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Quilt Top by Me, Hand Quilted by my Mother, Doll crocheted by my Mother

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Donate to furry friends

Miss Minnie

Meet Miss Minnie, she is a little Min Pin that we met at our local animal shelter.  Minnie is waiting for her new family to take her to her new forever home.  Minnie is just one of the many furry friends that find their way to the shelter each month.  While the shelter is quite lovely and the staff are really great with these homeless animals there is still a need for YOU to get involved.  Now, I know the not everyone wants to take on a new pet, but you can still make a difference. You can donate to your local shelter, they are always in need of food, blankets, towels, treats, toys, cat litter, food bowls and yes they will even take cash donations.  I see so many people on my freecycle group that are offering old blankets and towels, I always email them and tell them their local shelter would make good use of the items.  What about the stuffed animals that have taken over your child's room and they don't want anymore, YES the dogs and cats would love to play with them while they are waiting to be adopted, after all it can get quite boring just sitting in a kennel looking cute. 
What were we doing at the local shelter, NO we were not adopting a pet, I have in the past, My little min schnauzer came from a shelter, my Dalmatian  was adopted at a shelter, we took Mel to the shelter one year and adopted two husky puppies that went to the grand kids.  As you can see we have welcomed some of the pound puppies into our home, but not this time. This time we were just taking a 50 lb bag of dog food in for the dogs.  We try to drop off 50 lbs every month, I think that next month we will go to the dollar store and pick up a bag of toys for the dogs and cats to play with.

If you have the means of buying toys or food, or if you have some old blankets or towels you are thinking of throwing away, then just load the car and make a trip to your local shelter.. while you are there take a walk down the aisle and visit all the furry friends who are just waiting for someone to love.
If you child is involved in a group like girl scouts, boy scouts, boy or girls clubs or even just as a schools helping hand type project, have them visit the local shelter and host a drive for the furry friends.  One local scout troop took on the shelter as a project and they collected $ 400. worth of supplies for the shelter.
Remember You Can Make a Difference





Sunday, May 6, 2012

Quilts in progress

I have been busy these last few weeks taking care of my husband who has had some major health problems.  He seems to finally be doing a little better this past week.  But it will still be weeks before he begins to get his strength back and can get back to his usual activities.
I have been using my time in the evening to work on the charity quilts for The World of Charity Stitching Group. I am slowly getting caught up with the stitched squares that have been collecting here for the past few months.  Here are the quilts in progress, the tops are sewn together and now wait their time on Nellie Belle's frame. Nellie Belle for those of you that haven't met her is my Bailey's Quilting machine, she hums as she turns fabric and batting into warm and cozy quilts.
this is the second of two snow globe quilts, each snow globe represents a month of the year
Designs are by Vee and Company..

A Patriotic quilt for a veteran at the nursing home, this is always one of the most popular theme for senior men

our bird watchers special quilt, this colorful quilt is the second quilt using this technique, stitchers will stitch a square in their favorite color and they select the fabric for the frame. Our members are currently working on a Scroll Pattern for the next quilt of this type

Member Gisela had made the log cabin blocks and donated them to WOCS, I asked members for orphan squares to use in a quilt and together they make this beautiful county themed quilt.
Orphan squares are ones that are not stitched for one of the themes, they are just special squares that members might have finished and never framed or ones they just liked the pattern for.

These beautiful stitched ladies of color were donated to WOCS, the scrappy quilt blocks were also a donation from a reader of the WOCS blog. I love how they come together to make a beautiful quilt for a Senior lady. Kind of reminds me of the quilts my great aunt used to make.  She had a old Singer Treadle sewing machine and she would use any scraps of fabric she could find, as for batting she used old blankets.  

This is the 1st of the two snow globe quilts, I just think the snow globes are so cute, I didn't get to stitch one as our members snatched up the patterns in record time.  They went so fast that it was decided to make two of the globe quilts so more members could stitch a globe.
and I just love the 3D look of this quilt pattern,  a shelf for a snow globe collector.
Snow globe patterns by Vee and Company...

Doesn't my husband's woodworking shop's porch make a perfect backdrop for the quilts. Love the look of the rustic wood as a backdrop for the quilts. Oh and YES that is a hanging flower basket sitting on the porch railing, had to take it down to hold up the quilts..  YES, I did hang three baskets of flowers and two bird feeders on the porch of his workshop, just because it is a manly shop doesn't mean I can't make it pretty with the flowers, he really doesn't mind.. I even placed two chairs and a little table so if he needs a break he can enjoy the porch of his shop. The porch overlooks a small pond that is surrounded with day lilies, a bird bath and more feeders. Birds do stop by for a visit and a snack while you are sitting on the porch.  I hope he will soon be able to use his shop again, I made him  lots of patterns to cutout using his new scroll saw..  He cuts them out and I paint them, the last set was pumpkins and crows that were placed in the flower beds at Halloween time, the pumpkins stayed through November and I later placed the birds back in the flower beds, they are still there. Hubby now has patterns for cardinals, and blue Jays to cut out for the flower beds.



I now have enough of the Hens and Roosters that members stitched for the quilt, the leftover birds will be made into a barnyard animal quilt, members are hard at work stitching for that quilt.
Also in the works is the Scroll Square multi color quilt, similar to the birds that is shown above, the pattern was designed just for that quilt by one of our WOCS members Kell.
There is also my Birthday quilt request which is French Country Designs by JBW Designs, there will be a quilt with animals and one with fashion. The squares for the French Country quilt have started coming in and they are beautiful, this will be a great quilt.. Members are also stitching sports equipment for a quilt, and the newest theme is stitched cupcakes, we also have a tropical fish theme in the works. Our members are always stitching and what a great job they are doing..
As for me, I will be heading into the quilting room and spending time with Nellie Belle, quilting the night away...
So as you can see, WOCS Members, Nellie Belle, and Myself are all working hard to bring smiles to ill children and seniors.  If you are interested in learning more about WOCS or becoming a member and stitching for a great cause you can visit, our facebook page, our blog or our yahoo website just follow the links below... and don't forget while visiting the WOCS blog, take time to go to the contest page and enter the current contest.  We just gave a $ 50. gift certificate to the Fat Quarter shop to a lucky winner..  We try alternate between stitching and quilting giveaways monthly.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WOCS/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&id=758182021#!/pages/World-of-Charity-Stitching-Cross-Stitch-Quilting/208593035822435

http://www.worldofcharitystitching.blogspot.com/