In our new house, we’ll need maybe 2 more quilts for spaces we didn’t yet have in the previous version of our house. But after that, we’re good. Our friends seem to be done having babies. I can maybe make one a year for friends or family. The local charity has stopped taking charity quilts.
My siblings have special birthdays coming up this year and 1,5 years from now. One hates anything handmade but the other might appreciate a fandom-type quilt. Let’s see if I can find fabric.
I’m making coaster sets to donate. I used batting scraps so there are different sizes, I guess the bigger ones can become trivets. They are quick to finish which is satisfying & less likely to be abandoned by me mid-way. While I love quilts, I don’t love quitting. And I hate wrangling huge pieces of fabric through the machine.
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Same…I like piecing but not the quilting…I am going to send out some of my larger quilt tops that have been in WIP piles for years…sticking to smaller projects as well as other kinds of sewing…I have faced up to this in the past few years…it will help me from buying random smaller pieces of fabrics…I also love making coaster, placemats, runners, totes and prayer flags…
I work with a group that sends lap quilts to our aging longtime Michigan Womyns Festival alumni. I also donate to our church’s holiday craft fair, etc.
Check out senior centers, hospitals, any group that works with the elderly or disabled. Many wheelchair bound people love a pretty lap quilt. Just start asking around, you’ll find a source.
There’s also Quilts for Kids, which donates quilts to seriously ill children in hospitals. The kids often cannot bring their favorite stuffed animal friends, because they can’t be washed and dried on high heat in the hospital washing machines. But as long as the quilts are 100% cotton fabric and batting, they can be. Sometimes when I want to quilt, but don’t know what I want to make, I make one or more for them.
Nine months ago, my cousin Jessica’s son Jake, died of suicide. He was just 29 years old. When Jim & I got married, he was a sweet 12 year old kid in the background of photos, having fun on a trip to the Midwest with his mom. When Jake passed, Ada was just 4 months old. We tried to figure out a way for me to attend the services in New England, but it just wasn’t feasible with such a young baby. Since I couldn’t go and be there for my Jess, I offered to make her a memory quilt with some of his clothing, when she was ready for it. Then just a few months later, we packed up and moved to IL, to be closer to friends and family.
Today I received a box of Jake’s clothing from his mom. She included a large mix of items, and a check for $150 for any supplies I might need. She asked me to make 2 memory quilts, one for her, and one for Jake’s stepmom. The clothing is all very different, but there are a lot of tees, and a few button down/flannel shirts, as well as his Coast Guard uniform shirt, and a thick wool shirt. I don’t think the wool will mix well with the flannel, and I can’t bear to cut his uniform into a lot of little pieces, so I think I’m going to make two shirt pillows from those, and I think I can get 2-3 quilts out of the fabric. One tee shirt quilt, and one or two from the flannels. She included a letter explaining that she knows it’s a lot of work, and that if it’s too much to handle, or if I need more money for supplies, to let her know.
At the bottom of the box was one of the cards given out at Jake’s service, including a link to the foundation Jess started in his memory, raising money to go to suicide prevention. I was struck by how thoughtful she was about it, when so often people seem think we craft amazing works out of moonbeams and wishes, with no thought to the cost of supplies or time. As soon as Jim & I can set up my makeshift studio, I’ll start on the quilts, and then quietly make a donation to Jess’ foundation with the money she sent.
That’s such a beautiful gift to give them. And what a thoughtful person she is, she sounds like a wonderful person (like her cousin is too).
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I have made a few memory quilts and I will tell you that they are the most rewarding and also the most humbling and life affirming things I have ever done. You can’t help but be touched by the fact that a real, breathing, vibrant human being once occupied those garments. Your emotions take you all over the place, from reliving happy moments to being sad, angry, questioning everything you once believed. You stare at your own mortality and cherish those you love even more and mourn those you have lost through death and other reasons.
I know it will affect you, dear Jennie. It will be alright because you are strong and have a good heart. You care and you want to help others. It will be something you do for love and kindness and through your talent and experience, you will make something that will give purpose and meaning to your dear cousin and her family.
You won’t take credit for the amount of planning and work, as well as the cost and time, of doing this. You will be humble and keep your cousin in mind as you sew.
Know that we here know…and we applaud you for using your creative gifts and sharing with us, your online community, that “gets it”.
It’s 6" square, so I could just bind it and make a smallish square mug rug. If it had turned out smaller, I was going to extend it into a rectangle shape and make a needlebook. I still have some tiny scraps, so maybe a matching needlebook and mug rug set could be a nice gift for a stitcher?
Another thought I had was to trim into an oval and make a semicircle/dumpling pouch. Or a rectangular padded pencilcase/pouch.
Getting the box of clothes just hit harder, because on Sunday night we received a call that a very close friend here in town is in the ICU, after he survived a suicide attempt. Fortunately his mom is a nurse, and she found him and got an ambulance in time. He’s suffered with depression all his life, and in recent years he had a bad fall at work, that resulted in a traumatic brain injury, which left him unable to work, and facing a lot of physical challenges. We’re close with the whole family. I used to live with his sister when I was in grad school, and Jim has known her since they lived in the dorms together during undergrad. I just don’t want to be making more memory quilts after Jake’s. I don’t want to lose more friends and family to suicide.
Hug your friends and family today. Call someone you’ve been meaning to call.
