Santa's Elves

The push is on to get PCQ's Christmas Quilts for Hospice quilted. A lot of progress has been made in the last couple of weeks, but there's still work to do. Just a reminder, these lap quilts are for Hospice patients who never have visitors and don't get holiday gifts.

Three Wednesdays ago Edna had time booked on the long arm, and I was her helper. We quilted two hospice quilts that were loaded side-by-side. Then the following week I had time booked and she was my helper, and we cranked out another two hospice quilts. 

I forgot to take photos of the first two. These are the second two. I've since bound and labeled them.

Then the Community Service committee held an evening work session this week. Some people were piecing tops; some were quilting on their domestic machines; I bound one; and then I helped Jackie quilt four more. 

These are small lap quilts, measuring 42 to 44" square. Jackie is our backing guru, and she found info on diagonal seamed backing, which saved us an enormous amount of yardage and stretched what we have to cover the approximately 50 quilts we're making. 

Here Amy is prepping her backing to layer, baste, and quilt on her domestic machine.

This top has a nice masculine vibe, and the green plaid is perfect for its backing. There's enough yardage of the plaid to make a back using the diagonal seam method. 

Ruth quilted this one on her domestic machine. We all liked how the red thread and diagonal quilting made red Xs in the sashing. You can't see it, but this one has a cute blue snowman backing.

While we worked hard during the event, we also socialized and enjoyed pizza for dinner. 

Jackie's plan was to quilt four of these small quilts. She seamed the four backings together and loaded the giant back on the long arm as one big piece. It was almost as big as a king size quilt. 

I had finished binding one quilt and there were no more ready to be bound yet so I helped Jackie with the quilting. With two quilts loaded side by side, each of us could do one and take a break while the other person was quilting the other. 

Jackie does beautiful loops, smooth, round, and even. I can only meander, but I can do it well. Hers is on the left, mine is on the right. It took three passes. 

Here the first two tops are done and we're ready to roll; you can see where the four backings are joined. 

The second two quilts were loaded and we quilted them in the same way. 

We all made good progress at our work night. We have 40 quilts completely finished so far, and tonight's will bring us up to 50. We think a few club members may still have tops or quilts that they're working on at home. 

The plan is to present them to Hospice of the Valley at our November meeting. A guest from Hospice will be there to tell our club about what they do, and at that time our community service chair plans to have all the quilts made so far and all the people who helped make them stand up and show them off. Then she'll finish collecting them and take them to the hospice's location at the end of November. Her dining room is absolutely inundated with quilts - I wish I had a photo! 

So, 40 or more Hospice quilts are now completely finished, and several more are still in work. Santa's elves have been very, very busy! 

Link Ups: Alycia Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict