Two Very Colorful Finishes

 Remember my pinwheel quilt?  289 pinwheels in the middle part of the quilt--2.5 inches each.  I dropped it off at the quilters earlier this summer and got the message that it was finished yesterday morning.  I dropped everything and ran over there as soon as possible :)  I was so anxious to see what she had done with it.  Wow!  She added such a cool dimension with the quilting.  For those in the Grand Rapids area, Brenda Kwekel did a fantastic job, she completed it when she said she would and charged me $76 which I think is a very good price. 

 I also finished this quilt yesterday--another bright and colorful addition to the quilt collection.

I quilted this one myself and I think if there was ever a quilt that was over-quilted--this would be it. I used 10 spools of gray thread on this--yikes! That is 2500 yards of thread on this thing--what was I thinking?!?! Anyway-it's done. That is the important part!

For the rest of the week I am working on this 'Wrapped in Hope' birthday quilt for a teenage boy who loves sports....

And I am also making a basketball themed quilt using this free pattern--love free patterns ;)

I am linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

Have a great week!

A Sneak Peek

For those Quilting Bee readers who made blocks for N'Tari--here is a sneak peek at his quilt.  The back will also be pieced with the pieces that were cut off of these blocks.  I plan on adding a couple of borders--one a light gray and one blue (?) What do you think?

A Gentle Reminder

Just a quick reminder to anyone who has made a quilt for Margaret's Hope Chest (or sent us one) over the past few weeks to link up at Kate's blog Swim Bike Quilt.  Her program 100 Quilts for Kids runs through Oct. 14 so there is still time to be entered to win some great prizes!  Have a great weekend--I am canning applesauce which is being sent to Bermuda for enjoying on a *cold* days :)

A Glimpse Into Our Family Vacation and This Week's Work

For those who follow this blog and know a little about the life behind Margaret's Hope Chest, they may remember that my family is in the middle of an international move.  We are between Toronto, Canada and Hamilton, Bermuda.  We left Toronto at the end of July and we plan on arriving in Bermuda in late October.  In the meantime, we are stalled in Michigan...and loving every minute of it!  

We just returned from an 11 day vacation on the east side of Michigan.  I had never really been there and we were impressed with a couple of our stops.

We LOVED Tawas Point State Park.  Beautiful.

The lighthouse at Tawas Point

Tawas Point State Park at sunset--A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

My son flying a kite--Tawas Point

Me and my husband

My brood of wonderfully happy and beautiful children--truly, I fell a little deeper in love with each of them on our vacation.

Sand dune running along Lake Huron

Onaway State Park

Monarch butterfly along the shores of the Straits of Mackinac--Wilderness State Park

Weiner roasting with my mom and my sister's kids

We walked across the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day (you can only do this once a year--this year 46,000 people who love Michigan did it :))

Mackinac Bridge-outfits due to previous 10 days of camping--not enough clean and warm clothing!

Anyway, we had a wonderful time exploring Michigan and unplugging from our every day lives. 

Now that we are less than a month away from leaving for Bermuda our days are filled with last minute details and a little more stress--boo! The good news is that my husband is on vacation until we leave so that has opened up a little more time for sewing :)

First, I finished off this donated quilt top.  This one will go fast at the prison giveaway later this year.

I also finished this quilt for a nine year old boy who has a dad in prison and is having a hard time.  He loves cars and so I wanted to use this car print that someone donated.  I used all scraps for the front and I love it!  I hope it brings comfort and HOPE to him.

And last but certainly not least....

I finished Meyon's quilt!  All of the blocks were donated by members of our Wrapped in Hope Quilting Bee.  I LOVE how this turned out.  Each block is my favorite.

I hope all who participated can find their block!  I added the late arrivals to the back.

Meyon's birthday is Oct. 7 so I will send this out next week.

Can Anyone Help??

**WE HAVE FOUND A QUILT FOR CODY!! YEAH!**

Hi Friends!  I will be back tomorrow to share what I have been working on lately but tonight I have a somewhat desperate plea--does anyone have a quilt already made that we could send to a little boy named Cody.  Cody's mom and dad are in prison in Michigan--Cody's mom just heard about Margaret's Hope Chest in prison and has requested a quilt for the birthday's of her 3 children.

We have the other two kids covered with quilts that we have in our stash

but Cody is going to turn 7 and he likes camouflage, trucks, and hunting and we do not have anything that fits any of those themes.

His birthday is September 27--so the quilt would have to be sent out ASAP--I have the address ready to go.

So if you have anything that could be sent to this sweet little boy please email me!

margaretshopechest@yahoo.com

100 Quilts for Kids

 Have you heard about 100 Quilts for Kids?

 It's a great way to donate to Margaret's Hope Chest and possibly win a prize at the same time.  Kate just announced the prizes up for grabs yesterday--wow! You can read through the details of how to enter the giveaways HERE--but basically the process is easy--make a child-themed quilt--take a picture of it--donate the quilt to an organization that gives quilts to kids (like Margaret's Hope Chest :))--add your picture to one of the link-up's--and voila! You are entered into the drawing for some fabulous prizes.

I will tell you now that we NEED quilts.  We just returned from a prison giveaway on Saturday--we gave away 45 quilts to some precious children who have a parent in prison.  

We now only have 17 kid-themed quilts left in our stash--and we would very much like to be able to attend one more prison camp in early November--but we need about 60 quilts in order to make the commitment to go.  

Every quilt we receive through the 100 Quilts for Kids program will get us one step closer to this camp.  The timing couldn't have been better for us. 

I just finished this quilt today and it will be my entry--I had finished this top in the spring but put it away because I had run out of batting. I love how it turned out and can't wait to share it with a little girl.

 Can you join me in supporting 100 Quilts for Kids?

Home from Vacation for a Few Days--A Beautiful Donation--Argh! A Pirate Quilt--and Prison Giveaway Tomorrow

 Hello friends! I am back for a few days from a vacation that was interupted by a misbehaving transmission--but we rolled with it and will return to our camping adventure on Monday morning.  

I have lots to share about the world and work of Margaret's Hope Chest.

 We have received so many quilt and quilt top donations over the past month--it has been amazing! Thanks to all who have spent the time and money to send or drop these quilts off--the quilts pictured below came last week from Jessica at Twin Fibers.  I just love her blog and I was amazed to find out that she only lives 30 minutes from me and also, that she donated a large group of her latest projects! 

You will continue to see other donations as we work our way through the 100 or so quilt tops--so awesome!

 The night before we left for our trip I finished this pirate/skull themed quilt for an almost 2 year old who has a daddy in prison.  I used the disappearing nine patch block because it's fast and easy :) and I was down to the wire!  I hope he loves it!

And one of the great things that came out of our interrupted vacation was that I am able to join my mom tomorrow at a prison in northern Michigan to share our story and message of forgiveness and HOPE with a group of prisoners. Then each dad will pick out a quilt (most of which have been donated by blog readers :) ) to give their child/children.  I love these days the best--I wish you all could see the joy that the quilts bring these families.  43 children will walk out of the prison tomorrow with a concrete symbol of their father's love!  I can't wait!

And so I will sign off for now and be back soon with more updates on God's work through MHC!!!