giving inspires giving

Saturday was National Quilting day.  And I was happy to spend the whole day doing just that!

Three quick quilts were made and as soon as I get them quilted they will be donated to my Guild to be given as Comfort Quilts.

Warm and cozy and hopefully will provide much needed comfort to someone in need.

Back in November when my friend Sharon and I made 100s of pink ornaments for our Trees for Hope donation tree, we asked members for pink scrap fabrics.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think an entire bag of pink fabric would appear! 

(I really should have known though, quilters are the most generous people...)

  Well, I pledged to use up the scraps and make a comfort quilt, maybe two.

 I'm three quilts in and have fabrics for one more comfort project, maybe two!

So, thank you ladies- your pink fabric is the gift that will keep on giving.

  I never showed a picture of our pink donation tree so it is pictured below, it came out really sweet.  The Trees for Hope event raised $3,000 and was donated to Oliva Fund for Cancer Care.

--- giving inspires giving ---

I'm baaaaaaack

Well, I wasn't really anywhere, just here.  

It's been busy.

It's quilt show weekend!

Thimble Pleasures Quilt Guild is hosting it's biennial Quilt Show.

March 8-9, 2014 10-4

Blackstone Valley Tech High School in Upton, MA

. . . There will be lots to see . . .

. . .  pretty quilts . . .

Above is Sandy's,

below is Dorlores'.

 . . . groups of Round Robin quilts . . .

Below is mine, it's a row robin.

 . . .Youth Quilt Exibit . . .

Which is one of my personal favorites. 

I was delighted to mentor my little friend this year.

 There will be plenty of shopping with 17 vendors. 

 Silent Auction items.  

And the boutique with handcrafted items, gently used tools, books, patterns plus more.

I had fun making up some hand painted kid's artist totes to put in the boutique.

The raffle basket table is always a fun table to visit.  

Take a chance, I hope you win!

And our Special Exhibit this year is

Sweet Dreams.

 In support of a few of our members and friends who have lost a child 

over the past few years we are supporting

Bereaved Parents of USA.

As a measure of solidarity members have crafted pillow cases to be sold in pairs.
You are not alone.

Proceeds from the sale of the pillow cases will be donated to Bereaved Parents of USA.  A non profit self-help group which offers support, education, encouragement and hope.

And last but not least don't forget your tickets for the Raffle Quilt Pictured at the top!

"A Quilter's Garden-Where Friendship Grows"

(winning ticket pulled Sunday March,9)

Hope to see you there!

Thimble Pleasures Quilt Show

March 8-9, 2014 10-4

Blackstone Valley Tech High School

Upton, MA

Imitating nature

We had our first snow this week.
The first day was good for making snow people.

The second day was crisp and cold. 

If you looked carefully you could
see the actual flakes.

Like tiny little crystals.

 Sugar frosted trees.

And an already fun game is so much better in the snow.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you are enjoying the season.

In the pink-

More pink for our 'Breast Friend's donation tree.

It was nice to use the donated pink fabrics from our generous quilting friends.  

We asked for scraps and got so much more.

Sort of like the story - "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"

I'll use the remaining pinks to make a comfort quilt for donation, maybe two.  

We used some felt.

And made a few bucks for the tree . . .   

. . .  he supports her when she gets 'it'.  

And she supports him,

because he can get 'it' too.  

 Every tree needs a simple skirt.

Pink corduroy with fused snowflakes.

Laura made us this pretty lady for our tree.

Our topper didn't work out as planned, so maybe she'll sit the top.  

I think she'll work perfectly.

 The workshop has been busy and fun.  

One last thing to do . . . 

My friend Donna gave me this pretty swatch and asked if I could make something special with it.

I will.

Tonight we set up our tree and the festival starts tomorrow.

If you are in and around the Blackstone Valley I hope you will attend.

You can find it on Facebook (which I don't have, but I think you can search)

Trees for Hope Festival

40 lighted, decorated trees will be raffled by ticket raffle.

All proceeds from the event go directly to the 

Oliva Fund for Cancer at Milford Regional Medical Center.

The Fund provides support to individuals and families undergoing treatment for cancer.

Trees for Hope Festival 

December 7, 9am-7pm

December 8, 9am-1pm

Saint Gabriel's Church 

151 Mendon Street

Upton, MA

Tree for Hope

-all decked out in pink-

 Sharon and I are donating a tree to the

Trees for Hope Festival. 

(info below)

We've made lots and lots of ornaments for our tree.  

All pink; support for our girlfriends.

We call our tree 

"Breast Friends"

. . .  we all know someone . . .

Our friend Joyce taught us how to make these cute folded stars. 

 Several Guild members donated pretty pink fabrics and made stars for our tree.

Thank you ladies.  

Friends supporting friends, it's a nice thing.

Barb made us these tiny pinwheels.  So cute.

 It's been fun working on this together.

Trees for Hope Festival

40 lighted, decorated trees will be raffled by ticket raffle.

All proceeds from the event go directly to the 

Oliva Fund for Cancer at Milford Regional Medical Center.

The Fund provides support to individuals and families undergoing treatment for cancer.

Trees for Hope Festival 

December 7, 9am-7pm

December 8, 9am-1pm

Saint Gabriel's Church 

151 Mendon Street

Upton, MA

The Understory

Today is the Artsquared online art quilt challenge group reveal. 

It was Donna's turn to pick the theme.

Donna chose 

'element'.

Many elements make up the rainforest. 

The understory is the middle of the forest between the canopy and floor.

  The piece is small, 8 x 8" but, a good exercise.

I'm enjoying working out the kinks in the background piecing for larger work.

The elements are all raw edged. 

When finished I wished the blue frog was three dimensional. 

Oh well.

Check out the other element pieces over on the artsquared blog!

Butterfly Garden

Have you ever visited a butterfly garden?

It's a mystical

magical place.

There is lots of green

lots of flowers

and lots

 and lots

of color-filled butterflies.

You'll be reminded . . . 

. . . but don't worry, they'll touch you.

If you can, you should visit a butterfly garden.

The butterfly garden was inspiration for my Art Squared Challenge.

Visit here and view the other artists interpretation of

mystical.