This weekend, I had the privilege of helping to sew for Margaret's Hope Chest. Are you aware of this philanthropic group? The organization was born out of a tragedy. A grandmother, Carin's grandmother (Margaret), was mugged in a parking lot in Michigan. She fell to the ground and bumped her head. She died two days later from the injury. She was a quilter.
Rather than be embroiled in bitterness, her family started Margaret's Hope Chest, an organization that makes quilts for those in need. You can read more about their organization here. They put out a call for blocks a while back, and I was too much of a schmuck to make any.
But then Amanda Jean blogged that she was coming to Michigan to help with a work day to sew blocks together. I thought, "I can help with that!" So, I loaded up the car on Saturday to go to Grand Rapids to help.
Here is Carin, showing us a quilt her mother had made from some of the blocks they had received. She showed us this as an example of what we would be doing. This is actually the back of the quilt. The front has the raw edges from where the blocks were put together showing--so the quilt will be a rag quilt.
Here Carin shows us how to assemble the blocks. If you are interested in how to make the blocks, here is Amanda Jean's blog post for Margaret's Hope Chest blog that tells you how to make them. (By the way, this week, Carin was on her way to visit a prison. One place Margaret's Hope Chest donates quilts to is to prisons....for inmates and for children of inmates. I find that quite moving, given how Carin's grandmother died. You can check out her blog for updates on her prison visit.)
Here is the group getting ready to put the pedal to the metal and get sewing. The Queen Bee, a quilt shop in Grand Rapids let us use their beautiful and bright classroom space in which to work. How nice of them!
I only knew Amanda Jean when I headed to Grand Rapids to work with this group, but I met a whole bunch of really cool, nice people that day! People came from Michigan, Ohio, Chicago and other parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, and I think Minnesota! It was pretty awesome.
Jill and Jessica were speed demons and finished their first quilts before 11 am! I couldn't believe it!
At lunch time, Carin showed us a quilt she made from an old antique quilt that she deconstructed, cut off the fabric that was not usable, and put it back together, adding some reproduction fabrics for the borders. I absolutely loved this. She did amazing big stitch quilting with some perle cotton. Really fantastic.
Amanda Jean gave us a little trunk show of trunks from her new book. She is so amazing. I will save those photos for later, because I have a book review and giveaway for you on that!
Then, Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood, a reporter for the Grand Rapids paper came in and took some photos. She is very interesting. She used to be a crime reporter. But she told us that after 10 years of doing that, it sort of started to eat at her....hearing all the sad stories of people who died in crime, talking to their families, etc. She said it starts to become part of you and it's very difficult. So, now she writes a column for the paper. She writes columns about Margaret's Hope Chest. Awesome.
By the way, she also self-publishes a pretty neat magazine. It is called CraftSanity, and you can get it on etsy. I ran across this magazine in a yarn shop in Grand Rapids. I love it, because it's sort of all over the place. It has sewing, knitting, crochet, and other craft projects. In addition, it has recipes, etc. Jennifer said it's whatever she's working on. You know I'm sort of all over the place with my crafting, so it's right up my alley!
Another fun thing for me that day was that April, of Polkadot Sparrow came to help out. I have been following April's blog for a couple of years now, but I had never met her in person. So, it was a real thrill to meet her in person! She is a delightful person. Turns out Amanda Jean knows April, too. What a small world the blogosphere can be!
Here is Lisa's finished quilt. Lisa is from Kalamazoo, but I didn't know her until that day. I did see her at our guild meeting last week and wondered who she was---she was a new face. She just moved here less than a year ago. I was thrilled to meet a new quilting friend from my town!
Here are some more finished quilts from the day....Sorry I can't remember whose was whose now!
This last one was mine. All in all, I think we finished over 10 quilts on Saturday! It was pretty amazing. There were over 1,000 blocks donated. How spectacular.
As a parting shot, here is Amanda Jean (who helped organize the block design and call for blocks), Carol (Carin's mother, and Margaret's daughter), Carin, and her sister, Amy. A wonderful and amazing group of women.
It was really a nice day, full of fellowship and moving stories. I was almost in tears a couple of times. The spirit of hope these women give me is amazing. I hope you will consider Margaret's Hope Chest as a recipient of your work sometime. Or maybe even of your guild's work. It is a very, very worthwhile organziation.
Thank you to the group for allowing me to participate!
Until next time,
It doesn't get any better than that. Having a really fun day while contributing to such a great cause.
Posted by: Kim | August 28, 2012 at 10:13 AM
Wow...what a great event and a wonderful opportunity to help a terrific organization! Hearing about good things like this is a great way to start the day!
Posted by: sherri | August 28, 2012 at 10:53 AM
What a great day!
Posted by: Jana | August 28, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Thanks for telling us about Margaret's Hope Chest. I had not heard of it before. It looks like you guys are having too much fun. Although, it also looks like a lot was accomplished. Lots of color going on it that room.
Posted by: Linda in Calif. | August 28, 2012 at 11:26 AM
What great charity quilts! And looks like lots of fun too! I am familiar with Margaret's Hope Chest but have not yet had a chance to participate in it. They are on my list though.
Posted by: Lynn | August 28, 2012 at 12:13 PM
Thank you so much for posting all about your day! Since I wasn't there for long I am enjoying looking at all your photos of Quilt Finishes. I really like yours with the diagonals--great color idea!
It was so great to meet you, too! If we can get a Guild going I'd love to join it with you. I think we'd have a lot of fun sewing and talking about ideas together. :)
Posted by: April | August 28, 2012 at 03:25 PM
Very cool post! Yes, I follow the Margaret's Hope Chest blog and knew of this great organization. What a fun day you must have had and very inspiring.
I have also head of CraftSanity and it is quite neat.
What a grand day you had!
Posted by: Sue | August 28, 2012 at 03:56 PM
Great post! SO many details I neglected to add, LOL!
What great fun it was! It was great meeting you and all the wonderful, friendly quilters!
Now I'm going to take all those links, you so kindly provided, and see who else I met on Saturday!!
Posted by: Lori | August 28, 2012 at 04:17 PM
Great pictures. Looks like lots of fun and for a worthy cause. I donated a quilt to them last year when they wanted school kids to have a quilt. I wish I'd been there to meet all those celebs. I love Jennifer and look forward to her article each week. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: carolld | August 28, 2012 at 07:52 PM
Wonderful story and great pics... love that smile=)
Posted by: Jackie | August 28, 2012 at 09:11 PM
A great cause and so many generous people willing to contribute! I love that so many of the quilts are as cheerful as a rainbow.
The deconstructed reconstructed antique quilt is wonderful--saving a quilt and holding onto the memories!
Posted by: jenclair | August 29, 2012 at 08:43 AM
Beautiful pictures and great post! Just wish I could have been there - all smiles!!!
Posted by: kathy olkowski | August 29, 2012 at 09:16 AM
It was a fun day and although I didn't get a quilt done everyone else got theirs done using all the blocks I sewed up! It was great to meet you and to connect with so many wonderful women!! AJ is great and it was so good to see her again too. Great post Stephanie!! ~Pam
Posted by: Mama Spark | August 30, 2012 at 07:15 AM
Nice post Stephanie. It was nice to meet you and I enjoy meeting someone in person after seeing them in blogland. You quilt design with the colors was clever. Thanks also for adding the links to the other quilters.
You did give me the wrong name, I am Carin's sister, while Lori was sitting next to me.
Posted by: Amy L | August 30, 2012 at 01:03 PM
I'm bummed that we sat too far apart to get very well acquainted. It was a fun day, though. I'm making the rounds of blogs about that day. (I have one, too.) Love the Laughing Carin photos you got.
Posted by: Carol E | September 09, 2012 at 01:59 AM