Fresh Lemons Quilts

Our friend, talented Polly C. (of Pieces by Polly website) recommended that I contact Faith of Fresh Lemons Quilts. Faith's website is attractive and full of creative ideas, especially for quilters. Please hop over to check it out, and show Faith some love!

Polly suggested this because Faith has a Community Giving page on her website. I wrote and asked if Faith would be kind enough to include Katie's Comforters Guild in her Community Giving lineup. She not only replied with a rapid "Yes," she implemented her "yes" right away (check it out HERE, or via the button on our sidebar), AND, on top of that, she is making quilts to donate to Katie's Comforters Guild at Seattle Children's Hospital.

Thank you, Faith and Fresh Lemons Quilts!

"A Kiss From Katie" via Dottie A.

Dear Dottie A. sent photos to me of eight new fleece blankets she is making for our guild.

Dottie makes her own binding out of complementary fabric, and makes her own labels for the blankets. The labels all say "A Kiss From Katie." Isn't that the sweetest thing?

Thank you, Dottie, for your generous gifts of time, talent, creativity and fabric! We are very grateful to you.

Mary R. and Shirley F. Give Generously

Our Guild's Vice President, Mary Ryan, recently made and donated an adorable, bright fleece blanket:

Many thanks to Mary for her tireless keeping of the guild's spreadsheet, and gracious sending of all of the many "thank you" notes which go out to our donors, as well as finding the time to make blankets to donate!

Mary also took delivery of three lovely quilts donated by Shirley F.:

Thank you, Shirley, for your gifts of time, talent and materials in making these three quilts for Katie's Comforters Guild!

Bethany M. and the Yelm Middle School Project

Bethany M. contacted me about a school project she had in mind: making fleece blankets for Katie's Comforters Guild. I was delighted to hear about her plan, and we coordinated a donation of funds (thanks to Mary Kay H.) with Bethany's students' labor which resulted in the following beautiful, cheery fleece blankets:

 

Bethany herself is a talented quilter, and she made two of these gorgeous quilts to donate along with the fleece:

Thank you, Bethany and students of Yelm Middle School for generously sharing your time and talent with Katie's Comforters Guild for the benefit of patients at Seattle Children's Hospital!

Lucile's New Designs: Strips

Lucile & Noble came down last week with another batch of 28 beautiful quilts and fleece blankets. She accomplished all of this in spite of some nagging back/leg pain and her sewing machine breaking down. (If anyone out there has any contacts in the sewing machine world, I would love to see Lucile get a replacement machine!)

Lucile has been working in some new patterns, using smaller pieces and creating strip-quilts. They are gorgeous and FUN.

Look at the symmetry and variety of color

 of pattern

and theme. Here are some of her other designs...

What happiness, comfort and visual enjoyment these 28 quilts and blankets will bring to patients who are in the hospital!

Thank you, Lucile & Noble!

Baker's Dozen from Bonnie P.

Katie's Comforters Guild member Bonnie P. stopped by today to drop off 12 new quilts (plus one which needed its binding finished - Bonnie also did this for us). The artistry in her quilting is a wonder to behold. Every time she brings a new batch, the quality and creativity of her quilts makes me want to sit and watch her work!

Chevrons made from scraps on the left; Hawaiian ladies on the right.

 Bonnie is especially talented at creating her own free-motion quilting stitches. If you click on the photos, you can see the tone-on-tone designs she drew and then stitched to coordinate with the theme of the quilts (Hawaiian flowers on the pink background at right).

 The quilt on the left features a "counting" theme, with numbers 1 - 9 on the front, and 10 on the back. The quilt on the right has a golf theme.

 The scrap quilt on the right makes me think of the sea. The citrus theme on the left is so cheerful!

 Purple scrap quilt on the left; Mary Engelbreit quilt on the right.

Bonnie with her "Clifford the Big Red Dog" quilt at left and "Nascar" (featuring Dale Earnhardt, Jr.) on the right.

"Deer" theme on the left and "Jungle Tiger" on the right. Check out the background stitches in the light green (at right).

Thank you, Bonnie! 

We deeply appreciate your artistry and generosity!

Katie's Comforters is Featured in Guild News!

Katie's Comforters Guild is featured in the latest issue of Seattle Children's Hospital's Guild News. You can read it by clicking here, and read the entire issue by following this link:

http://www.seattlechildrens.org/Guilds/Guild-News/2014/Spring/Guild-News-Spring-2014

Thanks again to Auto Connections of Bellevue for choosing Katie's Comforters Guild as one of the recipients of their generous Charitable Giving Program!

32 Gifts from Lucile & Noble

Lucile & Noble dropped off 32 new quilts and fleece blankets last week. Her creativity and work ethic never cease to amaze and inspire me!

Here is a sampling of the 32:

Lucile is experienced enough to be able to make her fabric cuts and seams straight and true, while setting her sense of color and joy free to make new creations, day after day, week after week, year after year. She has made THOUSANDS of quilts for charity in her 90+ years, yet she continues to come up with new combinations.

Thank you, Lucile & Noble!

Calling All Guild Members: Help Needed

We've received an invitation from Barbara Mann of Seattle Children's Hospital Guild Association to participate in the Seattle Children's Hospital Calendar all-guild fundraising event. Though our guild generally focuses on raising blankets rather than funds, this is an easy way to get involved and raise support for the hospital. To quote from her letter:

"Established in 1938, the Children's calendar is one of the hospital's longest standing fundraising projects. Sold by various merchants including Safeway and QFC, the calendar reminds our community of Children's vital role in providing expert medical care to children in our region. Last year over $55,000 was raised for Children's uncompensated care through calendar sales."

If any of you would like to help with calendar sales in our area to benefit the uncompensated care fund, please let me know!

Bethany's Beautiful Quilt

I received an exciting offer of help from a new member of our guild; Bethany wants to coordinate a fleece blanket-making project in her school, and we have been corresponding about that. In the meantime, she has made a gorgeous quilt which will be donated to Seattle Children's Hospital through Katie's Comforters Guild. Here is a photo of it:

Isn't it gorgeous? The colors and design will delight a patient of any age and either gender - what a great pattern!

You can find more of Bethany's beautiful handiwork here
http://sewimpressed.blogspot.com/2013/09/finished-ruby-mosaic-and-swap.html
and here
http://sewimpressed.blogspot.com/2014/04/st-louis-finished-pictures.html 

Thank you, Bethany, and welcome to Katie's Comforters Guild - we are thrilled to have you as a member!

If any of you know someone who would enjoy being a member of our guild, please invite them to join! They can apply online, or I can send a paper application to fill out and send through the postal service. Annual dues are not expensive ($25 per year), and you have the option of designating which area of the hospital you would like to benefit with your dues. We offer junior memberships for young people, and discounted dues for senior citizens - both junior and senior membership dues are only $10/year!