Vintage Quilt Donation
Charity sewing truly feeds my soul. I encourage you to give it a try. There are so many worthy groups that are looking for donations of fabric, finished quilts or someone to volunteer a few hours to help them help others. If you are busy, I would say, you can always find time to give yourself the gift of giving. You will get so much more out of the experience than you give. Its a great way to clear out your fabric stash!
Look below to see a few blogs that are currently holding some fun blog challenges. Stacey Lee is even attaching a giveaway with lots of awesome fabrics and other goodies. Just post your donation quilt and enter to win. Amy Smart from Diary of a Quilter has a challenge to create quilts for kids in foster care. She also has a lovely post with lots of quilt donation opportunities. Take a look and join the fun!
Working with a wonderful ministry to make quilts for the homeless has given me great satisfaction and I have meet and worked with some amazing people. I was having a rummage sale and one of the members of the group asked about some fabric I had. I not only gave her everything I had, I asked her about the group and 4 years later I'm still there.
The above quilt was made by an unknown quilter. The quilt was found and added to the donation bin. Normally we cut up fabric that comes in, but there are times I put them in my shop and sell them. 100% off the proceeds go to the ministry to keep sewing machines sewing, purchasing of supplies and other expenses of this non-profit group. We've sold a few beautiful vintage quilt tops. Some are completely hand sewn! I don't have any currently in my Etsy shop but these treasure come in occasionally.
We meet a month through the cooler months. About 30 amazing people, some not even sewers join together to create big, fat, warm sleeping bags. Those bags are donated to shelters and homeless support groups. They normally to a single recipient. They have a hard but short life. I can't imagine being so cold and without even 4 walls to call my own. I'd like to think the quilts we make are giant hugs.
A number of us sewers create 84 inch square quilt tops. Some of the tops are amazingly beautiful. You would be surprised how pretty a quilt with 200 scraps can be. Its hard to find time for these at home, but I am always happy to get as many done as I can. It can be liberating to just sew, with love, without perfection. I highly recommend it!
Visit Stacey Lee's Blog for some great patterns to try and to find places you can donate quilts!
I also encourage you to visit and bookmark Diary of a Quilter. Amy has an amazing website. She shares so many wonderful patterns and has some lovely tutorials on all kinds of quilting and sewing projects.
There are some standard groups you may have heard about. But don't be shy. Call local non-profits who are doing work you admire. Ask them if you can sew for them. The need is great, from hospitals, churches, veteran's groups and even animal shelters. If you are too shy to ask, check out Amy and Stacey's websites. They have lots of lists.
I am still healing from my shoulder injury. While I can't sew, I sure hope I have inspired you to!
Happy sewing!
Jill
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