Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!

Why not pick up your project and put in a few stitches today? That's exactly what I'm planning to do this afternoon. I started knitting a dishcloth with a bee skep pattern from an old book called "Garden Dishcloths" that my friend Debby found. I am really enjoying this project so I plan to do some knitting.

This week I finished embroidering the word "home" in the centre of a pieced block which will become part of a donation quilt.

I also want to share with you a bit about the Mennonite Relief sale and quilt auction that happened yesterday.  Although my sewing group didn't have a quilt to donate this year, I was inspired to get working on our group project for next year.

Here is a terrible selfie of me volunteering at the sale.  I think I got a bit dehydrated and started to feel unwell, so I didn't stay until the end like I usually like to do. 

Since covid, they have capacity to include online bids, and you can see on the photo below on the TV screen where the bids are coming in from (across Canada and the USA).

This is a quilt named 
"China Blue" that my friend Sandy pieced and donated and it raised $725!

There was so much inspiration to take in! I love to hear ladies oooing and ahhhing , pouring the details of  gorgeous quilts. There was a lot of that going on!

One of my favourite quilts was this tiny little treasure named "Wheel of Fortune" made with exquisite workmanship by Henny Bremer. 

Details:

-543 patches

-62 different fabrics

-size 11" x 8 "

I also saw many lovely labels and pretty backing fabrics. Look at this label on the back of "Quilt Addict Tulip Time" which reads: "Am I a quilt addict? Well yes, Oh no, Yes yes yes, Shhh maybe, No I am not, Yes I am today, Define addict?" Well that covers all the possible answers!  LOL

And of course I was inspired by all the lovely handwork I spotted. Just look at this gorgeous embroidery on a quilt called "Paisley". It didn't show well from a distance, but up close, this quilt was so beautifully done.

I hope you were inspired by my photos to pick up your stitching and make some progress today. And please link up your blog or instagram post below so we can enjoy your creativity.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Something to look forward to!

Every May I have attend the Mennonite Relief Quilt Auction. It was something I looked forward to every spring and missed it last year due to covid restrictions. It was held online in 2020 and continues to raise money for world relief projects where people are suffering from poverty, conflict, oppression and natural disaster.

This year the quilt auction will again be held online on Saturday May 29th.

This is the quilt that my little sewing group made pre-covid and donated for this year's auction. It is quilt #108 on the program and unimaginatively called "Sampler from Quilt Run".

This quilt was made from the block kits we collected during the 2016 July Shop Hop. We always looked forward to these July adventures, visiting quilt stores and having lunches out together. So fun! Last year it was cancelled and I wonder what will happen this year?  

I love this photo of some of our group members working on the layout during pre-covid days. Notice how helpful Molly is?!?! I haven't seen my friends in more than a year now. I'm hopeful we will get vaccines soon and be able to meet outdoors sometime this summer.

And in the meantime, our efforts to make this sampler quilt will bring us lots of happy memories as we collected the block kits, sewed the blocks, and worked together to raise money for a good cause.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party!
Why not pick up your project and put in a few stitches today? That's exactly what I'm planning to do, but I have put in so few stitches recently that I don't have any of my stitching to share today. 

Sandy's quilt being auctioned

So I will show a couple of photos from the Mennonite Relief Sale that I attended yesterday. This is an annual event where over 200 quilts are auctioned to raise money for relief from hunger, poverty and natural disaster world wide, and for international development and peace keeping efforts. 

Sandy's quilt under plastic

I was only able to stay for half of the auction this year, but enjoyed the visual treat of so many lovely hand quilted delights.

This is a quilt that my friend Sandy made from the fabrics of a quilter who had passed away. Sandy pieced the quilt and it was hand quilted by Saleda Martin. You can see a better photo on the auction website here. It's always exciting to see a quilt being auctioned when the quilt maker is sitting right beside you!!

College quilt under plastic

And here is a quilt that the tag said it was made at the local college. I thought for sure that it was likely just "commissioned by the college" because it was very well made. But I spoke to the organizer and she said it was constructed in the fall and hand quilted in the winter by the students!

College quilt being auctioned

They called the quilt "X's and O's" and it was very pretty (more information and a better photo here). I think it would make a great scrap quilt and the creative wheels are turning in my brain!

Anyway, lots of money was raised for a terrific cause, and it motivated me to get going on finishing a quilt to donate next year. Click here to see the video clip that was on the local news about the event.

What are you hand stitching today?
Please share your project update in the link up below!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Slow Sunday Stitching

Welcome to the weekly linkup where we celebrate the art of hand stitching! Make a cup of your favourite beverage to enjoy while you visit the blogs of slow stitchers around the world. It's the perfect way to start your Sunday! 
Today I want to share with you a bit about the Mennonite Relief Sale that I attended yesterday. This is an annual auction of over 200 quilts.
It was a lovely day with great weather, yummy food, and a good turnout of generous people ready and willing to donate to this worthy cause. These are some of the tents where you can purchase food, plants, crafts, and I'm not really sure what all because I was over at the quilt auction.

Here is a photo of what the quilt auction arena looks like. The tilted bed on the right is where the next quilt being auctioned is viewed. You can see they are just putting a version of Celtic Soltice on the bed to be auctioned next.

hand quilting with Judy

Last year when I attended the Creativ Festival in Toronto, I enjoyed some hand quilting time with my friend Judy Pearce. This was a project that anyone could add a few stitches to, so of course I did. It was hard to tear myself away from visiting and quilting. At the time it was like finding an oasis in the middle of a desert!

Yesterday I saw that finished quilt auctioned and it sold for $275. 

This quilt is called Whirligig and was made by a small group of my sewing friends. It's the 6th quilt we have made specifically for this auction and we were delighted that it was sold for $700!

It was very inspiring to see so many gorgeous hand quilted treasures being appreciated and sold to new homes.

So now it's your turn! What are you hand stitching this week? 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

More about the quilt auction...

As I wrote last month, I attended the quilt auction in New Hamburg and as always, it was very exciting. My blog report on the auction can be read here. Someone took a video at the auction of the featured Africa quilt - you can watch it here.  Seeing the red faces of everyone reminded me how hot it was that day!
This year the auction raised approximately $350,000 for international relief, as well as justice and peacebuilding efforts! It's so rewarding to be a small part of this wonderful event. Just think of how many people will be helped by this money!

I wanted to show you two more quilts from the auction that I thought the rainbow scrappers might like to see. This quilt called "Scrappy but Organized" was made by the Waterloo County Quilters Guild from scrappy 4 patch rectangle blocks. You can see a better photo here, which shows the wonderful scrappy border. Wouldn't that be a fun rainbow scrap challenge project?

And look at this one. It is called Dazzling Diamonds and was made by the Shakespeare Quilt Club. It's a log cabin variation with each block made from white and a colour. This would also be a great scrap quilt idea.
Should I start one?
My small sewing group is planning to get together soon to get working on our quilt top for the 2016 donation quilt... stay tuned for that update :)

Slow Sunday Stitching & Auction Report

Life is Beautiful Block #9

What crazy weather we had yesterday! It was so hot in the morning, I didn't know if I would be able to stay at the quilt auction, and you just know it must be really  bad when I can't stay at a quilt event! I did work on some hand embroidery to distract myself from melting, and finished block #9 of Life Is Beautiful.






My little sewing group's Sunshine Quilt was sold for $450 and we are very happy about that! We have raised over $2,000 for the relief efforts of the MCC.






In February I made a block for the "Canada: What it means to me" quilt. You can see my block to the top left of the centre medallion. You can read more about it here.
This quilt sold for $3,200!!

Photo by Dolores Sedore

The top seller of the day was the "Threads of Africa" quilt (read more about it here). This photo was emailed to me by Dolores and is much better than the photo I took at the auction. It really is a spectacular quilt... 
it sold for $42,000!
For real! It was very exciting to be there, and made the heat exhaustion worthwhile.

In the afternoon there was a huge downpour, and the temperature became more bearable. When it was time to leave, we had to swim to our cars! Just look at all that rain. The gardens needed the rain, but so much rain fell so quickly that the ground couldn't absorb it.

Don't little boys love to play in puddles? And this was a very big puddle for them to enjoy. I watched these guys have fun for quite a while.
I think they enjoyed the puddle as much as I enjoyed the quilt auction!


And while I waited to leave, it continued to rain, and I continued to stitch. The stitches are a little wobbly so don't biggy size the photo. The traffic was at a stand still, and look how much I got stitched on my next block! I will be putting more stitches in today.

What are you hand stitching? Link up your blog post below and share a photo of where you do your hand stitching. In a car, at the park, in the waiting room, on the patio... any place is a great stitching place!

Mennonite Relief Sale 2013

It was another fun day at the annual quilt auction in New Hamburg. I have attended annually with my Mom for as long as I can remember. Various friends have joined us over the years, and this year my Dad even stopped by to get in on some fun! We didn't actually buy a quilt this year, but it was the coldest year I can ever remember, and I was ready to buy a quilt so that I could wrap up in it and keep warm! 

This was the line up for strawberry pie at 8:30 am! 
I kid you not!
I had to taste test the pie to make sure it was safe for public consumption.
No, I did not eat the WHOLE pie!
My small group of quilting friends (the "Sew 'n Sews") have made 4 quilts for this quilt auction over the years: 
*Wings of Friendship - $475
*Split Decision - $400
*Chicklets - $325
This year our quilt was a Bonnie Hunter pattern called "Bricks and Stepping Stones" and it sold for $375! It looked great up there on the auction block/bed!
There were so many gorgeous quilts to enjoy, which you can view on the website catalogue (click here). And you can see some video footage that someone posted of last year's auction (click here). The video gives you a feel for the auction and features one of my favorite bid "spotters"...he is quite a character and entertaining to watch!

The featured quilt this year was made by the amazing and talented Judy Pearce. Here she is with her quilt, which was inspired by a photo taken at a previous quilt auction (which is clipped to the left side of the quilt). 





Judy gave me permission to post this photo of herself with the new quilt owner Brenda Jewitt (on the left) and Judy's parents (on the right).
Guess how much this quilt was sold for?!?
$10,000!
Yep... that is with 4 zeros!
We are just so proud of you Judy!
On the local news tonight it was reported that they raised over $310,000 at the sale this year. Here is the local news report.
It was truly an inspiring day. I will count down the days until next year... and we better get to work on planning our next donation quilt!

Mennonite Relief Quilt Auction

Yesterday was the Mennonite Relief Quilt Auction, which I attend every year (to see last year's report, click here). This year I petered out a bit earlier because it was soooo hot in the arena, or maybe because I am getting old?! There were many wonderful quilts for sale and I was sad that I didn't get to see them all, but I just wilted in the hot humid air :(

I did see the log cabin variation quilt sold, for which I donated a block  (see this blog post). My block is half hidden in this photo...on the left column in the middle. This quilt was sold for $650!

I also made a block for the
"Community Garden" quilt.
I don't have a good photo of this quilt, but the first one here shows the bottom right corner where my block is :) 
I can't find a blog post where I wrote about making this block, so maybe I forgot to? 
This is the block that I made for the "Community Garden", for which I drafted the paper piecing pattern, based on a block pattern on Quilter's Cache. 
My favorite part of the block was the little beaded yoyo's, which I added in the center because there was just too much yellow and open space. 



All of the gorgeous donated blocks were put on pointe, with either a green or a purple fabric on the corners. I thought the yellow piping before the purple border was a great touch. This quilt sold for $600!
Of course, the food is always a highlight for me! I got a big bag few tea balls, and may have also had a piece of strawberry pie.  I discovered a new (to me) treat this year called "Fleisch Piroschki" (pastry meat pockets). I just love trying new things and these were delicious!
The amount raised by the quilt auction was almost $130,000 this year! And one of the things I love about about this quilt auction is that 100% of the money  raised goes directly to world relief efforts. 

Quilt Auction 2011 Report

It was quite a cool day for the New Hamburg quilt auction this year and the turn out seemed better than ever, perhaps because the lack of sun, cool temperatures, and the constant threat of rain caused all the gardeners to come to the auction (to read the local newspaper report- click here).

I missed out on buying some tea balls on Friday night, so I foolishly stood in line for one hour on Saturday morning for these darn things (yes, during the quilt auction... won't do that again!) ...but OMG they are so good! There are few things in life that I enjoy more than coffee and tea balls, while watching a fabulous quilt auction!

Our "Chicklets" quilt was #15 (of 201 quilts) and it sold for $325. This is a very washed out photo of the quilt being auctioned. We hope that this quilt has found it's way to a happy home with lots of children to cuddle!


The feature quilt was #150 and sold for $9,000! To see this quilt and description - click here. This is NOT a cuddle quilt...it's an amazing piece of art!

Remember the paint chip block challenge I worked on in March? (You can see my blocks here and all the blocks here).


This was quilt #186 and it was sold for $1,050!!
You probably can't see the fabulous hand quilting on the border in this photo, but it was amazing. And it had a very cool label that I wish I had a better photo of.


What else do you want to know?
The 75 block kits that we made up (to create a quilt for next year's auction) are gone! If you desperately wanted one and missed out,  I might be able to get my hands on an extra one for you... just let me know!
And if you want to see the arena where the quilt auction is held, someone posted a video on YouTube of the choir - click here to see the video (turn on your sound). Maybe next year I'll be technically sophisticated enough to post a video of the quilt auction on my blog...wouldn't that be something?!?!

Quilt Auction Report

I said in my blogpost on Saturday that I would report on the quilt auction on Sunday, and now that Sunday is almost over... I better get typing!
I took a little video at the auction but I can't figure out how to upload it to my blog, so I'll keep working on that.
In the meantime, here are the photos. This is a shot of our group quilt being auctioned:

It was quilt #17 (of almost 220) so it was auctioned early in the morning and the crowd was about half the size it is around noon. But still it sold for $400 and we were happy about that. To read more about the above quilt - click here.
This was the first look I got of the basket block quilt...isn't it wonderful!?!

To see the blocks I made for this quilt - click here. This was a challenge for the quiltmakers to set together the great variety of blocks they received...some were set on pointe and some not.
The basket quilt was # 60 at the auction and it was sold for $1,200!
The highest selling quilt this year was this a block sampler quilt:

It was sold for $6,400! This seems like a lot of money, but relative to other years it was "low". You can read my report from the 2008 auction here  (highest selling quilt was $25,000) and the 2009 auction here (highest quilt was $7,000).  Every year we say that the prices are lower and the crowd is smaller, because we were very spoiled by the most exciting quilt auction in 2003, when the highest selling quilt went for $44, 000!! Click here to see that one.
Now it is time to start planning for next year's donation quilt!
***Update....I read in Monday's newspaper that $115,000 was raised at this year's auction. 
That sounds fabulous until you compare it to last year's report that stated $320,000 was raised by the quilt auction. It wasn't just my imagination that the crowd was smaller and the bids were lower. ..I guess the economy is really taking it's toll on this event.
*****Tuesday update...apparently the newspaper misreported the amounts brought in. In this article, they must have been referring to the total amount of money raised by the event last year, not just the quilts. This year the quilt auction total was just $500 less than last year, which is good news for relief efforts of the Mennonite Central Committee!