Friday, May 17, 2019

Hands 2 Help 2019 Reveal

It's that time of the year again!  I always enjoy putting the pictures for the Hands 2 Help reveal on my blog - it helps me remember from year to year the quilts that I've sent off and hopefully someone else is enjoying.  After last year's reveal, I decided to challenge myself to a goal of quilting one quilt per month to give during Hands 2 Help this year.  I'm retired and have a longarm, so it should be an achievable goal.   Also, I've had many friends and relatives giving me fabric in the last couple years, so I really have no excuses about making quilts.  And this long, miserable winter was a huge help - we had no end of snow days this year.

So, with that goal in mind, here's what happened. This is a long post, so grab a cup of something if you're going to read it all!

The first two quilts will be going to Carolina Hurricane Relief.  My friend Donna from Brynwood Needleworks gave me a large bag of fabric that her friend had passed along to her, with the hope of someone making some quilts for donation from it.  Inside were two sets of a block of the month from Joann Fabrics from several years ago.  Each month's block was precut, and I have to admit these blocks went together amazingly well.  Donna donated a backing fabric for it, and I quilted it with an allover swirl pattern.  This quilt is about double bed size.



The second quilt to go to Carolina Hurricane Relief was made from a quilt top with Jacob's Ladder blocks made several years ago when I was in a Thimbleberries Club. I got it out and quilted it with allover feathers for my second quilt to give to Hurricane Relief.  It's a huge quilt - at least queen size and maybe even king.  It will make a good bedspread for someone.  I love all the fabrics in this one!

I enjoy making baby quilts; very quick and easy compared to big bed quilts!  I made six to send to Jack's Basket.

In past years, my mother has helped with my Hands2Help efforts.  Sadly, she passed away in November, but I brought her considerable stash of precuts home with me, so her fabric will continue to participate for years to come.  This Moda Love quilt was made with some of the cute nursery rhyme precuts Mom had in her stash.



The next quilt is a string pieced quilt.  The black paw print fabric was donated by a friend, and I added the brights and animal fabrics.  I quilted it with a paw print pantograph. 

This quilt was made from fabric I had left from a previous Hands2Help quilt a few years ago.  It's turtles, frogs and bugs, and a little boy would like it.

The next two quilts were made from the Illusion Quilt tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I love their tutorials, and I loved this pattern because the cute kids prints could be kept in large pieces!  I made one with pastel fabrics, and another one with darker prints.  I'll use this pattern again in the future.


And, last but not least, this guitar quilt went to Jack's Basket.  This pattern is found in the book Fat Quarter Baby by It's Sew Emma.  Fun to make, and another one I'll probably do again in the future.  I had a pantograph that I thought looked a little like musical notes to quilt it with.


The other four quilts I got done went to Mercyful Quilts.  The first is a rainbow quilt made of half-square triangles left over from another project.  I did some fun feather quilting in the white areas.  This is lap quilt size. And I STILL have a box left of half-square triangles.  I think they replicate overnight.


I've gotten into the string quilt craze a little bit, too.  The next quilt uses some of the string blocks.  I thought this quilt had a more modern feel, so it's quilted with swirls and a mid-century modern motif.  This picture is sideways, but the quilt is a generous lap size. There are a lot of fun TV-theme fabrics in this quilt, so it's very interesting to look at up close.


The next quilt is Boxy Stars, a free pattern by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.  I've made several of these out of 2 1/2" strips.  They always turn out very nice.  The 2 1/2" strip box is still overflowing, too!


I found a sampler quilt top I pieced a few years ago in a Thangles class, so I got it out and quilted it for this challenge.  It's from some older Jan Patek prints, but I still love them and hope someone else will, too.  This picture is also sideways, but it's a nice lap-size quilt.  Since it's a sampler, all the blocks are quilted differently.


So, goal achieved!  Twelve quilts were mailed to their destinations on Tuesday, so they should be there by now.  I feel bad that I didn't send any to Em's Scrapbag, which I've sent to in the past, but I thought that in the interest of postage, I'd limit the number of places I sent to.  Hang on, Emily!  I've already started some quilts for your group for next year, so you'll be hearing from me in 2020. 

I've had so much fun making quilts for this challenge this year, and have a lot of ideas for new quilts, and a number of pieced quilt tops just waiting to be quilted and go to a new home.  And, in spite of all these quilts getting done, I can't see any difference at all in my fabric stash!  How does that happen?

Thanks to Sarah for coordinating this effort.  I really enjoy participating each year!

6 comments:

  1. Seeing all your beautiful quilts really inspires! I've made a few for this project, too but boy oh boy... mine are nothing compared to these beauties! Thank you so much for sharing your pictures! Now I need to step up my game... LOL!

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  2. Hi Kathy - I am so thrilled to have received four gorgeous quilts from you for Mercy Hospital. Your work is just stunning. I really love the string quilt with the large amount of open space. It is striking! Thank you so very much. They are all gorgeous!!!

    Also, how nice to use your mom's stash to continue to make donation quilts. That is such a lovely way to honor her.

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  3. Such great finishes. Love looking at your creativity. What a nice group of Quilty Hugs you have made.

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  4. What a generous donation for Hands2Help!! I'm not sure I could choose just ONE favorite. LOVE them all!

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  5. Wow, those are all cute quilts! I love that you spread them out to the different charities.

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  6. Twelve quilts is an amazing accomplishment. They are all beautiful, so it's hard to decide which one would be my favorite. I have to admit the guitar quilt brings a smile to my face. Using your mom's stash is a lovely way to keep her a a part of your donation sewing.

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