Veterans Quilts

We'll, everyone has been busy during lock down! With one quilt that I had at home, I now have 15 ready to be delivered sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to try to finish 2 more that I have here to bring the total to 17! 

At the meeting I discussed some feedback from the hospital that they really mostly need quilts for men: patriotic themes, military themes, outdoorsy, darker colors, etc. Feminine quilts (flowers, pinks, pastels) are less used and they have a nice inventory of them. 

We talked about options around whether we want to make feminine or baby quilts for other causes. Because I'm typing on my phone I'm going to take a short route to summarize our decisions :

1. As our official project, we will continue to primarily make quilts for the VA and focus on masculine themes. Purchased batting and backing will be for these quilts. 

2. Members will send me information that they have for donating baby and lap quilts to other organizations and I will create a page on the blog with that information. 

Regarding veterans quilts I want to remind you that quilts need to be 48 x 60 (or really close). I've received a few that are 48 x 48 lately and I don't think they are very useful for the VA, plus they waste a lot of backing fabric and batting. Going forward I will return quilts that aren't close enough to the 49 x 60 size. 

I appreciate everyone who avoids scented detergents and starch in their quilts. Fragrances are a real problem for my allergies. 

I'll let you know when I deliver this stack of quilts. The next delivery will be in September. 

JULY PICNIC

I reached out to June Snead at Hanover Parks and Recreation concerning our upcoming meetings:

July and August Sewing Days are cancelled.

JULY 14 MEETING: We will not be meeting in the building for our July 14 meeting, but the picnic shelter has been reserved for us. Let's plan on meeting from 6:30 - 8 p.m.
Please bring your chair, sandwich/salad/drink. There are lots of picnic tables there for us to space ourselves if you don't want to bring a chair. 

REMEMBER: we are collecting non-perishable food for W.H.E.A.T., Cathy will be there to
receive food in the back of her van.  There is good parking at the shelter, including handicapped parking.  Bring lots of Show & Tell.

AUGUST 11 MEETING: The building is not available, so we can decide if we
want to reserve the picnic shelter for our meeting.

These are unusual times - things can change.

Hope everyone is getting lots of extra sewing time and a good dose of
Vitamin D on these beautiful summer days.

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

June Picnic Meeting

So nice to see so many friends at our picnic today. Did anyone take a count - I think it may have been close to 25. The picnic shelter provided us a nice space to spread out and we had a great show & tell. Margaret took pictures - there were some really wonderful quilts. Vicki collected about 20 quilts to deliver this week. Our veterans are going to get some really nice ones - thanks again to everyone for piecing tops and a special thank you to those who machine quilt them. My picture taking wasn't great today - this was taken before we had a full house. Margaret showed me how to use the panoramic setting on my camera and it gives you an idea of what a great space we had. We decided to plan on having our regular July meeting, at the picnic shelter. Mark your calendars for 6:30 p.m. on July 14. Instead of a pot luck dinner, we will bring our own sandwich/salad drink. We're keeping it easy! In the very unlikely event that Hanover Parks & Rec opens up, we could move into our building.

ALSO: bring non-perishable food for W.H.E.A.T. - Cathy says they especially need small cans of tuna and 16 oz. jars of peanut butter. We'll send out a reminder (or two) before the meeting.

We said goodbye today to Diane who joined us 5 years ago because she wanted to make charity quilts. We will miss you, Diane, but know you will find your place in the quilting world in Tennessee.

So nice to see everyone again!

Let's Get Together!

What: Picnic Lunch

When: Tuesday June 9, 12:00 p.m.

Where: Picnic Shelter near our regular meeting place

Bring: Your chair, lunch, drink and Show & Tell!

Please leave a comment if you like this idea.

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