Sharing the "Quilt" Love

My friend, Deb, and I delivered 63 Cuddle Quilts to the Children's Home/Chambliss Shelter, a local children's center, today. The members of our quilt guild, the Choo Choo Quilters, make and donate lap quilts as our community service project. We also donated 9 bed-size quilts in December for the teenage residents.

Here are Deb Horn (far left) and I (far right) with staff from the center. A pile of quilts are in front.

Guild members worked the past 8 months piecing, quilting and binding the cuddle quilts in response to our 2010 Great Cuddle Quilt Quest program.

The Director of Volunteer Services, Paulette Acord, and her staff admire the quilts.

Here are some of the recipients that received a quilt today.

  

Sweet dreams.

Cuddle Quilt Quest went over the top

The Choo Choo Quilters rallied for an amazing finish to our Great Cuddle Quilt Quest, a program conceived by me and my friend and fellow guild member, Deb, that we started in May of 2010.

Starting off with an easily do-able step in the quiltmaking process, Deb and I issued monthly 12" block patterns to our guild's members. The blocks were collected and sorted into color-coordinated sets for quilt tops. For the last eight months, guild members participated with whatever step(s) they chose: making blocks, sashing and sewing tops, quilting and/or binding.

The final "Call for Cuddle Quilts" came at yesterday's guild meeting and resulted in a final tally of 73 quilts! It was an amazing feat for a guild of about 20 members and included 10 bed size quilts.

Our initial goal was 51—one quilt more than the guild record of 50, about five years ago. I think we more than outdid ourselves! The quilts will be donated to Children's Home/Chambliss Shelter in Chattanooga.

For fun and easy-to-construct quilt ideas—for cuddle quilts or for your own quilts—I like Karla Alexander's techniques. Find them in any of her books:

Quilting for others warms the heart

Two of my friends from the Choo Choo Quilters quilt guild and I dropped off 9 bed size quilts at the Children's Home/Chambliss Shelter yesterday. With temperatures in Chattanooga getting down below freezing this week, they were a welcome gift to teenage residents of the shelter.

My guild accepted the request for twin-size bed quilts for the teenage residents a few months ago. The Choo Choo Quilters have been long-time supporters of this community organization through the guild's Cuddle Quilt program, an outreach program in which guild members make lap-size children's quilts for the day care children. We became aware of the older teenage residents only recently, but the guild members stepped up and met the need. Nine twin size quilts, approximately 65" x 90" in size, were delivered for immediate distribution to the teenage residents. The Assistant Director of Volunteer Services said that the quilts are so appreciated and very much needed.

'Tis the season where it is better to give than to receive. It is our hope that these quilts will warm both heart and body.

Quilting for community—you get more than you give

The second round of quilt blocks for the Great Cuddle Quilt Quest (sponsored by the Choo Choo Quilters, Chattanooga) was collected last week. In addition to over 20 Friendship Star blocks (shown here), 2 quilt tops and 3 finished quilts were contributed toward our goal of 51 cuddle quilts for the children of Chambliss Center. Working together as a team, we should be able to meet and surpass this goal! It is heartwarming to be part of this generous group of people.

On Friday, I attended an open house tour of Hatch's House of Hope, a pediatric cancer clinic in Chattanooga. The tour was given by my good friend and stitching sister, Pat, who is the clinic's Director.

Pat welcomed a group of quilters and sewers who have been making quilts and pillowcases for the cancer patients and their siblings. She talked about the history of the facility, the services it provides, and shared touching stories about and Thank You notes from recipients of the quilts. My Round Robin quilt group created and contributed this quilt to Hatch's House.

In an earlier post, I offered a FREE lap size quilt pattern that I designed for charity and community services projects such as these mentioned.

This pattern (left) is "fat quarter friendly" and sews up quickly. It uses 7 fat quarters and the finished size is 36" x 48". Just e-mail me at veronicaquilts@gmail.com and I'd be happy to e-mail you a copy.

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Once upon a time, I worked with a person who grumbled when our group was approached with a volunteer request. "Someone wanting another handout," she muttered, "I don't have time for them." She claimed she supported certain animal shelters and this or that fund-raiser, but when it was time to "give legs to words" or to "write the check," she had an excuse of some sort and routinely made herself unavailable. She couldn't see the bigger picture. Co-workers thought how lonely she must be. It was sad.

None of us lives on this earth alone. It's more rewarding—and waaay more fun and interesting—if you give something of yourself along the way.