Lots of News to Share

Gregg and I visited Lucile a short while ago, and picked up a BIG new donation. She has been making pillowcases for the patients at Seattle Children's Hospital, so instead of hospital-issue bedding, the children will have a cheery, personal pillowcase. In addition, she has been making receiving blankets for the very youngest patients. Lucile donated 60 pillowcases, 13 receiving blankets and one crocheted blanket! She truly is a "producer."

Here is Lucile with some of her most recent work:

 Thank you, Lucile! You are a treasure!

Our guild's far-away friend, Jaimee Martin, has been busy quilting, as well. Here are Jaimee's three most recent beauties:

Aren't they awesome? - so colorful, original and cheerful! Three patients are going to be delighted to cuddle with those quilts.

Thank you, Jaimee! We are super-grateful to you.

The latest copy of Guild News (the Guild Association's publication) is available here:
https://giveto.seattlechildrens.org/emailviewonwebpage.aspx?erid=1179117&trid=faedbc08-c05e-48e9-a66d-0b3dcba75db5

Free Fabric & A Question of Yardage

Katie's Comforters Guild is the fortunate recipient of great generosity from quilters. Some quilters - or their family members - find it necessary to clear out their "stash" from time to time. When we receive a message from such a person, we immediately try to match the offering with a quilter who needs fabric.

Sherry B. has a stash of 7 bags of cotton fabric, composed of pieces which are under a yard in size. For quilters who enjoy piecing and making "scrap" quilts, this could be a gold mine, but for others, it is not a good fit. Do any of you want to speak to Sherry about taking this fabric? If so, please contact me here or via our Facebook page. She needs to donate it ASAP.

Going forward, it would be helpful for donors and quilters alike if we can be as specific as possible about our preferences/abilities in the question of yardage. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Sherry, and thank you for your generosity!

Annual Meeting & Luncheon, 2016

Katie's Comforters Guild members Mary, Ellie, Bonnie, Karen & Sue

Five members of Katie's Comforters Guild attended the 2016 Guild Association Annual Meeting & Luncheon celebration at the Westin Hotel on Friday. Four of us drove over together, taking the ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle, and one came via the Bremerton ferry. We were seated together for the luncheon, while we watched inspiring videos, listened to personal stories of patient treatment, and heard doctors discuss their research and motivation.

Vice President of our guild, Mary Ryan, and guild member Sue Hart of the Sew-and-Sews

Katie's Comforters Guild President Karen Gerstenberger with guild members Ellie Boren (Katie's "Grandma B") and Bonnie Petersen

Awards were given, gratitude expressed, success celebrated and inspiration was shared all around; tears were shed and applause rang out, culminating in a standing ovation for the featured speaker, Kat Tiscornia - a patient who has taken her own story of cure to the world, in order to inspire others. And inspire she did!

The Guild Association to which we belong had a record-breaking year in 2015. Here are some of the highlights:

• We have 6,200 members
• We include 450 guilds
• 24 new guilds were added in 2015
• 67 are Research Champion guilds (donating $2,500 or more to research in one calendar year)
• We gave 125,905 volunteer hours
• Guilds raised $12,919,100 in project revenue (about half of that was raised by the Friends of Costco Guild - HOORAY for Costco!)
• $140,200 was raised by membership revenue
• $602,000 was net Bargain Boutique revenue
• $20,267,195 was donated to Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation programs in guild-affiliated revenue by guild members and their friends

You can see why our Guild Association is a leader in fundraising, and is admired by hospitals everywhere. Please join us, and come along next year to share in the giving and the celebration - it's fun, educational and rewarding!

Annette and Fabric Traditions

We have been fortunate to receive another donation from Fabric Traditions in NY. Annette S. sent a box of FUN team-licensed cotton, which will make wonderful quilts, if any of you would like to take on such a project. Feel free to contact me here, or via email at KARENLBOREN at yahoo dot com.

Here is the assortment which Annette sent:

I realize that some of the teams represented here are rivals of the Seattle Seahawks, but since Seattle Children's Hospital serves patients from all over the world, I hope we can set aside some of our feelings about the (insert name of rival team here), and make these quilts for the kids! If it's too hard to feature one of these teams, perhaps an adventurous quilter will make a quilt with a bit of fabric from each team in it?

The only request which came with the box from Fabric Traditions is that we share photos of the finished quilts with them. That will be easy and rewarding for whoever makes the quilts, and we will be pleased to put them here on the blog (& on Katie's Comforters Guild's Facebook page).

Love from Linda K-H

Our friends at Poulsbo's local independent bookstore, Liberty Bay Books, are always supportive and helpful. They often assist with delivery of blankets to Katie's Comforters Guild, acting as an informal "drop off" place for quilters or knitters who wish to donate.

Last week, Gregg stopped by and picked up two sweet quilts which had been made by the loving hands of Linda K-H, a teacher in our town who has a heart of gold.

Here are Linda's latest lovely quilts:

Blanket and quilt donations like these make all of the difference to sick children. They bring joy, comfort and warmth into the hospital room.

Thank you, Linda!