100 Quilts for Christmas Info // 2010
The holiday season is fast approaching and Aunt Spicy and I are thrilled to be hosting 100 Quilts for Christmas, inspired by an amazing effort last year to make over 400 quilts, one for each child in Utah County's foster care system. This holiday season, Aunt Spicy and I hope to harness the terrific potential for good in the online quilting community by encouraging quilters to make baby (or slightly bigger) quilts for children in their own communities.
Please help us get the word out!
We are hopeful that you will grab a button (on the sidebar) and post something about 100 Quilts for Christmas on your blog, website, Facebook, or Twitter account to help us get the word out! Additionally, please consider sponsoring the effort--we have local quilters, crafters, and shops that are sponsoring giveaways, either from their stash or their shop (or both). We would love to add you to our list. Send me or Aunt Spicy a note if you have something to add (ideas include a pattern, a bag, a small fabric bundle, pre-cuts, or fat quarter pack, notions, and scrap packs of of hard to find fabric) and we'll include the prize, along with a link back to your shop/blog on a future post.
The short version
1. Make a blanket
2. Take a picture
3. Donate the blanket to someone or an organization of your choice
4. Post a picture of the quilt on any of three link-up days, and of course there will be prizes, including a grand prize drawing on Wednesday, December 15!
5. Here are the link-up days and locations:
Monday, December 13 -- Aunt Spicy's blog
6. We are also posting pictures on Flickr
The LONG version
Make a quilt or blanket and donate it a child in your community in need from November 15-December 15, 2010!
Make a quilt or blanket and donate it a child in your community in need from November 15-December 15, 2010!
What can be donated: Please donate a quilt or blanket that is handmade and will help a child in need feel loved this holiday season. Ideas: Quilts you have previously made that have not found a home, WIPs that you finish, quilts that you start from scratch just for 100 Quilts for Christmas, flannel receiving blankets, fleece blankets, the list goes on and on. I know I have a few orphan blocks (and a ton of i-spy blocks left over from this quilt) that will make a great quilt, as well as a pattern or two I've wanted to try out. The quilts and blankets can be as elaborate or as simple as you want, and will be donated in your own community! Be aware that some organizations request specific sizes, otherwise anything between 30x36 and 60x66 will work!
Ideas for places to donate: local homeless shelters, domestic violence centers, NICUs and inpatient children's floors at local hospitals, Project Linus, Margaret's Hope Chest, children in the foster care system or a child in your neighborhood that just needs a little bit of extra love. (No, your sister's new baby doesn't count. Unless she really is in need). Note: Aunt Spicy and I are gathering quilts locally as part of DC Modern's Month of Giving; if you would like to send us your quilt, we would be happy to donate it for you.
Link Ups and Giveaways: Amy (home of Sew & Tell Fridays), Aunt Spicy, and I will each host a link up party to promote 100 Quilts for Christmas. If you have a completed handmade blanket or quilt for donation, you are invited to link up at any of the parties below, both to show off your quilt and to be eligible for a few giveaways. Each individual quilt can only be entered once, though you can make and enter as many quilts as you want.
Please stop by Amy Lou Who's blog on Monday, November 29, here on Monday, December 6, and Aunt Spicy's on Monday, December 13 to link up your quilts.
For example, if you make a quilt and link up once on November 29, you are eligible for that week's prize. If you finish two receiving blankets the second week in December, link up twice on December 13, you have two chances to win the prize for that week. For each quilt you make and donate over the month long period of time, you will get one entry for the grand prize drawings.
Giveaway Details:
We will be giving away two patterns (winner's choice) by Heather and Megan of Quiltstory (and Fresh Poppy Design)--that means two chances to win if you link up Monday, November 29 at Amy Lou Who's blog.
If you link up here on Monday, December 6, you can win a hat of your choice from Jen's etsy shop. Seriously. Go check her out. I see her hats on kids in my neighborhood all of the time. I love this one, and her panda and bear hats (complete with ears) are out of stock, but awesome.
If you link up at Aunt Spicy's on Monday, December 13, you have a chance to win some fabric from DelRayFabrics (more info forthcoming). A little birdy told me Pam ordered the full line of Echino at market, among other things. Check out her shop. Great stuff!
Grand Prize Drawing: Check back here on December 15 for the chance at an early holiday gift for you :) Currently, there are several chances to win! I will be giving away a fat eighth pack of Heather Ross's Mendocino fabric, Aunt Spicy will be giving away a fat quarter pack of Jennifer Paganelli fabric, Lindi from Love the Day will be offering something from her shop, and a few others have offered fabric bundles. We are just working out the details, so make sure to check back. If you would like to add something, contact us!
Last Thing: Sew with Friends, Ask for Donations, our Flickr group, and what to do if you don't have a blog: Want a great excuse to throw a quick sewing party? This is it. Get together to make a group quilt, or each make your own. I know I've made two quilt tops that will be quilted by my sister and a friend this Thursday as part of the DC Modern Quilt Guild's month of giving. We've teamed up with a local church congregation to get as many sewists/quilters together as possible.
I have been asking everyone I know for donations--two local shops gave us fabric for quilt backs, and one woman I know is moving and generously gave me fifty yards of fabric she was trying to destash. It isn't necessarily my style, but its great quality fabric and I think we will be able to make some fresh, modern quilts out of it. I posted one in the flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/100quiltsforchristmas/ and would like to invite you to post process and finished quilt pictures. Make sure to check out the giant ric rac baby blankets Aunt Spicy made this weekend. They are awesome! We got together Friday night with friends to sew--my sewing machine is still! in my entry way. Its been a busy weekend.
Aunt Spicy and I will keep a running tally of donated quilts on our blogs, so check back often. Note: If you don’t have a blog or would rather not link up, please send me a picture of your quilt and I’ll happily post it on my blog and add you to our tally.
Thank you in advance for your time and support! And if you read through all of this? Well, it was shorter than my thesis. But not by much :)
Kate and Aunt Spicy
swimbikequilt at gmail dot com
auntspicy at gmail dot com