Ocean Sunrise Charity Quilt Show and Tell

Back in the spring, we sponsored the Ocean Sunrise Blog Hop featuring our Painter's Palette Solids. The three hostesses: Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl from Meadow Mist Designs, and Stephanie from Late Night Quilter, selected this mouth-watering color palette. 

After the hop ended, participants mailed their blocks to the hostesses so they could assemble them into quilts to donate to charity. 

Today we're showing the quilt that Cheryl finished using these blocks:

Beautiful, isn't it?! It's fun to see how all of these different blocks fit together to make an eye-catching quilt, linked by the color palette. 

Cheryl is donating this quilt to the Greenville Hospital System in South Carolina where it will go to a child that was recently taken from their home into protective services.

See Cheryl's post on this finished quilt here.

Find the original hop posts here, here and here.

See all of our Painter's Palette Solids colors here.

You can check out all of the great blocks along with their tutorials on Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal's Pinterest page.

Thanks for sharing, Cheryl!

Watermelon Summer Charity Quilts

Back in early September, we hosted the Watermelon Summer New Block Blog Hop featuring our Prairie Cloth Solids in conjunction with Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl, Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs, Terri Ann @Childlike Fascination, and Stephanie @Late Night Quilter. 

After the hop ended, these four ladies collected all of the blocks with plans to assemble them into quilts for charity. 

Today we have two quilts made from those blocks to show you, both assembled and quilted by Yvonne. After seeing these beauties, we asked Yvonne a few questions to learn more about her process (like, how do you decide in what order to lay all these blocks out?!?!)

Wow!!!!!!

Q. How difficult (or easy) was it to decide on block placement? How did you decide which to use in the baby quilt versus the lap quilt?

YF: To decide on block placement, I had a friend over to "play". We laid all the blocks out on my floor, and the blocks that ended up becoming the baby quilt felt like they naturally grouped together as they were slightly more bold and graphic in their pattern design. In terms of block placement within the quilts, we tried to arrange the blocks to have good color flow across the quilt.

Q. The quilting you did on these is phenomenal—so much detail, so much personalization! We have to ask—how long did the quilting of each quilt take you? 

YF: The baby quilt took about 4 hours to quilt and the lap quilt took about 7 hours to quilt. I quilted both on my long arm. I probably could have done both a bit quicker, but I paused to consider each block and quilted them individually.

Q. Do you have any particular favorite blocks, either the blocks themselves or how they turned out when quilted?

YF: In the baby quilt, I had fun turning Martha's sailboat inspired block into a scene, and so I am really pleased with how that block came together. And the seahorse in the lap quilt is just so fun and I love how it reads on the back of the quilt, too.

Q. What do you like best about either of these quilts?

YF: I love that both of these quilts are made up of completely different blocks, but with the same color palette and especially due to the use of solids, the quilts feel cohesive, fresh, and fun!

Q. Where did these quilts end up?

YF: The quilts were donated to Project Linus and given to children in need in Bakersfield, CA.

Thank you, Yvonne and everyone who participated in the hop! We'll show you additional completed quilts from the hop as they are finished. 

Yvonne has additional photos and details on her blog concerning these quilts and the specific blocks featured in them; find her post on the lap quilt here and the baby quilt here.

If you'd like to see (or bookmark) the tutorials for any of the blocks from the Watermelon Summer hop, follow these links:
Find the links from Day 1 here.
Find the links from Day 2 here.
Find the links from Day 3 here.

Find the links from Day 4 here.

And if you're inspired by the color palette these ladies used, here are the closest corresponding colors in the Painter's Palette Solids collection:

White: 121-000

Lapis: 121-019

Coral: 121-049

Apple: 121-076

Pale Aqua: 121-062

Turquoise: 121-031

Stay tuned for more solids fun next week--we'll be sharing inspiration for quilts to make using our new and super touch-able Painter's Palette Solids! 

Q: What can 9 bags of scraps make?

A: A whole lot of feel-good warmth for people in need, from Idaho with love!

The mother-daughter team of Alice Walter and Deb Hopkins drives from Idaho to Kansas City twice a year to purchase fabric from Fabri-Quilt for quilt retreat kits.

Burley, Idaho to Kansas City: Mapquest estimates it's a 1230 mile, 17+ hour trip!

When the ladies headed home last spring, their mini van was a little extra stuffed. With nine big bags of fabric scraps for charity quilts. Since they'd already filled the vehicle with purchased bolts, they tucked scraps into cupholders, under the seats...just trying to make it all fit.

"We got home and said, what are we going to do with these scraps?" Alice says. Alice and Deb had been giving away pattern-writing test quilts from their retreats, as well as other scrap quilts, to charity organizations for several years, but felt quilts made from these scraps needed to go back to Kansas City. "The fabric came from Kansas City; I think we need to take the quilts back there," Deb says. Enter reStart, an interfaith ministry with homeless persons in Kansas City.

Q. How did you choose reStart to receive the quilts you made?
Alice: I started looking on the Internet for an organization to receive the quilts. I found an article in the Kansas City Star about a homeless shelter, called reStart, and they said that they'd like the quilts.

Q. How many quilts did you sew?
Alice: We did up 100 quilts. Not huge bed quilts; just snuggle quilts. We both pieced quilts and I did all the machine quilting and machine binding.

Alice and Deb (who also has a full-time job outside of the house)
sewed and quilted 100 quilts in less than 6 months. Wow!

Q. Tell us about your experience at reStart. 
Deb: We scoped it out, getting a tour before bringing in the quilts. I was really impressed with the program, and the steps that they take to help people. This is something different than just a handout on the corner.
Alice: One older gentlemen picked out his quilt, hugged it, and danced around. Then he said, "I just gotta do this. I just gotta give you a hug."
Deb: Most of the time when we give away quilts [to a charity], we don't get to experience the joy of seeing the end person who actually gets the benefit of the gift. It's more of an anonymous thing. When we did reStart, we got to experience the joy. We need that human interaction--to see the instant result. That's the thing that touches your heart and makes that warm fuzzy feeling.

Q. What was it like, handing out the quilts?
Alice: Instead of just handing each person a quilt, we let them pick out which one they wanted.
Deb: I would open each quilt up so they could see the whole thing, front and back. I told them, "It's okay if you don't like it. It's your quilt and you should have something you like."

Freshly unpacked from the mini van,
these quilts are ready to meet their new owners.

Q. What drives you to make so many quilts for charities?
Deb: For us it goes back to, we can make something from nothing. It's the challenge of what can we do with this that is going to make a difference in somebody's life. To me, it's the challenge of okay, I'm given a stack of pieces. What can I do with this. I might as will put my time and talents into something that will make a difference for someone. It takes so little to make a difference.

Alice, Deb and Fabri-Quilt's own Adlai Kunst outside reStart

After Deb and Alice handed out their 100 quilts at reStart, they made their purchases at Fabri-Quilt and headed back to Idaho with more sacks of scrap fabric. When they return to Kansas City in the spring, they'll bring back another load of finished quilts, ready to make a difference in the lives of the homeless people reStart helps. 

To learn more about Alice, Deb, and their Wonder Cut Ruler and retreat business, click here.

To learn more about reStart and how it helps homeless persons in Kansas City, click here.

How long of a line...

...are you willing to wait in for great fabric deals? The longest one we know of is the line for Sample Spree at Quilt Market.

And speaking of which, hello to all of you waiting in the Sample Spree line! We hope you received one of our sample packs of twenty-six 3" Marblehead squares while you are/were waiting in line. And then used your smartphone to pop onto our blog! While you're chatting with friends and making new ones, enjoy the beautiful colors of the fabric and start brainstorming a block to make using them, because we have a challenge for you.

When you return home from Quilt Market, sated with fabric-y goodness, we hope you'll dig these sample squares out of your suitcase, stitch a 12" square block, and send it to us. We'll sew all the blocks we receive into a quilt(s!) and donate it (them!) to charity. We'll also select a winning block, and the block maker will receive a free Marblehead Global Brights fat quarter pack just in time for Christmas!

And while you're at Sample Spree, stop by and visit us at table #178 and #179. We'll be the tables with towering stacks of fat quarters. :)

Happy Shopping!

p.s. We want to know....what is the longest you've ever waited in line for a fabric/quilt-related purchase or event? And was it worth it? Tell us about it!