Just wanted to show off the great batik fabric rolls that I won in the Twist to the 60's Blog Hop from Debby.  She cut these from her own collection and I'm telling you that each one is just beautiful!  Thank you so much, Debby...they're gorgeous!

 

 

And I have an update on the Mennonite Hunger Relief Quilt Auction.  It was held on September 28 and this was my donation.  I've already blogged about it, but if you are a new visitor, it's just 16" x 16" and has 200 pieces in the top.  I called it "200 Pieces".....OK....not very original.  I don't know if the title had any influence on the bidding, but it brought $200!  I hope that $200 will bless a lot of people with nutritious food!

 

 

I finally finished my donation for the 2013 Mennonite Hunger Relief Auction.  The finished size is 16" x 16" and there are 200 pieces in the top.  I've called it "200 Pieces."  Pretty creative title....huh?  This is the auction that only allows hand quilting, thus, the quilting is sparse.  :)  There is no way that I could have done any quilting in the tiny blocks themselves.  I planned to bind the hanging with the turquoise fabric, but didn't have enough.  I ended up using a gray fabric from my stash.

 

 

 

Here's a close up of my clumsy quilting.  It came out OK, but if my hands didn't hurt so much, I could make smaller stitches.  This may be my last donation for this auction because of the hand quilting requirement.  I'll just have to see what my thoughts are after the first of the year when it's time to start planning the next quilt.

 

 

 

 

The auction isn't held until the latter part of September.  I usually attend and will let you know if my little hanging sells.  It's for a great cause, so I hope someone likes it!

 

I went ahead and put the borders on last night, going with a 3" border.  I can always make it narrower.  It's now 16" square. I'm going to bind it with the turquoise fabric if I have enough left over.  I may even pipe the edge instead of regular binding.  I had planned on adding a tatted trim around the blocks, but when I laid it on top of the blocks, it just took your eye away from the quilt and made it too complicated..... didn't add anything to it. 

 

 

Now I have to hand quilt it.  Yuck...... I don't enjoy hand quilting at all anymore.  Too painful for my hands.  This auction will only allow hand quilted quilts.  You can machine piece...thankfully.... but cannot machine quilt your donation.  This little quilt is just screaming for precision, machine quilting in some sort of straight line or geometric pattern.  My hand quilting will not do this justice and will actually make it less appealing.  When you are auctioning off quilts for hunger relief, you would think they would allow machine quilting which would probably double their quilt donations and thus make tons more money.  But, alas, rules are rules ..... traditions must stand .... and hand quilt, I must.

Auction Quilt

 

I had a chance to continue with my auction quilt this week end and have finished the tedious blocks.  This LITTLE quilt is only 10" square finished and has 200 pieces in it!  I'm pleased with my design and the overall look and I'm now ready to add borders, which I think will be 2" or 3".

 

 

 

 

Here's the backside where you can see all of the pieces.  I used a soluble foundation paper, so I'll be able to soak the papers off and iron it dry, trying to keep things from distorting.  I'll add the borders before I remove the papers, which will also help it to keep a nice square shape.

 

 

 

 

The problem with this being so small (I'm thinking it will be only 14" to 16" square with its' borders added) is that it won't be very visible when it's actually on the auction block.  If I get it to the organizers in a timely fashion, it will be listed in the auction book, where I'll be able to add a little description about it.  I'll be sure that I make that happen so that it doesn't get overlooked with all of the big boy quilts.  :)

I started working on a new project yesterday.... a small wall hanging for the 2013 Mennonite Hunger Relief Auction.  It's held in late September and I have donated a quilt or hanging for the past 4 years.  This year, I decided to go small.  Really small.  These blocks are 4" finished and have 37 pieces in them!  Although the pattern is easy, it still took me about 2 hours to make just one block. 

 

 

 

Sorry about the poor picture quality.  I have a new photo editing program and I'm still in the learning curve.  This block is actually perfectly square, but the tips are not laying flat on my board which makes it look distorted. 

 

 

 

 

This is one of those projects that you have to walk away from and change pace once in awhile.  It does get tedious.  I'm only doing four main blocks, some smaller PP sashing blocks, and then the border.  I has to be hand quilted to be donated in this particular auction..... I hate to hand quilt with my terrible arthritis...... but I will only be quilting the outer borders and maybe a spot or two in the blocks.  I'll just have to see how it goes.  I may also tat a border around the perimeter of the blocks too.  Most of this is just up in the air and I'm designing as I go, hoping for a happy ending.  Hmmm....... 

Yesterday, I headed to the Michiana Mennonite Hunger Relief Auction (check out this link for lots of details) with my friend, Joyce.  We had made and donated a quilt and drove up to see the auction.  (I had shown you the border blocks that I made in a previous post.)  The main attraction at the auction this year was the Psalms Quilt made by Carol Honderich.  I imagine many of you are familiar with Carol's online quilting classes that she has been hosting for many years.  She's created and taught The Women of the Bible, The Psalms, and The Names of Jesus.  When I say "taught", I mean that she did everything from designing the patterns (pieced, foundation, and appliqued) along with commentary and history discussing each block's inspiration.  I've "attended" all of these classes, although I have never finished one of the quilts.  Carol's web site is Patterns of Faith and you can contact her and find out details about joining one of these Yahoo group classes.  They are free, of course, and full of inspiration, regardless of whether you even touch any fabric and make any blocks.  She continues to combine her love of God with her love of quilting and reaches thousands of people all over the world.  Her quilting ministry is amazing! 

 

Joyce and I walked into the auction facility and Carol's quilt was the first quilt hanging on the featured wall of quilts.  I was so drawn to Carol's quilt that I didn't even notice that the second focused quilt was the one that Joyce and I had made!  We were elated!  Each year, three of four quilts are picked for this special spot and we hardly expected to see our quilt hanging next to such a wonderful quilt as Carol's!

 

 

So here's our quilt.  It's draped behind protective plastic so the colors are a little dull.  I think we were chosen for a featured quilt because our quilt was quite different from the "normal" quilts that you typically see at this auction.  Generally, they are very traditional in both pattern and fabric.  Our quilt was an original pattern made with batik fabrics.  Just different enough to be chosen, I guess.  It was very exciting and humbling. :) 

Here's our quilt on the auction block.  It did not do as well as we had hoped but $800 will feed a lot of hungry people and that's the whole point behind donating these quilts.  Overall, the quilts did not go for very high prices.  You just never know what the trend will be each year.

 

 

We are already thinking about next year's auction.  There were some very tiny wall hanging quilts (like 18" x 18") that did very well.  I love to paper piece and may make a small wall hanging for next year.  It would certainly not cost much with so little fabric.  Gotta sleep on this one ..... there's plenty of time to make a decision.  If you'd like to donate a quilt, go to the link at the beginning of this post and get the details.  You can always mail your submission if you are not close enough to attend.  Until next year......

 

Oh, I forgot to tell you the best part...... I got to meet Carol and thank her personally for her devotion and hard work.  It was an honor and a pleasure!