Veterans Quilts and October Meetings

Last week I delivered 42 more veterans quilts. The total for the year is 111! Keep up the great work.

Our delivery coordinator is Jennifer. She has been responsible for distributing our quilts since 2018 and has handled around1000 quilts! I always check in with her to make sure she doesn't feel burdened. She says she considered it an honor to play her "small" role. She has contacts at both the Richmond and Fredericksburg VA facilities and makes sure they get delivered where they are most needed and appreciated. At the moment she says about 70% go to Richmond and 30% to Fredericksburg. We really lucked into this situation with Terry Muller when she was a member. Terry met Jen through a Facebook Marketplace sale and started this relationship and we are fortunate. I don't know of anyone else who has visibility and connections in both facilities.

To thank her, I made a quilt this summer and gifted it to her when I delivered these quilts.

I started this quilt just for fun but before I had 3 blocks done, I knew it was for Jennifer. She loves vintage things and this quilt fit right into her guest room.

OCTOBER MEETINGS

Tuesday, October 13, 7:30 - our annual Trash To Treasure event. Bring things you want to donate and be ready to shop! All of the money collected at this event goes toward batting and backing for the veterans quilts.

Wednesday and Thursday, October 21 - 22 - sewing days. Bring your machine and project and sit, sew and socialize. 

Info on veterans quilts

 

I've been a little obsessed lately with making my own quilt kits for veterans quilts. I like making up kits so that when I go to sewing days, I always have something ready to work on. I might have gone a little overboard in making 22 kits!

But that got me thinking that I hadn't posted our info about the veterans quilt project in a while, so, for new members, here's all the scoop.

The quilts we make are donated to the Interventional Radiography Department at Richmond Veterans Affairs Hospital. They primarily gift the quilts to veterans with recent cancer diagnoses that are in their department to have chemo ports inserted. The staff says that the quilts are wonderful especially for patients who are extra stressed over their diagnosis.

- Optimal size for the quilts is 48" x 60". We can accept an inch or 2 smaller and a inch or so bigger, but the backing and batting is precut so we do not have a ton of flexibility. 47" - 50" is good for width and 58" - 63" is good for length.

- You can make any pattern or design that you want. As for fabric selection, patriotic quilts are always the first preference but anything masculine or non-gender is fine. Scrap quilts are great too. Avoid feminine quilts. They have so few female patients that those quilts rarely get distributed. Hanover Safe Place is a great option if you are making more feminine quilts.

- We now have several volunteer quilters so once you give us your tops we can usually turn them around within 60 days (2 meetings). They are quilted 2 at a time. We load one backing piece that's big enough for 2 quilts. 

- If you want to quilt your own quilt I (Vicki) can provide you with backing and batting. All you have to do is ask. I'll even do my best to dye a matching backing for you.

- Please avoid using any fragrance when you wash the fabrics or quilts. I'm very allergic. The quilts and the tops might stay in my house for a couple of months and I just can't have fragrance in my house for that long. I can't quilt tops that have fragrance in them at all. When I have received quilts that have been washed in fragrance detergent I have to hang them outside (on a covered porch) for as long as 2 weeks before I can have them in my house. I don't like doing that to your quilts but I have no other option. Quilts are returned to sewing days and meetings for you  to pick up and bind. If a quilt goes unclaimed for a couple of months we will seek out a volunteer to bind it.

More veterans quilts delivered!

 Actually, this batch of quilts were picked up. Last night, we had the pleasure of hosting our liaison at the VA Hospital along with two of her coworkers.

John Scheid, Jennifer Farrell and Kathleen Bunch came to share with us how important and special our quilts are to their patients in the Interventional Radiology (IR) Department. we learned what they do in their department and how they identify the veterans that need our quilts the most. They truly care about the quilts and much as we do.

We had 37 quilts ready for them to take! That brings our 2023 total to 66. Great work everyone! I think we were all inspired to go home and start making more quilts for "our veterans".

July Meeting and Sewing Days

 Our meeting room is not available to us in July but we have secured the picnic shelter for the meeting on July 12.

We are not having our usual July pot luck but we are collecting pantry items for WHEAT. Following is a list of the current on-going needs for the pantry:

Boxes of breakfast cereal

Boxes of instant oatmeal

Oatmeal

Pancake mix with syrup, some low sugar or sugar free

Boxes of Mac ‘n cheese

Any size and type of tomato products

One pound boxes of spaghetti noodles

Containers of Spaghetti sauce to feed 4-6

Ramen noodles

16-ounce jars of peanut butter and/or jelly

6-ounce cans of tuna

Cans of chicken

Other cans of meat

16-ounce cans of any vegetables

Cans of dried beans, pork and beans, black and pinto beans

Pound bags of white or brown rice

Cans of fruit, some low sugar or sugar free

Any size or kind of soup

Any type of one-dish meals, Brunswick stew, chicken and dumplings, beef stew

Quart envelopes of dried milk

Envelopes of dried potatoes

Dressing Mix

Meal starters like hamburger helper

Paper grocery bags

Hygiene kits in a zip bag containing soap, shampoo, hand towel, wash cloth, comb or

brush, small hand sanitizer, tooth brush, tooth paste, razor, 5 bandaids, deodorant

Monetary donations could be mailed to WHEAT P.O. Box 171 Beaverdam, VA 23015

Veterans Quilts Delivered

 This is the next batch of quilts to be delivered to our VA contacts. This group of 33 will bring our YTD total to 64. 

Great job everyone!

First veterans quilts of 2022 delivered!

Our first batch of quilts for 2022 were delivered to our VA hospital contact Saturday. We start off the year with 31 quilts! If you do not see one of yours in this stack, don't worry. They didn't all make it for the photo shoot but I delivered all that I had.

I wanted to take this opportunity for my annual reminder notes about our veterans quilts project. 

The quilts we make are donated to the Interventional Radiography Department at Hunter Holmes McGuire Hospital. They primarily gift the quilts to veterans with recent cancer diagnoses that are in their department to have chemo ports inserted. The staff says that the quilts are wonderful especially for patients who are extra stressed over their diagnosis.

- Optimal size for the quilts is 48" x 60". We can accept an inch or 2 smaller and a inch or so bigger, but the backing and batting is precut so we do not have a ton of flexibility.

- You can make any pattern or design that you want. As for fabric selection, patriotic quilts are always the first preference but anything masculine or non-gender is fine. Scrap quilts are great too. Avoid feminine quilts. They have so few female patients that those quilts rarely get distributed. Hanover Safe Place is a great option if you are making more feminine quilts.

- We now have several volunteer quilters so once you give us your tops we can usually turn them around within 60 days (2 meetings). They are quilted 2 at a time. We load one backing piece that's big enough for 2 quilts. 

- If you want to quilt your own quilt I (Vicki) can provide you with backing and batting. All you have to do is ask. I'll even do my best to dye a matching backing for you.

- Please do not use any fragrance when you wash the fabrics or quilts. I'm very allergic. The quilts and the tops might stay in my house for a couple of months and I just can't have fragrance in my house for that long. I can't quilt tops that have fragrance in them at all. When I have received quilts that have been washed in fragrance detergent I have to hang them outside (on a covered porch) for as long as 2 weeks before I can have them in my house. I don't like doing that to your quilts but I have no other option.

I need Veterans quilt tops!

I hope everyone is enjoying our first snow day of 2021! I'm having a bit of a crisis here because this is the last veterans quilt that I have here to quilt. 

That's right. I'm out of quilt tops!

This situation hasn't happened in MONTHS. It doesn't look like we will be meeting in February either so if any of you have quilt tops that you want to drop off at my house  (Vicki is near the Hollows), please let me know. I'll also be at Sewing on the 12th and 13th if you want to drop off there.

A snow day is a perfect day to make a veterans quilt top. 😉 I've got plenty of backing and binding just waiting to be quilted up.

More on WHEAT and Ellen's quilt pattern

It was so great to get together yesterday! I'm already looking forward to getting together next month. I have 2 additional notes for you today.

Several people loved Ellen's veterans quilt and asked for the pattern. You can get the pattern from GE Quilt Design. The pattern is called Elvira and is available for digital download.

Also, Becky mentioned in the earlier post that we will be collecting goods for WHEAT. Cathy did say that they prefer goods over money at this time. Here's the list that we usually work from. They will take anything from the list but the items in  red bold are the ones that she specifically mentioned. They are very focused on providing protein rich foods at the moment. They have a pretty steady supply of beans and rice.....but they will accept anything from the list.

WHEAT Needs:

• Cereal, oatmeal, pancake mix w/syrup, sugar free also needed
• 1 lb bags of dried beans, rice or noodles. They can break down very large bags if you want to buy in bulk
• Small jars (16ox) of peanut butter and jelly
• Spaghetti sauce and pasta
• Canned soups or mixes
• Canned meats: tuna, chicken, potted meat, sardines
• Canned vegetables
• Canned fruit, including low sugar and sugar free
• Canned beans, any kind
• Coffee and tea
• One-dish meals - Brunswick stew, hamburger helper, etc
• Boxes of mac and cheese
• Pouches of dried milk
• Hygiene products: soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bandaids, razors, wash cloths, hand towels, combs, deodorant
• MONEY to buy perishable foods
• Gift cards to grocery stores

The also like to get household items such as:

• Bleach spray
• Comet
• Liquid dishwashing soap
• Scrub pads
• Dish cloths and dish towels
• Toilet paper
• Paper towels
• Tissues
• Wipes
• Small boxes of plastic zip containers for food storage
• Foil
• Waxed paper
• Plastic wrap
• Clothes washing detergent

Veterans quilt check in

How's everyone doing? This is Vicki here checking in! These are some really strange times that we are living through and who knows when we will be allowed to meet again. It may be even longer for some of us to even be ready to be in groups again. But from what I hear most of us are beavering away in our sewing rooms making masks, quilts and lots of other things!

I thought I'd do a check in to see what anyone has ready in regards to veterans quilts. I've been working on a few myself and quilting some as well. The two above were made by Peg and they are already done and ready for delivery. I got a couple of family gift quilts done so I'm ready to take on more veterans quilts. We also know that the VA is still taking and using the quilts.

If you have tops ready or quilts done you are welcome to drop them by my house. I'm going to arrange to deliver finished quilts in the next two weeks.

If any quilters have quilts ready to return back to quilters (or if you want more quilts to quilt) I'll be happy to coordinate those as well.

Just email me (vickisews at gmail dot com) and we can arrange dropoff/pickup.

A WHEAT fundraiser

Hi quilters!

This is Vicki and I hope you are all dealing with the quarantine OK and getting lots of sewing done. We are doing pretty good at limiting out outing to once a week and since I hate going to the grocery store anyway, that's all fine with me! Fortunately we did not have a toilet paper or paper towel crisis at our house. Those are staples that I stockpile year round and for once I was proven prescient!

I've been thinking a lot about WHEAT and the service that they provide for our community and I believe that the next few months will put a great strain on their resources. I've been thinking about what I could do independently to raise some funds for them and I decided to rely on my fabric dyeing skills.

I have a great source for dyeable tea towels so I ordered a lot of them and will be dyeing and selling them. ALL of the proceeds will go to WHEAT. In fact, I prefer that people pay by a check made out directly to WHEAT. I'll be working on some ideas of places where I can sell them locally but I wanted to offer to my quilting buddies first.This is my first batch and there will be more!

These are really high quality towels. They are 20" x 27" and have a hanging loop in one corner. They make great gifts.

If you are interested in any of them, you can email me at vickisews at gmail dot com and we can arrange for you to porch pickup at my house and leave a check to WHEAT. Indicate which you want by referring to the # in the lower right corner of the photo.

There are 2 types, screen printed and shibori. The screen printed ones are 2 for $25 and the shibori ones are $15 each. You are welcome to share this post with anyone who might be interested but I will not be shipping so keep it local. They are for porch pickup only so please share locally. If there are specific designs or colors that you might like let me know. There are lots more possibilities!

Here's what's left: 2, 6, 7, 8 10. Email me any special requests. There are more coming!

Screen Printed Designs - 2 for $25

Shibori Designs - $15 each

Collectiong WHEAT donations at the December meeting

WHEAT Food Drive: Each December we donate a car load full of food to WHEAT.  They operate a bi-monthly food pantry in coordination with several area churches and serve about 80 families each month. Everything they do is to help people in need in our own community. If you want to support WHEAT you can bring items from the following list or a donation check/cash to give to Cathy Williams at the meeting Tuesday.

WHEAT is in the business of providing for families. Please, if you hear about a family that needs assistance in Western Hanover County, please tell them about WHEAT. We are waiting to help with our 24-hour hotline, West Hanover Men’s Wood Ministry and our twice monthly Open Pantry. Our hotline can give information on all of these. Hotline number is 1-877-559-4328. 

WHEAT Needs:

• Cereal, oatmeal, pancake mix w/syrup, sugar free also needed
• 1 lb bags of dried beans, rice or noodles. They can break down very large bags if you want to buy in bulk
• Small jars of peanut butter and jelly
• Spaghetti sauce
• Canned soups or mixes
• Canned meats: tuna, chicken, potted meat, sardines
• Canned vegetables
• Canned fruit, including low sugar and sugar free
• Canned beans, any kind
• Coffee and tea
• One-dish meals - Brunswick stew, hamburger helper, etc
• Boxes of mac and cheese
• Pouches of dried milk
• Hygiene products: soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bandaids, razors, wash cloths, hand towels, combs, deodorant
• MONEY to buy perishable foods
• Gift cards to grocery stores

The also like to get household items such as:

• Bleach spray
• Comet
• Liquid dishwashing soap
• Scrub pads
• Dish cloths and dish towels
• Toilet paper
• Paper towels
• Tissues
• Wipes
• Small boxes of plastic zip containers for food storage
• Foil
• Waxed paper
• Plastic wrap
• Clothes washing detergent

If you belong to another organization that wants to also have a food drive please talk to Cathy Williams at the meeting or get her number off of the membership list. She is the Open Pantry Coordinator.

Let's talk veterans quilts!

After Betsy and Debbie told us about their inspiring visit to the VA Hospital and the department that distributes our quilts we are all motivated to make more! We were talking today at sewing and did a rough calculation and we think that we made as many as 75 in 2019. That's really cool!

I wanted to share a lot of information about our veterans quilt project so to keep this interesting I'll share some photos of quilts you have made over the past few years! Please keep reading.

It's been 3 years since I posted the rules for people who want their quilts quilted so here it is again.

The rules:

• Quilt tops are 48 x 60 - We pre-cut the backing and batting so we can't customize backing for an odd sized quilt
• NO FRAGRANCE - I am VERY allergic to fragrances so I can't work with fabrics that have been washed in fragrance detergent or have any fragranced product sprayed on them (like Best Press). Sometimes one of the other quilters can quilt fragranced quilt tops but it's up to you to note that the top has fragrance because I bring the tops home with me and store them in a closet. I have had to take a top and seal it in a plastic bag until I could return it to the owner.
• Quilts must be pressed and ready for quilting. We do not do any prep work on quilt tops so that we have more time for quilting so it's important for the tops to be ready to load when we receive them. Just press them and fold them neatly and bring them to me at the meeting. I hang them on hangers in a closet to keep them wrinkle free until they get quilted.
• We quilt them when we can fit them in. You might get your top back next month or it might take 6 months. I match them up in pairs to backs so I might need to hold one to get another to match with it or we might simply not have time to quilt them.
• We choose the thread color and quilting design. We can't coordinate specific requests for thread color and quilting design. Some of us quilt with computerized machines and some of us quilt free-motion. So far we haven't gotten any complaints!

Or quilt your own with your own rules!

Of course you can always quilt your own quilts! I will not be able to quilt ALL of the quilt tops that you make. I have some quilting help but 75 quilts is a LOT of quilts for us to do. 

Fortunately, the program this month is about glue basting quilts so that they can be easily machine quilted. A veterans quilt is the perfect size to test this out. I can provide batting and/or backing to anyone who wants to quilt their own quilt. I'll have some batting at the meeting if you need some. (We are currently out of backing fabric as I'm awaiting a backorder wit no target delivery date.)

Quilts ready for quilting:

I announced at the last meeting that I would take quilts at the November meeting. It turns out that our fabric supplier is currently out of backing and I don't know when it will be here. They are waiting for it to come from overseas and said it could be a month or more. I have company coming in early December and staying for 2 months. I store the quilt tops in their closet! If you can hold your quilts until January I would appreciate it. I will not be quilting any veteran quilts until then. Whenever the fabric comes in I can spend December getting a stash of backing fabric ready.

For the longarmers:

We are so lucky to have several longarmers as part of our group and I really appreciate all of the help you have given me with these quilts. I encourage you to think about your commitment to this project for 2020 and let me know how many you would like to quilt. There are NO expectations! But if you can let me know how many you might want to quilt in 2020 I will know how many tops to accept and how much backing and batting to purchase. You quilt these quilts in your own time. There are no deadlines unless you set the deadlines for yourselves.

Thank you!

Vicki

Veterans Quilts Update

Lots of quilting going on around here this month! This stack brings to total number of quilts that I've quilted this year to 38. I have at least 8 more here to be quilted. After today I will have completed 40 (plus 7 more that I made myself). 40 is my max commitment for a year.

Marcy and Denise are going to help me quilt a few of the ones that I have left.

For the next 2 months I have some projects of my own that I need to work on so I will not be taking any veteran quilt tops in August or September. If I get caught up I might start taking them again in October or November.

But I will be ordering more backing and we have batting so if you want to quilt your own quilts I'll be happy to bring batting and backing for you. Just give me a couple of week's notice before a meeting so I'll have time to dye a backing for you.

I'll let you know before the October meeting when I will be taking in more tops.

July Friday/Saturday Sewing

Friday and Saturday sewing days were well attended with lots to sew and say and show; guess we were making up for not getting together in June. 

We have a new community service project:  removing patches from Ashland Police Department uniform shirts. They are changing to a new color and all the sewn on badges have to be removed from their current shirts before they pass the old ones on and reuse the patches on their new uniforms. Yesterday we removed 4 patches from each of 28 previously own shirts - still in great condition because they are made of heavy polyester (yuck). Today we removed 2 sleeve patches from each of 50 new shirts, tags still on.  We made fast work of it with 8 people today. Thank you to everyone who set aside their own sewing to help take off patches and to Peg for delivery and pick-up of the shirts. Here are just a few of the patches. There may be more at our August 9 & 10 sewing days. 

NOW FOR SOME EXCITING NEWS:

We have been gifted 7 vintage quilt tops, and we all agreed they would be a fabulous addition to our September Silent Auction: Trash to Treasure. They were given to Christa B. by a friend of a friend, whose family did not want to keep them. So, if you've ever wanted to have a beautiful vintage quilt top to finish as you like, this is your chance without having to go from antique store to antique store in search of a lovely old top.

The money from these quilts will go towards funding our Veteran Quilt Project and we've made so many quilts this year it's time to buy backing fabric. 

Take a look at these tops and maybe you'll want to bid on one (or more) at our September meeting. They are all bed size - some bigger than others, but nothing small.

The End

🌞

Quilts on Display

Two quilts made for veterans by members of Country School Quilters are hung in the hall to the library at The Montpelier Center for Arts & Education. We try to change the quilts every couple of months and these two are sure to brighten the hallway. Thanks to everyone for donating fabric, sewing, quilting, and binding quilts for our veterans.  We have started 2019 off with a lot of quilts - we might set a new record. Thank you and keep them coming!

Veterans Quilt Patterns links

Thanks to everyone who was interested in my veterans quilt patterns tonight and, to those not interested thank you for not heckling me. 😀 Here are the links to the instructions for all of the quilts that I shared at the meeting. Click on the quilt name to go to the tutorial.

Strength Quilt

Blockade Quilt

Redoubt Quilt

Regiment Quilt

As a bonus I shared this quilt that's made with 4" finished half-square triangles. Make 180 4" HST blocks that are half light and half dark and have fun arranging them. Here's one that I made plus some other ideas for arranging the blocks.