Archives

Here you will find articles and items of interest that have appeared on the Nimble Fingers web site in the last year.
Items can be found by date order.

Quilting for Others

In the frenzy of getting ready for the quilt show, guild members are still finding time to work on projects for the shelter and the new Habitat Homes in Burtonsville, as well as for young cancer patients at Children's Hospital. We have had several pillowcases, tops, baby quilts, and fabric donations this year and need more!

Some upcoming events for Quilting for Others:

Children's Hospital pillowcases: At one of the summer boutique workshops we assembled over a hundred kits for pillowcases. These will be sold at the boutique during the quilt show for $2.00 each. Sandra Chin is the contact point for the pillowcase project. This project is made possible by the large donation of juvenile fabric that we received last year and by member donations. Guild members are encouraged to keep making pillowcases on their own as well. Ask Beth Smith or Sandra Chin for a copy of the directions. The couldn't be faster or easier to make. Just the thing when you're looking for a quick project to fill up 15 or 20 minutes of spare time.

Quilt in: The Quilt-in for 2008 will be held at the December guild meeting. We will do our usual thing, mass producing quilts for the Krahnke shelter residents so they have a warm winter. Donations of tops of all sizes, batting, and backing are always welcome.

In other news:
Jessica Reid, former Coordinator of Volunteer and Family Services for Habitat for Humanity in Montgomery County, has been promoted to a Director for Habitat in the county. Congratulations, Jessica! The new Volunteer and Family Services Coordinator is Molly Martin, whom some of us have already met at the Habitat offices. We wish her well, and are looking forward to working with her.

Habitat is scouting out new locations for more homes in Montgomery County with Poolesville and Damascus being two possibilities.

QUILTING FOR OTHERS TAKES WING
1/5/2008

I would like to thank all of the Nimble Fingers members who have so generously given their time to Quilting for Others. You ladies are the best. When I deliver the quilts now in my possession to the shelter, we will have donated approximately 75 quilts to the shelter since the beginning of 2007. Add that to the 50 some quilts we gave Habitat last fall, and we've earned our wings. (Sorry, but "It's a Wonderful Life" is still rattling around in my brain.)
Great news on the Habitat quilt signups!
I have only three full or queen size quilts to go, plus one twin size for an adult male age 20. One of the mystery quilts from Kim's recent class might fit the bill. Just add a border so the quilt measures about 55 - 65" wide x 75" or slightly longer. I'll also take tops and finish them using fabric from the donations we received in 2007. I don't have tremendous numbers of elves, but the ones I've got are very hard working.
If I could get more guild members to commit to making 12 1/2 inch blocks, that would take care of at least one of the quilts and possibly more. These sampler quilts are pretty scrappy, so don't be shy about giving me any orphan blocks you might have lying around. If they are not 12 1/2 inches square, you could just sew on a border to fill them out. Fall colors are preferred but I'll take any blocks you care to contribute.
Another possibility is a "Turning Twenty" quilt. I made a full size quilt from this pattern over the holidays in about a week including quilting and binding. You only need twenty fat quarters plus some border and binding fabric to make the top. I got the pattern book at a local quilt shop, and there's only just the one pattern in it, so it's fairly inexpensive.
A full or queen size is a great group project. Your mini group or other guild might consider making one, so please mention it to them next time you meet. Or, if you are making a quilt to enter in the fair or any upcoming shows this year, you might consider donating it to Habitat in December.
Fabric donations, batting, and binding strips are always welcome.

On Sunday, August 5th, 2007I attended the dedication ceremony for the Habitat homes at Linganore Woods in Burtonsville, MD. The new homeowners were presented with one of their quilts, a Bible, and a symbolic key to their new home. One house was open for touring, and, although still unfinished, it is a very nice three storey townhouse in a pleasant, woodsy setting. The second set of twelve houses will be built very close to the first set. Nimble Fingers was mentioned prominently in the printed program, and during the dedication as well. I have given a copy of the program to Francie Parrack, Guild Historian, for inclusion in our historical papers. It was especially nice to see the children who will live in these homes. They will have a safe and healthy environment to grow in, and what better gift could be given by all of the organizations that donate time and materials for the houses? Donated items include the land the houses were built on, all major appliances, other built-ins such as the bathroom vanities, the quilts, a scrapbook for each family depicting the building of their home, and labor, including work done by the individual homeowners on their house.

Habitat is holding a fall fund-raiser in November, and more information about it will be forthcoming. NF members Elke Jordan and Marina Baudoin are contributing art quilts to be auctioned.

There were two get-togethers this summer at Resurrection Church in Burtonsville to facilitate the making of quilt tops and backs for the November Quilt-In. I delivered 15 quilts to the shelter in July and have two shopping bags full of tops and backs, in anticipation of the Quilt-In. For new members, the Quilt-In is an annual event that gets a lot of positive feedback from the guild for providing a chance to work together, to finish a lot of quilts, and to make new friends in the process. The quilts we make on that day all go to the Betty Ann Krahnke shelter for victims of domestic abuse, which is operated by Montgomery County. If you wish to make a quilt top in anticipation of the Quilt-In, please call or email Beth Smith for further information and provision of donated fabric.

Habitat for Humanity SIide Show Link
The Habitat for Humanity project has been a huge success. All of the quilts that Nimble Fingers has provided will be turned over to the families on Friday, May 4th. Some Nimble Fingers members will attend the dedication ceremony for the homes in Burtonsville, probably near the end of May or in early June.

An online slide show of all the quilts will be available shortly, as soon as all quilts are collected and have been photographed. If any NF members who took pictures of the quilts would like to have their photos included, please email them to bethasmith3@comcast.net.

If any members would like to work on quilts for the shelter over the summer, please let Beth Smith know and she can provide donated fabric and batting. There are also quite a few tops waiting for sandwiching, pinning, serging and tying. We will have our November quilt-in to work on them, but it would be great to get a head start on them so we have lots of quilts to donate to the shelter in time for the holidays.

November 7, 2007:
Quilt Appraisals by Mary Kerr. Mary is an ACS Certified Appraiser, from Woodbridge, VA. Her website is www.MaryKerr.com. She will be able to see about 6 people that morning, each one to get 30 minutes for a written appriasal of a quilt you'd like to show her. Payment will be made directly to Mary ($40 each for written appraisal and $15 for a verbal consultation). Sign-ups can be made at the October meeting desk or directly to Burt White (Abilumo@aol.com).
November 7 Workshop: See note below---Quilting for Others

November 7, 2007 we will spend the morning Quilting for Others.
I am getting teams organized for the November Quilt-in and will have signup sheets at the October meeting. Just in case you can't make it to the October meeting, here is a list of the tasks that we typically do at the Quilt-In. Please email Beth at bethasmith3@comcast.net and sign up for one of the tasks listed below.
If you are a new member or don't know many people in the guild, this is one of the best ways to get to know other guild members.
One or two floaters who can help with setup, distribute tops, batting, backing, and other supplies, and just kind of keep things moving from one team to the next. The floaters also help Beth get all the batting, etc. out of her car, and carry it inside. If you have a luggage cart, that helps a lot. At the end of the meeting, floaters help Beth put everything back into her car and kiss her goodbye.
We need four teams of at least two people each for making quilt sandwiches. This involves laying out the batting, then the backing right side up, then laying the top right side down over the batting, and then pinning all three layers together. (Note, you can make the sandwich in any order you like as long as when the quilt is serged and turned, the back and top right sides are turned out, and the batting is inside the quilt.) If you sign up to do this job, please bring a good pair of sharp scissors.
Next, we need at least three or four people who can bring a serger and appropriate thread of any neutral color to sew up the edges after the sandwich is pinned. I believe we have lost a couple of members with sergers during the past year, so if anyone has acquired one during the year, or could operate my serger, please consider. I can show you how to do it and VOILA! a new skill. One edge is only partly serged to enable turning.
After serging, the quilt is sewn closed. Three or four people with sewing machines and basic sewing supplies are needed. Last, we need people to tie the quilts Crochet thread will be provided but you can also bring other tying supplies such as yarn, embroidery thread, etc.
I provide pins for pin basting, masking tape, tying thread, batting, backing, and tops.

December 5, 2007: Challenge Quilt Show & Tell and the Holiday Party, we will also have a lecture by Emilie Richards, entitled "Which Came First: the Book or the Quilt?" Emilie is the author of over 50 books, and her writing , as described by Booklist, " glows with transcendent warmth, wisdom, grace, and compassion." Emilie will talk about the writing process and how it equates to quilting, creativity, ideas, etc. and also about her own journey. Emilie has also graciously agreed to be a judge of our Challenge Quilts! Emilie's books are available at Amazon.com and she will be available for signing them after the meeting.

Rita Royster has been instructing quilting for over fifteen years at the Lord & Taylor Oasis Senior Center and the Gaithersburg City Senior Center. The groups meet weekly.

The Gaithersburg Senior Center Group of ten quilters recently finished sixteen quilts which were donated to Nimble Fingers. These quilts have been taken to the Betty Ann Kranke Center for Women and Children.

Making these quilts was a learning experience for the group, some of whom have been meeting with Rita for years. They are going to continue to work on quilts to be given to charities.

April 2, 2008
Lecture — Emelie Richards, “Which Came First, the Book or the Quilt?” We have re-scheduled Emilie, www.emelierichards.com, an author whose Shenandoah Series include quilts and characters in Toms Brook, Virginia — not too far from our area. Emilie is also a quilter whose quilts enhance the beds of family members. The Program Committee is trying to arrange to have books on hand for you to buy and have signed. We will have pre-orders again at the March meeting. You can also order books through Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/2wghmc