Breakin' the mold..

This morning, I saw this...
and this...
which inspired this...

more work to do!

Rays of Hope

This is Brenda from Scraps and Strings with a first attempt at the Priority Challenge. I used batik leftovers from this quilt made for my cousin's wedding last spring -- my aunt, my mom and I collaborated on it and the rest of the aunts and uncles contributed to cover the cost. A few days ago, one of those aunts died of Alzheimer's, so I decided to use the scraps in this quilt challenge. I'm calling it Rays of Hope and I plan to quilt more rays in it, and perhaps have some fun with bugle beads as well. And for the record, it has some liberated effects -- I had to piece the yellow and I added a cut off piece of ray from the top on the bottom. This measures about 8 by 11.5 unfinished.

Let me introduce myself....

Hello everybody! Bonjour Tonya!

I am Lisa (aka Upstatelisa). I am usually behind the camera so photos of me are rare and usually unusual. This one was taken with my wonderful veggie sushi dinner while out with some quiltie friends...

I live in Upstate NY, hence my name, (although I originally hail from north of the border) where the leaves are just beginning to change for fall (today is the first full day of fall!). I am a wife, mom to 3 busy kids, landlord, volunteer, etc. etc. I am an addicted quilter/crafter/swapper, blogaholic, fitness fanatic and I am happy to have joined Tonya's Hope Challenge.

It will probably take a few days to get going but I hope :-) to have my Hope piece done soon.

You can visit me at Upstatelisa

Robin's HOPE

Here's my HOPE quilt. This is a wonderful challenge. Thanks for inviting me!

(Victoria from bumble beans...)

Mine was inspired by my husbands brother, Robin, who passed away this past May from cancer... Beatrice, my daughter, in January drew this "robin" (below) and we made it into a soft lovey for him as a gift.

Although we have no one in our family with Alzheimer's, Robin did a lot of Humanitarian work of all sorts to help many people, so with the help of my daughter, we honor him with this "Hope" quilt.

***Just need to add the label, and the hang-y thing and I can send it off***

My Hope is Almost Done

Tonya here. I spent yesterday and today doing the quilting and now all I need is the binding. Woohoo! These do go fast.

A few adminy things for you.

Turns out you do not need to link to your blog in your posts. There is now an automatic handy dandy list of contributors in the sidebar. However, if you are a blogger and Blogger isn't your host, then I'd suggest that you Edit your Profile and in the spot where it says Homepage URL (it's there below your birthday) put your blog URL. And while you're in your Profile add your email addy (if it's not there already) so that folks can reply to you when you comment. If you want. Just makes the experience better is all.

Try to say who is posting right at the beginning of the post, that saves everyone having to scroll to find out. And please put your name as a label. If you have no idea what that last bit means, then don't worry about it, I'll do it for you.

Ami is taking a whole bunch of priority quilts to Houston for the big quilt festival. If you get your quilt completed, registered, and mailed off by the end of this month there is a chance - just a possibility - that your quilt could go to Houston. You can see a whole bunch of the quilts that have already been selected here.

My quickie instructions for free-piecing HOPE for this size of a quilt have been uploaded on Quiltville - thank you, Bonnie. The link is in the sidebar. I apologize that it is going to chew up so many pages to print off the instructions but I was having some issues with Microsoft Word - it doesn't love me. Please let me know if you notice a boo-boo or need a clarification on anything.

In the registration form it will make you state that you hold copyright to your design or you have to get written permission from the one who does. Just so you know, if you use the free-pieced HOPE you have my written permission here so you don't need to worry about that.

Deputy Diva reminded me that each of these quilts we're making will need a unique name for the registration form so they can't all be named Priority Hope. So come up with something creative or just plan on putting your name or blogname in the title. I hate coming up with titles for quilts but Julie is excellent at it so I'm sure she can give you a hand. I keep volunteering her for all sorts of things.

Thanks to all of you for participating.

Here They Are ~

This is "Between the Lines" ~ which is actually my second top for the day (slightly wonky letters instead of straight from Tonya's great instructions).  This one is a collaborative piece as the background is made from two 9" orphan blocks given to me by Wanda of Exuberant Color to be used for the Priority Quilt project.  Liberated touches include seams wherever they fell in order to make it work and virtually nothing left of those two 9" blocks!  I will hand quilt this using embroidery flosses (back will be the letter color and binding will be same fabric as the horizontal lines).  Time permitting, I may add some beading... we'll see.

This is "Essential Ingredient" ~ batik scraps (hadn't tried them with free-piecing before, LOVE how they work!).  The binding will be the same royal blue as the background and the back is a section cut from a scrappy batik quilt back.  Again, I plan to hand quilt ~ perfect lunch hour stress reliever (the batiks have been washed which should help them needle better)...

Really enjoyed my afternoon with these small-scale letters ~ 

Quiltdivajulie

  

Deputy Quiltdivajulie Here ~

Oh, my ~ this is exciting!  I don't have a challenge quilt ready to show yet, but I'll get a photo of the first one posted here as soon as possible.  

Tonya's new Priority Hope class challenge gives each of us an opportunity to play with free-piecing without the fear of being overwhelmed by the size of it all.   (9" x 12" is a LOT easier to finish than a twin or full size quilt!)

As you explore Ami's AAQI website, you'll discover a number of personal, heartfelt pieces shared by other quilters on the "why" behind quilting for this particular cause.  And, if you scroll through the listings of registered Priority Quilts (sold, pending, $1,000 Promise, Houston bound, etc.), many of the descriptions contain even more stories.    For Ami's mom, my mom, Michele's mom, Ken's and John's dad ... and so many other moms and dads, sisters, brothers, family members, and friends who are affected by Alzheimer's ... the stories give context for WHY so many of us participate in the Priority Quilt effort.  

I'm working on a couple of examples for Priority Hope quilt labels ~ more on this soon!  (I tend to slow down and get stuck when it comes to the hanger and the label  part... which is pretty silly since they don't take long at all once I finally get busy).  And if you want to save yourself the hanger issue all together, check out the tutorial for fast finish triangles!

Hope you'll join us!!  I can't wait to see the gloriously liberated designs, colors, and techniques of the free-pieced birds and HOPE  Priority Quilts that ya'll are about to create ~ here's to the fun of designing and creating!!  And do, please, share your works-in-progress! 

Quiltdivajulie

The Priority Hope Quilt Challenge

I'm challenging you all to make a quilt for Ami Simm's Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, specifically the Priority Quilt auction.

The challenge (besides the size) is to use:

the word HOPE in fabric, thread, ink or beads on the quilt top
OR
an image of a bird in fabric, thread, ink or beads on the quilt top

Please don't use anyone else's copyrighted pattern - you may however add traditional quilt blocks (but they're gonna have to be teeny).

The goal is to have them mailed to Ami by Thanksgiving (November 20th).

This isn't just a challenge, it's also a class in usual Lazy Gal style. Meaning I just turn you all loose and you post away and ask questions if you need to and make comments on your fellow classmates work. I've deputized Quilt Diva Julie to help out, since she's great at making free-pieced letters AND making Priority Quilts for the Alzhiemer's Initiative.

I made a couple of tops so that I could give you all tips on getting the sizes right if you choose to free-piece the word HOPE. I'm pretty happy with this, my second effort, but I'm hoping it shrinks up some in quilting because it's close to the size limitations right now. I plan to trim before binding just in case.

This was my first one and I was playing around to see just how big I could make the letters. eek, not all that big. I'm not sure this one looks right as is, so I may just add some more to it and keep it for myself.

You can definitely make more than one quilt in this class and only one has to be a donation to the Initiative (although more is certainly encouraged).

Do read through the info at Ami's site to find out how to make and finish quilts donated to her project.

I have made some instructions for free-piecing HOPE you can find them here at Quiltville. Please please please give me feedback.

Oh, I won't be putting the list of all the classmembers in the sidebar. Instead, include a link to your blog (if you have one) in each post. And make sure to do an introductory post please.

You'll need to have a Blogger account to post directly on the blog. That isn't mandatory to be in the class - you can also email me info and I'll add it for you.

To join the class, send an email to me TARTBR47 at Hotmail dot com - I probably won't see it if you just ask in the comments. Let me know if you have a Blogger account and I'll invite you to join the blog.

this post was edited on 21 Sept.