Quiltsy Cares 2021 - Mask Donations

National Quilting Day is the third Saturday in March (March 20 this year). The Quiltsy Team celebrates National Quilting Day by giving away quilts. This past year not only did many of our members make masks, they also gave away thousands.

Catherine Butt of MoranArtandQuilts, Lynn Meadows of Lynndalou, Judith Messenger of FabriArts, and Jane Weier of MulberryPatchQuilts share their experiences making masks:

Catherine Butt of MoranArtandQuilts in Columbus, Ohio, made masks for neighbors, friends, and family. When someone contacted her about needing a mask, she'd make some and put them on her front porch to be picked up.

Lynn Meadows of Lynndalou in Nashville, Tennessee, donated a few thousand handmade masks to help save valuable PPE for frontline workers and provide safety for individuals and those around them during this ongoing crisis. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Summit Medical Center, Hermitage Animal Clinic, and Nashboro Family Dental were some of the organizations she sent handmade masks to, as well as her entire family, work colleagues, delivery persons making deliveries to her home, neighbors, and her neighborhood postal worker.

Judith Messenger of FabriArts in Toronto, Ontario, Canada donated cotton face masks, scrub caps, and isolation gowns to Sew4TO and other local clinics. She responded to the call in the spring of last year asking local sewists to make cloth masks for hospitals and front line workers. Having a large stash of cotton fabric on hand, she started making masks to donate. A group called "Sew4TO" (TO is often used to refer to Toronto) formed to coordinate efforts to get donations of supplies, and fulfill requests for masks, scrub caps and earsaver headbands. A local clinic also asked if she could make some fabric isolation gowns. Much of her time in the spring and early summer was spent making items for the various groups and for family members and friends. Even with making over 300 masks, a couple of dozen scrub caps and gowns, and donating fabric cut to size for at least 250 more masks, her stash hasn't seemed to shrink as much as she expected.

Jane Weier of MulberryPatchQuilts in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin made over 300 masks her doctor’s clinic, local EMTs, medical techs where her cousin works, nurses, and her family and friends. She felt it was a real labor of love, a way of doing something helpful during this difficult time. She never charged for her masks but some insisted on giving a donation which was given to her local food pantries. She even posted a free mask pattern on her blog.