HeartStrings and Project Linus

Barb recently picked up 147 Heartstrings blocks from Sue -- 61 BLUE centered blocks and 86 RED centered ones.

She wrote: "I will make additional blocks in order to get TWENTY BLANKETS for Project Linus! I'm the Assistant Coordinator for Project Linus-Greater Twin Cities Area, MN Chapter. We're having a Make-a-Blanket Day on Saturday, August 18th in Oakdale, Minnesota (9:00-4:00) if any HEARTSTRINGERS would like to join us. We'll be making HEARTSTRINGS BLANKETS that day. Get details @ www.orgsites.com/mn/projectlinus-stpaul"

Here's Barb pictured with her first HeartSrings block at the recent WI/MN area sew-in.

Project updates

In addition to making our red and blue centered HeartStrings blocks we've been having fun with several special projects.

For our first one, we collected Chinese Coin sections from members in April and May and I've been working on assembling those into tops and quilts. I expected we'd get enough for several tops but I'm working on the 4th one from the donated coins and there are plenty left. Here's the first finished quilt and you can see others in our online photo album.

Our Purple Project - HeartStrings Quilts for Kids is in progress and will run through August. Sue Frank has already received several block sets which have been sent out to be assembled into quilts and donated and I've finished one quilt and one top. These are fun to make and they only take 24 blocks so think about joining the fun and making some Purple centered blocks.

Finally, our 365 block challenge has taken off. In less than two weeks we have had 41 members of our Yahoo group signed up and we've already made 459 blocks! Want to challenge yourself? Read the details.

WI/MN area sew-in

A group of 9 HeartStrings members gathered in Roberts, WI today. We worked, we laughed, we ate, we shopped (on the way home) and while our main focus this meeting was Patriotic Quilts for Quilts of Valor we also worked some on Purple Project quilts and other string projects.

Additional photos can be seen in our online album.

Here's a photo of the group (minus me as photographer)
From (L) - (R) standing --- Rhonda, Sally, Kathy, Sue, Barb
From (L) - (R) sitting ------ Teresa, Virginia, Sheree

HeartStrings Challenge - 365 Blocks

Inspired by Tresica we're going to start a HeartStrings Challenge.

The guidelines are simple and you can either play along on your own or join our Yahoo group. Membership is NOT necessary to participate.

This will be a personal challenge for those participating - no pressure - we'll work at our own pace. You can complete the challenge as quickly or as slowly as you choose.

You can count any STRING blocks you make for HeartStrings quilts in the challenge.

1. You can send in the blocks to Sue (US) or Megan (AUS)
2. You can use the blocks in HeartStrings quilts you make yourself
3. You do a combination of the two above - send some in - keep some for HeartStrings quilts you make yourself
4. You can piece tops from the blocks and ask us to find a quilter to complete and donate the finished quilt

The ONLY criteria for blocks SENT IN will be: **

1. Blocks should be 9.5 inches on a muslin or 100% cotton foundation
2. Have a RED or BLUE center strip cut 2 inches (1.5 inches finished) See Block Guidelines
3. If using different color centers, blocks should be sent in sets of 24 or 48 to be used in a single quilt

** Australian blocks should have RED centers unless sending in a complete set of blocks that can be used in a single quilt.

Email me with any questions

A 365 block surprise

Imagine my surprise tonight to find an email and this photo in my inbox. Tresica Watts wrote and asked for the mailing address to send HeartStrings blocks commenting that she had made 365 red and blue centered blocks. What a wonderful contribution to our project!

Don't you love this photo? (click photo to enlarge!)

Even the dogs are interested!

Helen from the United Kingdom recently arranged to send some purple-centred blocks to Megan, the Australian HeartStrings coordinator - see photo above. (Does this mean that we have our first international HeartStrings quilt?)

Megan was amused, however, to discover that the inspection dogs used by the Australian Quarantine service were very interested in the blocks. So much so that they indicated - by yapping? howling? wagging their tails? - that the package warranted closer inspection. And so when the blocks were delivered to Megan in Sydney they included a polite note from the Quarantine service to indicate that while the dogs had been very interested, "no items of quarantine concern were detected" by the human inspectors. That's nice to know!

Just one more week

Just one more week until the WI/MN area sew-in. Details for the July 14th event can be found at this post.

Contact Kathy if you're able to join us.

Patriotic Quilting

With the 4th of July coming up I thought I'd post a photo of one of the patriotic tops made for an organization providing quilts for soldiers injured in the war on terror. Sue recently shared this Heartstrings top that she pieced using group blocks that will be donated to Quilts of Valor.

This along with another top from the blocks to be exchanged at the WI/MN area sew-in in July will be sent to QOV for quilting and donation. In addition, I'm also finishing up the binding on my QOV donation quilt and plan to have it completed in time to bring to the July sew-in.

This is the time of year we all tend to think about our soldiers and veterans but other HeartStrings Project quilts have already gone to QOV, VA hospitals, Veteran's homes, and To the Top Project. Thanks go to all the members of the project that have contributed to making these quilts that honor those that serve in our armed forces.

Take a few minutes to read a previous blog post that shared the story of Al, a WWII POW who continues to make HeartStrings quilts for QOV.