to assemble yet.  Before I could even ask if anyone wanted to help out, they had taken all my baggies of 42 blocks (one quilt's worth of blocks) to assemble for me, and I've got a waiting list of others who want to help.  One person is going to quilt a couple of tops for me.  Two people volunteered to do bindings.  They were wonderful!

Then, when I got home, I had a whole new batch of blocks waiting for me.  I forgot to take a photo of them because I had a friend come over that evening, and we had a Play Date, sewing up your blocks into a top while we talked and laughed and our 5 boys (all between 4 and 10) made more noise than I thought humanly possible.  It was loud and raucous and chaotic and magically FUN!!!

She sewed,

while I cut and pressed.

I don't usually wear my hats backwards - we were getting a little goofy there towards the end!

And we created this!

Do you see your blocks in there?

Here are the two tops I've helped assemble together.  They are being shipped off to wonderful volunteer quilters tomorrow.

Plus I am 1/3 of the way through with another top.  Too bad there's no mail today - I'm ready for more blocks!

Look what my friend Nancy is doing - making a whole quilt by placing her blocks around a center 50" square UFO that she had laying around.  Isn't it bright and happy and beautiful?

The back

Today was also my first day teaching the READY TO QUILT program in the afterschool program.  FUN TIMES!  But I'm going to have to get a helper, especially for the first hour when I have 23 third, fourth and fifth graders!  I thought the tough group would be the 10 Kindergarten through 2nd graders - wrong!

We read The Quiltmaker's Gift while the students disassembled some jeans that I will cut up for our donation quilt.  They also each make a fabric bookmark from upcycled denim and a novelty fabric of their choice.  I introduced them to fusible (Heat N Bond), and then they each sewed around the edges of the bookmark and then trimmed the edges with pinking shears.  It was good for them to have something to take home as a finished product on day one.  And it was good for me to have no one cut by scissors, burned by the iron, or with a needle through a finger!  I have to ask if I am allowed to share photos of the students, so for now, I just have my two goofballs showing off their bookmarks.

They chose their focus fabic - the back is upcycled denim

OK, so the stitching isn't straight, and neither is the trimming, but I don't think the kids noticed or cared!

 It was gratifying that the kids didn't want to leave when their time was up.  I'm looking forward to working with them again on Wednesday.

Quilters Save the Day!

I have had two rather lousy work days back to back.  But when I come home, I'm greeted with so much beauty and generosity as I open your packages for Hurricane Sandy victims, that I can't help but feel better.  I hope these quilts serve as that same kind of balm to the soul to the recipients.

Here's Thursday's haul - 22 blocks:

Thanks, Em, Nicki, Debra, Sue and (unknown first name) Mills!! 

And here's what arrived today - 105 blocks:

No time to lay them all out for a photo. Thanks, Carol, Maddy, Michelle, April, Nancy, Linda, Evelyn, Sheila, Maria, Barbara and (unknown first name) Heyes!

So far, 274 blocks have come in - that's 6.5 quilts!  And it doesn't even count the blocks I've made!

So far, I only have one top completely assembled which will be shipped off for quilting by a quilting angel tomorrow, but I am diligently working on assembling #2.

Top #1 on the full sized futon in my husband's office

Another view of top #1 - do any of you recognize your blocks in there?

I have a guild meeting tomorrow, and I'm sure some of my guild members will take a baggie of 42 blocks home to assemble.  We'll get these blocks made into tops in no time at all!

I appreciate all that each of you has done, whether you sent one block or 27.  But I have to make special mention of two items received today.  Sheila sent some blocks, but also included a pillowcase that she had made.  Isn't this going to make some little girl happy?

Thanks, Sheila!

Close-up of the pillowcase fabric

And Maria sent a whole BEAUTIFUL completed quilt!

I love these colors - to me, this quilt says "soft and warm".  Thanks, Maria! 

I love the use of ric rac!

And I adore pieced borders!  Cool backing fabric, too!

Some of you have sent money to help with batting, so I stopped at JoAnn's today and picked up 4 full sized batts - pre-packaged batting is 50% off this weekend - woo hoo!

And others of you have sent additional fabric for blocks and for backings.  I've been keeping track of addresses so I can properly thank you all later, but for now, let me just say a blanket

THANK YOU!!!

I can't always match up names on packages with email addresses or blogging names to acknowledge that your packages have arrived, but know that if your name appears under MY HEROES over there on the top right, then I got it.

You guys are awesome!

One hundred and fifty-three

153 - That's how many quilt blocks arrived in the mail yesterday.  112 were the disappearing 4 patch, and 41 more were donated 16-patches.  I also received backing material and additional money for batting.  You guys are amazing!  We are going to make so many people warmer this winter!

Donald was excited to help with all the packages that were left outside our mailbox in this plastic bag . Even more blocks were in envelopes INSIDE my mailbox.  Wow!  I'm sure the mail carrier is curious about what is going on!

112 12.5" disappearing 4-patches covers A LOT of floor space! I use this spot in the basement to sandwich large quilts. 

I'm excited to make some other donation quilts with these donated blocks. 

Thank you, Nancy B, Patricia C, Becki W, Carol J, Sharon V, Barbara H, Robin B, Carol C, (unknown first name) Reiner, Barbara A, Charmaine T, (unknown first name) Thomsen, Terri J, Pat M, Susan L, Barbara W, Beth S, and Marilyn P!  You are on my ever-growing list of HEROES!

I managed to sew together most of one top last night.  I had hoped to do more, but my husband's team had a scrimmage and we went out to support him.  Of course, I went to THE WRONG UNIVERSITY!  What a bonehead!  Luckily, the two universities are only about 20 minutes apart.  While watching the game , I made some progress embroidering my mini.  For a tiny quilt, it sure is taking me longer than expected!

I wonder what today's mail call will look like?