Today, rather than first sewing, I ventured out to do a quick grocery run. Alas, sometimes we do need to do things for the family! I picked up some items to keep around the house for those quick dinners we all need in our arsenal. Just as I was done bagging my groceries, I started seeing frozen peas all over the check out area. Yep, the bag of frozen peas had a split in it and I was dropping those babies like bread crumbs for birds. I finished paying, then went to get a new bag to replace the old one. Came back to the cart and the cashier told me, nope that bag was smaller than the 64 ounce one that I had paid for. Back to the frozen section…replace the peas…find the bigger bag…back to my cart. Why does grocery shopping become an almost 2 hour ordeal no matter what I’m buying?? I’ll never understand this. So now that I have 64 ounces of peas…I welcome suggestions of easy recipes with which to use them.

Let’s talk churn dashes. I wrote about a quilt charity recently formed by the fabulous Cynthia of quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com. It consists of block requests (4 or so times a year) in certain colors and then she sews them into compassion quilts for local hospitals. Her charity is modeled after Covered in Love run by Kat out of Texas. Kat has been doing this for many years and her quilt donations have made a big difference to many families dealing with loss. Even during the pandemic, Kat kept us sewing and helping to keep the comfort going. Cynthia helps Kat tremendously with CIL and now is running her own gig. I help both of these charities and always learn something new along the way.

I’ve tried blocks I might never have attempted…used colors I don’t prefer…and dug into hidden scraps just waiting to be used for something. I completely enjoy these block requests and really miss them when there’s a hiatus. If I do nothing else but chase frozen peas, at least I feel I am helping a tad with my sewing.

This month and until the end the month Cynthia has asked for red, white and blue churn dash blocks which will go to veterans. She’s busy sewing them together but you can quickly send a few if you have time. However, June begins another new and easy block request. Check out her blog and sign up so you’ll be able to join in the next block request. It’s therapeutic…trust me. You can check out her site for all the instructions.

I wrote a post about these back in March but have made so many more blocks since then. I played around with fussy cut centers, used more scrappy bits and pieces and had some wacky combinations, all of which I loved. See my churn dashes below for some novelty images of pinwheels, sock monkeys, dogs, flags, bumble bees and more. She also asked for some four patches which I show.

In total, I sent her over 50 blocks. You need not sew that many… I just got a little carried away. Even a few blocks will be helpful. Use up some scraps and help a beginning charity grow and take flight.

These are four 6.5″ four-patch blocks that will help to balance some churn dashes. I can’t wait to see how Cynthia arranges all the various block shapes and sizes into unified quilts. These patriotic colors are so classic but with a few sock monkeys, tape cassettes and other novelty images, it should be a lot of fun.

Linking to:  Design Wall Mondays, Oh Scrap, Patchwork & Quilts, MidweekMakers, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Peacock Party, Finished or not Friday, Brag About Your Goodies, Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, My Quilt Infatuation: Needle & Thread Thursday.