In lieu of charity blocks this month, we decided at yesterday's meeting to make blocks for Diana's Golden Needle project (this is her Facebook page). 



In short, Diana is a 15-year-old who was adopted from Russia at 14 months old.  In order to earn her Girl Scout Gold Award, she set a goal to make 16 quilts for kids who will age out of foster care in South Carolina.  She's already exceeded that goal (46 quilts donated already!), but she's committed to continuing to make and distribute as many quilts as she can until March 2017.  Click here to read a a May 2015 article about her project.

• Use this tutorial as a basic guide-line for the color-ways, size and basic pattern design.  Within those constraints though, please play.  Add your own inspiration, variation or embellishments.  Improvise!  

• Charity blocks need to be pretty sturdy and functional, so whatever you create please ensure it is child friendly and washable.  

• I found it much easier to use my basic sewing machine foot rather than my 1/4" foot with the diagonal seams of this block.  The 1/4" foot kept distorting the bottom fabric.  

2.  Lay two strips together with right-sides facing.  The top strip should lay along a diagonal of the bottom strip.  Sew a 1/4" seam following the edge of the top strip.  Repeat on the other side of the bottom strip, with the diagonal going the other direction.  (The outer strips should form a slight V-shape when the pieces are opened up.)



3.  Trim off the extra bottom fabric.



4.  Press the growing "fan" open then add additional strips to the outer edge of the block in the same manner.


5.  Square up the top edges of your block to a 6 1/2" block.  (As you will add a HST to the bottom corner of the fan, you may of course leave that edge short.)




6.  Using your favorite HST method, add a HST to the inside corner of the block.  I chose to just cut a 45-degree line across the block where I wanted the inside corner to be and then sewed on a wide strip of fabric to be trimmed down and squared up.



7.  Press, square up and you're done!


These should be fun to play with and try out different layouts.  Can't wait to see what you come up with when we're together in June.

• Color scheme:   Black, white and grey strip block with one bright, diagonal center stripe and other bright accents as desired. 
• Size:  9 1/2" unfinished

• Fabric strips in black, white, and grey in various lengths and widths (max length 15-16").  
• 1 or more fabric strips in bright colors in various lengths and widths, one at least 15"-16" in length.

3.  Insert little bits of bright color among the greys, blacks and whites as desired.

4.  Square up to a 9 1/2" block.  Voila!  You're done.

We're making red and white cross blocks for our first charity block gather.  This is a simple modified 9-patch, measuring 6 1/2" unfinished.  (6" finished block size.)

Color scheme:
Red, white, and red and white prints.
Note: If you were at the meeting and picked up the little center squares, awesome!  Please use them.  They'll be a good unifying element in the quilt.  If you weren't there or want to make more blocks than you took squares for, feel free to use another print for your block.

Supplies: 
(1) 2" square  for center (e.g. the square given at our meeting)
(4) 2 3/4" squares
(4) 2" x 2 3/4" rectangles



Sew the pieces into rows like this:


Then sew the rows together into your block.

Done!  Make as many as you'd like and bring them to our next meeting.  We'll have a little goody drawing among all the participants in this block gather.  160 blocks = 2 lap size quilts!  Can we do it???

p.s.  If you have fabric you'd like to donate to this project for borders, binding or backing, please bring it to our next meeting.

p.p.s.  If you have ideas for future charity block gathers…such as a favorite color scheme, a block you want to try, or your own design you'd like to share…please e-mail me at radianthoneyquilts [at] gmail [dot] com.

Thanks and happy sewing!!!
Andrea H-M

Hello everybody!  Finally the overdue post with the details for our charity project this year!

We are partnering with Inwood House to provide baby blankets for their baby boutique.  Inwood House provides services to expecting mothers in the foster care system.  Their baby boutique is a place where the young women in their program can use "credit" earned through various parenting preparation classes and activities to "purchase" items for their babies.  Here are the details of how we'll be helping….
We invite you to donate quilts, handmade by you and your friends.  Hand-quilted, machine-quilted, tied, pieced, whole cloth, appliqué…you decide.  Pour both your love and your lovely fabrics into these quilts.  Whether simple or complex…make them beautiful, bright and welcoming for the little ones and their mothers who will receive them.  (The paragraph in this post captures my thoughts exactly about sending our best, not our left-over and least favorites, when giving things for "charity"!  Charity after all means "love".)

Baby/crib-sized. Suggested size range is 36"x45"to 45"x54".


Quilts should be brought to guild meetings.  The guild will arrange for delivery to Inwood House.


Our guild goal is 25 quilts by October 2014.  Typically 25 babies are born to mothers in Inwood House's programs each year and we'd love to have one quilt for each of them.


Each person who contributes to or makes a baby quilt will receive an entry in our raffle for a $100 gift certificate to City Quilter.  If we go over 25 quilts, additional items will be added to our raffle.  Let's rock it!

Questions?  Suggestions?  Resources?  Please contact Andrea at radianthoneyquilts [at] gmail [dot] com.