Hopes & Dreams Challenge for ALS 2016

Quilting for Charity.....
What an amazing community we are fortunate to be a part of.!! Every so often I get out of my business hat to make quilts for charity and it is always rewarding.
Here are a couple of stories about my charity support:
http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2014/11/charity-quilts.html

http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2008/09/october-aaqi-auction.html

This second link was just one of my mini quilts to support AAQI which raised money for Alzheimer's research.  My mother's family lost 3 wonderful women to this illness and right now I know another very strong woman battling this terrible illness.

You may be wondering why I am talking about Alzheimers when we are here to talk about ALS?
According to the ALS website: http://www.alsa.org/about-als/aam-2014/learn-about-als/common-threads.html
"....all neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s share some important features...."
It is a very interesting read and shows that we have the same goal working toward a cure for all the diseases in this family.

For the ALS challenge, many of the quilts go directly to patients who suffer with ALS.

They also sell some of the quilts with 100% of the money they receive going directly to research and a cure for ALS!

My support came in the form of donated patterns for prizes!  This means the winners can make more quilts to donate next year:)

 

Here is their statement & how you can help out if you choose:

“To Give a Handmade Quilt is to Give the Gift of Love.”

The Challenge…

• To raise awareness of ALS-Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
• To provide quilts & bring recognition, hope, and warmth to the lives of ALS patients.
• To raise funds for research for treatment and a cure.

Please give the gift of a quilt to warm the life, the heart and the lap of an ALS patient, and help raise awareness and research money for ALS-Lou Gehrig’s disease.  To be a part of the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge- Simply fill out your entry form and donate your quilts today.
Your donated quilts will be given to ALS patients or used to raise awareness and research money for ALS by being photographed, displayed, auctioned, or raffled.
In addition to contributing your quilt to a wonderful cause- all donated quilts are eligible to win exciting and wonderful prizes.  Our list of generous sponsors, categories and great prizes is growing.!  Hopes & Dreams is a non-juried quit challenge.  All donated quilts will be entered into general prize drawings plus there are incredible prized recognizing the most generous quilter, quilt shop, professional quilter and guild.  Special prize categories for theme quilts and ‘most popular’ quilt.
For the comfort of the patient, we request that quilted or tied quilts be a minimum of 35″ x 44″  Lap and Bed size quilts of all sizes are welcomed.  We look forward to you joining us in this unique quilting event – the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS!

More information HERE:

http://hopesanddreams.quiltersdreambatting.com/challenge.html

and here

https://www.facebook.com/hopesanddreamsforals/about/

 

Please consider giving:)

 

www.nestlingsbyrobin.com

http://www.nestlingsbyrobin.com/services.html

https://www.facebook.com/NestlingsbyRobin



Charity Quilts

I know I am not alone in our quilting community when donating time and talent to worthy causes.  I usually hesitate to make full on quilts after hearing how some organizations don't do our donations justice.  However, the guild I belong to is aligned with a charity that does such a great service to underprivileged children that I am proud to donate lovelies.

 

Every spring the COC along with Hidden Stitches (my guild) puts on a huge luncheon and quilt auction.  We have over 300 people attend the lunch and so many quilts for auction that we have added a silent auction as well so everyone's bums don't go numb during the bidding:)

 

As I contemplated what to do for 2015 an estate sale of a quilter came to the guild's attention.  

 



I found 6 machine embroidered Sun Bonnet Sue blocks for $6...I knew I could come up with something:)  The one missing will go into a small pillow done in peach because she was the one NOT like the others in colors.  After adding some nine patches and a border, I had it machine quilted by a lovely woman in our guild who will quilt our charity quilts for free once we supply the backing/batting which is more than fair!!

After I received it back from Toddy, I added the floral applique to the borders for an adorable baby quilt...I just love the red and white!  The floral applique mimics a floral design in the embroidery of one of the other blocks.

At the estate sale, I also found these 16 completed kaleidoscope blocks ($8) and the gold fabric yardage that matched perfectly. What to do..... There weren't enough for a whole quilt and if I separated them, then you would lose that cool purple square between them.  I decided to just put them together and add a bigger header and footer for a lap size quilt.

Again I sent it off to Toddy and her husband, Ray, to quilt it for me.  Once it came back, I added the purple flower garlands to the top and bottom borders.

I machine appliqued the flower garlands and then replicated the quilting details into the flower heads.  If you look at the photo below, you will see that the applique flowers mimic the quilting.  This is a great way to add more detail and keep everything cohesive.

The joy is knowing someone will LOVE these and the money they spend on them at the auction will go to help kids that just need a little bit of attention so we don't lose them.
I am not one to shout my good deeds to the world but I thought this was a good way to show how orphan blocks at yard sales, thrift shops, etc. can be of use even if they aren't necessarily your style.
I don't do Sunbonnet Sue or purples/golds but someone will love these and it didn't cost me all that much other than my time.

What are your charity projects for the year?