Hawaii State Quilt block photos

I have never been to Hawaii but our swap got some terrific Hawaiian quilt blocks from our Nifty Fifty Quilters. My personal favorites are the Hawaiian appliqued blocks. The one pictured here is from our Nifty Fifty 12 swap which theme was Batiks. There was not any particular Hawaii state pattern used amongst our quilters but there were a couple of unique quilt blocks that represented the Hawaiian dance the Hula. And what would a group of quilt blocks from Hawaii be without a Pineapple quilt blocks from our Nifty Fifty 13www.niftyfiftyquilters.com/hawaii.html swap. Check out all the Hawaiian quilt blocks on our website at

Breast Cancer Memory Jar

 Breast Cancer Month is over but the struggle still goes on throughout the year.  Our family just lost Madeline to Breast Cancer.  Madeline is my sister's mother-in-law but was a big part of our extended family. As one friend quoted this week...."to know Madeline is to love Madeline".  Her struggle started six years ago with Breast Cancer and she fought courageously these past few years.  I made a memory jar for my sister's family. It followed us throughout the services this weekend collecting special memories of Madeline written on colorful index cards and placed in the jar.  I made a mini quilt to attach to the jar using Carol Doak's Heart/Ribbon pattern.  I used pink fabric with golden dragonflies.  The pink fabric represented breast cancer and the dragonflies represented Madeline.  Dragonflies in Japan represent joy, happiness, courage and strength which all describes Madeline. Dragonflies in the United States represent rebirth or renewal after a great hardship or loss.  Hopefully this mini quilt and jar full of memories will help my sister's family through their sorrow and  loss.  

As you can see it is the first time I have made the Heart/Ribbon pattern and my ribbon is slightly off....It is also the first time I used my sewing machine's embroidery option The Amish purposely put a mistake in every quilt to remind themselves that they are not perfect because they have a saying..."Only God is perfect".

Here is a link to  Carol Doak's Heart/Ribbon Pattern

http://www.caroldoak.com/pdfs/Heartribbon3.pdf

Search Amazon.com for breast cancer awareness

Nifty Fifty Quilters Breast Cancer Charity Quilt

Inspirational Music from the Race for the Cure

 Breast Cancer Month

Check out the Video of the Des Moines Race For the Cure 2009

While watching this video listen closely to the music.  It is very inspirational music by David M Bailey who lost his fight with brain cancer this month.

Georgia OlympicTorch Quilt Block

The Nifty Fifty Georgia Quilt blocks are up online!!  The Georgia quilt blocks are not all Peaches.....even though Georgia is considered the Peach State.  There is the Olympic Torch quilt block from the 1998 Olympics since our first group was swapping during the Olympics. It is one of my favorites and is an original design from our Georgia swapper. A few have the outline of the state of Georgia along with the state flowers. Great group of quilt blocks from Georgia.  Check them out at Georgia Nifty Fifty Quilt Blocks

Florida Quilt Blocks

Nifty Fifty Florida Quilt blocks are all up on one page now.  The designs range from Mickey Mouse to Sunbonnet Sue building a sandcastle.  See the Florida Quilt blocks at: http://www.niftyfiftyquilters.com/florida.html 

More Butterflies

www.niftyfiftyquilters.com/nf29.htmlMore butterflies arrived today from Nebraska and North Dakota.

WTC Memorial Quilt Project

Nine years ago I was the Charity/Honor Quilt Coordinator for the WTC Memorial Quilt project who handled all the Charity and Honor Quilts.    Joan has put together a video and facebook page about the project. There were thousands and thousands of quilters in the US and around the world who had a hand in this project.  The video on the Facebook page gives the story behind the project so please pass it along to other quilters.   I am sure many quilters never knew the outcome of the project. Maybe this video will reach them and they can enjoy seeing the quilt panels on display.

WTC Memorial Quilt Facebook Page