Celebrate! Good Stitches

Back in March of this year, I joined the Joy circle for do Good Stitches.  Since then, I've made wonky star blocks, a Swoon block, patchwork wheels, star weaving blocks, and this past month I had my first attempt in paper piecing with these hot air balloon blocks.

I probably would have never taken the time to do any of these quilt blocks otherwise, and it was great trying them out with only a small time commitment.  I encourage any quilters out there to consider applying for one of these circles.  All the quilts are given to worthy charities or individuals struggling with an illness or loss.

It is optional to apply as a quilter, and originally I didn't plan to.  But there was an opening for one in the circle I wanted, so I went ahead.  Because of this, I was in charge of hosting two of the quilts for the Joy circle this past year.  This means that I get to pick the design, colors, and everyone sends their lovely blocks to me.  The first time I had everyone make simple string blocks in girly prints/colors.  I then used my Boxed Strings tutorial to assemble the blocks.

The second time, I had everyone use the Hugs & Kisses quilt block tutorial from Little Miss Shabby.  I changed the dimensions a bit, and everyone used boy prints/colors.

At the beginning of this month, I received an email from the host of the Do Good Stitches groups.  She is hosting a year-end celebration!  This is our chance to encourage each other to finish up our quilts and link them all up in one place.  There is also going to be a giveaway for any non-bee members to link up charity quilts, so anyone has a chance to win! Details are here.