Cozy Quilt Chatter

Building Blocks Month #1: Hammer & Nails

Post by Andrea Paden

Today I'm talking about a new program here at Cozy Quilt Shop. It's called "Building Blocks with Sharyn Craig"! Building Blocks is a monthly program designed by the one and only Sharyn Craig. But is isn’t just a matter of making one block each month (which is a wonderful, minimal obligation plan anyway), it’s about challenging yourself to make a block the way you want to make it - branching out, and seeing what happens.  Join me in making these fun, easy to piece blocks and follow along as I share some of my experiences.

I have been so excited about making my own Building Blocks! I enjoy Sharyn's teaching and design style so much and I knew that this would be a really fun project to do throughout the year. Her patterns are written well, very organized and easy to understand. And whether you are a beginner like me, or an experienced quilter, that is a good thing.

Getting Ready to Build

Building Blocks kits come in 5 different colorways - Black & White, Red, White & Blue, Red & Green, Brights, and Pastels. I chose to use the Brights as I haven't done any projects in bold colors yet and I thought it would be good for me to branch out. Before I even opened my kit bag, I flipped through Sharyn's Welcome Handout (you should ask for one when you buy your first block - we include them with your 1st Building Block web order) and was relieved to read that I didn't have to make my block with templates. That was not my favorite part of my Intro. to Quilting class - I'd rather just use my rotary cutter.

I picked a white-on-white fabric to use as my background fabric. Following Sharyn's advice, I went ahead and got 2 yards (you can always find use for a white-on-white!) to use for the background and any borders I might want to add later.

Before I started cutting, I made a few copies of the block from the cover image on my Hammer & Nails pattern from my desktop printer at home to make some sample designs.

When I was ready to pick which colored fabric would go into the block design in each place, I got a glass of iced tea and turned on Oprah, got out my kid's colored pencils and went to work on some making some different color options.

  
 
Once I got a block design that I was happy with, I went to work cutting, then piecing. I've noticed I can get very frustrated when I am piecing - I might be a little bit of a perfectionist. But once that block starts to take shape, I get a wonderful feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment! And it even ended up being the right size! Here's what I ended up with:

 
Sharyn mentioned a great organization tip in her Handout: making a special box to keep all of your Building Blocks stuff throughout the year. It reminded me of those cool organization shows where they dump all your stuff on the driveway, go through it and put it all back neat and tidy. I love it! So I found a clear storage box I bought at Target and that is my new Building Blocks Box! I put my tip sheet, Month 1 kit and leftover fabric, and my completed block inside for storage until I get my next kit. I even put the leftover fabric right in the plastic bag for the Month 1 pattern to keep the box from becoming a mess.

 

Designing my own block was a lot of fun. I like being able to pick which fabric and/or colors to emphasize and what shapes to create. That's not something you get to do much in an everyday pattern. I'm already looking forward to February 1 when I can get my next kit! I wonder what those fabrics will look like? 

If you haven't gotten your own Building Blocks kit or pattern for Month 1, there's still time! Come in to the shop, call or go online to CozyQuilt.com Kits Page. You can also buy the Building Block Patterns alone if you want to use your own fabric for these blocks. And we offer Building Blocks in an Auto-Ship system! Just call the shop to be added to the list and we'll ship your kit or pattern after the 1st of each month - no need to order everytime!

Pillowcase Sew-A-Thon

Post by Andrea Paden

 
Throughout 2010, Cozy Quilt Shop has been collecting homemade pillowcases as part of the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge sponsored by AllPeopleQuilt.com.  This event, lasting through the end of the year, was created to inspire people to make and donate a pillowcase for someone in need. Cozy chose to donate pillowcases to two very different groups. One is ConKerr Cancer, an organization that provides colorful, cheerful, handmade pillowcases to children battling cancer and other life threatening illnesses at Rady Children's Hospital, The Ronald McDonald House, other local pediatric wards, and pediatric hospices. We also chose to donate to our U.S. Military troops in Afghanistan. They too appreciate the soft feel of a handmade pillowcase as a reminder of home, family and better days.

 
As of September, 2010 Cozy had collected 2,343 pillowcases from our wonderful and dedicated customers - what an amazing accomplishment! Our goal for the year is to collect 3,000, and as summer began to wind down, we decided we needed a pillowcase event to help push us toward that final number.

[FNF Pillowcase Fun Fact #1 - The total amount of scrupmtious food, snichy-snacks and candy consumed was nearly equivalent to the weight of a young elephant!]

One of our favorite new events at the shop is our Friday Night Fever Sit and Sew where we gather with friends, have some fantastic snacks, laugh a LOT, enjoy each other's company and sew whatever projects we like. We always have a great time, so we extended the hours a bit, asked everyone to sew pillowcases for one night, got a ton of snacks and goodies, asked Daniela to provide some great prizes. We called the event a Pajama Pillowcase Sew-A-Thon because we would be sewing into the late hours of the night. And, man - not only did we have a blast but those people made a gob of pillowcases!

 [FNF Pillowcase Fun Fact #2 - JoAnn Flavin (above) cut and pinned a total of 78 pillowcases in preparation for the event!]

As the starting time approached, people gathered in their comfy clothes and pjs and scoped out their spots. Fingers twitched and caffeine was consumed. When we blew the starting whistle, those sewers were ready to go and the fabric started to fly! There were mounds of pillowcases, piles of pins, and machines humming while tea and coffee were gulped and we prepared to sew until midnight.

[FNF Pillowcase Fun Fact #2 - Mary Porath (above) emptied 3 full bobbins in just a few hours of sewing!]

While we sewed under the traditional FNF Disco ball, Sharreen stopped by to deliver a delicious cake courtesy of Audrey Eller who collects our pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer. Audrey has been so gracious and passed on some wonder stories and messages from the doctors at Rady's and the children who receive the pillowcases. What a wonderful moment of inspiration. Thank you Audrey for thinking of us during our event and thank you Sharreen for your heartfelt words reminding us how important this project really is.

 
It wouldn't have a true Friday Night Fever without a few prizes, and to help keep everyone awake, we decided to add in a game. So Kathy passed out the bubble gum and we took a break from sewing for just a minute to have a bubble blowing contest!

 
 
I'm sorry to say that, despite our best efforts, spittle spraying here and there, our bubbles were not very impressive. But, hey, we sure can crank out some pillowcases. We can't be good at everything!

[FNF Pillowcase Fun Fact #3 - Dritz will be happy to know that JoAnn Flavin also used 1500 pins to hold her 78 pillowcases!]

As the evening wore on and the party music wound down, we started tallying the number of pillowcases made during the event. Drum roll, please!

 
Mary Porath (below) won the title for sewing the most pillowcases on her sewing machine. She finished an amazing 19 pillowcases in less than 8 hours!

 

In the serger class, we had two participants. And who would ever believe that they would make the exact same number of pillowcases? They made an incredible 31 pillowcases each! Now that's sewin'!

JoAnn
 Bobbie
[FNF Pillowcase Fun Fact #4 - JoAnn Flavin not only came from the furthest distance to be at the event, she had to go all the way back home to get her power cord, an hours drive in rush hour traffic!]

So how many pillowcases did our guests make? In less than 8 hours One Hundred and Sixteen were finished! Woo hoo! And not only did they sew pillowcases at the event, they brought other pillowcases to donate as well. Thank you all for such a generous contribution to the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge.

If you have been inspired and would like to help with make some pillowcases (it only takes 1 yard of fabric, total!) for the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge, check our website or come into the shop for more information. Or, just make some pillowcases and drop them off here at the shop anytime!

 

1 Million Pillowcase Challenge

Post by Andrea Paden

Cozy Quilt Shop is proudly participating in the One Million Pillowcase Challenge sponsored by AllPeopleQuilt.com. This is a terrific program taking place during the entire 2010 year is designed to inspire people of all ages to make a pillowcase for those in need. A pillowcase can provide comfort for a cancer patient, hope for a foster child, encouragement for a battered woman, or beauty for a nursing home resident. A homemade pillowcase is a cozy, happy and personal way to show you care.

Cozy Quilt Shop has picked two wonderful causes that have agreed to accept our donated pillowcases: ConKerr Cancer and TS Workhorse &TS Thunder.

ConKerr Cancer is organization that provides colorful, cheerful, handmade pillowcases to children battling cancer and other life threatening illnesses at Rady Children's Hospital, The Ronald McDonald House, and other local pediatric wards, and pediatric hospices.

If you want to learn more about this amazing organization, the boy who inspired it and the woman and son who started it, visit ConKerrCancer.org. Bring your tissues. This one will touch everyone.

If you are making pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer, please follow their simple guidlines:

1. Use new, quality fabrics in bright cheerful colors,
2. Do not wash the pillowcases as some detergents bother these children,
3. Please place each pillowcase in a quart size ziplock bag.

Local organizers will come and pick them up periodically and will get them to the local hospitals in need.

Our other great cause is very different, but in some ways the same. We are in touch with a grass roots effort to make pillowcases for our U.S. Military troops in Afghanistan. They too appreciate the soft feel of a handmade pillowcase as a reminder of home, family and better days. These pillowcases for Task Force Workhorse & Task Force Thunder will be mailed to chaplains stationed with the troops in Afghanistan and will be given directly to the troops. Most of them are male, so keep your pillowcases masculine with maybe a few feminine ones.

The AllPeopleQuilt goal is for 1 million pillowcases to be donated. You can check their current tally at the 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge page on AllPeopleQuilt.com. At the time of this post, 34,556 pillowcases had already been collected!

Our Cozy Quilt Shop goal is 3,000 pillowcases! We've got all year, so there is no reason we can't do it! Won't you participate? We already have 303 pillowcases donated at Cozy!

 
MAKE A PILLOWCASE, MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

To participate in this fantastic event, you are going to need a pillowcase pattern! To make it as easy as possible for you, you can find some simple patterns at AllPeopleQuilt.com's 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge page or at ConKerrCancer.org.

Bring your completed pillowcases to Cozy Quilt Shop at 2940 Jamacha Road, Ste. H in El Cajon, CA 92019.

Here are a few samples to give you inspiration!