Sunday, October 25, 2009

Christmas time

ARGH! Christmas is only a few months away...and you know what that means to us crafty Gals...LOTS of things to make and do. For me, not only do I have craft items I want to make, but I am usually pretty busy in the kitchen too. I love making fudges and other candies, gingerbread men cookies are a big hit here too. Not to mention the pies!

On the forum, we are having fun with a few special swaps. One is the Secret Santa swap. Someone drew names and assigned them to others. So each participant has the name of a Gal she is being a Secret Santa to. And the person you are Santa to, is not Santa to you. How fun! We get to make a special gift for someone and then get a special gift from someone.

And then we have an ornament swap going on. We make a certain amount of ornaments, for however many Gals are playing. Then they swapped around so everyone participating gets an ornament from the other players.

Which means that I've been scouring the net, looking for neat little gifts to make. Thankfully there are tons of crafty sites out there with free patterns on them. And all the quilt magazines and craft magazines have their Christmas editions out. I also love going to the library and browsing thru their Christmas books. The problem is, there are sooo many cute ideas and wonderful gifts to make....I can't decide what to do!

All this talk on Christmas gifts reminds me that I have been wanting to make stockings for my family for a few years now. We are still using the red fuzzy, cheap stockings you can buy at any store. I think it's time for some lovely new handmade ones..... It's a good thing they look easy to make.

I hope you all are having fun getting ready for Halloween too. These next few months are going to be busy ones in crafters houses. And as always, you all are welcome to come on over to the quilt and needle and join in our fun and meet some new friends.

Have a great day all,

Dorian

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Crazy Blocks for Larry!

Special Request for Crazy Blocks
In Memory of Larry Marshall


As most of you know, our dear Sandy's brother, Larry Marshall, passed away September 23. What some of you may not know is that Larry was very instrumental in helping us get in contact with the Wesleyan Native American Ministry, and eventually, Larry got us in touch with Bruce LeFleur who now helps us with the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation that we serve through our 2009 "I Spy" project.

This month, Jess and I want to ask that we all get together and make Crazy Blocks for quilts to be donated to the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in memory of Larry Marshall. You can sign up here if you are interested in helping us with this very worthwhile project.

October Snug Society Projects




October Snug Society Projects

Sandy, a Quilt & Needle Forum member who helps coordinate our charity efforts, shared a video of a ceremony at the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation where the quilts made by our members were presented to the Native Americans. You can see the quilts about halfway through the video; some are displayed at the front of the stage. Thank you, Sandy, for sharing this link with us!

OCTOBER’S SNUG SOCIETY QUILTERS GIVE BACK PROJECTS: It’s October already and time to think about the blocks for this month’s projects!! These projects are a great way to share the comfort that comes from a quilt and remember: “Many hands make light work!”

The theme for our October “I Spy” quilt will be blocks featuring dogs and cats, in any color. You can find block sizes and cutting information here. This quilt will benefit a resident of the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in South Dakota.

During October, the Sweet Child quilt blocks will feature balls: basketballs, soccer balls, beach balls – just any kind of ball! Borders and blocks featuring pieced centers should use the colors of yellow, orange and dark brown. You can find information on this project here. These quilts provide comfort to children from abusive situations that are counseled at Harmony Home in Texas.

The color-theme for the October Snug Uniblocks is blue prints with white or off-white backgrounds. You can find the new block pattern for this quarter 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.


July 2009 Snug UniBlock Quilt Top