Blanket Blocks for the Coming Year!

Well, here we are, end of August.... and the 3rd Saturday in September is just around the corner! Are you ready???

Cindy, Marsha, and I had a great lunch and came up with what we think, and hope, are some great plans for the coming year. I will put some of the requirements on here now, and update more later. So here we go.....

September - Square in a Square 

• What you'll need is a 10" square and a coordinating 5" square for each block.
• Finished block should be 9" square

October - Crayons and Other Rainbows 

• These will have several different rows, each its own color, but created from several 2 1/2" strip scraps of that color. We're thinking this might be a good one to do some swapping!

November - Buzzsaw

• Each block will be created with 2 10" contrasting, coordinating squares - a light and a dark.

December - Matchstick Marimba

January - Foundation Piecing

• Pattern to be determined but it will be done on muslin. Cindy has some she is cutting up for this.

February - Surprise!

• All I'll say is you'll need a neutral background 10" square and a contrasting 10" square.

March - Skateboards 

April - Quilt As You Go
Pattern to be determined.

Summer Wrapping Up

Hello everyone!

Here it is, almost the middle of August already! Time to start thinking about getting Project Linus things rolling again soon! Our Helena friends stayed busy and continued to meet in June and July. Cindy, Marsha, and I are still in the process of selecting some block for the coming year... so more to come for that later.

A Pointed Topic

Today, I made a delivery to Benefis Pediatrics.. While chatting with the nurse, she mentioned that a needle had been found in one of our quilts. My heart sank. This is something that just can't happen. Now, I can tell myself that we've delivered over 7000 blankets over 9 years and this is the first one - at least that I've heard about. That is one one-hundredth of one percent occurrence... or 0.014%. That's a really good success rate... but it means nothing if you are the recipient/parent of the one blanket that had the needle. I know I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again.... needles and pins left in blankets is probably the biggest complaint we get as an organization. And with most of us having been jabbed by a needle at one time or another, we can understand.

I did ask if she was sure this was a Project Linus blanket, and she was.

Yes, I do check every blanket with a metal detector. So, how could it get missed? I'm not sure. I brought the needle home (yes, she had saved it) and ran the detector over it. It set it off without incident. I put in an old battery, and it still found it. I put it under several layers of fabric...and it set off the alarm.  I moved the wand quickly, still no problem. The only possibility I can think of is if the battery died while I was doing that blanket. I don't think that is an issue though, because you can hear the wand when it is on. So somehow... it slipped through.

Really, the metal detector should be the second line of defense... the blanket-maker is our front line. What can you do to eliminate the possibility of pins and needles being left in the quilt? Here are some of the things I do...

1. I almost never use pins. I might use my binding clips at times, but almost never pins.
2. If for some reason I do have to use pins, I allow myself a certain number, typically 3 or 5, and keep them on a magnet. These are the only pins on the magnet and the only pins I will use. At the end of the project, that magnet had better have the same number of pins, and if it doesn't, I'd go looking in the blanket for the missing one(s).
3. When hand sewing any part of the quilt and need to take a break, don't ever slip the needle into the quilt until you come back to it. Knot the thread, and put the needle in a pin cushion. Then re-thread and start again when you can get back to it.

The needle found was a hand-stitching needle... a relatively large one. Please, please, please double check your blankets for pins and needles before turning them in.

Fair Time!

Our own Miss Marsha is feeling very proud! While walking through the quilt entries at the fair last week, she passed one that she thought was really cute, and then suddenly realized that the blanket was a kit that she had put together for Linus! The blanket won a blue ribbon...so congratulations Marsha on great fabric choices! I wasn't able to get out to the fair, so I am anxious to see it when it gets turned in!

Blankets

The house was well inundated with blankets early in the summer, but the numbers have come down with recent deliveries. We'll be needing anything you've been able to work on during the summer come September.

Lukey the Lucky Penguin Quilt

This is way late in coming, but I want to say 'Thank You' to EVERYONE who voted for my Lukey the Lucky Penguin Quilt! I was very excited to be one of the top 20, and was even in the top 10 for a while! Becky Smith took the top prize, and she is truly one of the most lovely, warm, generous, giving people..... I am absolutely thrilled for her. In the end, Project Linus was the winner with over $6000 raised! And the kids are winners because there are some great blankets that were made during the contest, and will be made in the future. Again, my thanks to you all - I truly appreciate your help!!!

Okay.... I think that is all for now. Enjoy what's left of the summer, and I look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Vote early, vote often!

Hello everyone and happy summer!!!

Well, I see that I haven't done a blog post since February. February!!!! Just an indication of how busy things have been.

Coincidentally, the last blog post was on the PL Mystery Quilt...which is why I'm writing this today. The purpose of the Mystery Quilt was to be a fundraiser for Project Linus. First, the registration... which got you the weekly patterns. If you didn't enroll then, you can at any time... the clues are all still waiting for you, plus you have the option of looking at the finished quilt to see how you might change it up if you would like.

After finishing the quilt, participants were encouraged to send in a photo of the quilt, and PL Headquarters would select the top 20. Even though it was a crunch time for me at work and at home, I somehow managed to finished my quilt, and I am very excited to say that it was one of the top 20 selected!!!

Now it is time for me to ask for your help. The winners are chosen by popular vote... and, as this is a fund-raiser, the votes are $1 each. Voting started June 1 and goes through June 30. Voting is easy, and you can vote as many times as you like! As the post title says... vote early, vote often! The top three quilts with the most votes win some great prizes and the chapter coordinator of the winning quilter's chapter will also win a beautiful assortment of thread for the chapter. Right now... I'm in the bottom half of the pack.

I can't express how important it is to our organization that we get financial donations. Maintaining 501(c)(3) status means keeping up with a lot of legal stuff. We also need supplies for Blanket Days, brochures, printing, postage, etc., etc., etc. We get some donations from area businesses but it seems we always could use more. On the positive side, because we are a 501(c)(3), your votes, which are a donation, qualify as a tax deduction!

Since starting this chapter in 2006, we've given out over 7000 blankets! We are often told how much these blankets mean to not only the child who receives it, but also to the parents, to the nurses, to the family! Please consider a donation to help us continue to do this work!

So, I am half-asking, half-begging you to go to this website and vote for my quilt.... Quilt #7...which, by the way, I named "Antarctic Summer". To view the quilts, you can go to this website...

http://www.projectlinus.org/lukey/voting/ 

or you can go straight to the voting page at

https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=b71a5a 

Again... it is Quilt #7... Lucky 7!!!

 

Thanks for listening!
gina

Who doesn't love a good mystery?!

Wow. Two blog posts in one weekend! I think that's a record for me.

I know you are busy finishing up some blankets - thank you all SO MUCH for the overwhelming response! I also know many of you, maybe most of you, don't follow our chapter or national PL through Facebook or the Blanket Beacon. I further know we have a lot of quilters who are always looking for a fun idea. In that light I am sharing the news that the Project Linus Mystery Quilt Challenge fundraiser has officially started! Registration opened a couple of days ago and will be open throughout the challenge. Once you register, you will have access to the current as well as all the previously released clues....in other words, you won't miss anything if you register after the start.

The challenge will be a great learning experience for many who classify themselves as a "quilter wanna-be" as detailed instructions and tips will be provided with each clue. The contest will be even more fun for those who use their creativity with the pattern and enter their masterpiece! 

As this is a fundraiser, there is a $15 fee ($15.45 with the fee for paying with a credit card.) When you register, remember to list the Great Falls, MT Chapter on your registration form so the $15 will come to our chapter.

Now, some may remember we were planning to do a Quilt Challenge fundraiser ourselves, and I was planning to start that on our February Bee day as that is National Make a Blanket Day. Well, as the saying goes, great minds think alike. I wasn't aware HQ was planning to do this, and especially with the same timing. It would be too much to have two going at the same time so our local challenge will kick-off later in the spring.

For those interested in participating in Lukey, the Lucky Penguin Mystery Quilt Challenge, please go to this website for more information and to register... http://www.projectlinus.org/lukey/clues/ Clue #1 has been released! I hope many of you will participate just so I can see all the fun quilts that you create!

Hugs and Blessings
gina

  

It's gone viral!

The winter, that is....

Good morning everyone!

As I'm sure you've heard in the news, and from friends and neighbors, this year has been a bad season for colds, flu, and viruses. I took a typical month (or so) supply to Helena January 15, and they were mostly gone by February 1. Havre is out of blankets as well. I've gotten more to Helena, and am about done getting more ready for Great Falls - I haven't heard from them, but they're probably going through them as quickly as everyone else. I'm trying to find a way to get some to Havre in the next few days.

So.....our supplies are dwindled! If you have any in the works that you might be able to get done before our next blanket day - that would be fantastic! I'm sure these facilities aren't done with winter yet, even though my trees are (at least one is leafing out already!)

Thanks for all you do - as these requests show, it means so much to so many!!!
gina

Happy January Thaw!

Hello Everyone!

I hope you have been enjoying our break from winter! I know it won't last for long, but it sure has been nice to de-ice the streets and go around without a coat for a couple of days!

Quiltmaker Magazine Project Linus Patterns

For those who were at our Blanket Bee in Great Falls, you may remember Mary's quilt with the boats, a pattern from Quiltmaker Magazine. I said I would send out a link to those patterns and..... Ta Da! I didn't forget. Quiltmaker started their Project Linus series of patterns back in 2000, so there are 16 different ideas on the page! Over the years, I've done a sample of several of these at the PL Conference. Most, maybe all, are paper-pieced. I love paper-piecing, myself, so I find these fun. If you've never done paper-piecing and want some help, I'm sure you can find some at our blanket days! The page with a link to all the different patterns is found at .. http://www.quiltmaker.com/patterns/projectlinus.html

Supplies for February Quilt Block

It may take a bit of time to gather your fabric supplies for our February quilt block, so I want to give you a head start. The block/pattern will be Bali Love Song. This is a simple pattern and is done with 2 1/2" strips. You will need 13 sets of 2 contrasting fabrics - these sets can be all the same or all different - I would lean toward all different. You will want a  light fabric and a dark fabric in the set - you're looking for contrast. The pattern calls for width of fabric strips, but you will cut these down to smaller pieces. As long as you can cut two pieces each that are 2 1/2", 4 1/2", 6 1/2" and one 8 1/2" long, from each fabric, you'll be fine. You'll also want some additional strips, up to 14, for the border design. You'll also want about 1 yard of a neutral for the background.

March Quilt Block - Crazy Eights

As the name suggests, this block will be divided into 8 equal angles. If you remember your geometry, that means that your angle will be 45 degrees. If you have a 45 degree template, or were thinking of buying one, this would be a great time! I will make some cardboard templates, but this will be much easier to do if you have a more sturdy angle.

Build a Block, Build a Quilt

In case you don't know, Project Linus is launching a "Build a Block, Build a Quilt" Mystery Challenge followed by a contest on Feb 8th with GREAT prizes! I would like to invite you, and all your friends and family, to  participate. The challenge officially launches on February 8th and registration will be open on the national Project Linus website, projectlinus.org, at that time. If you choose to participate, be sure to designate the Great Falls Chapter as the recipient of the $15 participation donation. I'll share more details I learn them!




I think that's all for now. If I've missed something, just let me know!

Until February!
gina