Charity Quilts "Many Hands Make Work Light"

 

Vintage Quilt Donation

Charity sewing truly feeds my soul. I encourage you to give it a try. There are so many worthy groups that are looking for donations of fabric, finished quilts or someone to volunteer a few hours to help them help others. If you are busy, I would say, you can always find time to give yourself the gift of giving. You will get so much more out of the experience than you give. Its a great way to clear out your fabric stash! 

Look below to see a few blogs that are currently holding some fun blog challenges. Stacey Lee is even attaching a giveaway with lots of awesome fabrics and other goodies. Just post your donation quilt and enter to win. Amy Smart from Diary of a Quilter has a challenge to create quilts for kids in foster care. She also has a lovely post with lots of quilt donation opportunities. Take a look and join the fun!

Working with a wonderful ministry to make quilts for the homeless has given me great satisfaction and I have meet and worked with some amazing people. I was having a rummage sale and one of the members of the group asked about some fabric I had. I not only gave her everything I had, I asked her about the group and 4 years later I'm still there. 

The above quilt was made by an unknown quilter. The quilt was found and added to the donation bin. Normally we cut up fabric that comes in, but there are times I put them in my shop and sell them. 100% off the proceeds go to the ministry to keep sewing machines sewing, purchasing of supplies and other expenses of this non-profit group. We've sold a few beautiful vintage quilt tops. Some are completely hand sewn! I don't have any currently in my Etsy shop but these treasure come in occasionally.

We meet a month through the cooler months. About 30 amazing people, some not even sewers join together to create big, fat, warm sleeping bags. Those bags are donated to shelters and homeless support groups. They normally to a single recipient. They have a hard but short life. I can't imagine being so cold and without even  4 walls to call my own. I'd like to think the quilts we make are giant hugs.

A number of us sewers create 84 inch square quilt tops. Some of the tops are amazingly beautiful. You would be surprised how pretty a quilt with 200 scraps can be. Its hard to find time for these at home, but I am always happy to get as many done as I can. It can be liberating to just sew, with love, without perfection. I highly recommend it!

Join in the feel-good fun!

 

Visit Stacey Lee's Blog for some great patterns to try and to find places you can donate quilts!

I also encourage you to visit and bookmark Diary of a Quilter. Amy has an amazing website. She shares so many wonderful patterns and has some lovely tutorials on all kinds of quilting and sewing projects.

 There are some standard groups you may have heard about. But don't be shy. Call local non-profits who are doing work you admire. Ask them if you can sew for them. The need is great, from hospitals, churches, veteran's groups and even animal shelters. If you are too shy to ask, check out Amy and Stacey's websites. They have lots of lists. 

I am still healing from my shoulder injury. While I can't sew, I sure hope I have inspired you to!

Happy sewing!

Jill

 

Life is kinda funny....

 

I love this saying. However, sometimes, falling isn't quite so romantic. I slid on some ice last month and in an instant everything changed. I broke a bone in my shoulder and I am in for a long recovery. I know it could be worse, so I'm counting my blessings. After 5 weeks, I still am struggling to manage the simplest things. The worst thing is boredom. I love to work. I miss sewing. Resting is hard for me.

I am left with my left arm and we don't always work so well together. I'm in a sling for a few more weeks and perhaps, if all is going well inside, I will be on the mend. Well, mending is estimated to take 4 to 6 months. Arrrrgh! But, I'm taking one day at a time and thinking good thoughts. Now that my right fingers are working and I can reach the keyboard, I'm going to try to share some fun blogs, shops and patterns with you.

I won't be adding new things to my shop for a while. I tried. I'm just not ready. I"m trying not to buy more fabric....also hard. Its too hard to look at goodies and not play with them. I did manage to get some mug rugs in my shop before the fall. Here they are!

 

This is paper pieced. The pattern is from JoeJuneAndMae on Etsy. I used a variety of bright reds with lovely textures. The background is a gray Essex linen. What a beautiful fabric to work with.

This Mug Rug can be found in my shop here.

 

 

 

I also made a fun Mug Rug featuring a sweet kitty print from Moda fabric designed by Stacy Iest Hsu. I also used Thatched by Robin Pickens. I think that sprawled out cat looks like me laying on the ice, but I think he is having lots more fun that I had. This item is sold. I can't wait to make more.

 

I am going to follow doctor's order and rest. I'm going to do my physical therapy. I'm going to try to enjoy my down time. I think that is my biggest challenge!

 

In the meantime, I would love to share my Pinterest feed with you. 

Here is my "Quilts I Love" board. 

 

 

 

This quilt is called Stellar Mosaic by Fram Gulick.  You can find this and many other amazing quilt patterns on Etsy in the RealStitchersOfTexas shop.

I love modern, vintage inspired and well, just about all quilts. I love color and I adore flowers, so most of my pins are full of all things wonderful.

Here is my main Pinterest page. Have a look! Hope you enjoy!

Happy sewing!