Estelle Porter Meal Train

 While we were enjoying the great program Tuesday night, Estelle Porter was recovering from successful back surgery earlier in the day. She will be home soon working on her recovery. Her daughter has set up a Meal Train schedule for anyone who wants to help out by preparing a meal for Estelle and Tom. Available dates and instructions are in the link.

One of our own

 One of our newer members, Elizabeth Price (chocolate truffle maker extraordinaire), is having open heart surgery 4/28 for a bicuspid aortic valve birth defect she only found out about 14 months ago. She'll take 2 or 3 months to recover and she can't drive for 6-8 weeks. So it's likely we will not see her at sewing again until July or August.

She gave me permission to share the following support information. Her address is provided in case you want to send a card:

7028 Scotland Woods Rd
Hanover VA 23069

If anyone uses FB and is interested in following along, here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/954707362190891

Here is what I posted to friends/family for anyone interested in helping:
Miscellaneous things we could use help with in the next few months since I've had very little energy since February and of course will be in hospital and recovering for weeks/months:
1. Meals: (Meal Train) https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/o9900n
2. Driving: (Sign Up Genius) https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0a44acaa2ea3f49-drivers#/
3. Cleaning - general dusting, floors, dishes, kitchen, bathrooms (I'm so far behind because I tired so easily.) I'm considering hiring someone to come do a deep clean, just collecting info rn, but also running out of time. If anyone knows someone who is willing to come in every other week to help with whatever needs doing, that'd be awesome.
4. Mowing a field sometimes (this would give Andy a break as I had hoped to do this surgery in winter!)
5. Gardening - Y’all know how I love my garden.
A - Weeding: The weeds will take over the flower beds.
B - Veg garden: If anyone would like to use the unused section of my garden to grow their own vegetables, please let me know! We have a dirt road access to the back so you could come anytime and put the space to use. There is a sprinkler hose set up (between mows) and you can visit the ducks.
And if nothing gets done, we'll be ok. It's only a few months. 

Meal Train for Estelle

Estelle is home from the hospital! She has a long road of PT and OT ahead of her to get her mobility back but she home and feeling better. "Home" is actually the house where her mother lived in Ashland. It has a 1st floor master so she can get around easier.

Many of you didn't know that Tom had rotator cuff surgery an month or so ago and he's still in physical therapy too.

Neither of them can do any cooking at this time so I suggested that they set up a Meal Train in case some you great cooks would like to prepare dinner for them sometime.

The best thing for them is one-dish meals like soup, casseroles and pasta. The only foods that she really dislikes are Bleu cheese, tofu and cauliflower.

You can get the contact info and address on the Meal Train page and that's where you can sign up for a day to provide a meal. So far they've only scheduled through August and will see how mobile she is at the end of the month to see if they need help any longer.

You can still send cards or greetings to her address that's on the CSQ roster.

Estelle Porter's Exhibit

It was a great time at Randolph Macon yesterday for the opening of Estelle Porter's Quiltworks exhibit. Estelle was thrilled to have all of the prep work done and finally be able to simply enjoy the exhibit with patrons, friends and family.

There was a large crowd with mots of CSQ members and friends attending. Following I'm going to share some photos of the quilts in the exhibit but first want to let you know that if you missed it the exhibit will be up through the end of May.

Art Quilts by Estelle Porter

April 14 - May 24 2019

Randolph-Macon College, Pace-Armistead Hall

Flippo Gallery

211 N. Center St., Ashland, VA 23005

Gallery hours:  Monday-Friday, 11am - 4pm

Here are a few photos of some of the quilts on display. You really have to see them up close to appreciate the workmanship and design details.

Quilt Challenge and Auction in Support of Iris Jacobs

Quilt Challenge at SEW REFRESHING

 to benefit Iris Jacobs

Deb Jacobs' (member of CSQ) 12 year-old daughter, Iris, was diagnosed with a very rare pediatric cancer and has been undergoing treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. 

You can following Deb's updates about Iris here:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/irisjacobs

Three Country School Quilters made quilts for this special event to help the Jacobs family. Pictured below are the quilts made by Carole Boudrot, Terri Cooper and Annie Miksch who met the challenge and put a lot of love into their quilts.  

 Carole Boudrot

 

Terri Cooper

 

 

Annie Miksch

 

The following was written by Terry Helfrich, shop owner of Sew Refreshing and shared here with her permission:

The Quilt Challenge Voting and
Silent Auction Begins - Get out the Vote!
Iris Jacobs was just a little girl when I first met her.  My first memories are of her laughing and cuddling with her younger brother on the couch when I was dropping off a quilt for Debbie, her mom, to long-arm. I don't think I've ever seen Iris without a smile.  Many of you who were at Sew Refreshing when it first opened may remember Iris and Debbie helping me in the shop as I was getting the business started.

Now, as Iris and her family are going through such a difficult time, Iris' wonderful smile and spirit are still shining through in the pictures we get to see of her as she fights the fight of her life.  She is an inspiration to her family and friends and to the community of quilters she has known since she was a small child.

As Iris battles her cancer with chemo and radiation, there are many who want to provide support.  The idea of doing this Quilt Challenge evolved from the desire to help Iris, Deb and the entire family.  A customer commented that we should also do a Silent Auction to help raise money so now we have several wonderful quilts entered in the Challenge and many which have been donated for the Silent Auction.  

So how can you help? You can be a Quilt Challenge Judge and help choose the winner! The quilt which raises the most money will be the winner, so you can vote for your favorite with either cash or check in our shop, or mail it to us by May 20th. Checks and money orders can be made out to Debbie Jacobs.

We are also holding a Silent Auction for several of the quilts, so you can also help by bidding on your favorite quilts. There is a minimum bid for each quilt and subsequent bids must increase by at least five dollars.

Sew Refreshing is donating all prizes for the Challenge winners and ALL funds raised during this event will go to Iris and her family to help with expenses for hospital stays, care/treatment and travel to Baltimore where her care is being managed.

The quilts are on display on-line at www.sewrefreshing.com and in our shop.  Voting and bidding in the shop runs through May 29.  Followed by two days, May 30 and 31, where the quilts will be on display in the atrium at the VCU School of Science and Engineering building located at 401 W. Main St. in downtown Richmond, VA.  The display can be viewed on Friday, May 30 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and on Saturday, May 31 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.  Voting and bidding will end promptly at 3:00 pm.  Votes will be counted and prizes and quilts will be awarded at a brief reception beginning at 3:30 pm in the atrium of the building. 


A special thanks to all who have donated their time and talents to create these beautiful quilts for this special cause:

*  Nancy Woodcock
*  Annette Lemon
*  Carole Boudrot
*  Terri Cooper
*  Ollie Morton
*  Mary Noel
*  Darleen Kirkland
*  Bettie Greenwood
*  Ann Shibut
*  Alicia Ketchum
*  Annie Miksch
*  Dee Tomczak
*  Jody Hirschfield
*  Harriett Carter
*  Mary Michael

Thank you also to Russ Jamison, of VCU, for his help in arranging and supporting the show and reception at VCU in Richmond.

Please enjoy looking at the quilts and please vote early and often.  Thank you so much for your help and support.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

sewrefreshing.com

 
Terri Helfrich
Sew Refreshing
7225 Bell Creek Rd., Suite 264
Mechanicsville, VA 23111
804-789-1803

Karen's different kind of I-Spy quilt

I have a blog friend who makes many of the quilts that you see each month in your favorite quilting magazines. Wendy Sheppard is a very popular and prolific quilt designer. That means that she also accumulates a lot of scrap quilts. We were emailing one day and I was telling her about the quilts that we make for various charities. She offered to send a box of scraps. Most of the fabrics in that box were more juvenile prints so I immediately thought of Karen and sent the box to her. This weekend she showed me a kid's quilt that she made totally from scraps from Wendy's box. I sent a photo to Wendy and she's posted about it and all of the fabrics in the quilt. Check out the post here. This one little quilt represents 30 quilts that Wendy has made!