Mountain Baby Blanket Update!

Well we've done it! We have put together our first shipment to send for the Mountain Baby Blanket project. In the next few days we will be sending out seven crib sized quilts and one child's pillow; each packaged with a children's book to read or have read to them as they cuddle in the quilts. These quilts all were donated through And Sew It Goes, and I know that the children who will receive these will be warmed and grateful!

As soon as the first box was packed up and ready to go, we received some donations from the church Mom and I attend. We love how everyone is getting involved with this project and are amazed with the donations people are providing!

We would like to remind everyone that this project is ongoing! We also hope to set up more sew ins at And Sew It Goes, and we hope to see your continued support with this project!

~Heather

Little Diversion becomes a Big One

Just wanted to pop in and let you know why there hasn't been a post all week. Things are getting back to normal here after my son's "little diversion" last Sunday turned into a hospital stay from Tuesday through Friday. His little Staph Infection just kept getting uglier until our family doctor sent him to the hospital to receive intravenous antibiotics for a few days. Long story short, he is back home and doing much better now. Thank God for antibiotics, they are such a blessing!

I of course spent the week at the doctor's office and hospital with him, so no work was done here (that's ok ~ I didn't need that week of my life anyway right?). Since I have no new quilty pictures to show you, I thought I'd just use one of my favorite garden pictures from this spring. These Irises look as happy as I feel now that Bobby is feeling better!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Journey of Hope

When working at the shop on Sunday afternoon, I had the neatest visit from a couple from Indiana who are on a journey. Susie Hague is an elementary school teacher who received a grant to travel and learn more about the Underground Railroad in America. She and Kent happened upon our shop when on their way to Philly from DC.

Susie was pleased to find that we carried Civil War Reproduction fabrics, and proceeded to buy a good collection of them for an Underground Railroad quilt that she plans to make upon returning home from her journey. I then proceeded to ask her if she had read Barbara Brackman's book called Facts & Fabrications Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery. That started us talking.

I had a very enjoyable conversation with Susie about quilts in the Civil War and how they may or may not have played a role in the Underground Railroad (I happen to believe that lacking any tangible historic proof, the quilt code is a wonderful myth of hope). We also talked about Indiana (I have two bothers who live there), and I found out that she has started a blog for her trip. Check out Susie's blog here to follow her journey and read a little about the places they are visiting and the things she's discovering along the way.

We had done the Underground Railroad Quilt by Elanor Burns of Quilt in a Day as a block of the month at our shop a few years back, and even though I don't think the quilt code story is historically accurate (and I will document that on my quilt's label), I think the sampler quilt is attractive, so I had started making the blocks along with the group. These are some of my finished blocks (I have 11 of them done, I don't know why I didn't finish them ~ I'm almost there!). Talking with Susie inspired me to get my blocks back out and put them on my "Finish It Up Pile".

I think I'll follow Susie's journey and try to finish my quilt as she makes hers. No matter what you think about the legend of how quilts were used in respect to the Underground Railroad, we know that quilts were made to raise funds and awareness for the Abolitionist Movement by many brave women, and to commemorate things before, during, and after the Civil War. It's a fact that throughout history quilts were used as symbols of hope, safety and friendship...some things in history never change.

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Diversions ~ Some Fun and Some Not So...

Sometimes we just need a little diversion. Today at work I whipped up this little Button Pillow from a pattern by The Quilt Company called Firecracker. It's cute and easy to do, and best of all, the buttons are included with the pattern! We have several of these little button pillow patterns available in our shop for several occasions. Along with this fun little diversion, I'm cutting out a Pat Sloan Pattern called Gran's Gingerbread to work on this week (yes, we are starting on Christmas samples).

Tonight I'm trying to make some more progress on my Baltimore Album block for class tomorrow. I thought I'd get some done on it this morning before work, but had a "not so fun" diversion and had to take my son to the emergency room. He is fine, but had come home from his Senior Week in Ocean City last Friday evening with what we thought looked like some kind of insect bite on his back, but he doesn't remember feeling any bites. Well it got progressively worse looking and much more painful, so by this morning when he woke up (and it looked like an alien might emerge from his back at any second) I thought it needed to be looked at. They did lance and culture it, and indicatied it could even be a Staph Infection or Merca. He is on antibiotics and we'll know more on Tuesday when he has his follow up and the test results should be back. Kids...all in all, I'm very thankful that he came home from Senior Week in one piece, I just didn't anticipate he'd bring anything home with him.

Enjoy the rest of your day!
~ Dawn

Peek at a Work in Progress

I'm back to work and getting a lot done, but mostly on the computer ~ not sewing. So I thought I'd give you a little peek at the Baltimore Album block that I'm working on this month. These are two layered flowers that are in the block. I have a bunch of "supporting role" type flowers to add in, and as you can see I have to add tiny little buds in the calyxes, but these two are the "star" flowers of the block.

Even when I'm not getting to the sewing machine, I try to sit and do a little hand work in the evening, it helps me slow down from the day and "breath". I'm about half way done with this block. Hopefully it will be ready for my Baltimore Album Class which is on Monday!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Some Quick Tablerunners Just for Fun

The other day I whipped up some quick tablerunners that are made from a striped fabric. They are really easy to make with about a 1 1/2 yard cut of fabric and a 60 degree ruler. The pattern I used is called Easy Striped Tablerunner by The Quilt Company and you can find it here in our shop.

The tablerunners can be made in different lengths, with all kinds of stripes, and for any holiday season.

I whipped up all three of these in one afternoon and that includes completely finishing and quilting two of them. They make for a fun diversion and will make great gifts. Now I'm searching for all kinds of striped fabrics!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn
P.S. ~ Yesterday I had my 6 month follow up after my lumpectomy last November and the MRI shows no sign of cancer! It was a good day :)

Sew In for Mountain Baby Blankets

Well, all our family has gone home, vacation is over, and yesterday I headed back to work at the shop to our Sew-In for Mountain Baby Blankets. Seven of us were there to work on quilts to donate to the Christian Appalachian Project for the children in the mountains of Kentucky. We started with a big pile of scraps (and a little chocolate to keep us going).

Starlyn showed us the "String Piecing" method using a foundation to sew strips together randomly to make some striking quilts.

Everyone was busy sewing and Starlyn kept busy pressing and trimming blocks. With so many hands and this method the process moves along pretty fast.

The weather outside was beautiful for a change (we've had a lot of rain lately), so it really meant a lot to have the volunteers come in and give of their time for this cause!

In a very short time the ladies made these two tops, one with a red center strip in each block, and one with a blue center strip. Char took them (and some other tops we had) home to quilt up.

This last picture shows the blocks that Heather and I worked on. We didn't do a common center strip and our blocks are a little smaller, so we will be setting these blocks together with a light blue sashing between them. I brought them home to finish the top and quilt (hopefully soon).

We had a lot of fun ~ this is a great method when you want to just sit and sew and not do much thinking, and it is really nice to do it with friends! I'll be putting together a box later this week for a shipment for Mountain Baby Blankets and I'll keep everyone posted as to how many we send out in this box ~ and so far we do have a children's book to go along with each quilt!

This will be an ongoing effort, and we'll have another Sew-In soon (keep an eye on our website's events page for the next one). At today's end Starlyn sorted through the "strings" that we had left and put together some real nice combinations for great starts to our next batch of quilts ~ and as we all know, our scrap piles are forever growing, so there will definitely be more quilts to come!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn