End of the Summer Work Party with Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts

I am happy to announce that Margaret's Hope Chest is hosting an End of the Summer Work Party on Saturday, August 25 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts will be joining us and we will be putting together quilts with the blocks that we are currently collecting through Project Hope. All skill levels are welcome! Here are the details:

Saturday, August 25, 2012--From 9am-3pm (more than likely--yet to be confirmed)

Location is still being confirmed but it will be in the Grand Rapids area--possibly at Queen Bee Quilts at Division and 68th street-depends on how many people we have coming. 

Also, Friday night August 24th--anyone who wants to join Amanda Jean and I for a walk around the AQS show downtown is more than welcome to come.  The show is in town the whole weekend--details are here.

What to bring: your sewing machine--white thread--rotary cutter--cutting mat--ALSO, SCRAPS OF BATTING.  We are going to be making rag quilts out of some of the blocks (depending on the number we collect) so this is a great way to get rid of that scrap batting!

If you are interested in joining us please e-mail Carin. In your e-mail let me know if you want to come out on Friday night, Saturday or both. I will update the details as we get closer.

I am excited to see some of you again and meet some of you for the first time.  I know many of you would love to have a chance to meet and hang out with Amanda Jean--she is an awesome person and a wonderful support to MHC! 

This Week's Piecing and Quilting Projects

 I don't know about you but when I am facing a deadline (in this case, a three month vacation in Michigan away from all of my sewing supplies and fabric in Bermuda) my creative juices start flowing at an alarming rate.  I become a bit frantic to finish up all of those projects that have been gathering dust in the sewing closet.  

So when I started this 'Bermuda Triangles' quilt top two weeks ago I was a bit nervous that it would distract me away from all of the other things that I should be working on (cleaning, packing, finishing up our homeschool year).  And it did. But I finished it in record time and now I will take it to the longarm quilter in Grand Rapids.  I can't wait to see it finished and bound.  There are exactly 1000 four inch high triangles.  It is made from the same fabrics that I used on the Bermuda Blues quilt.

This is a personal quilt--and I have plans for it :)

I received an e-mail last week from a mom asking if her son could be added to the 'Wrapped in Hope' birthday list.  Of course, I can never say no. The bonus was that she said his favorite things are baseball and monkeys.  I just happened to have both of those fabrics sitting around and with a little help from 'Cluck Cluck Sew' I whipped up this Double Hour Glass top.  

I also had two baby quilts that needed to be quilted before I left.  

Some of you may recognize this block--the Swoon Block.  

I jumped on the bandwagon a few months ago and bought the pattern and without really paying attention (or reading the directions) chose some fabrics and made this block. 

And then I hated it.

I went to the Flickr group and realized that if I had read the directions and SLOWED DOWN my block would not have turned out looking like an enormous flower.

Well, that being said--I think it makes a perfect baby quilt.

It will travel with the other 25-30 quilts to Haiti where a sweet mother will LOVE it and take it home to her baby.

 I can't remember if I blogged about this finished baby quilt or not.  This is a mini Around the World quilt.  Fun to make, fun to quilt and I love how it turned out.
 Now, back to packing!!

Project Hope Updates

 I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time now......
We wrapped up the March/April Project Hope--it is June after all.  The strings blocks were all wonderful-thanks to everyone who participated this time around: Tami, Dhia, Lynn, Mary, Cinda, Lori, Dorothy, Emily, Irene, Barbara, Faye, Florence, Anita, Cindy, and Beth. 
Here is the top and backing for Gabriella's quilt.  I still have to piece the top for Nisaiah. 

The May/June Project Hope blocks have started arriving in the mail!  It is not too late to join us.  All of the project details are HERE.  Take a look and make a few (or more!).
Here are the results of the color survey I took--you can see what colors we need more of (if you are on the fence). 

61.5% Red

46.2% Orange

46.2% Yellow

61.5% Green

69.2% Blue

53.8% Purple

I have really enjoyed these projects and getting to know some of you better.  We will have two more projects this year---one in September/October and one in November/December.  I am taking July and August off from the computer (for the most part) and enjoying our long summer in Michigan.

I have some more quilts to share and two very exciting pieces of MHC news to share but I will do that later in the weekend.