Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

I have been quilting lots of tops for my guild's charity, Quilts on Wheels, which provides warm snuggly quilts for residents confined to wheelchairs in rest homes. One of my groups, the CyberBee, is in charge of the program for the next two years, and my local bee, The Whacky Ladies, have been very active in making quilt tops. We had a sew-in day back in July at Quilts Like Crazy in Wake Forest. Marilyn made enough Yellow Brick Road blocks to make two quilts. Since her backings and tops were exactly the same size, I decided to mount both on the longarm at the same time and quilt them together.
Instead of centering one quilt on the leaders, I started pinning about a half inch from the center mark and going out. The only disadvantage to this method is that you can only clamp one side of each quilt with the clamps that help keep the quilt sandwich nice and taut. That did not cause any problem with these two quilts.

Marilyn used Americana-themed fabrics in red, blue, and tan. I quilted hearts and stars in a meander with taupe thread.

The teddy bears and country angels are so cute!

I also popped this little flannel quilt on the machine and did a fast and easy basic leaf meander. Some lucky senior citizen will love the soft cozy warmth of this quilt made by my friend Jean.

Speaking of charity quilts, the Capital Quilters raffle quilt from the North Carolina Quilt Symposium in May made almost five thousand dollars in profits. It is all being donated to a program to stop hunger for the homeless in Raleigh. But that's not all...the Fletcher Foundation provided a matching amount, raising the total to almost ten thousand...and from there, other companies have continued to provide matching grants, raising the grand total to almost sixty thousand dollars! From one quilt! This is a tremendous fund-raising success. Congratulations to all who helped design, make, and sell tickets for this lovely quilt.

We had a great guild meeting last night. Our members have been busy making quilts this summer...there were many quilts to drool over at Show and Tell, the charity quilt parade, and a special set of challenge quilts made from block party designs from last year. What an inpiring group!

We are heading to our little cabin in the North Carolina mountains this weekend. I am excited because our son from South Carolina is coming up with his two children. We LOVE to have our grandkids up there! I think I will have a chance this afternoon to visit the quilt show in West Jefferson by the Ashe County Piecemakers Guild. Here is the information:

Sep 18-19, 20097th Annual Quilt ShowWest Jefferson, NC

Location: Jefferson Station 230 Hice Avenue

Sponsor: Ashe County Piecemakers Quilt Guild

Admission: Free, donations gladly accepted

Hours: Friday 10-6:00, Saturday 10-4:00

Comments: This show will feature the Guild's Challenge Quilts - "I See A Song in My Quilt," Antique Quilts (pre1940), 100+ quilts/quilted items on display, and will include vendors, guild boutique, quilts for sale and the guild's Crazy Quilt raffle quilt to be given away at the end of the Quilt Fair. Tickets for the raffle quilt are $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00. There are many art galleries, restaurants and local shops within walking distance of Jefferson Station and we have plenty of parking. Contact: Brenda Cole wolfpackers@embarqmail.com or 336-246-3230

Have a great weekend, everyone!