5 years

Dear Grandma,
It has been 5 years since you slipped into heaven. Did you hear us all singing around your hospital bed? Actually, I didn't sing too much, I was crying too hard--but it really was beautiful. I bet it doesn't feel like 5 years to you--has the time been more like a blink of an eye? Well, I expect you are keeping busy up there--mending people's clothes and reminding everyone of the card game rules. I would expect you have a little garden and you never miss a practice with the choir of angels.
I have been keeping busy down here too-mostly making quilts and babies! I have had two children since you died. Clara Margaret was born exactly 9 months after you died--how cool is that?
You and grandpa now have 24 great grand children and guess who is pregnant right now? Stephanie, Carrie, Sarah and Laura! You can do a little bragging to your friends in heaven about that!
Grandpa is doing good. He had pneumonia a couple of weeks ago but he was mothered by his daughters and is feeling better. He is still as handsome as ever. I know he misses you so much. I think each year that you are gone gets harder for him instead of easier--no one could ever replace you.
I guess the most exciting thing that has happened since you died (for me at least) is the start of Margaret's Hope Chest. There is a passage in the Bible that says "What man meant for evil, the Lord meant for good". Grandma, what happened to you was so very evil. But our great God meant what happened at the end of your life for good. That is so confusingly amazing.
And so, as a result of God's great plan, 550 people all over the United States of America have gotten a handmade quilt bearing your name. A quilt of HOPE and comfort. A symbol of God's grace and love to you and to our family.
Do you already know all of these things? Did God sit you down 5 years ago and say "Margaret, my beloved daughter, come and see what I have planned--I think you will be pleased"?
Grandma, I miss you and look forward to joining you in heaven, until then I will carry on raising my family and making quilts!
Love,
Carin

School Quilt

I have finally finished the school quilt! I am so relieved that I finished on time and that it looks as good as it does! It has a few funky waves but I am the only one who really cares :)
I think the heavy quilting adds interest and dimension--plus it covers up the puckering situation from early on.
I'm not sure I ever fully explained what this project is. I wanted to create a celebration quilt for our school's 50th anniversary celebration/fundraising dinner on May 7. Each child and teacher in the school drew their face on a fabric head. I attached them to the quilt and sewed on the correct hair. I am going to ask my dad to help me build a frame to attach the quilt to and hang it in the school. There you have it!

Here are the stats:
Number of heads on the quilt: 140
Number of hours to complete: 100
Number of spools of thread used: 10
Size: 41"x48"
This quilt finish qualifies me to be entered in AmyLouWho's sew and tell giveaway! Did you finish anything THIS WEEK that you could enter?

Processing....

Over the past two weeks I have been processing the meaning and impact of the 'Wrapped in Hope' program. Daily I am getting thank-yous in my inbox from families who have received a quilt--and yes, I said FAMILIES there because when that birthday quilt arrives it is a present for the whole family--a gift of HOPE to mom or grandma who is parenting solo, to dad who would give anything to be there for the child's birthday, and to the child who has a comforting quilt to wrap up in and think of dad.
Read these few notes from the past two weeks and I think you will see what I am talking about:


"I wanted to let you know i have recieved both blankets and they are greatly appriciated . I will let them open them on there birthdays . my husband said to tell yall thank you he is so glad to hear about yall and he is going to tell some of the inmates he knows about yall ."

"I just wanted to let you know (as well as the person who made the quilt) that it arrived today. His dad called and we let him open it while he was on the phone and it was a HUGE success. He absolutely loved the quilt, the card really added the touch that made him 'know' it was from his dad, and even now hours later he's all bundled up in it. We are moving soon and his room is being redone in fish/ocean so he's running around telling every one his dad got it for him for his new room. It was a great gift and it meant the world to all of us. Thank you so much!"

"Hannah received her quilt and it was beautiful. We went and visited with her dad this weekend, and they allowed her to take it in with her. My son said to tell you thank you very much, and you don’t know how grateful he is. Once again, thank you!"

"Kymber got her \quilt today and loves it!!!! It is beautiful"


_"I received the twins quilts today and they are breath taking words can not descripe the emotions I felt when they were taken out of the box I had tears in my thinking someone cared enough abut my babies to do something like that. They will really enjoy those quilts, Again thank you and your program and the lady or ladies that made those quilts. I would like to help any way I can so please let me know what I can do to help. Again thank you and your program."_

World Magazine Article

Good Morning! I was greeted with this article in World Magazine this morning about our organization! Thanks to Susan Olasky for the great article--the more people who know about what we are doing the more quilts we can give--and everyone knows more quilts=more HOPE.

I thought I would check in here....oh, life has been a bit of a blur in MHC-land. Thanks to many organized and responsible quilters, the 'Wrapped in Hope' program is basically running itself at this point. Since we are no longer accepting new names for 2010, all I have to do is write and forward e-mails containing shipping addresses. In April we have sent out 13 birthday quilts!
I want to write out my thoughts on this project in the next several days--God is doing great things (as usual!) through this program.

I was interviewed by World magazine and an article will appear (I'm told) in the May issue and online. It will be interesting to see what the article actually says.....

Thanks to all who commented on my last post--you are very kind and your comments helped me see past my mistakes and carry onward. I started slipping a piece of scrap paper behind the head when I sewed and that has reduced further puckering. As I have added the borders the quilt has started to behave itself. I know there is a comma and a dot missing on one of the 'i's that will be corrected today. I will continue to add updates on my progress :)
Finally, I made this simple block for a special quilt. One of the ladies in our Potholder exchanges lost a baby through miscarriage a week ago. Amy, our fearless Potholder Exchange leader, organized a quilt for her. I was more than happy to add to it.

Quilting Thoughts

...surfing around my favorite quilting sites tonight....
....jealous of the unlimited time and creativity these gals seem to have....
....and the photos--they're making me want to cry....
....overwhelmed with the projects I have taken on for school....
....not enough of me to go around....
....working on this....
....the puckers are bugging me....

A Special Thank-you!

Did you know that I occasionally quilt for my own pleasure? Well, in this case it was quilting for someone else's pleasure in return for someone else quilting for my pleasure. Are you confused? I joined a pot holder swap about 2 months back and yesterday I became the new owner of these 2 potholders!


A big thanks to Lydia who was my secret pot holder sewer. She was so sweet that she went 'beyond the call of duty' and sent these fabrics for Margaret's Hope Chest as well. It was a good day!






These are the potholders that I made for my partner. They were a little more difficult than I had anticipated--I used two layers of the heat resistant padding in the middle and that made my layers shift and soon my one inch border was much thinner than it was supposed to be. Ya live-Ya learn and then you join the next exchange! Can't wait to try again!

If This Works.....

....it will be pretty cool--if it doesn't, oh my, I am in trouble!

Quilt for BOYS!

I have been concentrating on making BOY quilts over the past few weeks. We have an event coming up in July where we will be giving out somewhere between 25-40 quilts. We have a large selection of quilts for girls but we never seem to have enough boy-themed quilts. Here are 3 quilt tops I made last week--my favorite is the race car one--although the skateboarding one is pretty cool too.