MN/WI area sew-in

On July 14, HeartStrings quilters will meet again this time at 9:00 AM in Roberts, WI for another sew-in.

Kathy writes: “We’ll sew, eat, chat and have fun. Breakfast will be juices, coffee and tea with some fun goodies to eat. Lunch will be pizza ordered in with potluck for salad and dessert.

The building is handicap accessible with a great country setting along a small lake.We’ll be bringing sewing machines, pressing supplies, rotary cutting supplies and other goodies to make blocks, tops and backs for HeartStrings quilts.

We will be making a Quilt of Valor for an injured returning service man or woman. Our color theme will be red/white/blue because of the patriotic theme of the quilt and in honor of the 4th of July(American Independence Day).”

Please let Kathy know if you’re able to come – we’d like a head count if possible beforehand and she can give you directions.

Inspiration from Australia

Stephanie wrote: Thought I’d share another quilt. It was made by Dee from my group who was inspired by our sewing day that was featured in the magazine. Her picture is on the blog from that day.

She has an autistic nephew called Lyndon who turned 21 last week. Lyndon loves red, and all things fish. Dee was full of enthusiasm after our Heartstring sewing day and decided to make Lyndon a Heartstring quilt. She used red centres, and all of the strings are inspired by the sea. Fish, dolphins, coral, swirls, water, shells, you get the picture.


Then she fussy cut fish from printed fabrics and appliqued them on with sparkly thread. Quilted waves, swirling current and bubbles in the fishy border. It is gorgeous, the picture really doesn’t show how good it looks in real life.


You can see a picture of Dee working on HeartStrings blocks in this previous blog post – scroll down the page to the last photo.

HeartStrings for Children

Stephanie in Australia sent me photos of her two recent finishes and says the finished tops are going off in the mail this week. She writes “Both are good sizes for children, as requested by Julie for the orphanage” and she shares her instructions for making them.

Blue bubbles is made from 24 blue centre HeartStings blocks with a couple of stash borders to highlight. Gold border is cut 2″, blue border is cut 4 1/2″. I used a generous 1/4″ seam, finished size is 47″ x 63″.


Wild at Heart is made from 24 assorted string blocks given to me for Heartstrings, by fellow Stitch by Stitch member Dora Carbone, sashed and bordered by me with a wild purple fabric from my stash. I cut the sashings and cornerstones 2 “, and the outer border 2 1’2″. Finished size 44″ x 66”.


You may remember Stephanie and her group from this previous blog post and they were featured in two magazine articles – in the May/June issue of Australian Quilters Companion and the May issue of Australian Homespun Magazine.

Guidelines for making the HeartStrings blocks are on our website.

Stephanie also wrote more about the orphanage the quilts will be donated to. “At the very end of last year a net buddy from another list posted up a message about wanting to make a number of quilts for an African orphanage. I emailed her and asked if she would like ufos/quilt tops too, as well as the blocks she had asked for. Her name is Julie Tobler, from Queensland (opposite side of Australia from me) The orphanage she has chosen is one that has recently been completed. Her partner is from Africa, and knows a fair bit about Bethel”

It is located in Kafue, Zambia. Please visit the web site here. http://www.zambian.com/bethel/index.html

Bethel Orphanage is a charitable organization among Christian charities caring for orphans. AIDS in Africa has increased the burdens of child charity organizations like Bethel Orphanage that help children orphaned from poor families. Orphanages have a challenge of keeping up with the growing numbers of orphans. The Orphanage currently supports over 100 children. Most of the children are AIDS victims that lost their parents from the AIDS epidemic.

Chinese Coins

I completed the first top from our Chinese Coins project today. I had originally thought that we’d get 3-5 tops (including one from Becky from sections I’d sent her) but after making this top, I think I’ve underestimated how many quilts we’ll be able to make from these donated coins.

You can see the fabric used for the borders and sashing below – a really cute heart print that Pam let me know was on sale at her site Real Women Quilt.

Use the Stash Challenge

Judy Laquidara of Sunshine Quilts and the founder of the Stash Quilts blog ring issues a monthly Use the Stash Challenge to encourage quilters to dive into their stashes and make quilts using the fabric we already have.

Judy’s challenge for June is to make and donate a quilt to your favorite organization. Since HeartStrings quilts use all those little leftover bits and pieces of our stash to make donation quilts this is a great challenge for us.

Join in the fun and visit Judy’s site and let her know you’re playing along.

Since our Chinese Coins project has just come to an end, I’ll be pulling borders and sashing from my stash and will be assembling quilts from the coin sections sent in by HeartStrings quilters.

The softer side of HeartStrings

Many of the HeartStrings quilts are bold and bright – certainly the group quilts that have the red or blue center strings tend to be – but choosing pastel fabrics makes a softer, sweeter quilt.

Jan in CO recently finished this quilt which is being donated to the breast cancer support group at her local hospital.

Another example is this Roman Stripes pieced by Helen in VA (quilted by Mary) using 30’s fabrics – also going to a woman with breast cancer.

Let’s talk about the HeartStrings Quilt Project

Joanne emailed a photo of her finished HeartStrings quilt and wrote : I finished and donated the completed Heartstrings quilt at my guild on Monday night. The completed quilt will go to the Rockford Rescue Mission(IL). They have requested 10 – 12 twin size quilts. I also have volunteered to put together quilts from members completed blocks, so hopefully we’ll get this ball rolling here! I’ve attached a picture of the quilt. I also sent a blurb for our newsletter so the website should be getting a few more hits next month!


Stephanie, Jane, and Cheri have also sewn HeartStrings blocks with their groups. Kitty has taken her quilt to her guild’s show and tell.

Magazine articles have been written by Megan in Australian Quilters Companion and Australian Homespun Magazine.

Blogs like mine and Joanne’s, Jane’s, and too many more to list here – link to our website and this blog.

Quilt sites like Quiltville, Kaye Woods Quilting Friends, and Real Women Quilt link to us also.

And finally, following a link the other day from Samantha’s blog, I found an article about Project Linus on The Daily Nightly – the MSNBC blog and was able to leave a comment that links back to our website and blog.

So help us spread the word!

Kansas Donations

Sue called the Haviland Church today where we’ve been sending quilts for those affected by the Kansas tornado in Greensburg and wrote:

“I spoke to another person at the church in Kansas (Jeanne was not there when I called). The quilts have been arriving and they are being used! Jeanne has been handing them out herself.

The shelter has been closed – all the residents have moved in with relatives or been located to hotels and such and the FEMA trailers are starting to arrive.

Jeanne will hand out any more quilts as people get settled and the need arrives . If you are still planning on sending a quilt she will find a home for it . Otherwise we can start stockpiling quilts for the next event where a group donation would be helpful.

She gave a big THANK YOU to everyone that helped and everyone that prayed for the people affected by the tornado .

For anyone who would still like to send completed quilts to Kansas, the address and contact information can be found by clicking this link.

Thank you all who contributed both HeartStrings and other quilts (and the HeartStrings blocks they were made from) that were sent to Kansas.

We’re in the press again

Read the Article (PDF file)

An article about The HeartStrings Quilt Project has been published in the May/June issue of Australian Quilters Companion. This is a sister publication to Australian Homespun, and the editors of both magazines expressed interest in helping to spread the word about HeartStrings amongst their readers.
Again, Stephanie and her Stitch by Stitch group were featured. Thanks Steph!

Find out more about the magazine at www.quilterscompanion.com.au
Readers in North America can buy a copy (Vol 6 No 3 #25) from www.craftmags.com