Way to go, ya'll ...

Don't know how many of you follow Ami's blog ~ Through the Eyes of a Quilter... her post from Sunday shares some noteable, amazing, wonderful, truly outstanding news. Her goal has been to take 1,000 Priority Quilts to the International Quilt Festival in Houston and this year she will! Here's a very special thanks to each of you who are participating in the Priority Hope Challenge by making and donating Priority Quilts. Read all about it here.

And, further down in that same post, there's a link "shown here" regarding the Purple Patch Quilt... I'm thrilled to share that I made that quilt and Chris quilted it. There are 15 slides in the presentation ~ hope you'll click through and feel the emotions...

Together we are each helping to make a difference when it comes to Alzheimer's ~ one quilt at a time!

Quiltdivajulie

Hope Is That Thing With Feathers

Hey ya'll, Magpie Sue here. My blog is From the Magpie's Nest. I've been in Tonya's Summer Class and have made a few free pieced letters, and of course I read her blog :- ) The way I work now is very much influenced by the techniques in Gwen Marston's book, Liberated Quiltmaking.

I wanted to participate in this Priority Hope challenge as soon as I read about it. In fact, I was grateful for the "opportunity" it created as my mother-in-law has just been installed in a care facility. I knew about Ami's project and had been intending to contribute to it for a while.

Anyway... I didn't feel up to free piecing letters at the time so I chose a print from my stash that had a little bluebird as part of the design. I also chose it partly because my MIL loves music.

That had to sit for a few days while I worked out what to do with it. I decided to free piece a heart... that became the head of a flower... with two sizes of rick rack for a stem...

and then I needed the rest of the garden to go with it. Some background, some sky, some hand quilting... buttons and beads to enhance the flowers in the print... and suddenly it was done!

Before I mailed it off to Ami I sewed on a pewter ladybug crawling up the stem of the flower. Ladybugs are supposed to be good luck. This has been registered as quilt #3286. I have a feeling there will be more coming from the Magpie's Nest in the not-too-distant future; this was fun!

Rainbow Hope

Here is the front and the back of the mailed Rainbow Hope quilt I did. I really enjoyed making this little quilt and was happy with truly how fast it was to make and quilt. I may make another one after I finish a few other projects in the works.

hope and hoping

well, i finally got started, and then my sewing machine broke down. so i am HOPING i can get it to work or i will be finishing this by hand.

hope ready to quilt

this is ready to quilt-I will do various colors in perle cotton. I knife edged it rather than binding-it was the only way to keep the letters intact and be within the guidelines for width.

I have a white blank label already stitched to the back-once I am done quilting, I will write in the information on the label, and pop it into the mail.

My goal is to have it ready to mail by Monday morning. I think this is a very attainable goal.
I am pretty happy with how it looks so far.

Deputy Diva Checking In...

Two of my HOPE quilts are registered and will be mailed off today! Their numbers are 3175 and 3176... my first PQ was #53...  

First is Essential Ingredient (front above, back below).

Here is Between The Lines:  

The reverse-side photos show the fast finish triangles and labels designed in Word and printed onto a sheet of Printed Treasures (attached to quilts using Steam-a-Seam 2 fusible).

Between The Lines  is a collaborative piece. Wanda of Exuberant Color shared 2 orphan blocks which became the background fabric. After piecing, I returned the top and back to her for quilting. I just love the leaves she stitched into this!

I have another quilt for this challenge bouncing around in my head ~ hope to translate those thoughts to fabric soon!

So glad to see so many participating in this challenge ~ "raising awareness and funding research, one quilt at a time"  Looking forward to seeing even more works-in-progress as they are finished and shared!

Quiltdivajulie

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"The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope." (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)

Hope Challenge # Two

Here is #2, another fun quilt for AAQI. Wouldn't it be great if donations from this project pushed research over the top for a cure! I'm delighted to see the size of the bids that are being made. People care. Some of the quilts are really neat. Be sure and check out this page.

High Hopes - ( Heidi)

Hi,
after some hesitation ( from me ) and encouraging words from Tonya, now I'm here.
My name is Heidi, married, 2 kids, part time working, quilting now for more than 10 years.
I was lucky to take part in Tonya's winter and summer class.
Here's my contribution, I call it 'High Hopes', the flower in the right corner isn't appliqued yet, maybe I'll change it... then of course I'll have to baste, quilt and bind it :-)
Heidi

There is Hope II

Here is the front


and here is the back which I thought was appropriate.

It's a fraction under the 12 inch width measurement so I hope it will be ok.

All I've got to do now is to register it, do the label and send it on its way.

completed my hope top tonight

I jumped in tonight on my hope top. I had bought some luscious hand dyed fabric at spring market by Starr Design Fabrics-I know Tonya has been loving the solid fabric look-these fabrics are in that same vein-I love the saturated color of them.
It did not take long to get this top done, I would say about 2 hours and a bit.
Now I need to get a number for this quilt and finish it up. I have a few ideas on how I want to quilt it.
I was happy to work on this and be able to contribute. I will post a photo once this top is totally finished.

My First Try

This is my first try (implying there will be more) for this November Priority Hope Challenge. My mother had Alzheimers, and this reminds me of her. She loved gardens and flowers, and remained a bright spot in my life even when her mind slowly slid off the edges. I can imagine her tracing the words and quilting design in this little quilt, and smiling.

I never noticed until I posted the photo how the red flowers move in and out of the O, almost like the O is hanging on to them, or the flowers to the O. Not planned, yet my mother’s name was Olive!

How good for those involved to make this initiative possible. Thank you. I’ve yet to make the label for this one (and first try to name it), but already am thinking of what to do that includes a bird so I can make another one!

Autumn brings hope

This might be a bit busy but I was trying to work with fabric on hand. I just love that bird fabric.

My mom has alzheimer's and I am so thankful to be a part of this project as we enter the season of giving and gratitude.

Thank you to all who are participating.

There is Hope

Top done. The letters came out a lot smaller than they were supposed to (I needn't have cut so much off :-)).

Recognise the blue's Tonya?

I loved doing this so I may just be able to get another done before the deadline.

Is there anything special that has got to be put on the label?

So sad...

Just want to share this with some one. Today, in our local newspaper, Mr. M's obituary states that he passed on last Friday, oddly the day that I completed the quiltie that I had made in his honor. It says that he had owned his own company, hiked all 46 high peaks of the Adirondack Mountains, was an avid skiier, dad to 5 children, and grandfather to 10.

Words of hope

Brenda here with my second attempt at this challenge. I figured out another font for the free-pieced letters -- and an easy way to make sure the quilt won't be too big is to draw it out on a piece of copy paper. I drew out these letters and measured my strips against my paper pattern. I used a hand-dyed purple fabric left over from another project, and two types of word fabric from my extensive collection.

Quilt Label Idea

Okay, so this label actually belongs to a wall quilt that I just finished ~ but the idea works just as well for Priority Quilts...

I start by using Microsoft Word to create the text and graphic layout.  Once I'm done fiddling and tweaking, I print the label onto a sheet of Printed Treasures inkjet printable fabric.

I leave 1/2" of label beyond the text/graphic when trimming.  

The edges are finished with 1" strips of fabric (contrast, coordinating, leftover ~ your choice) which are stitched to the label using 1/4" seams.

The edging fabrics are folded to the back and pressed before the finished label is hand stitched to the quilt. 

In the case of PQs, I typically print the label as above, but then apply a fusible like Steam a Seam to attach the label to the PQ. 

Quiltdivajulie

Hope Butterfly

Here is the first little quilt I have finished. It's 8-5/8" x 11-3/8". I figured I should make it smallish, that way I wouldn't have to worry about making it too big.

These are fun, I have another one in the works, and am planning a third.

I'm making these in memory of my Grandmother, Izola, who taught me how to sew.

Bird of Hope

GiraffeDreams (Carol) here... I set out to make a Hope quilt, but it turned into this bird. I am happy with it, and it's appropriate to honor my dad, I think. He used to like to watch the birds at the cabin, although he wished they could learn to share and take turns! ("There's enough birdseed - you don't have to fight over it," he used to tell them.)

I have been meaning to make an Alzheimers quilt for quite some time, and now, thanks to Tonya, I have done it. I made this on my birthday, and it was fun to think of my dad while I sewed.

My Bird of Hope is in memory of my dad, Roscoe.

Hope & Wisdom

Hi all, this is Knit One Quilt Too Kristin. I just got my little quilt done and have sent in the registration email. I made this one with some solids and a favorite owl fabric. It's also hand quilted. I dedicated this to my husband's grandmother who was a remarkable woman. Thanks for the fun challenge, Tonya!

Finished rays of hope

Brenda here with my first attempt at this challenge, now beaded and bound. This was my first experience with beading on a quilt -- I mostly just put the beads on with the quilt stitches. What would be another way of doing it? I'm assuming the seed beads are on firmly, but I'm not so sure about the bigger ones.

I've also made another Hope quilt, and I'll post it once the binding is on. I can see why making these quilts could be addictive -- they're certainly quick to do.