Quilts Matter

Fifteen quilts. Fifteen young people on the other side of the world.  A match made in heaven, I think.

It was a special day. My husband, Fred, and son, Drew, called each child up to the front one at a time and presented them with a quilt. Fred explained that it had been made especially for them and that no one would ever take it from them. I had labeled each quilt with a name.

Quilts are not the norm in Nepal. These kiddos had never seen one before. 

I think the happy faces tell you what they think of quilts though!

The children are learning English and many of them wrote me handmade notes of thanks.

A common theme among the notes is how much I must love them to make them a quilt.

One young man wrote that this is the first gift that he has ever received and how happy that it made him.

I will treasure these notes forever.  They bring a lift to my heart but at the same time a lump to my throat.

I feel like I have a bond with these children now. Kids that I may never meet personally have become some of "my kids" now. Because of quilts.

These children are all disabled and lead a much more challenging life than I ever will. Because of the cultural caste system in Nepal they are usually overlooked.

And yet their joy for life and thankful spirits are evident and contagious. I could learn a lot from them.  

Being a part of this project has been such a pleasure. I see why Drew cares about them so much.

I'm convinced more than ever that quilts matter. Giving matters. Kindness matters.

Often I've heard quilters comment about a quilt they are giving away that it is JUST for charity, usually said about a project made with fabric that they dislike or is of low quality. I have a different view and want the quilts that I give to always be beautiful and ones that I would be proud to gift to family or friends. 

You just never know what a difference you are making in someone's life when you give a quilt away. I feel that you are giving part of yourself.

Thank you again to my quilter friends who helped make this all happen for these children by giving of your time, talent.....and quilts! You made a difference.

Thank You, Susan

During a quilt guild show-and-tell, I displayed a couple of my leader/ender quilts and explained my motivation to send quilts to Nepal.  Afterward, Susan approached me and expressed a desire to create a few simple tops as gifts for the children living in the Nepal home.

 This I Spy quilt will be fun for four-year-old Grace who has Downs Syndrome. I can just imagine the hours she will enjoy identifying all of the colorful pictures!

 My grand-daughter, Lois, loves this sweet 30's print medallion style quilt and picked it to go to Ganga, who is thirteen and in fifth grade at her school in Kathmandu. I quilted it with a simple loopy pattern.

 Kashiram, who uses a wheel chair due to his disability, will enjoy sleeping under this happy quilt each night. Susan did a great job of creating a sweet quilt using a simple design and just a few fabrics that she had on hand.

 It has been my joy to organize an effort to bless some dear ones living on the other side of the world. Thank you, Susan, for coming along side of me. 

 My husband and son have made it back home from a successful medical mission to Nepal and delivering the quilts. I'm hoping to soon have more photos of the kids with their quilts.

Lisa's Quilts

 Quilters are some of the most generous people in the world. I see it all the time, don't you?
Lisa is the perfect example, stepping up when she heard that I was wanting to gift quilts to sixteen children in Nepal.These are the fabulous creations she handed to me one evening before a quilt guild meeting.

 This Plus and X quilt was not a quick quilt to create and yet Lisa was happy to give it to Bijay, a young boy disabled in the 2015 earthquake in Nepal. 

 I'm betting that fourteen year old, Milan, is loving this improv quilt as much as I do. Lisa is an art teacher and her quilts are an expression of her talent.

 This third gifted quilt is made with hand-dyed fabrics and Lisa told me that she would like for the quilt to be given to someone very special. My daughter-in-law and I decided to pass the beautiful quilt, which is a bit larger than all of the others, to Bikash and his wife, Bijata. The young Nepali couple have the responsibility of caring for the kids who live at P. G.

 Lastly, I want to feature a couple of lap size quilts given by my friend, Patty. The Kansas dugout top as well as the modern liberated top, both pieced by Sharon, were beautifully quilted by Patty and passed along for the kids. I made the quilt on the right below using a pattern by Cindy, LiveaColorfulLife. 

I'm excited to have been given a photo of two of the lap quilts, at home with their new owners, Raj and Sanu. Both boys are wheelchair bound and will enjoy having warm wraps. That handsome guy on the right is my son, Drew.

My next post will feature the last three quilts for the Children's Home.  Thanks for taking a look!

Candy Box Sampler

If quilt blocks were chocolates, it would be difficult to pick just one favorite from this box of deliciousness!

 Once again, I am featuring blocks created by my friend, Sharon, and generously gifted to me by her family following her death. Each one is uniquely modern in style and color choice. I do not know the pattern source. If you recognize the designer, please let me know.

Sharon had already started sashing the blocks with light grey solid on two sides. Staggering the blocks this way is a fun setting for the six inch blocks. 

By adding a darker grey border and wide strip to separate some of the rows, I was able to lengthen the quilt to 80 inches, long enough to cover a child's cot at P. G.

Mod quilting with a light grey thread and backed with bright green print, I was very tickled with how this quilt turned out....perfect for a thirteen year old girl named Somati.

Festivity

This easy Bohemian quilt is a cinch to make...perfect recipe for a quick charity project.

I used a layer cake of Amy Butler fabric plus some random fabrics from my stash with similar style. Each ten inch square was simply cut in half to create rectangles and then pieced into rows.

My friend, Sue, offered to quilt this project to help me meet my deadline for sending it to Kathmandu. What a blessing to have quilty friends who stepped forward to help. Eleven year old Shristika is blessed as well!

Half-Way-Around-the-World

 Like the last quilt that I featured on Wednesday, this quilt was made using blocks beautifully pieced by my friend, Sharon. Because I didn't have enough blocks for a Trip-Around-the-World, it seemed appropriate to make a Half-Way-Around quilt as it is traveling to Nepal on the other side of the globe.

 Since the recipient, Pratik, is visually impaired I added prairie points to the edges of the center pieced panel for some sensory texture.

 I enjoyed free-handing some beaded chain quilting on the purple grunge fabric along each side. The center of the quilt is stitched with loopy quilting. 

Working with fabrics and blocks from another quilter's collection has been fun as has been the creative challenge of using what I had to enlarge the projects.

Chipper

Tula Pink designed a fun fabric line called "Chipper". All of the prints in this maze styled quilt are from that line of fabric. Each block was pieced by my friend, Sharon, before she passed away from breast cancer. I was able to enlarge the collection into a 60"x80" quilt by adding the solid charcoal grey and lower dotty border after assembling the blocks into a square.

The setting idea came from seeing a quilt named "Twinkle" in Deborah Fisher's book "Quilt Giving".  Since my beginning center square measurements were different than Deborah's instructions, I sort of free-handed the grey solid triangles to get it to my desired size. 

 I also tried, a new-to-me all over quilting motif for the Chipper top. The mod rectangles were a lot of fun to create and add a wonderful texture to the quilt.

The more modern design of this quilt seems appropriate for 14 year-old Tila who will be receiving her quilt in the next few days.

Hashtag Quilt

 I decided to call this quilt Hashtag because...well, I think that's what it looks like: a set of colorful hashtags. The pattern from Gudrun Erla's book, "Strip Your Stash" , is actually called Pixie Stix. That's cute too. This is a great book, by the way! I borrowed it from my local library, but may need a copy of my own.

 Don't be fooled by the simple design, thinking it is a "no brainer" to put together. I was at a quilting retreat when I attempted to piece the first block for the quilt and those around me will agree that I was pulling out my hair for a bit. I found that there is a method to the madness and, once I got going, it was a fun quilt to make.
Simple wavy lines for the quilting make it have a soft hand:  perfect for a child's cozy quilt. The background fabric is by Paintbrush Studio. The solids are mostly from my stash, although I did buy a few colors while on retreat at Missouri Star Quilt Company.

Lauren chose Hashtag for Kopila, a thirteen year old girl with cerebral palsy. She and some of the other children are receiving art therapy for the trama they endured during the 2015 earthquake.

My hope is that Hashtag will bring Kopila comfort and joy!

Comfort Quilts

 You may recall that my son, Drew, and his family were in Nepal in April 2015 when a devastating category 7.8 earthquake rocked that region of our world. Nearly 9,000  were killed and almost 22,000 people injured. Over three years later, the effects are still evident and injured children living in remote villages find it difficult to receive medical treatment and care for their handicaps. 

A special home houses fifteen handicapped boys and girls under the age of 18 where they have found refuge and care. Drew and my daugher-in-law, Lauren, are invested in seeing that the The P.G. Home be a successful sanctuary and home for them. Next week, Drew will be traveling with a team of doctors and nurses to Nepal where they will not only visit the Children's Home but also travel into remote areas offering free medical care to those who have none.  

 My husband, Fred, is excited to be accompanying Drew and the medical team, helping out where ever he can. The patchwork quilt that you see here, with the ombre blue sashing, will be packed into a suitcase and given as a gift to a boy named Sanu to brighten his bed. There is a quilt for each child, handpicked by Lauren, from the ones made by loving hands here in Kansas City. I enjoyed seeing Lauren ponder over the quilts as she made choices to match each child's personality and tastes. Lauren has just returned from her own trip to Nepal, accompanied by two of my grandchildren, Ezra and Lois. Here's Lois with the quilt...

There is a lot of love wrapped up in this project and my prayer is that these kiddos feel that love every night when they lay down and tug their quilt up around their shoulders to sleep. I'll be showing you more of the colorful quilts in the days to come.
Thank you for stopping by after my long absence! You guys are the best!
Fondly,
Carla