many hands and many hearts

Oh Scrap! : It's Never Dull from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

It is never dull around here at Many Hands and Many Hearts. I tried all last week to get a few things put away to clear off some workspaces. There always seems to be quilts needing labels or bindings, scraps needing cut or items waiting to be checked in and receipts written.

It is a bit like Whack-a-Mole.

I did get quite a bit of cutting done this week. I pulled all the small pieces of florals and autumn-colored prints for a sew day project this fall. I will let you know at a later date what we are making ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 13 hours, 24 minutes ago. under many hands and many hearts , oh scrap! , scrap quilting

Quilts from Beth from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Boy, did I get a big surprise on my porch!

Beth had told me a couple times she was sending me some finished quilts. Then time would get away from her and they never actually made it to the post office. Her last email said she finally sent a box and she thought there were about 6 finished quilts in the box.

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box!

(You might want to get comfortable because I have a lot of photos to share...)

Let's start off strong with this stunner. It practically glows!

I am also ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 2 days, 13 hours ago. under finished quilt , many hands and many hearts

Oh Scrap! : Flannel Scraps from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Whenever I find myself with a few minutes, I try and cut or sew some of the flannel scraps around this place. This week, I actually finished another quilt made from those efforts.

I am still cutting all my flannel into 4.5" x 2.5" rectangles. Right now, I am pairing a light with a dark and creating these windmill blocks. I had enough dark pink blocks to finish this one into a 40" x 48" quilt. I still have a few more pinks to cut and sew but there should be a slightly bigger quilt finished soon from ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 1 week ago. under flannel , many hands and many hearts , oh scrap!

Mid Week Finishes from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

I am so far behind sharing finishes for Many Hands and Many Hearts. We are completing right at about one quilt a day. And a majority of them are large laps.

That is a LOT of quilts!

Isn't this top by Joni gorgeous. It is pretty impressive in-person and up close when you start looking at the alignment on everything. Joni also sent in the pieced back. It looks like she used every last bit...

way to go!

Karen sent in this sports-themed quilt top. Perfect for a teenager. Karen also sent in this fun plaid backing. I had ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 1 week, 5 days ago. under donation quilts , many hands and many hearts

Oh Scrap! : New Block Drive from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

I don't often release the new block instructions for a Many Hands and Many Hearts block drive on a Sunday. But this is such a fun scrappy block, I thought this week it was appropriate.

We are going to make a variation of the Potato Chip Block. The true Potato Chip Block is a 12.5" square. We decided to do a truncated version that is only 8.5" square.

The block is super easy. We will be using the color wheel and making blocks using complimentary colors. You need six 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles in one ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 weeks ago. under compassion quilts , many hands and many hearts , oh scrap! , potato chip block , scrap quilting

Fridays are for Finishes from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Happy Friday!

I am celebrating a bit because I actually put out a few posts this week. It is getting harder and harder to accomplish this with all the other things I have been doing for MHMH. If you are planning on retiring soon, don't start a non-profit!

(I am joking of course - but you do work a lot!)

A few months back, Sharon sent us a big stack of small quilt tops. We have been slowly working through them. This little Winnie the Pooh quilt is a favorite of mine. I had an older Winnie the Pooh print ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 weeks, 2 days ago. under donation quilts , finished quilt , many hands and many hearts

Parade of Finishes from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

I hope those of you in the US had a nice holiday weekend. I spent some time getting the "MHMH warehouse" organized. It is really just a 10' square room that holds most of our fabric and quilts. Needless to say, it can become quite chaotic in there!

Mari sent in this lovely floral quilt top. If I remember correctly, she also sent in a larger quilt using some of the same fabrics. This one may have been made from the leftovers. Mari also sent in this backing fabric and the binding.

Here is a fun scrappy quilt. Elizabeth sent ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 weeks, 5 days ago. under donation quilts , finished quilt , many hands and many hearts

Mid Week Finishes from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

I have a few minutes so I thought I would share a handful more quilts that crossed the finish line. All of these quilts were made from donated quilt tops.

Carol donated this fun wildlife quilt top. I love how she used the strips of the little animals that sometime come with panels. I also like how she staggered her animal placements. We decided to back this quilt with some flannel. The dark green was sent in by Stephanie and we had a bit of flannel with deer on it that was the perfect size for making the backing wide ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 1 month, 2 weeks ago. under donation quilts , finished quilt , many hands and many hearts

Oh Scrap! : Local Donations from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

I did work on a few scrappy projects this week, but I forgot to take any photos. Mostly, I was doing a bit of a clean-up and I just finished a bunch of partially sewn blocks and binding strips. I guess we will have to settle for some photos of some quilt tops donated by local volunteers.

Our Board Secretary Karen has been working through some of her batik scraps. This is one she donated to us. I love the rich, warm colors. The backing was sent to us by Stephanie. I did have to add a bit of an ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 1 month, 3 weeks ago. under donation quilts , many hands and many hearts , oh scrap! , scrap quilting

Oh Scrap! : Scrappy Finishes from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Sounds crazy, but I don't think I even ran my sewing machine all week.

That hasn't happened for YEARS!

So today, I am just going to share some of the scrappy quilts made by others that have crossed the finish line. I did sew the bindings on some of these...

I love this quilt! What a great way to use up a bunch of scraps. Jean sent this top and the backing. She even used some larger stash pieces for the back. We have a new local longarm quilter, Wanda, and this was one of the first quilts ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 2 months ago. under donation quilts , many hands and many hearts , oh scrap!

Hearts and Veterans from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

A few finishes to share today...

Here is another heart quilt made from the low volume 9-patch blocks. We didn't get a lot of these blocks so I have been limiting the finishing of these so each shipment gets one until they are all gone. local quilter Terry quilted this one up. And the lovely backing fabric was sent in by Jean. I am going to be sad when these blocks are all used.

Maybe it will have to be a future Sew Day block.

I don't think I ever shared this lovely RWB scrappy quilt. It has ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 2 months, 4 weeks ago. under finished quilt , heart quilt , many hands and many hearts , patriotic quilt

Oh Scrap! : Sew Day Preparation from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Happy Sunday!

If you receive our newsletter, you know we have a lot of fundraising going on in April. One of the events is a Sew Day - whose preparation has been keeping me busy! One of the big benefits of these Sew Days is that they help us use up a lot of our scraps. This spring, we will be making blocks for Veterans.

To ensure we have cut into strips all the RWB scraps we have acquired, I reorganized all the chunky scraps we have. This took quite a bit of time! But with any reorganizing endeavor, after it ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 months ago. under many hands and many hearts , oh scrap! , sew day

Oh Scrap! : Delivery by Wilma from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

This was a great week for Many Hands and Many Hearts. We have TWO new longarm quilters joining our volunteer ranks. One is even ready to do a couple a week for us.

So, I have been spending this week trying to get backs pieced, batting cut and (for some) binding prepped. How many? I am prepping up for 19 quilts! Needless to say,
I don't have anything scrappy to share today.

But I do have some finished quilts to share. Wilma lives in the Sacramento area and was planning a trip north with some friends. They offered to ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 months, 1 week ago. under finished quilts , many hands and many hearts , oh scrap! , scrap quilting

Some Oldies but Goodies from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Some of these quilts have been hanging around a long time. It is nice to see them finally crossing the finish line and getting sent out to do good work!

This lovely scrap quilt started out as some friendship blocks sent in by Priscilla. I really wanted brown sashing so we waited a bit for some to finally show up. Local volunteer Chris sewed up the top for us. Then it went to board member Bev to be quilted. Karen sent us the backing fabric.

It took a bit to finish but it was well worth the wait!

This quilt ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 months, 1 week ago. under finished quilt , many hands and many hearts

Oh Scrap! : Some of my Scrap Quilts from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

I know you are probably tired of me saying it, but it was another busy week! But I am hoping by the end of March, I might get a breather until late summer. Fingers crossed!

It was fun to see some of the scrap quilts I put together crossed the finish line this week. This pretty snowball quilt was made from a bunch of pink and purple scraps. The inspiration was some pansy fabric I had a small piece of. Nann sent in the backing fabric and board member Bev quilted this one.

I also made these floral blocks from ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 months, 2 weeks ago. under donation quilts , many hands and many hearts , oh scrap! , scrap quilting , snowball

Oh Scrap! : Scrappy Finishes from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

I have not been very good about sharing finishes lately. So, I thought today I would share a bunch of pretty scrappy donation quilts that have crossed the finish line.

Let's start out with this bright and fun novelty quilt. What a great way to use those colorful novelty scraps and the color placement is (chef's kiss)!

The tag got misplaced on this one, but I think it was made by Sue or Jean. I do know local longarm quilter Laura not only quilted it but also sewed on the binding for us.

We even made the backside ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 months, 3 weeks ago. under many hands and many hearts , oh scrap! , scrap quilting

New Block Drive - Mini Square in Square from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

March is coming so it is time to release the new block drive. We are calling this one a Mini Square in Square block. I was inspired by a quilt sent in by Elizabeth.

For each block, you will need two fabrics. Here are the fabric cutting sizes:

Outer Block

4.5" x 8.5" Rectangle QTY = 1

2.5" x 8.5" Rectangle QTY = 1

2.5" x 4.5" Rectangle QTY = 1

2.5" Square QTY = 1

Mini Square

2.5" Square QTY = 1

Here is how each block is configured. Start by sewing the middle row together ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 3 months, 3 weeks ago. under many hands and many hearts , mini square in square

Oh Scrap! : Hearts from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

Happy Valentine's Day...

So, I am a day late - but I still wanted to share some heart quilts made from a previous block drive.

This is the sixth quilt we have finished from the Low Volume block drive. Marcia, a board member, quilted this one up for us. She quilted it with heart lockets and ribbons. So Cute! I am not sure who sent the backing fabric, but I love it on this quilt. I think I projected that we would make 10-12 quilts from the blocks received. We are over halfway finished!

Our friend Audrey went to the ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 4 months ago. under donation quilts , heart quilt , many hands and many hearts , oh scrap!

Friday Finishes from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

It is time to share a few more Many Hands and Many Hearts quilt finishes.

The pipeline is full so quilts march past the finish line daily.

Snowball and 9-Patch blocks - so simple but really makes a fantastic quilt. I also really like the scrappy border treatment. So clever! Thanks, Jean, for sending in the top. On the back we put a nice cuddly flannel.

This fun dinosaur quilt is made from a top and backing sent in by Kristin. Being a Stranger Things fan, I think the backing looks like demogorgons. Once you see it you can't unsee ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 4 months, 1 week ago. under donation quilts , finished quilt , many hands and many hearts

Oh Scrap! : Binding from Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

I decided to spend this week going through the scrap bin and grabbing fabric that was appropriate for bindings. Most of these scraps came from the trimmings of backing after quilting.

I set to work cutting all the cotton scraps into 2.5" wide and the flannel into 3" wide strips. I also went ahead and sewed the strips all together. I know this pile might not look that big but I could easily hide a small child underneath it.

I divided them up into 7 grocery bags - there are about 10 bindings in each bag. I am hoping I ...

added by Cynthia Brunz Designs 4 months, 1 week ago. under binding , donation quilts , many hands and many hearts , oh scrap!

What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?