January/February Project Hope Collection Complete!

Well, I think it is safe to say that the coast is clear and I have received all of the HST's for Haiti and Honduras blocks.  We had 27 ladies participate!! That number is more that I imagined it would be and I am so thankful that with all of the charity projects available out there these ladies chose to help us.  Here is a final shout out and a confirmation that yes, I received your blocks (although I did send/am sending thank you notes through the mail):
So, THANK YOU Sharon, Maureen, Britt (and friends!), Lynn, Anita, Carol, Ros, Sherry, Amber, Joan, Cathy, Tami, Faye, Lisa, Joyce, Amanda Jean, Barbara, Karen, Judith, Cindy, Christy, Irene, Beth, Karyn, Carol, Emily and someone who sent their squares in a Kohl's shirt box--my husband threw the outside paper away before I could copy the address and name!!!

I have been hard at work this week putting these blocks into tops.  What fun it has been.  Each morning when my daughter wakes up she comes into the living room and sees what I had put together the night before. This morning she said,  "Wow Mom, this one is so cute--a little boy will love this one!"  So far I have put together 5 tops--3 baby and 2 boy.  And I still have a huge box full of HST's!

Our March/April Project Hope collection is going on right now!  I have received one set of blocks so far from Beth.  We welcome anyone to join us--we are collecting string blocks which I think are fun and easy.  Click here to find the details. 

I am linking up to Amanda Jean's Finish it up Friday!  Have a great weekend-I think you know what I will be doing :)

A Little Vacationing and Half-Square Triangle Quilt Tops--only the beginning....

It's Friday...again.  I have spent this past week doing one of two things; cleaning my house in preparation of our guests arrival and spending time with our guests.  We are 'staycationing' (with our friends from Toronto) in Bermuda this week.  

Look away if pictures of beautiful places make you jealous:

Notice my daughter and I have the same look of concentration :) Kayaking in Turtle Bay

Crystal Caves

The whole group high above Horseshoe Beach

We have been going to a different beach each day, visiting tourist attractions that we haven't been to yet, eating good food, drinking good drinks and relaxing in our own home.  It's been so good. Even better are the tired kids (7 in total) that fall into bed at 8pm--leaving us a few hours at night to talk and arrange quilt tops--you didn't actually think that I could go a whole week without doing something quilty--especially since I have 100's of wonderful HST blocks from wonderful ladies around the world sitting in my living room!

Here are two tops that I put together on Saturday/Sunday before our friends arrived.

Both are baby quilt size and will be going to Haiti.

 Here is my box of arranged tops that are just waiting to be sewn.

 And here are the HST's that still have be arranged--so many possibilites :)

It is March 23 already which means that the March / April  Project Hope collection is almost half finished!  Click here for the details. Please consider taking a few hours to help with this project--I think you will like it--and your quilting will be making a positive impact in a child's life!

I am linking up to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday!

Finished Top!

 I just finished this 'Trip Around the World' top this morning.  After starting the dishwasher, a load of laundry and an episode of 'Wives and Daughters', I glued myself to my sewing chair and wouldn't allow myself to be distracted by children wondering why I was watching a movie in the middle of the morning :) 

I needed to get this done and out of my head so that I could focus on spring cleaning and preparing for our first set of guests who arrive next weekend! 

I am making this quilt for my daughter Anne.  The quilt I made her two years ago was accidentally packed into our long term storage--which means we won't see it again for at least 3 more years! 

And so we decided to go ahead and make a new one--this time 'A Trip Around the World' quilt for a little girl who has lived around the world--she has lived in 5 different countries in her short 10 years on this earth :) 

I love the bright colors she chose!

I am linking up to Amanda Jean's 'Finish it Up Friday'.  Have a wonderful weekend-- I will be cleaning :)

March/April Project HOPE: Birthday Quilt Bee Blocks

Hi everyone! It's March 7 already and that means that I better get my act together and post the Project HOPE assignment for March and April.  For this project we are reorganizing the Birthday Quilt Bee that we started last year.  We had a wonderful group of ladies who helped make blocks for quilts that were given to children who were on the 'Wrapped in Hope' birthday list.  We tried several different blocks last year and personally I thought that the string blocks looked the best and were the easiest to arrange.  Here are the three quilts that we made last year with the collected string blocks:

Aren't they great? Seriously, I love, love, love string blocks! 

This time around we will be making blocks for two children who are on the 'Wrapped in Hope' birthday list:

1.) Gabriella who will turn 1 on July 27--Her mother would like her to have a quilt made of fuchsia, aqua, and bright purple fabrics.

2.) Nisaiah will turn 11 on July 25.  He loves football, soccer, basketball and the colors yellow, black, and red.

PLUS

3.) Below I will give you a simple way use all of your paper and make few extra blocks to send. 

**I have tried to make this as clear as possible-please read carefully and if something isn't clear feel free to e-mail or leave a comment**

How to Create THREE blocks for Project HOPE:

1.) Begin with 4 pieces of 8.5X11inch white copy paper. Stack all 4 sheets of paper vertically on your cutting mat.

2.) Trim the paper to 6.5 inches--reserve the strip on the right hand side.

 3.) Square off the 6.5 inch strip to a 6.5 inch square. Discard the right hand strip.

4.) Take the reserved 4.5 inch strip piece from Step 2 and square it off to a 4.5 inch square. Reserve the right hand side strip.

 5.) Take the reserved strip from step 4 and square it off to a 4 inch square

 6.) You should have four 6.5 inch paper spares, four 4.5 inch paper squares, and four 4 inch squares. Now use  PS I Quilt's Block O' Strings tutorial to create your string blocks. 
*****EDITED TO ADD*****
There has been some confusion (I am sure due to my failure to communicate clearly) about what size and how many blocks I am looking for from each contributor.  
I am looking for each contributor to send me 3 finished string blocks for one of the children listed above.  
The sizes of the blocks should be what you see in the first picture in the post:
* One 12.5 inch block
* One 8.5 inch block
* One 7.5 inch block
I hope that is clearer--if not, please continue to ask questions. 

Here are mine before I sewed them together:

 

 And after! 3 blocks for a little more effort than it takes to make one :)

 

****Important note: For Gabriella's block--use white for the center strip.

For Nisaiah's block use black for the center strip****

Participants do not need to make blocks for both children-one child is just fine. 

Project deadline is April 30, 2012.

Please send completed blocks to 

Carin Vogelzang

5300 Hamilon Place

Dulles, VA 20189

I hope that you find this project fun, easy and rewarding.  These quilts will be a special gifts for two very special children!

One Small Finish for Haiti

Thank you for all of the kind comments on the airplane quilt. I found someone to hand quilt it and I am working on a pattern for the block.  It does feel good to be done with it but you will never believe that last night at 11pm I had inspiration to make another one--this time with different blocks....sometimes I get really sick of my quilt brain!

Last weekend I starting cutting a Trip Around the World quilt.  I was drawn to this pattern by this quilt and this quilt.  Both of these ladies are Michiganders and both support Margaret's Hope Chest--I am sure that those two facts have no connection to why I want to make this quilt--just giving a shout out.
I did absolutely no planning for this quilt--my daughter and I picked out the fabrics and then I started cutting 100's of 2.5 inch squares.  After a decade of quilting I have come to the conclusion that there are two types of quilters--the kind that plan out their quilts and kind that don't. Which type are you?  As a result of my reckless abandon I had (tons of) extra squares which I made into this baby quilt to add to the Haiti collection.  I am going to back it with flannel with no batting and straight-line quilt it. 



As for the larger twin size Trip Around the World quilt--it is coming along--I am on day 4 of piecing it.  Maybe this weekend I will finish it.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

I am linking up to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday.
Have a great weekend!