2/3 of the Summer Has Passed.

 Getting closer to the end of August ... this has been a very long summer, with heat waves, high humidity, and many long hours cutting and sewing face masks for the pandemic. I'm very happy that I started and nearly finished my granddaughter's first birthday quilt six  months ahead of time ... so it  was ready to be dropped off, left in a bag at the gate to their side door on her birthday, where her dad or mum would find it and bring it in to her... Keeping social distance and not seeing my grandchildren has been very challenging. But as the white house occupant said, "It is what it is."

Here is the quilt I made for her, from a doll house panel on the front (from Red Rooster's Home With Me line) and a beautiful foliage/forest (from Timeless Treasures) print on the back. 

A few cute dolls from the dollar store makes this sweet panel a happy play space for a one year old granddaughter.

The mask production continues ... 'smile masks' are coming along more quickly now, and the pleated masks still disappear quickly each time I put some out on the bench for free. Donations for masks (and sometimes for free fabric for mask makers) also continue to arrive, those more slowly on these very hot August days ... Still, nearly a thousand dollars have been sent on to the food pantry.

I'm doing my best to stay cool and productive. I plan to interrupt the daily mask making sessions next week so I can make a few more comfort quilts for the fire and police vehicles... I haven't brought them any since February, and feel remiss!

Visit the shop's Facebook page for more updates on in-stock materials. I'll continue with the Covid-19 Stage Two contact-free plan of 'storm door pickups' and online orders.  Call or email your requests, and I'll do my best to respond on Thursday, Friday or Saturday of each week. 

Thanks for following the blog, and please feel free to share this link with your friends and family.

Special Update: National Quilting Day March 19th, 2016

In honor of National Quilting Day, Saturday, March 19th, Quilters' Quarters is discounting all fabrics that will be purchased for gifting a baby quilt to a local hospital for a child born on that day, or to other child care centers.

Here's some information on the day itself:

"In 1989, the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society organized a "Quilters' Day Out" on the third Saturday of March to celebrate the rich tradition of quilt making in Kentucky. In 1991, the NQA officers were so enthused with the concept and success of "Quilters'Day Out" that they voted to take it to a national level.

"The first National Quilting Day was observed in 1992 and since then it has grown into a global celebration for all quiltmakers and quilt lovers. Helen Storbeck, one of the founders of National Quilting Day, wrote in The Quilting Quarterly, "Groups of quilters were encouraged to hold special events, publishers and shop owners were invited to sponsor promotions especially for quilters and it quickly became a grassroots endeavor with quilters in every part of the country participating.  In the first year of National Quilting Day, quilters in other countries asked to participate. They were welcomed with open arms. As our feelings of a community network has evolved to include a world community, it is only appropriate that quilters and quilt lovers everywhere united to give recognition to the special art form."

 And here are many ways to celebrate this day, as outlined at this page:

http://www.nqaquilts.org/nqdideas/

Plan a National Quilting Day Celebration!!

• Make it a service day and work on a quilt for your favorite cause - national projects such as ABC Quilts and Project Linus, or local projects. If you don't have a local service project, National Quilting Day is the perfect time to start one! Check with police and fire departments, children's services, nursing or rehabilitation facilities or local hospitals to see if they have a need for quilts.

• Organize an exhibit for your local library or historical society. Exhibit quilts, tools, books, etc. Donate books to the library.

• Organize a quilt history day or a quilt documentation project. Invite members of the community to share their quilts and documents the quilts for your stat documentation project. If you don't have a state project, work with other quilters in the state to start one! A good place to start is with your local or state historical society, or search the internet for quilt documentation projects.

• Make arrangements with your local library, historical society, quilt shop, or other public space to demonstrate how to make and attach simple quilt labels. Provide printed instructions and encourage everyone to label all their quilts and value them as family and community history.

• Offer to teach a simple quilt project to a school, 4-H, scout, or other youth group, or spend the day passing along your love of quilting to your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or neighbors.

• Contact a local senior citizens group or facility and organize  show and tell of their quilts and yours. Or sponsor a sewing day to make lap quilts for seniors. Turn it into an oral history project to gather quilters' stories from your community. You will be amazed at what you learn.

• Organize a stitch-in, banquet, workshop, lecture, retreat, bus trip or eve a shop hop.  Coordinate a fabric or block exchange or challenge for your chapter.

• Contact your local hospital and make arrangements to donate a baby quilt to the first baby born on National Quilting Day.

• Encourage your local quilt shops to sponsor special NQD sale or activities.

• Create "goodie" boxes of sewing supplies and make arrangements with a local women's shelter or recreation center to donate supplies or offer a beginners' class.

The possibilities for National Quilting Day are limited only by your time and energy! Even if you just curl up with your favorite quilting book, do something special to celebrate your place in the community of quilters."

Come into Quilters' Quarters during the first three weeks of March for a 25% discount on fabric purchased for the purposes of making and donating a baby quilt!