20 Quilts Ready to Comfort...
What began in August 2020 (LINK) snowballed through the rest of that year. The effort, which continued to build momentum throughout 2021, found a sense of urgency with the Wrap Ukraine in Quilts movement begun in March 2022 and the We Stand for Ukraine movement begun in April 2022. In May 2022, I stopped waiting for ALL of the quilts to be completed. The quilts that were done would be shipped to LWR... Now (a relative term, as you will soon see.)
As with everything in Joyful QuilterLand, it was a process...
(After several failed attempts) The LWR Mission Project quilts were retrieved from a friend's house - she had been storing them since before the move last year, as I was afraid to pack them and have any go missing:
June 2022
They rode around in the back of the car for a week before being brought in to be prepared for mailing:
Folded and boxed to be shipped off:
Sealed and ready to take to work for shipment:
July 2022
20 Quilts Out the Door...
Finally, the two BIG boxes were loaded in the car:
August 2022
Wow!! That was something.
Check the Donation tab at the top of the page. Makers and contributors have all previously been acknowledged. Thank you to all who have participated! I expected these quilts to be gone last year. Moving house and a machine malfunction derailed that goal. Two YEARS after the project began, the bulk of the quilts were on their way to providing comfort for those in need.
But WAIT!! There's MORE...
The LWR Mission Quilt project here at The Joyful Quilter is still not complete. The last few quilts still need to be quilted and one block set remains to be sewn into a top. Never fear! Those, along with the remaining donated fabrics will be stitched into another quilt or two (or 10!), as time allows. My main concern was getting these 20 quilts out of here. Not in a mean "I'm SEW tired of these" kind of way! In an urgent kind of "these quilts have a purpose to fulfill" sort of way. The stars aligned and off they went.
People often ask how they can help. Well, I've stopped accepting fabric, quilt tops, and $$$ for the project. I have batting for the remaining quilts and a number of generous contributors have covered the lion's share of the shipping charges that will be incurred for future shipments. Thank you to EVERYONE who contributed to the effort in any way, small or large! Special thanks to Eric Brinsfield, owner of Southern Season, for his generous contribution to the shipping fund, as well. I couldn't have made such a large impact on my own.
As an example of how helpful people have been...
After a prominent quilter posted about Lutheran World Relief, Nann @ With Strings Attached and Mari @ The Academic Quilter, both generous contributors to the LWR Quilt Project here on the blog, for making me aware of the following...
For those of you who haven't heard, Pat Sloan took a tour to LWR warehouse. Thank you to Nann and Mari for sending this video LINK HERE. The factoid that caught my attention was that when they process quilts, they bundle/bale approx. 700 - 800/day! Some days they work on quilts some days they work on other aspects of the charity.
I'm SEW pleased to have facilitated our effort to contribute quilts to Lutheran World Relief.
Until next time...
SEND some LOVE!!!
