We Needed Something To Do

With the COVID pandemic, and various restrictions still looming, my quilting friends and members of our local guild haven’t been able to get together to sew as often as we would like. We still wanted to do something productive to pass the time while we all were at home, and wanted to enjoy our passion for quilting.

I enjoy using the skills given to me to help those in need, as many of us do, so we contacted a local organization that helps homeless youth get off the street and get their lives on track. The shelter has 22 beds, so of course, as quilters we know that every bed needs a beautiful, comfy quilt to snuggle under, so we thought – WE CAN DO THIS!

We all started sewing in January 2021 and by October we had met the challenge! These quilts were a great project to use up scraps and fabrics from our fabric stash, or, as I refer it, my “Fabric Library”.

Between 5 of us, we made 22 Queen-size quilts for the shelter, so every bed has a warm, comfortable and beautiful quilt on it. The quilts help make the rooms feel more like a “home”, more like a real bedroom.

I quilted mine on my Janome Quilt Maker Pro 18 using the Pro Stitcher Premium computer, but others finished their quilts on their domestic machines using an Even Feed, Walking Foot, or AcuFeed Foot. If you have a Janome embroidery machine, like all versions of the Janome MC 15000, Janome MC 12000, Janome MC 550E, Janome MC 500E, you could use AcuFil Quilting to quilt in the hoop. There’s so many ways to quilt a quilt, which is part of the fun!

This is what 22 Queen-sized quilts packed up and ready to be delivered looks like. It was such a rewarding feeling handing those quilts to the folks at the shelter. They couldn’t believe that we had made a quilt for every bed! Never underestimate a quilter, lol!

Happy Sewing!