Quilting for Haiti

Have you seen this button floating around out there?

Well, back in February, Tammy blogged her thoughts about wanting to do a quilt drive to share a small token of comfort and love with some of the people in Haiti. She said, "Quilts, especially those that are handcrafted, are really just a giant hug for anyone who wraps one around herself." I love that idea. So in an effort to help Tammy realize her vision, this lady:

Ms. Sis Boom, Jennifer Paganelli (how cute is she in one of her new aprons?), and this lady:Ms. Dark Horse Designer and Go Make Your Bed seamstress extraordinaire, Nancy Geany, organized a "Quilt Haiti" block-making sew-along at Make & Mingle! Jennifer and Nancy brought piles of colorful Sis Boom scraps that are irresistably cheerful and smile-inducing for us to use to make the blocks. People of all ages and sewing skills came including Cindy and her adorable daughter (who, eh hem, brought her own Hello Kitty sewing machine): "Cute" just doesn't cut it. I mean look at this sweet block she made (the one with the little birdie on it):
Here are two crafty gals thoroughly enjoying themselves and letting their imaginations soar!And here's Charlotte embellishing her block:It was so great to meet Charlotte. Some of you may know her from her amazing craft-a-thons at the Silver Bella Craft Workshops. She's also teaching a workshop at the Mary Engelbreit Home Companion Workshops in St. Louis this May! Ya know who else will teaching be there? No, not me! None other than Kaari Meng (aka: French General and Moda friend)!

So back to M&M, there was a little goofing around (ok a lot). Apparently, Jennifer and i had the same idea at the same time and took simultaneous pictures of each other.But we did manage to get enough blocks made for two quilts in only 4 hours! Here's an action shot of Jennifer adding her block to the design wall: Looks like she was even a little surprised at how nice it turned out!Here are many of the completed blocks. I made one, too, and i think Jennifer has an incriminating picture of me at the sewing machine over at her blog. (At least she didn't take it 5 minutes later when the bobbin thread went haywire!)Nancy will be sewing and quilting all this love together (thank you, Nancy!) and then sending the finished quilts off to Tammy. What a joy it is to know that our community came together on a gray day to bring a little bright warmth (in the form of a big quilty hug) to some people who need it more than we do. A special thanks to you, Tammy, for your contagious inspiration, to you, Jennifer and Nancy for actually making it happen, and to everyone at Make & Mingle for hosting the event. So much fun!