More of Linda's Spirit of "Aloha"

Living in a small town has its joys - like a local, independent bookstore such as Liberty Bay Books. 
LBB is a sort of "town hall," where people gather, not only to purchase books and gifts, but for book clubs (including wine & book club), knitting circle, author's events, to buy a hot or cold drink, and to drop off/pick up items left for one another. In other words, it functions a little bit like the post office or telephone switchboard did in days of yore. We are thankful for LBB!

We just received a donation of four more lovely Hawaiian-themed quilts from Linda K-H, which she dropped off for us at Liberty Bay Books. One of the employees, Nathaniel, delivered them to me on his way home from work. Now THAT's service, above and beyond the call of duty! Thank you, Nathaniel!

Here are Linda's latest creations, filled with "Aloha" spirit:

I LOVE that flower-and-leaf-printed flannel which she used for three of the quilts - how great that it comes in a variety of vibrant colors!

Thank you, Linda, Nathaniel and Liberty Bay Books!

A Family's Gift

Last week, I had the privilege of receiving a multi-generational donation from a dear family. Bev and her mother, sister, daughter and grand-daughter have all worked with loving hands on this batch of blankets. These four generations of ladies knitted/crocheted, and tied fleece, to create seven lovely blankets for Katie's Comforters to donate to patients at Seattle Children's Hospital. Here are their gifts:

Cozy, soft and cheerful = warmth and comfort.
THANKS to Bev, Grandma Icel, Aunt Barb, Angela and Olivia!

Lucile & Noble Visit and Donate 23 Quiilts/Blankets

Lucile and Noble came for a visit last week; look at what they brought with them!

The one on the right is a clever use of strips of flannel - Lucile doesn't waste anything!

There are quilts and fleece blankets in this batch

So many different themes and colors, for all ages and interests

That's another 23 quilts and blankets from  

Lucile and Noble - thank you so much!

Fearless Quilters Follow-Up

You have read here about the wonderful ladies of the Fearless Quilters of Rolling Bay. Here they are, meeting at Esther's Fabrics on Bainbridge Island to sew together.

Last week, I had a visit from two of the Fearless Quilters: Sally and Joanna.

They came to sort and select fabric for the Fearless Quilters to use in making quilts for Katie's Comforters. They also helped me to select fabric and assemble kits for those who wish to finish the beautiful quilt tops I have written about here. It was a pleasure to spend time with these generous ladies.

Here are a few more photos of the beautiful quilts made by the Fearless Quilters for donation Seattle Children's Hospital through Katie's Comforters Guild.

We are grateful to the Fearless Quilters of Rolling Bay for their ongoing support of our guild's work!

Announcing Changes to Our Board

We have an announcement! 

Our beloved board member, Maribeth Hinderer, has moved from Washington State to Kansas. We miss her like crazy, but are fortunate that she still travels out to see family and friends in the area several times each year.

Maribeth helped me to found this guild with her encouragement, sewing skills, generous donations and support. She has been a strong cornerstone in our work and we are forever grateful to her for her friendship, love and dedication. However, her relocation has made her job as Vice President a bit difficult.

Enter guild member Mary Ryan. Mary is the mother of Briana, our guild's junior member, and is presently serving as our "Gratitude Ambassadress" - she writes the "thank you" notes for donations, and keeps the spreadsheet current for our reporting to the Guild Association. Mary does all of this quietly and never seeks any kind of credit or thanks. We appreciate Mary and all she does, and now, she has accepted the position of Vice President of Katie's Comforters Guild.  

Thank you, Maribeth and Mary!

Our Board of Directors:

Karen Gerstenberger, Founder and President

Mary Ryan, Vice President

Andrea Cunningham, Secretary

Linda Case, Treasurer

We are so grateful to each member of our board for all that each one does to help us in our mission of bringing comfort to the patients of Seattle Children's Hospital. We couldn't do this work without you!

Calling All Quilters!

We have a need for experienced quilters who would like to lend their skills to help us turn some gorgeous tops into finished quilts for sale to support our Guild's work. We always need funds for fabric, batting, binding and so on, and we have received beautiful unfinished pieces which deserve to find an appreciative home. You might have some questions about this:

Question: Why do you need help finishing these?
Answer: Because they are old, beautiful and deserve to be handled by someone who possesses greater sewing skills than I have.

Question: Why do you plan to sell these, rather than donate them to patients?
Answer: Because the fabrics are from various sources and of different ages (some appear to be antiques), we cannot donate them to sick children. There is nothing wrong with them, but the hospital has very strict rules about quilts/blankets for patients.

Question: Where will you sell the quilts?
Answer:  We are hoping to open an Etsy shop (online) where we will offer these and some other gorgeous finished quilts for sale.

Question: What will you do with the money raised? 
Answer: It will go into our Guild's bank account, which is managed by our Guild's Treasurer. Our plan is to purchase materials (fabric, batting, binding, etc.) for making more quilts and blankets. It may occasionally be used for shipping costs when we receive quilts from faraway donors, or to ship fabric and supplies. If there is a surplus of funds, we may decide to donate some of it to Seattle Children's Hospital.

Question: What sizes are these quilt tops and pieces? 
Answer: The dimensions are underneath the photos.
Please take a look at these beauties and let me know if one or more of them is calling to you to take it from this state to finished work of art! If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.

39" x 49"

Various sizes, to go with Sunflower quilt above

Various sizes (two top-left squares can also go with Sunflower quilt at top)

31" x 52"

54" x 62"

52" x 40" (4" squares)

39" x 52" (4" squares)

58" x 61" (1.75" squares)

39" x 50" (4" squares)

50" x 59"

12" x 12" each (12 of 20 total)

12" x 12" each (8 of 20 total)

Various shapes/sizes

If you are a seamstress or quilter, or if you know a seamstress or quilter who might like to help us, please leave a comment here, or on facebook, or email me. You may "adopt" and finish a quilt - or you can let me know if you would like to buy one of these as a finished quilt!
All of this is to benefit Katie's Comforters Guild at Seattle Children's Hospital - to help us continue our mission of comforting the patients there.

Aloha Spirit from Linda and Peaches

Here is dear Linda, surrounded by her quilts

I received a message from a friend of our guild, Linda. She wrote from her vacation on Kauai:

"There are some wonderful quilt shops here, and I was selecting some fabric to make a few quilts for Katie's Quilts. I found some darling fabric with little brown-eyed seals on it. The ladies were oogling over it and asking me what I was using it for. I started telling the ladies there about Katie and the quilt project. There were tears, one woman said she was going to look it up and see about donating, another was about to go through cancer surgery and asked us to pray for her. It was a powerful moment. When I was checking out, the shop owner asked if she could send home some fabric for me to use. I said SURE! She asked me to stop by again a few days. When I stopped by today, she had selected fabric to make 5 quilts for the cancer kids. She had it all neatly fold in a carry boat for me to take on the plane. She said 'Aloha, and God bless you all!' She sends her love and prayers!

"I am so blessed to meet people of God who have caring hearts and want to donate and pray for a project like this. Her name is Peaches, and I told her we'd be praying for her as well. Isn't God good? I'll have them done soon, along with about five others I have at home that just need the bindings put on them."

Now, I have the pleasure of sharing the details of Linda's handiwork and Peaches' generosity with you, in these photos:

The variety and boldness of color in these fabrics is stunning!

Linda hand-wrote a message of blessing on each quilt

This photo is a little blurry, but you can see the cute paw-prints and Hawaiian flowers on the back of the quilts

A crocheted and a fleece blanket rounded out this donation (thanks to Liberty Bay Books' Nathaniel H. for delivering them)!

Safari print

More Hawaiian prints

What a gorgeous batch of coziness! Those children who receive them are going to be delighted by their quilts - and the spirit of "Aloha" that comes with them.

If you are going on vacation in Kauai, here is the address of Peaches' store:
Kapaia Stitchery
3-3551 Kuhio Highway 
Linus, Kauai, Hawaii  96766

...and here is what it looks like:

outside of the store

inside the store

 Thank you, Linda and Peaches!

New Blankets from Lucile (Donated Fabric)

Lucile has been hard at work washing and sorting fabric which our guild received from Shana & Scott H. She has created a batch of 25 beautiful new blankets. Here is a look at her latest creations:

Soft fleece blankets with decoratively stitched borders

Cotton tops, flannel underneath and satin blanket binding all around. That ladybug print is so cheery!

Look at those colors, and the fun combination of prints!

Frogs, puppies, sports equipment and teacups - oh, my!

Close-up of teacups print with "kisses" border

Sports equipment with handsome plaid on the back

What could be cuter than puppies and daisies?

Cheerful pink bubbles and frogs

Butterflies, telephones, kisses, soccer and flowers

Lucile blends fabrics with a great eye for color coordination and originality

Sweet combination of butterflies with rainbow plaid, and dream-clouds with hearts

Detail of heart border on the dream-cloud print

Lucile, we are so very grateful to you and Noble for all of the time, talent and materials that you donate to Katie's Comforters Guild!

Special thanks to Shana H. 

for donating her mother's beautiful fabric 

to our guild for Seattle Children's Hospital patients!