Donation Quilts...Sharing the Love!

What happened?

I was looking at my quilt closet (attempting to sort and clean) and realized I had several quilt tops and UFO's in various stages that I no longer was interested in. Ever the optimist, I decided that just because I wasn't interested in these quilts, maybe someone else would be! So I decided that I would finish the quilts in all their forms and various stages (not necessarily sticking to the original plan) and finish them so they could be released into the world for someone else to love.

Why?

There are so many great organizations that provide wonderful services to people in need. My local guild donates to a crisis center for women and children who have suffered from domestic abuse or trafficking. The brave folks who help these people are setting them up in new lives and coordinate resources for food, shelter, jobs, and all the things they need to start a new life.

I love the idea that my quilts can be of comfort to someone that I've never met.

How?

So I pulled out the bin and started going through it, project by project. These quilts were all abandoned for various reasons, but mostly due to lack of interest. Something new caught my eye and I was off on another project before these were completed. I know I'm not the only one guilty of this, so I feel like it's okay to be honest. Y'all are my people, you understand.

And just like that I started with the ones closest to completion, and finished them off! I finished 5 in January, and hope to complete many more before the year is over. I know that some of the projects will take much longer than others (based on their current stage) and that's okay.

These are the quilts I gave away last month...

Blog post HERE about this quilt.

This was a quilt I made using all batiks, and one of the first I quilted on my longarm. There are many imperfections, but overall, it's are really cozy quilt, and hopefully it will make someone smile.

These blocks were sewn together but I had additional blocks. Let's just agree that they are not all the same size or extremely accurate, and that's okay, because the overall effect is still very cheerful. I added another row of blocks and quilted it, then bound it by machine. So this was finished up in a day. I hope it makes someone very happy!

This was a fun stack of string blocks that I started when Lori over at Humble Quilts encouraged us all to have some fun with strings. The blocks were super fun to make and play with, but I just never got around to sewing them together. So I did, and then I quilted a fun pattern on it, machine bound it with a super cute stripe fabric and it's done! I hope whoever gets this really likes bright colors. LOL

And the final quilt I chose to donate was one that was a finished sample for the pattern above. It was a cute quilt that I plan to make again and again. It is made entirely from 2 1/2" strips, so it's great for using jelly rolls. It's a twin size, so large enough for a bed but still a good snuggle size too. 

Going forward...

I plan to donate more sample quilts as well as my UFO's as I finish them. I'm working on one right now that was a 'good idea gone wrong' but just might be the perfect quilt in someone's eyes. 

So my challenge to you is to look for a UFO in you stash that you no longer feel suits you, and finish it for someone else. It will make you feel good and it will give you a little more space for something else in your closet!

Enjoy every stitch!

Diane