We're Alive!

As March draws to a close this week (how did that happen?) I do want to post again and give an update on what has kept us busy over the past 3 weeks.

*We now have 96 kids in our 'Wrapped in Hope' birthday quilt program--all but 5 have quilters--Charlie's birthday is May 31 and he needs a quilter ASAP--any takers?

*I just spent 9 days of Spring Break in Grand Rapids hanging out with my kids and doing loads of Margaret's Hope Chest related business. One highlight of the week was presenting the 'Wrapped in Hope' program to the West Michigan Quilters Guild. I brought along 20 quilt tops and they were snatched up by 20 quilters who will finish them in time for the next meeting in May. This was a fantastic encouragement to us- and a huge amount of work spread out among many!

*Recent quilt givings include:
-A quilt to a family who lost their 24 year old son after complications from a surgery.
-A quilt to a family who's mother went missing at the beginning of the month--she never returned from work and no one has seen her since--HOPE is all they have at this point.
-9 'Wrapped in Hope' Birthday quilts were sent in March.
- Quilts were given to two women suffering from breast cancer.

Little Surprises

Margaret's Hope Chest's week was filled with little surprises. The first surprise wasn't technically a surprise because a new Japanese friend of MHC told me she was going to send me a box of quilts--but when I opened the box and found 8 hand-quilted beauties I was surprised! How precious each creation is AND I have the perfect group of young ladies to give them to. Plus, there were other added Japanese goodies in the box that made it even more special.


The second surprise wasn't a total surprise either--I did, after all, create these custom labels myself-on my own computer once again using Spoonflower--but to see them arrive in the mail so quickly was a surprise. And SURPRISE--they turned out really cute.



Now the third surprise is the best kind there is--a surprise quilt!! Remember back in January when we gave a boy's QUILT OF HOPE away---well, that quilt went to a little boy named Nick--but there was another boy named Colton who was nominated but not chosen. Through the help of a lady named Nan--we were still able to send Colton his very own quilt of HOPE--he was completely surprised when Nan delivered the quilt in person this week-look at that joyful face!


Finally, ladies keep coming out of the blogging woodwork and volunteering to quilt for a 'Wrapped in Hope' child! Those e-mails are the best surprises for me. Quilts are being sent weekly and the response has been incredible from the parents and grandparents of these children. Currently we are serving 74 children--I am cutting the sign-ups off at 80 children--9 kids on the list (right-hand side bar) are without quilters......CAN YOU HELP? e-mail Carin margaretshopechest@yahoo.com if you want to surprise me :)

What I've Been Up To

February is finished--phew!! Bring on spring--I am ready to crack the sliding door during my afternoon sewing sessions and listen to the neighborhood noises. I suspect that it will be a few more weeks but things are warming up a bit here in Toronto--+3 today!

I have finished a *few* things this month.....
1.) I have once again started finishing off quilt tops that we collected last fall during our 'Hope Squared' project--here are 2 fun quilts for little girls.



2.) Rachel over at P.S. I Quilt has started posting the blocks for her Pinwheel Quilt Along. I have decided to make 3 versions of it--heaven knows I have enough fabric! One will be made from a collection of purple/greens that we I have collected from donated fabric. A second will be with 1930's-type fabrics that someone donated. The third quilt might turn out really cool or really ugly--I am using a layer cake that I ordered a few months back--I have paired it with a darker solid (light orange) and we will see what the finished product looks like.
I also wanted to share one small tip if you are doing a project similar to the Pinwheel Quilt-a-long. Since the block directions are given sporadically I didn't want all of the fabric laying around my sewing area for days and so I am using these scrapbooking boxes that I bought at Michael's for $7. They are a 12 inch square and about 3 inches deep--so I am able to store all of the fabric and the finished blocks in one place.