Yesterday, I dropped off two more charity quilts for Victoria’s Quilts Canada. Last week, their headoffice, located here in Ottawa, received requests for 80 quilts… in one week! They definitely need more quilters. It’s a fabulous organization, if you can help out, I’m sure they would appreciate it.

These two quilts were made with the charms donated from quilter’s around the world in the Charms for Charity contest I did at the end of 2008/early 2009. With those charms, I also donated 6 NICU blankets last year, and another full-sized quilt for Victoria’s Quilts Canada.

My little quilting for charity group has a couple more quilts just about done too. These ladies have done an amazing job, never having quilted before we started our group last year. I’m so proud of them. I’ll be sure to post photos next month.

The first quilt I dropped off yesterday is called Flowers in the Wind. I used the Tri Recs Tool for this quilt. It was perfect for the charms, and the side bits cut off the ends I was able to use for a top and bottom border. No wasted fabrics!

I met a friend for lunch yesterday and she remarked, “I recognize that fabric”. Yes, you do. The border, binding and sashing fabrics were from my first bed quilt. I’m happy to say that the fabric is all gone! Finally.

For the quilting, I did a large meander/stipple over the entire surface. It went pretty quick, and was a perfect free motion practice experience on a large quilt.

The second quilt is Sidebars 1. This is a pretty easy quilt to do, and I’ll be trimming up some more charms and writing out the instructions for the ladies in my group to make one too.

For the quilting, I stitched in the ditch around the sashing, then did free motion X’s in the centre. I’ve decided I HATE stitching in the ditch, it just takes way too long. I also echoed several straight lines in the outer border.

And a close-up:

Join us in the brand new Quilter’s Daily Blog Along. The idea is that each day a new prompt will be posted, to give you inspiration for your next blog post. On your blog, write a post using the daily prompt as a guide. Then head over to the blog along site and add a link to your post in the comments for the specific day.

Today’s prompt, from me, is Charity Quilts. I’d love to hear and see the charity quilts you’ve made.

Last year, I ran a contest here on the Quilting Gallery site, Charms for Charity. We raised 1,149 charms.

Last January a couple friends and I started a charity sewing group and invited others to join us. We meet once a month. Several of the ladies in the group have never sewn before, never mind quilted. We finally picked a name for our group, the Quarter Inch Club.

We have two quilts completed and ready to be delivered to Victoria Quilts Canada. The ladies did a fabulous job on these. One uses charms from the contest and the other fabric received from Victoria Quilts.

Charlie Brown 1

Blue Bird

I’ve also completed two additional tops using the charms and these are basted waiting for me to finish quilting them this summer.

Side Bars 1

Flowers in the Wind

I’ve also been working on five small, 24″ square baby quilts for NICU babies. Those will be delivered to the quilt guild in September. Will share pictures before I send them off. I love working on the small projects, gives me a great opportunity to practice my free motion skills.

I have enough charms left to make one more Side Bars quilt like the one above, and another totally charmed one for Victoria Quilts. There’s a New Zealand quilt being worked on too, which I forgot to take a picture of, will get that in September.

We’d love to have some new fabrics once our group starts back in September. Is there any interest in me holding another charity drive contest? I’m thinking either Fat Quarters or 2.5″ strips. Here’s my idea:

Donate 4 fat quarters, 3 will go to charity, 1 will go into a pile to be drawn as a contest once I reach 10. OR Donate 6 strips of 2.5×40″ wide fabric, 4 will go to charity and 2 for a contest draw once I reach 12. Please vote below if you’d be interested in participating.

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We had our first charity quilting sew-a-thon day last Sunday. Eight of us gathered at Lois and Lisa’s house for an afternoon of sewing fun.

Three of the ladies had never sewn before. For one reason or another, they have a strong desire to learn and support Victoria’s Quilts with their efforts. They each finished piecing and quilting a nine-patch. Next month they’ll add the binding and label to complete their first finished project. They did a great job picking colours, piecing, marking, and quilting.

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Happy New Year everyone. I hope you had a nice holiday … I sure did. Here’s the latest report on the Charms for Charity Contest.

If you would like to participate, the final contest drawing will be held January 31st. With the holidays over, the mail seems to be moving a lot quicker, so there’s still time to mail those packages within North America. If you mail from overseas, they might not make it in time for the drawing, but I’d still be thrilled with the donation. Read the Charms for Charity Contest post for more info.

I’m all caught up with sending thank you emails to everyone that sent charms. If you haven’t received an email from me, I have not received your package yet, or there wasn’t an email address included.

The day I was leaving Ottawa for Christmas with the family in Toronto, I received a wonderful package of 120 gorgeous charms from Greta VanDenBerg-Nestle from Pennsylvania. They were already organized by colour, which made it super-easy for me to add what I already had to her pile. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of just Greta’s charms. Instead, here’s a photo of my desk drawer where I have the charms stored.

When I returned from Toronto, there was a card from the post office to pick up a package. Well, the package was from Rachel of 2nd Avenue Studio (you might remember her, as she sent me Market in a Box last summer). Here’s a photo of what she sent.

There’s more than 600 charms of Jinny Beyer’s 2007 fabric line. They are absolutely gorgeous. A huge thank you to both Greta and Rachel … your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Also thank you to the following participants of Group 3 for their donations:

• Marne Parry, Washington – 18
• Rhonda Lawton, Texas – 6
• Christine Gillette, New York – 6
• Anne Marie Tegen, Wisconsin – 6
• Barbara Bunchuk, Florida – 10
• Sara Ames, New York – 12
• Vicki Cal, Ontario – 6
• Susan Cahill, New York – 6
• Rose Marie Castonguay, Ontario – 18
• Greta VanDenBerg-Nestle, Pennsylvania – 120
• Rachel, Oregon – 616

Barbara Bunchuk is the lucky random winner of the third package of charms for the contest.

The totals below include what I’ve received so far for Group 4 too.

Total charms received: 1,278
Charms for the contest winner: 129
Charms for charity: 1,149

During the holidays, I spent some quiet time sewing. I’ve just about finished the first top for a donation to Victorias Quilts. I used 80 charms (plus 4 for the sample block). I used the Tri-Recs ruler set that I bought last week. The rest of the fabric used came from my stash. The pink, blue and border fabric were from my Bed Quilt and Wall Hanging I made many years ago.

I’m calling this quilt Flowers in the Wind. Here’s a photo of the final layout.

A close-up photo along with the border fabric, which will be 4-6″ depending on what’s needed to meet the requirements.

And, the quality control inspector, Daniel. He’ll often hang his head over the back of the couch to see what I’m working on or to have a chat.