Lucile & Noble's Latest Contribution

Fleece blankets by Lucile

Quilts by Lucile

I met Lucile & Noble yesterday for a quilt & blanket delivery. She has made 21 fleece blankets and 12 quilts for Katie's Comforters Guild since we last met.

This delivery was particulary exciting to me, because I had recently given Lucile some of my "stash" of fabrics, and she turned them into finished quilts for the hospital!

Olivia quilt

I don't have as much time to sew as I originally did when we started Katie's Comforters Guild. Being president means that I "wear a lot of hats," and most of my work is now in pick-up & delivery of quilts, keeping up with this blog (& photography), sending "thank you" notes, and networking for the guild. I don't often get time to sit down and use my own sewing machine nowadays.

Detail of Olivia quilt

Lucile is a much faster and more highly-skilled seamstress than I am, so it is more efficient for her to sew than it is for me to do it, but sometimes I miss the process. My favorite things about sewing are selecting the fabrics, pinning them together, and admiring the finished product. So in giving my fabric to Lucile to sew, I got to do two out of the three of those favorite things. And look at what she did with what I gave her!

European travel (left) and floral (right)

Old-fashioned beach print with mosaic fish

Butterflies with watercolor abstract

Flamingo quilt and dolphin camo quilt

Musical instrument quilt and crocodile (or alligator?) quilt

Pink curlique & bubble quilt

If you love to select fabric, but are not a skilled seamstress, consider buying what you like, and donating the fabric to our guild. We have guild members who will be happy to turn your materials into blankets and quilts!

Thank you, Lucile & Noble!

Fleece blankets from Kathy H.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of meeting Kathy H. & her husband. Kathy and Gregg went to the same high school, and she read an article about our guild in the local newspaper. The article inspired her to order a LOT of polar fleece. Kathy has been diligently cutting and knotting fringe on the blankets.

Yesterday, she delivered 29 fleece blankets to our guild!

 Here is a sample of what Kathy has made:

A great variety of different colors, designs and themes, for all ages, boy and girl!

That was just the contents of the smaller box. The taller box is also FULL of blankets!

Thank you for this generous gift, Kathy!

Dairy Queen Miracle Treat Day: August 11, 2011

Dairy Queen Miracle Treat Day

(Click on the link above to learn more)

On August 11, 2011, Dairy Queen Restaurants will donate at least $1.00 of the cost of every Blizzard Treat they sell to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals!

Seattle Children's Hospital and its supporters appreciates our local (and national) Diary Queens for doing this!

Thank you, Poulsbo Dairy Queen!

Please spread the word to all of your friends and family, and

go to your local Dairy Queen for a BLIZZARD on August 11th!

Please remember to THANK them for their support of Children's Hospitals.

Blankets from Terry

Yesterday, Gregg and I took a drive to visit his Aunt Barbara and cousins Pam and Terry. Terry has been generously making blankets for our guild for many months now. Look at her latest fleece and crocheted creations:

 Fleece and crocheted blankets.

Terry created her own binding by cutting one piece smaller than the other, and wrapping the edge of the larger piece over the smaller one. It makes a nice contrast.
The turquoise blanket has a matching hat!

The bright colors and patterns in these double-layer fleece blankets are going to make patients very happy!

Thank you, Terry!

Five New Quilts from Darla R.

Darla R. lives north of our area, and has shared her beautiful quilting skills with us in the past. Today, I had the privilege of picking up five more beauties which she donated to Katie's Comforters Guild:

 Aren't they gorgeous?

 The lovely top-stitching (quilting) details don't show up in these photos, but it is there!

 The variety of colors, fabrics, sizes and styles will be sure to please the patients!

This intricate one with so many squares is a gem.

Thank you, Darla!

And thank you, Andrea, Chuck & Cheri for delivering them to us.

New Quilts from Bonnie P.

Look at what we received this week, from guild member Bonnie P.:

Wrapped up like a gift, which it is!

 The variety of colors, patterns and textures is wonderful!

Bonnie has an eye for striking details.

 For example, doesn't most everyone like frogs?

Bonnie created these frog patches and sewed them onto the quilts.

Some people tell me that they have been encouraged by frogs as a reminder to F.R.O.G. (forever/fully rely on God).

 And look at this heart-shaped quilting detail on the pink quilt. It is going to make a little girl's heart so happy!

Note the home-made label by Bonnie, using our guild's business card.

Very clever!

One of my favorite quilts, using donated materials from Better-Bilt Furniture! Bonnie is our first guild member to try using these 100% cotton fabric samples, and what beautiful results!

If you'd like to try this yourself, please let me know and I will give you what we have. Better-Bilt is a custom furniture company in Seattle that donates gorgeous fabric samples to us. The machine washable ones can be used in making quilts.

Thank you, Bonnie!

Thank you, Better-Bilt Furniture!

Turning Donations into Blankets

Yesterday, we stopped by Lucile & Noble's house for a quick visit. We had some donated materials (fleece, cotton, flannel and satin blanket binding) to give to Lucile, and Lucile had quilts to give to us.

Lucile has made 29 new quilts since we last saw her!

A dozen of those quilts were made with materials donated by the Coleman family. You may recall from this posting that Pat Coleman had purchased and organized beautiful materials to make 12 quilts. Unfortunately, Pat passed away recently. Her family generously donated the materials to Katie's Comforters Guild in her memory. Lucile kindly sewed them up, and the result is pure beauty:

Thank you, Coleman family,

and

thank you, Lucile & Noble!

Donations from Elsie W.

Our friend, Elsie W. called and told me that she had a batch of blankets ready to donate. Because I had appointments in Seattle on the day that she was coming to our town, Elsie delivered her blankets to Suzanne Droppert, the owner of Liberty Bay Books. It included polar fleece fabric, ready to be made into more blankets. Thank you very much for this donation, Elsie!

Elsie's blankets and fleece material donation

Liberty Bay Books donated $20.00 to our guild when I went to pick up the blankets. Thank you so much for your logistical help and donation, Liberty Bay Books!

A Bequest from the Coleman Family

I recently had the privilege of meeting Cathy Coleman in town to receive a beautiful gift from her and her family. Cathy's mother-in-law, Pat, was a quilter and a member of our guild.

This is a photo of Pat, provided by Cathy.

She made lovely quilts for the hospital, and chose her fabrics with an eye for design, as well as for the heart of a child. I'm sorry to say that Pat passed away recently.

In spite of her family's grief, Cathy reached out and let me know that Pat had prepared materials for making a number of quilts. Pat had even coordinated the satin blanket binding and thread with the material for each quilt, carefully placed them together in a baggie, and attached it to the material. Such tender, loving care! Cathy and her family donated those materials to our guild.

Thank you, Cathy and the entire Coleman family, for sharing with our guild out of your grief. Pat's generous spirit will continue to bring comfort to sick children at Seattle Children's Hospital!

More From Lucile & Noble

Lucile and Noble visited us this week to drop off 18 new quilts, plus 3 that Lucile finished for me (I pinned them, and she sewed them). Lucile is very modest, but she is still nice about allowing me to take photos.

There were a couple with "Peanuts" (a.k.a. Charlie Brown) characters, and a fabulous airport/road one, among them. The patients will love these!

Thank you, Lucile & Noble!