Getting ready for the BIG Sew-In

AAQG Baby Bundle Coordinators are gearing up for the BIG Baby Bundle Sew-In on November 4th. Our goal is to collect 125 tops by the October guild meeting (approx 45 tops per month). We already have two dozen quilt tops in our quilt "stash" for the event. If you have some time please complete an infant or child's quilt top to turn into the Baby Bundle table at the September or October guild meetings.

It takes a village : O)

Two More Examples

The Baby Bundles team received quite a few quilts at last weeks meeting  Some are the final quilts from the recent Sew-In, others are just the creative efforts of wonderful guild members.

We also received about a dozen tops, some with backs.  These have been prepared and are ready to be checked out for quilting or tying

The quilt top to the left is an example of a quilt made from one of the stairstep kits.  It's certainly bright, isn't it?

This second one is made from the disappearing four patch pattern, which was shown in a previous post.
The starting pieces were eight inches instead of four, and the cutting measurement was two inches instead of one.  Makes a real difference in the finished size. Six of these blocks makes a decent sized quilt  Only ten eight-inch blocks of fabric were used, plus
2/3 yd for borders and 1 1/2 for the backing

Disappearing Four Patch

C

Carmen made a wonderful Baby Bundle using the Disappearing Four Patch method. I didn't get a picture of the whole quilt, but here's a closeup.

For a description of how to do this block, see

http://www.andiejohnsonsews.com/2011/03/disapperaing-4-patch-tutorial.html

Carmen says it's nowhere nearly as hard as it looks!

Mini-Sew-In (April 2013)

After the Guild Sew-In, we still had tops and unfinished quilts. The Quilt Store kindly let us use their classroom to have a work day. Eight members joined the three coordinators and had a good time cutting and tying and pinning and sewing.




Ann and Judy cut batting for over 40 quilts.



Elizabeth and Gracie sandwiched and pinned.

Marcie is shown waiting for another one to machine quilt. 










Linda quilted away.

Ann learned to tie and did a great job.


























Andrea also did some machine quilting.



 

Linda tied.




And Ginny sewed on countless labels.

2013 Sew-In

The Baby Bundle SewIn was held on April 1.     No Fooling.

Some of us trimmed. (This is one of the jobs that requires the most stamina.  Kudos to these ladies and my apologies for the fuzzy picture.) The same group pinned the sandwiches all the way around and marked the corners.






Then the ladies with the machines sewed the edges closed.


Someone turned the quilt inside out. (I didn't get a picture of this. I'm not sure I even saw it being done. But surely it was?)




After the quilt was turned, the Prez pressed the edges.  (There were others, too.  I just thought it would be fun to note that the Prez pressed.)







And the sewists topstitched the edges to make them nice and sharp.



Next came the tying.  One pair of ladies by my table tied at least three quilts!

Tying takes the
most time of all, but we had lots of volunteers tying away.


Labels came next - then quality control and careful folding.


 


There were representatives from two of our three agencies there - each took home 30 quilts.











Oh, and we all took breaks. The cookies disappeared before the veggies did!

And then Leroy came and helped load the truck up for Gracie.

Pastel Sweeties

Among the two dozen quilt tops turned in at the March meeting were three by Mary M.

All were pastels, in pinks and greens.  Perhaps they were leftovers from one of her "big" quilts?

This one has a nice green star in the center.  I was able to add a pink and white backing and put it into the stack for the Sew-In in April.

The blocks surrounding the center star are crumb blocks, rail fence blocks, and a lovely assortment of other bits.  What a great use of leftovers!

Ladies of the Lake - Baby Bundle Throwdown

Sandy invited the Ladies to her house on Friday for lunch and  work on Baby Bundles.  About a dozen showed up and had a great time.

At least 12 quilts were turned in at the March meeting.

Several were made in the pattern shown to the left.
Lots of bright colors.

After the meeting, at least one member made a couple more quilts, because she just got in the mood and couldn't quit!

Baby Bundle Challenge

The Baby Bundle project has its own stash of fabrics, mostly donated by member who are trying to thin down their own collection.  We have a number of backings that just haven't been right for any tops that we've received.  So we've decided to issue a challenge -

I'll bring these fabrics to the March meeting.

You pick one and take it home and create a top that will go with it.

My thought is that it's easier to pull fabrics to match a focus fabric and make a top than to try to pair these personality-filled fabrics with a top.

Come by and see us on March 3 at the Baby Bundle table!

Here's one I made last month to go with some very bright yellow fabric that had ladybugs on it.  Just two strips of rectangles and some white-on-white sashing.


And yes, I have corrected the date/time stamp on my camera since taking this picture.

January 2013 Meeting

Not surprisingly, we didn't get a lot of quilts at the January meeting.  Those that were turned in were immediately sent out to Bastrop.

Thanks to those who participated.

Thanks to Elizabeth, Gracie and Judy for adding labels as need sto that the quilts could be on their way. 













And remember that we'll accept tops and backings as well as completed quilts!