Quilts for charity
This is a story about a group of ladies that meet and use my classroom to create quilts for charity.
Blue Wren Stitchers. The group consists of Glenda, Judy, June, Ali, Joan, Johanna, Glynis. |  |
The Blue Wren Stitchers was born out of the inspiration they felt when they worked on the first Margie's Quilts of Hope entry in 2006, while members of the local Wagga Patchwork and Quilting group. (I would like to add that the quilt was judged and won first prize). The quilt will tour around the countryside and then be auctioned and all funds donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
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| This year the girls met up with the travelling group from Quilters World at Toowoomba Patty and Pauline to view the quilt that they helped work on in 2006. |
When the quilt was finished the ladies decided that the satisfaction they felt while doing this inspired them to meet more often and make other quilts that can be donated to other organizations.
Just recently they made 30 wraps for premature and stillborn baby's for the Wagga Wagga Base Hospital when they heard from a friend who is a midwife at the hospital that they were needed to give to the mums to wrap these tiny babies in. The small quilts were made from soft cotton and flannelette fabrics and are about A3 size.Sample baby quilt- The ladies are also in the process of making quilts for the children at Ronald McDonald House at Wagga Wagga. The ladies were invited by Deborah the co-ordinator to visit and were given a tour to provide an insight into the great work that they do for the families and children that stay at the centre.
The quilts that the ladies make will be donated and this will be an ongoing thing and supplied on a regular basis to the centre for the visiting children while receiving treatment for illnesses at the local hospital. They are of wall hanging size and the children get to take them home with them when they leave. (I asked my fabric rep what he did with the samples at the end of a fabric release and he stated that he would be happy to donate some for a good cause and the ladies were very happy to receive them)
Pictures of quilt tops that the ladies have finished from the donated fabrics - I wonder whose job it is to quilt them?
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- In February 2007 the ladies approached me to obtain the fabrics "Heaven on Earth" fabric range Lloyd Curzon Fabrics to create another entry for the Margie's Quilts of Hope. The ladies had also been offered some financial donations to make this quilt, as it is very costly. They also donated out of their own pockets to purchase the fabrics. At a meeting all the ladies discussed how and what they hoped to achieve for this quilt with some design ideas of what they would create for this quilt to represent the theme for this year. Jo a member of the Blue Wren Stitchers went home and thought of all of the design elements that they discussed and quickly went to work and designed the quilt on graph paper and coloured all the pieces in. Jo then had to leave to attend to matters in Melbourne and left the ladies to start on the quilt. While she was gone the ladies waited impatiently for the fabric to come in. When it did there was much anticipation of how the blocks where going to be created and how it was going to all come together as it had to be a specific minimum size and created just from the fabrics from Heaven on Earth.
Pictures of the ladies working on the quilt - Watch for more pictures as they are added
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| First planning meeting - Jo and Judy facing us. | When the quilt design was finished all blocks had to be mapped out according to scale and colours had to be picked for the blocks - Val and Glynis working on them. |
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| Ali had never paper pieced before so was encouraged to do first block- You can see the concentration on her face. | When the first block was completed and actually measured the right size they were so pleased - Ali and Joan pictured. |
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| Another Block down and a long way to go. | Johanna and Glenda organising what are they to do next. |
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| You can see the concentration in Glynis and Val's faces choosing colours. | Choosing fabrics and threads for landscape. |
Come back to see the progress and the completion of the Quilt for the Margie's Quilts of Hope entry. The quilt cannot be shown yet till it is judged at a later date.
- When the ladies finished the quilt in June 2007 they decided that they would like to make and donate a quilt for the Miss Wagga Quest. Proceeds of this when raffled will go to a charity.
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| Glenda and Joan working on an Appliqué Quilt designed by Joy White called Friendship Garden - measuring borders. | Completed Centre of Friendship Garden. |
All fabric donations are gratefully received to aid and assist the Blue Wren Stitchers in the great work they do. Contact Simply Stitches to donate.
Thank you.
Faye Verrall.