Annie's strings

I was browsing yesterday and came across Annie's blog. She was writing about participating in the HeartStrings virtual retreat and reported her progress. I've seen some photos of her blocks but I had no idea she'd been so busy.

In addition to this top, she reports she has enough block sets for 5 other quilts, 2 other completed tops, and more blocks in progress.

See more of Annie's work for HeartStrings at her blog.

Minnesota area Sew-in

From (L) to (R) Teresa, Mary, Sheree, Sue, Virginia, and Kathy

Our first Minnesota area Sew-in was a success. Sue hosted the event at her home in Stillwater and we had 6 participants. We worked on HeartStrings projects, had show & tell, got to know one another, and even had an outing for lunch and a stop at the local quilt shop.

In addition, HeartStrings quilters from all over are participating in a virtual retreat this weekend.

Click here to see more photos

Little bits and pieces

So what do you do with those leftover scraps from string piecing that are too small to use? Crumb piecing (also known as Mile a Minute blocks) uses even the tinest bits of fabric.

I have to admit I'm more a fan of string quilts than crumb quilts but Tracey recently posted this quilt on her blog which really appeals to me. This one might not necessarily be pieced with crumbs but it does use short strings. Visit her blog to see more of her crumb quilts.

Crazy Day-sy O's for Liberty House

Michele wrote "I made this little quilt, with the Heartstrings Quilting Project in mind, and will donate it, and eventually, others similar to it to Liberty House. I named this quilt "Crazy Day-sy O's", referring to the daisy-like flowers and little circles...which I added not only as anchors for the crazy days these children have, but for the quilting and anchoring of the strings in the quilts."

Read the complete story at Michele's blog.

Retreat Weekend

Don't forget that in celebration of National Volunteer's week we're having a retreat weekend this Saturday and Sunday.

Work on HeartStrings Blocks to send in for group quilts

Work on Chinese Coins sections for our short term project for April/May

Work on any HeartStrings project you have in progress.

Make sure you let us know what you accomplish!

Email Mary

(For those of you who may have picked up that National Volunteer's Week was April 15th -21st, you'll have to excuse us being a week late - my calendar had the 23rd through the 29th)

A Team Effort

Melva's first HeartStrings top quilt by Cher

At the start of the project Melva was one of the first to have a top completed and ready to send off to a volunteer quilter. This one was quilted by Cher and donated to Wrap them in Love. Melva was also the first to create the HeartStrings *logo* quilt - it was her 2nd one for the HeartStrings Project.

She soon wrote us that she had her husband Guy making string blocks along with her and posted photo's of her 3rd and 4th HeartString tops.

In a recent email she wrote ....I got the HandiQuilter set up and have one quilt quilted...have another all loaded but haven't had a chance to work on it this week...We have done 5 tops plus the one that Cher quilted. I have a group of blocks ready to send to SueF...and did make some Chinese Coins I'll probably send on also...just need to get the 5 I have, done. Then can start more blocks.

And here are a couple more finished tops.

In Memory of Louise Casey

(click photo to see a larger version)

One of our members, May Sisk of New Jersey, wrote "this Heartstring top was made in memory of my sister Louise who passed away 2 weeks ago. Making the this quilt top was good therapy during the past few weeks."

May mailed the top to me for quilting and it will be sent back to her to donate in her sister's memory. Can you see the quilted hearts? Appropriately enough this pantograph by Jodi Beamish is called Heartstrings.

Make a Blanket Day - HeartStrings for Project Linus

Cheri Sullivan is a member of Illini Country Stitchers Guild in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois and co-chair of the Project Linus Committee.

She emailed "I found your website from a heartstrings logo on someone's blog, and thought the string quilt would make a great project. I cut the muslin squares and attached the center string (with one adjacent string, since they are stitched together) because I thought that was the only critical strip to have placed correctly. As it turned out, some of the people who came to Make A Blanket Day (a Project Linus event) could not really sew (one woman was the grateful mom of a blanket recipient), so I was glad I had started each block. Still, they did a GREAT job on the blocks!"

Cheri posted directions for making string blocks on their group blog and shared the HeartStrings quilt in progress with her members.

She recently emailed the above picture of the finished quilt and these photos of the Illini Country Stitchers work night at Sew Sassy where they were making another string quilt for Project Linus.

The Quilt that Love Built

Many of you may have already read about this quilt on Bonnie's blog but I wanted to share it with those of you that don't belong to our Yahoo HeartStrings group and follow our progress here on this blog.

Bonnie talked about the dilemma of having a sick friend and wanting to make a quilt to comfort her but being torn between trying to find the time to make the quilt or spending the time she had with her friend.

The HeartStrings blocks in this quilt had been made by our quilters, sent in to Sue who grouped them together and sent them to Becky. Becky assembled the top and when Bonnie needed a comfort quilt, sent it to her to quilt and give to her friend Marie. I won't rewrite what Bonnie has expressed so well - you can read the story by clicking on the 3 links below.

Stuck between quilts and a hard place

This is the quilt that love built

Marie's quilt delivered

Minnesota Sew-in/Virtual Retreat

April is National Volunteer Month and what better way to celebrate it than making more HeartString blocks?

Don't forget to mark your calendars for the last weekend in April. On Saturday April 28th, those of us in Minneapolis and surrounding areas are getting together in person and will be meeting at Sue Frank's house in Stillwater MN. Please email Sue for the address/directions if you plan to attend.

Meet at Sue's house starting around 9:00 AM (She'll have coffee and pastries)
Sew till 12:00
Lunch break and shopping 12 - 1:30 /2:00
More sewing !

Sue says she can make maps of the local shops and people can decide to come back and sew after lunch or take off on a shop hop.

For those of you not in the area, plan to sew along with us on Saturday making HeartStrings blocks or working on your current HeartStrings projects. We'll all continue on Sunday and participate in our virtual retreat.

Participation in the HeartStrings Quilt Project

A recent post on the HeartStrings Yahoo group reminded me that one of the best features of our project is the ability to participate at whatever level you choose.

There are those quilters who make a few blocks and send them in to be assembled into group quilts and there are those quilters who make multiple quilts for the project. Participation at any level is appreciated and helps us make and donate more quilts. No contribution is too small and quilters will not always participate on an ongoing basis.

Carol recently left our Yahoo group saying that although she'll continue making and donating quilts to charity, string quilts just aren't her thing. Before she left the group she made this string top which I'll be quilting and donating to a charity of her choice - an Assisted Living facility for Veterans in the NH/ME area. Strings may not be her thing but she made a beautiful top that I'm happy to quilt and donate as part of the HeartStrings Quilt Project - Thank you Carol.

You can visit Carol's blog by clicking here.