Quiltsy Cares March 27-Gail Straka

Our Quiltsy Cares donations for today is Gail Straka of QuiltSewPieceful. Gail lives in Gilbert, Arizona. She made two donations. The first one is to azblankets4kids. This charity is special because all the donations stay in Arizona, and all benefit children.  Over 100,000 items have been donated in their 17 year history. Gail donated 3 finished quilts to the Charity this year,

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Gail's second charity is for the Perkioman Valley Fire Victims.Gail donated 4 Perkioman blocks that will be used, along with other blocks, to make quilts for the victims of the California mudslide and fire victims 

Written by Pat Young of PatsPassionQuilteds, Quiltsy Team member since May 2011.

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Quiltsy Cares March 7-Maryellen McAuliffe of MaryMackMadeMine

Today's Quiltsy Cares person is Maryellen McAullife from MaryMackMadeMine. Maryellen also chose to help out for the Thomas Mudslide/Fire Victims. She made 3 pillowcases and one block. She said she wanted to add something to the team drive, and knew she had some fun fabric for pillowcases. 

Maryellen also donated a baby quilt to St. Anne's Church for a collection of items for a pregnant woman's shelter. She wanted a mother to have something special for her new baby, and to be able to wrap a baby in love.

Written by Pat Young of PatsPassionQuilteds, Quiltsy Team member since May 2011.

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Quiltsy Cares: Jane Weier of Mulberry Patch Quilts

Jane Weier

Mulberry Patch Quilts
Mulberry Patch Quilts Blog

Jane Weier (Mulberry Patch Quilts https://www.etsy.com/shop/MulberryPatchQuilts ) has chosen to make six preemie quilts and four matching knitted hats for her favorite local charity, Mikayla’s Grace http://mikaylasgrace.com/ .  This organization, begun by Mike & Melissa Terrill of McFarland, WI, supports families with a baby in the NICU (neonatal ICU) and those who experience the death of an infant at hospitals in Wisconsin by providing NICU care packages and angel memory boxes that offer both practical and emotional support for the parents.

The small quilts were made in pairs using 100% cotton fabrics for the pieced fronts, and soft cotton flannel for the backings.  The knitted preemie hats have a heart pattern knitted into each one. 

 

Jane first learned about quilting while making a baby quilt for her first-born child.  That was over 35 years ago, and she still loves the process.  “There’s always something new to explore—a new pattern, a new technique I can’t wait to try; and I’ve expanded to make original art quilts, and learning to dye & paint on my fabrics.”  Mulberry Patch Quilts opened on Etsy in September of 2012—not long after Jane retired and was able to give the shop the time and energy it deserved.  She enjoys making smaller quilts (baby & lap quilts), but you can find wall hangings, art quilts, purses, and home décor items in her shop as well.  

“I joined the Quiltsy Team at the end of 2013, and am so glad I did.  We’re like a virtual quilting bee--sharing ideas (and our lives) with each other.  I love being part of this wonderful team!  It’s a great group of encouraging, caring quilters.”

Besides making small quilts for Mikayla’s Grace, she donates a portion of her profits from the shop to other worthy causes (such as World Vision and the Salvation Army).  

 

Be sure to stop at her shop:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/MulberryPatchQuilts

Or see the process of making her quilts at her blog: https://mulberrypatchquilts.wordpress.com/

Or “like” Mulberry Patch Quilts on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/MulberryPatchQuilts/

Guest Blogger

Carol Ann Johnston

 MooseCarolQuilts

Quiltsy Cares-Featuring Treese Pflum

Today Quiltsy Cares is featuring Treese Pflum of Quiltnutz. Treese has donated a completed lap-size quilt (pictured at right) to her guild,  Coachella Valley Quilt Guild, who will then donate the quilt to a charity.
When I asked which charity her donation would go to Treese told me, "The guild donates quilts to different charities in our area.  I never know where the quilts I work on will end up.   Many community members, that do not belong to the guild, often  bring their quilts to us and we pass them on to different charities."

Some of the charities the Coachella Valley Quilt Guild donates to are, Shelter from the Storm, Barbara Sinatra Children's Center,  Riverside County Department of Aging, Care Transitions Intervention Program, just to name a few.

Mrs. Pflum is an active member of  Coachella Valley Quilt Guild where she serves as the block challenge coordinator, creating mini-quilt lessons for guild members. She has been very active in her community serving as president for the Cathedral City High School Band Boosters and  although her last child graduated in 2012 she continues to work with the band boosters.

A sample of Treese's beautiful machine quilting

When I asked Treese what she loved most about quilting, she said, "I love the quilting first.  It’s very satisfying to figure out the best quilting motif to use to enhance the top.  Second, I really enjoy the design process. This starts with pulling fabrics and deciding on a color palette, those fabrics and colors really dictate the design."

A small portion of the Wedding Ring quilt

I asked Treese how she got started quilting.
"My mother gave me a box of unfinished double wedding rings that belonged to her mother.  I knew how to sew, but didn’t have a clue how to make a quilt.  I decided to applique the rings down and then tied the quilt.  That was in 1978 and I was hooked.  I went out and bought a new sewing machine and never looked back  I used that double wedding ring quilt until about five years ago, when I took it apart and re-purposed the pieces in a quilt for my mom."

The beautiful piano quilts

Treese said the most unusual quilts she has made are the piano quilts. She has always loved sewing and quilting, and is constantly working on new projects, when not working for her clients.  Her quilting philosophy is simple:  she believes you are never too old to quilt.  Staying active and continuing to challenge herself keeps her young.  She loves sharing her passion for quilting and wants others to enjoy and use her finished quilts.

Mrs. Pflum has been a Quiltsy Team member since 2011 and is an award-winning professional quilter and fiber artist.  From her studio in Cathedral City, California, she creates original fiber/fabric art, wall hangings, and quilts for clients around the United States.  As a professional quilter, she finishes quilts for other quilters, and teaches beginners how to make these items.  She has been quilting since 1978 and opened her studio in 2012 after working in the newspaper industry for 30 years. She has been using a long arm machine to complete quilt tops for over eleven years and specializes in free motion quilting.

Read more about Coachella Valley Quilt Guild's work with charities on their website or contact them at this address:

Coachella Valley Quilt Guild
P.O. Box 3121
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270

You can find Treese here:
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Quiltsy Cares : Stephanie Hateley of Steph's Quilts

Our featured quilter today is Stephanie Hateley of Steph's Quilts 
Stephanie lives in beautiful Port Stevens in NSW, Australia. She hopes to move to Tasmania soon.

I love quilting after 'discovering' it when I made my first quilt for my son's wedding 4 years ago. That was a queen-size quilt made using the 'quilt as you go' method on a very basic sewing machine. I was hooked and most days will find me in my sewing room making my next creation.  I seldom follow a pattern and enjoy making one of a kind quilts using a different design for each one. I love experimenting. My latest craze is making scrappy quilts and I've just finished organising all my scraps ready for the next one. My favourite scrappy quilt sold last month, so I'm now making another, this one I might keep for myself! I also love making table runners and baby quilts. I joined Quiltsy Team at the end of 2014.

Charity: Lala Salama .. the 100 Quilt Project
The aim for this project is to provide a special quilt for every child's bed in the new Bethany Kids Pediatric Wing at AIC Kijabe Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya. This hospital will serve vulnerable children all over East Africa with medical and surgical conditions, especially Spina Bifida and birth defects.
The theme for the wards is "Islands of Hope." They wanted to create a feeling of comfort, encouragement and hope in the wards with these quilts. 

I have been following the arrival of the quilts via Facebook from all over the world. So many designs, and now they are on the beds and the children are coming in to the hospital.. It's fantastic to see my quilt on one of the beds. The first photo is of some of the quilts, mine is 3rd down on the left. The 2nd photo is of my quilt, the 3rd photo is of a ward just after it opened in January with the first patients and a quilt on every bed

Their FB page link is lalasalama100quilts/timeline
They are now trying to get another 100 quilts so that each bed has a change for when they need to be laundered.
The charity is special to me because the children are so vunerable in a poor country and now they can get help and in a bright and loving environment. Each quilt is labelled with a message of love from all over the world.  One of the doctors there is also a friend of a friend of mine at my church; they were missionaries together in Papua New Guinea for a while.  



 Guest Blogger
Carol Ann Johnston
MooseCarolQuilts 

 

Quiltsy Cares:

Featuring Dede Coulter of  Pepper's Attic 

 Dede's Charity is

Angel View of Coachella Valley

Angel View has a vast array of programs to help families, children and adults with disabilities. They were originally founded in 1954 during the polio outbreak, right here in my town of Desert Hot Springs, California.

Angel View runs a 40-bed rehabilitation hospital, as well as 19 homes for the developmentally disabled. It relies solely on charitable contributions, donors, and donations of goods to their thrift stores.

I donated a quilt to Angel View, which can be used as either a baby/toddler quilt or a lap quilt for adults. They can also opt to sell the quilt in one of their thrift stores, where the prices are generally marked 25% of retail value.

I have been quilt-making for over 40 years and love the entire process from design to fabric selection to creation and ultimately to completion ~ many of my quilts have been given to others over the years, or offered in my Etsy Shop. Though my favorite quilting thing to do is to create an heirloom quality quilt and hand quilt it – just like what was done in days gone by, and is still done in Amish and other religious communities across the country -- it is not a very practical method of quilt-making, in terms of speed and the many hours it takes, thus the hand quilted quilts do not appear in my Etsy Shop and are reserved as commission pieces. For my Etsy Shop, I favor a beloved sewing machine that purrs & hums as I put it through its paces.

The Quiltsy Team on Etsy has been my go-to place online since 2010. The team consists of men & women who create quilted items and, though the miles separate us, it is a wonderful opportunity to come together in an online chat group to share our latest creations and sometimes our personal life issues.

Guest Blogger

Carol Ann Johnston 

MooseCarolQuilts

 Quiltsy Cares:

Featuring Susan Waldrep of

Quiltsbysuewaldrep 

My quilt will be donated to the Hart Medical Center. This is a local nursing home facility that I like to support.
My shop is:   www.etsy.com/shop/Quiltsbysuewaldrep

I am a retired fine artist and we live near Lake Michigan. I took up quilting five and a half years ago when I retired from painting. I've been a member of the Quiltsy team for about four years now and my favorite quilt to make is always the quilt I am currently working on.


After earning a BFA, I spent over 30 years as a working artist selling my work through galleries and art fairs around the country.

But who ever heard of an artist who just worked in one medium?   Creativity always rolls out in every direction. To a lesser degree, I have worked in photography, and illustration. And now in recent years I have had the incredible pleasure of discovering a whole new fine art medium, quilting. My focus in painting has always been centered on the relationships of color and texture and form. Creating textile paintings by using a palette of unique fabrics adds another exciting dimension to the process of composition.


Color is my passion. And many of the colors that I love to use in my work reflect the fact that while I was born an American, I spent my formative years living in India and Africa. This background provided the opportunity to travel extensively around the world and has had a lasting effect on the visual world created in my art.



Guest blogger
Carol Ann Johnston
moosecarolquilts
Boise, Idaho, USA

Quiltsy Cares March 8th Maryellen McAuliffe

Today's Quiltsy Cares donator is Maryellen McAullife from MaryMackMadeMine. Maryellen's charity is Little Dresses for Africa http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/about/. I asked her why this charity is so special to her-" I enjoy making clothes for girls, and when one of the bloggers I follow asked for others to sew dresses for this charity, I decided to participate."   

 Although the dresses are normally made from a Pillowcase shape, since I happen to sew clothes, and had yardage, I decided to make 2 simple tank style dresses.  I have a number of easy patterns, and picked one that would work with the fabric piece I wanted to use.  The charity requests that there are no zippers or buttons to break, so the style I picked met those requirements, and my need to make it a real dress, one that I would be proud to donate.  

Maryellen just moved to Franklin Square, Long Island, NY, to help my elderly parents.  I'm excited about creating a new studio.  She has been sewing since she was 4, and took her first quilting class about 28 years ago.  She has made everything from doll clothes, home dec, slipcovers, curtains, pillows, quilts, wedding and prom dresses, school play costumes, and even did alterations for dry cleaners. Quilting and dresses for girls are her favorite things to do.  She has been a member of the Quiltsy Team about 6 years, and as a leader, she helps manage the team shop.

Her  favorite is usually the quilt I'm working on.  She is also honored to be an Island Batik Ambassador, and just finished a blog hop to showcase their new fabrics, coming to stores now.  We also got the box of fabrics that will be shown at Quilt Market in May.  She loves working with these fabrics.  Just listed in her shop is a quilt with the Coral Reef collection, and is in the process of finishing one from the Sea Salt Sandy collection.

Written by Pat Young of PatsPassionQuilteds, Quiltsy Team member since May 2011.

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Quiltsy Cares: Featuring Gail Straka of QuiltSewPieceful

Our featured quilter today is Quiltsy Team member, Gail Straka. Gail's charity is Arizona Blankets for Kids. AZ Blankets 4 Kids is an all-volunteer non-profit organization serving children in need in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Their goal is to provide comforting blankets and quilts to seriously ill and traumatized children in the local community.

When I asked Gail why this charity was special to her, she replied "I love this charity because the donations stay in Arizona. I have given to AZ Blankets 4 Kids before, donating both fabrics and quilts and wanted to take this opportunity to be more supportive of this local charity for children."

This year Gail has chosen to donate three baby quilts and one lap quilt pictured at left and again below.

In the picture below you see Cheryl from Arizona Blankets receiving the quilts from Gail. That's Gail on the left. This photo was taken inside the Quilter's Ranch in Tempe, Arizona.

Gail said "This is the shop where I learned to quilt in the early 90's.  Later I taught there, and eventually managed the shop for about 6 years."

   

Gail lives in Gilbert, Arizona and has been quilting for almost 25 years, starting in the Fall of 1991. She has been a member of Quiltsy Team for 5 years.

Her favorite thing to make for her Etsy shop is Christmas tree skirts, but she loves making items for any holiday.

You can find Gail Here;

http://www.quiltsewpieceful.etsy.com/

http://www.quiltsewcover.etsy.com/

http://www.QuiltSewLace.Etsy.com/

Quiltsy Cares' Gaydeen Dollar

Our first Quiltsy Cares' star is Gaydeen Dollar of SweetLeafQuiltShop. Her charity is Johnson & Johnson One Child, One Blanket and Gaydeen donated 45 quilts and 44 fleece blankets!

Why is your charity special to you? I am an employee of Johnson & Johnson. Over the years, the employees of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies have often supported victims of humanitarian disasters, mainly through company-matched financial and product donations. The "One Child, One Blanket" program has created a path for employees and the community to respond personally. Blanket donations are made year-round by individual employees as well as through group efforts supported by colleagues, friends, families and the community. The blankets then become part of a kit of individual hygiene items prepared in advance of need.

In total, it's hard to estimate the total number of quilts I have made-somewhere in the thousands. In addition to the quilts in my home and those gifted to family and close friends, a number of my quilts have made their way into the lives of the homeless, hospice patients, displaced and abused children, cancer victims and soldiers of valor.

I feel that gifting a quilt is giving a gift of love, providing a hug to someone who is feeling lonely, sad or unwell. A quilt can truly provide a sense of comfort and security. This program is special to me because it gives me an opportunity to pair my love of quilting and my sewing skills to brighten a child's life somewhere in the world, providing them with warmth, comfort and security during a time of horrific upheaval. I am thrilled to know that these blankets will cheer the lives, warm the bodies and comfort the souls of many children.

Gaydeen lives in Orlando, Florida and has been quilting for 20 years. She has been a member of Quiltsy Team for a year. Her favorite thing to make in her Etsy shop is quilts because they become "sewn hugs"!

Here is a link to a two-minute photo montage of recipients with their donations:

one+child+one+blanket

Written by Pat Young of PatsPassionQuilteds, Quiltsy Team member since May 2011.

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