August Snug Society Quilters Give Back Projects

AUGUST SNUG SOCIETY QUILTERS GIVE BACK PROJECTS: This month’s Snug Society projects are off to a wonderful start! These projects are a great way to share the comfort that comes from a quilt. “Many hands make light work.” This quote is so true as many hands are needed to make blocks, piece the tops as well as doing the quilting and binding. It is truly a rewarding feeling “to give back” in response to all the blessings one receives! Jess, Miki, Dorian and I all appreciate the many hands who participate in making these quilts each month – every effort, big or small, goes a long way when we all join together! We hope you will consider being part of the joy and comfort these quilts bring to others who need them!

The blocks for the August “I Spy” quilt will feature fabrics with monkeys on them or any solid color fabrics! What fun to see cute monkeys playing around on this quilt! You can find block sizes and cutting information here. This quilt will be perfect for a child who is a resident of the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in South Dakota.

August "I Spy" Blocks made by Cherie, New Jersey

June "I Spy" Quilt Top - Fish/Ocean Theme

Our August Sweet Child quilt blocks will feature kites and balloons or the bright colors of blues, oranges and reds! You can find more information on this project here. These quilts provide comfort to children from abusive situations that are counseled at Harmony Home in Texas.

June "Sweet Child" Quilt Top - Kittens/Puppies Theme

Bright & Bold is the color-theme for our August Snug Uniblocks! You can find the block pattern and other information about these quilts here. The quilts from this project will be sent to comfort wounded veterans in hospitals here in the States as well as abroad.

June 2009 Snug Uniblock Quilt Top - Blue/Yellow Theme

Until next time, friends! Cindy, aka MisisipiMenace, aka Ms. Tassels

placemats and table runners

Aww Summertime! Too hot to have a big old quilt in your lap, quilting on it. So I tend to spend a lot of time piecing tops together. Sometimes though, I don't feel like making another quilt top to go into the 'needs quilting pile', so that's when I turn to place mats and table runners.

I've done a lot of testing out patterns this past year, and that leaves me with single blocks floating around. So what to do with them? Well, I could make up a sampler quilt....or, I could make some nice place mats with them.

Place mats are so easy and quick. They can be as fancy as you want, or as simple as you want. And as they are small, I can quilt them on my old treadle sewing machine without many problems. The tutorial Jess put on the blog last month is a great example.

Basically you take a nice sized quilt block, it can be any pattern, shape and size. Then you just add a bit to it to make it the size you want for place mats. Or you can place 2 or 3 blocks together in a row, add a bit to the ends and you have a table runner.

I've seen some really cute ones lately. In a magazine, I saw a neat hexagon place mat with a star in the center. I've also seen a large hexagon table runner, made up of 7 hexagon 'flowers' and then matching hexagon place mats. Place mats are also a great place to add some applique and to practice your handquilting.

Earlier this year on the Q&N forum, we had a great table runner swap. Two people got to know each other a bit and made table runners for Mothers day for each other. You can check out all the beautiful table runners here:

http://www.thequiltandneedle.com/forums/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=64

We plan on doing more table runner swaps later this year. So don't be a stranger! Come on over and visit with us, and join in some fun swaps.

Till next time...

Dorian