Community Projects Donation Quilts.

At our February meeting last night, attendees got to see the finished quilt to be donated to Portage Atlantic, the New Brunswick Youth Drug Addiction Treatment Centre. It is a scrappy Disappearing Four Patch, measuring 65" x 88".
The pattern is called Disappearing Four Patch, as you start with a four patch, make a few cuts through the block, rearrange the pieces and re-sew it together. Quick and easy. Many thanks to Kathleen D for piecing the top and some extra blocks, to Jean K for adding one more row to bring it up to single bed

size and for preparing the binding, to Sue R for donating the nice cozy flannel backing, to Gwenda M for doing the quilting and to the Nashwaaksis Lions Club for covering  the cost of the quilting, batting and thread. It was my pleasure to add the final stitches by doing the binding on this quilt. Such a great community project! I know it will be gratefully received.
UPDATE, Feb.26: the goal of 50 quilts for Portage Atlantic has been surpassed!!






Also shown last night was another donation quilt which will be given to Family Enrichment and Counselling to be raffled. I sure hope Tracey brings in some tickets for us to purchase!

The Bali Pop was donated by Sue R, the top was pieced by Lois M and the quilting was done by Jean K. The block design is Half  Log Cabin.

What a beauty! Well done, ladies!

Slab Blocks for Canada's Big Quilt Bee

Layout of 12 blocks for a small quilt

A small group gathered a week ago to make slab blocks which will be assembled into tops for CQA's project of supplying 1000 quilts for Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada. (See the previous post here to read about the project.) We had a great day and accomplished a good amount of work. (Of course we enjoyed some yummy treats too...) A number of blocks were made and several tops were assembled that day, others will be assembled as more blocks come in. If you didn't have the chance to join us on Jan. 28, you can still take part. Jeanne Kaye has lots of Canada 150 fabrics, just give her a call to pick some up and make a slab block or two to contribute. They really are fun to do, and a great way to use up some  leftover strips or scraps. It's a win-win project! Don't miss out!

Here are a few of the blocks that were made.

And one more quilt laid out, ready for assembly...

                                                                  Layout of 20 blocks for a larger quilt

 

EDIT, June 6: 800 quilts have now been completed!!! It is expected that the other 200 will be completed during the Big Quilt Bee at Quilt Canada 2017.

Jan. 28th Workday

Further to the discussion at our meeting this week, here's an explanation of what is planned for the January 28th workday. Our primary purpose is to make slab blocks to be assembled into quilts as per the recent request from CQA/ACC (Canadian Quilters' Association.)

The blocks/tops will be sent off to CQA and some will be quilted at Canada's Big Quilt Bee during the annual conference, Quilt Canada, in Toronto in June. Any locally finished quilts will be collected in Moncton. All quilts will be donated to Ronald McDonald Houses across Canada,of which there are 14, with a total of 469 family rooms. These rooms are full all year and there are actually waiting lists for residency while children are treated in hospital. The goal is for 1000 quilts. So that's a brief explanation of the project. Now, back to our work day... 

What is a "slab block?" Cheryl Arkison of Calgary designed the slab block a few years back when the call went out across Canada for quilts for Alberta flood victims. Here's a photo of one of the 2013 flood quilts. 

Now the slab block is being used again for this special Canada 150 project. It is a "free form" block that measures 12.5", to finish at 12" square. As you can see, it is made from scraps of various sizes - squares, rectangles, strips, all of one colour family- sewn together to make a block large enough to be trimmed to 12.5". Whereas the quilt above has one piece of white in each block, for this project each block must contain at least one piece of Canada 150 fabric. Several fabric manufacturers have put out lines of special fabric for Canada 150: Discover Canada by JN Harper, Stonehenge OH CANADA by Northcott and Sesquicentennial fabric by Northcott,  Trend-Tex Fabrics With Glowing Hearts by Moda, and Cantik Batiks. Click on each collection name to see the fabrics. If you have any of these fabrics, please bring them with you to the workday on the 28th. Some will be provided as well. One of our local shops, The Christmas Crab Quiltery at 158 Brunswick St. carries the Oh Canada line by Northcott if you wish to purchase any. Obviously you will need to bring other fabrics for the blocks as well; bring a number of scraps or small pieces in one or several colour families. The blocks can be done as above with all pieces "straight and square" or if a little wonky is more your style, they can be done as these below:

You can read a further explanation, with diagrams, on how the blocks are made here, scroll down to the second and third pages. Or click here to watch a video. 

We hope you'll join us on Saturday Jan. 28th. We're going to have a fun day making slab blocks!! As well, Lee will demo EQ7 software, and if you wish to come and work on a project of your own, that's fine too!   :)

Happy 2016!

It seems a little late to be saying it, but I'm going to say it anyway - HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope 2016 is a fabulous year for you and for our guild. Here's to lots of productive stitching time in our sewing spaces in the coming months.
Our January meeting is coming right up- Jan. 19th, 7p.m. Barb P and Susan D will be doing a presentation on English paper-piecing. Hexies here we come!! I know it will be an inspiring program.

We are so lucky to have so many talented members who are willing to share their skills and knowledge with us. We have had some wonderful programs so far this year. We started off with a presentation and trunk show by Sandi M. who shared many hints, tips and "how-to's" with us in regards to entering Challenges. Sandi has done many Guild Challenges and won more than a few ribbons. Sandi's creative mind often takes her "outside the box"  when it comes to interpreting Challenge themes, and she further challenges herself by using "non-traditional" fabrics and materials (remember the zebra made of black leather and white bridal satin?) What an inspiration this program was!
(By the way, speaking of Challenges, how are you coming along with your Starstruck Challenge piece?)

In October, JeanneKaye, our own "energizer bunny" treated us to a Christmas-y display of her many holiday projects. I call JeanneKaye the Queen of Placemats! I think she must be able to whip up a set in her sleep by now... She never ceases to amaze us with her productivity, we loved her many placemats, wallhangings, and larger quilts! This was the perfect program to get us all in the mood for our Christmas Appliqué workshop the following Saturday.

November's program gave us lots of info and ideas for bordering our quilts. How to measure for and add borders properly, plus lots of ideas for border variations, both plain and pieced, gave us food for thought. I'm expecting to see some interesting borders at Show and Tell in the coming months, ladies....

So we're off to a great start, and here it is January already! I hope you are rested and refreshed after the Christmas break and ready to dive into guild activities, be it a workshop, a charity project, or whatever.  Speaking of charity projects, there will be a large tote FULL of FREE FABRIC at the January meeting. please plan to help yourself as I do not want to take it back home. Choose a few pieces, or co-ordinate a number of pieces to use in a charity project, large or small. You can't get any better than "FREE".....
I have updated our list of tips (click on Tip Time at the top of the sidebar to access the list.) I know I am missing a few, so if you have given a tip recently and don't see it there, please refresh my memory so I can add it. Thanks.
See you tomorrow night!

Canada Day Placemats for Meals on Wheels

Nice to see an article in today's newspaper regarding our donation of reversible Canada Day placemats to Meals on Wheels. 85 placemats were delivered and gratefully received. These will brighten the Canada Day holiday for many Meals on Wheels clients, especially those who are shut-in and cannot get out to any holiday celebrations. Well done, ladies! Thanks for participating and being so generous with this worthwhile community project! And a big Thanks to the "J Team" for heading up this project and keeping us motivated!
Here is the text below, in case you do not get The Daily Gleaner....

It's a bit early but... Happy Canada Day everyone!!
Speaking of Canada Day, do you have a red and white quilt, of any size? If so, why  not send me a clear digital photo and we'll have "Red and White Show and Tell" on Tuesday, July 1st for Canada Day?

Thank You Ladies!

A huge thank you to all who turned in placemats for Meals on Wheels. These will be given out with the Christmas dinners to Meals on Wheels clients. Your response was wonderful- we received 98 placemats!! Thank you for your kindness in taking the time to create something beautiful for others. I know there are many who will get "a lift" from this unexpected small gift with their meal on Christmas Day!

They are lovely - every one!! Thank you so much!!

In the News

Look who was in Saturday's paper... what a lovely article on Jeanne Kaye Speight, our new Community Projects Co-ordinator. She is indeed kind and generous as the article states, and her involvement in the community is to be applauded. We all know Jeanne Kaye as "the energizer bunny" who never fails to have lots of Show and Tell to share with us at the end of each meeting. She has more energy than most of us put together! She is the perfect person to head up our Community Projects  team and keep us organized and on track with our charity projects. There is something for everyone who would like to participate- if you want to work on a large project, she is looking for 60" by 80"- 85" quilts for the beds at the Veterans Unit, and if you want to work on something small and quick, there are placemats to be made for Meals on Wheels... and if you want a "medium sized " project, Goldilocks, I'm sure she'll have something in mind for that too! She also has fabric at the meetings if you need to add to what you have, for whichever project. If you have more fabric than you know what to do with, Jeanne Kaye would welcome donations of some brightly colored strips 2.5" by WOF (width of fabric). If like me, you don't have a lot of full width yardage, JK is happy to receive 2.5" wide strips off the long side of your fat quarters as well. Please, good quality fabric only, that has been pre-washed. These bright strips will be available for pickup for use in future Community Projects.

Update on Slab Quilts for Calgary...

Just thought those of you who made slab blocks for Calgary might like an update - Cheryl has received over 1900 slab blocks! And that doesn't include the finished tops she received! Isn't that great? Quilters are indeed a kind and generous bunch! You can visit Cheryl's blog HERE to see some of the quilt tops that have been put together with the donated blocks. Look closely, you might spy your block there!
EDIT AUG. 28:  You can view another round of Slab quilt tops by clicking here! I think I counted 29 more tops together and ready for quilting. Wow! Isn't this great?!!

Community Projects for 2011-2012.

We will soon be back at our Guild activities for the year. I hope you are all coming back from the summer rested and rejuvenated, and ready to plunge into Guild activities. We are taking a slightly different approach to Community projects this year. Jean has decided to choose a "theme" so for this Guild year, it will be "The Year of the Child". We will "divide" the year into three sections - Babies, Children and Teens.

For September and October, we will focus on quilts for babies and the neonatal unit. These should be sized 18" x 24" and backed with good quality flannel. They must be 100% cotton, including the batting, and for safety reasons, these quilts must be quilted, not tied.PLEASE prewash ALL fabrics and batting.

For November through January, we will be looking for quilts for children. These could be pediatric quilts, flannel backed, size 24" x 36" (cot size) for the DECH, or lap size quilts, approximately 55" x 75" for children at Transition and Gignoo Houses.

We will continue our annual donation of Christmas placemats to Meals on Wheels. Size should be approximately 12" 16". These can be brought in to our November meeting, or our Christmas Social.

After January, we will focus on quilts for Teens. These should be flannel backed, lap size quilts age appropriate for Teens. These will go to group homes.

If there are any questions, please get in touch with Jean Burtt, Community Projects Co-ordinator.

Blankets for Haiti..THANK YOU!!!

This blog affords us a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other a little better. Dawn Sharpe has joined the Executive this year, heading up our Community Projects, and what a great addition to our team!

Dawn is recently retired from the Emergency department at the DECH (although she still spends many hours there filling in when they are short-staffed) and is enjoying more time at her sewing machine, making quilts, draperies and various other projects. Dawn is one of the kindest, most thoughtful and generous people I know; she is always there when family, friends or neighbours need help, and she has instilled these traits in her family as well. Dawn raised a family of seven- six boys plus daughter Robyn, also a FQG member, and what a fine family they are.

Dawn's son Chris had travelled to Haiti 13 times to help set up, build and maintain an orphanage in Jacmel. Upon hearing of the recent tragic earthquake there, he knew he had to return to help out wherever he could. Within the first few days when things were rather chaotic, Chris was instrumental in helping the Canadian military organize and arrange access to Haiti. After listening to CBC radio, and hearing of the chaos and confusion over how to land and get supplies and equipment in to Port au Prince, he called CBC to tell them there was another way. He was passed on to someone in Toronto, and before long was telling the Canadian military of the airstrip and deep water port in Jacmel. Suffice it to say that they were very grateful for Chris's first hand knowledge and experience in the area. Chris was on his way to Jacmel a few days later, and worked with our Canadian troops while there, serving as a liaison between the Mayor of Jacmel and other "Officials" there and the military.

Upon his return to Fredericton, Dawn asked her son what we here could do to help. He replied that although the days were warm, it became quite cool overnight; the orphans would huddle together in groups on the ground at night to stay warm. He said he slept with his jacket over him and was still cold. So Dawn launched the "Blankets for Haiti " project. She asked staff she knew at the Hospital, Robyn mentioned it to staff at FHS, and our Guild was approached to donate fleece or to actually make fleece blankets. These will be shipped, with other supplies and materials that are being collected at O'Leary Pontiac. Dawn was hoping to receive 100 blankets.

Jerry O'Leary is well known in Fredericton for the work he has done in Jacmel with the present orphange. Now they are planning the construction of a second one. Upon speaking with Chris today, he explained to me that the Haitians are now terrifed to sleep in concrete buildings. They want nothing to do with any concrete structures, so the metal containers that will be shipped will be emptied, and then used to actually form the basic structure of the new orphange.

Dawn, Robyn and Chris are thrilled with the response they received: over 280 blankets! Thank you so much to all our members who were so generous in donating finished blankets, fleece or money for fleece, for this worthwhile project. God bless!!