Sew few people,, sew much done!

Hey, what a surprise!!

I had set aside the afternoon for the group to quilt (Sunday, after the 10am church service), and knowing how hard it is for some to 'give up' their family time on the weekends, I didn't expect too many people. In that respect, I wasn't disappointed. Just Margaret and me....

But that's okay!! We had such a relaxing time.... yacking away, and getting stuff done. We put the ties into a quilt for Charlotte's Garden and I found I DID have a black pigma pen to 'add' Made for Charlotte's Garden" above the present label (which I believe says it's a "Heartstring Quilt Project"). This is one we have put aside for Marta (moderator of the CG site).

While I was 'piecing batting' for a quilt, ... and by the way, I hate that job-- but when the batting it 'donated' you use what you have (we aren't funded by the church) Actually, that IS our motto... "Start where you are, Use what you have, Do what you can, and It will be enough."

We also picked out and pieced a backing for the black and white heartstring quilt with pink and orange (haven't named it yet). Also, pieced the backing for the "Blue-min' Heart" quilt and have that ready to quilt. Margaret started to stitch in the ditch on the "Lasagna 1" quilt (I may finish that before the next meeting). As nice as it was to have no one asking questions about what should they be working on, it made me get more done, too, it was too bad we couldn't have had more people there.

Hats off to two of my 'quilters'!

Our group of quilters at church are a varied bunch with different levels of skills, but they all have one thing in common.... heart. They dilligently show up month after month and do what they can for whatever charity we are working on next. I love them!!

But I want to take my hat off and bow down to a couple of ladies who, without them, we would never get our quilts done as quickly as they are. Laura McCarrick, is co-owner of a local quilt shop (my favorite!) and a professional machine quilter and teacher,... and a gift! She happened to see what we do and made the offer to help us get our quilts quilted at no expense. Since we are a self-funded group (we sell items to the parishioners) and have received many offer of fabric, thread, batting, etc., once we have the basics, the work is ours to complete. The quilting of the quilts takes so much time and we just don't know how long it could take if we had to rely on just ourselves. Sometimes I think God sends you angels that come in very beautiful forms. The two quilts I just received back from you are GORGEOUS! The pattern you quilted into the quilts is so perfect... 'angel wings'! Thank you, Laura. I'll post some pictures when we get them bound.

The other 'gift' is Mary Johnson, who is a HUGE part of HeartstringsQuiltProject. She has taught us many things, including how to make a string block look beautiful in sooo many ways. She also has quilted many, many quilts and helps to get them where they need to be, whether it is in her direction or ours. The patterns always seem to highlight the piecing done on the quilts and the quality is wonderful. Your 'wings' have given us our 'wings'. Thank you Mary.