Quilting for a Good Cause

Today was a nice cool rainy August day in Texas. Now those aren't words we usually say here as it is usually 100 degrees and never rains this time of year. But it was the perfect day to get around to a project that needed attention. My favorite quilt store in Grapevine, Must Love Fabric, participates in a national program called Project Linus. It is an organization that hand makes blankets for critically ill children.  Here is the link if you are interested in the program.  www.projectlinus.org.

Must Love Fabric has a very organized program.  There are people who donate fabric for the quilts, others who piece together the quilts, some who do the actual quilting and some who put on the binding.  I am sure there are those who do all those jobs but I am not one of them.  Maybe when I get better at quilting.  On Sunday afternoons they have a group that gets together at the store to work on the quilts.  I might consider joining them once football season starts and now that the grand kids are no longer here on Sundays.  They have a box in the store that contains pieced quilts complete with batting and backing for volunteers to take home to quilt.  I did that a few months ago and finally got the nerve to actually quilt it today.  I procrastinated because I really dislike large projects.  I have a large sewing room but it is very crowded and I am intimated when it comes to big projects.  I am also not very good at them.  But the girls at the store said it was the perfect opportunity to practice my free motion quilting.  And I do need practice with that!  It actually wasn't too bad.  Not perfect, but I turned out OK.   I will return it to the store this week for someone to bind.  Next time I will do the piecing since I really need practice in that area too.  Meeting up corners is tricky, at least for me.  But I felt good to be able do something useful.  This store contributes about 200-300 quilts a year to this program!

This store also has people who make dog and cat beds that are donated to animal shelters.  They have a collection box for fabric and batting scraps.  This is great because most sewists have a hard time throwing away even the smallest scraps.  Now I just save them in a bag and take it to the store.  Nothing like a good recycling program!

Here is a link to this favorite store of mine.  It is owned by a woman who lives in my neighborhood.  She started out in a little rickety house with uneven floors and this past winter moved up to a wonderful store front.  She refers to the old shop as "the little shop of horrors". http://www.mustlovefabric.com/