Companionship Quilters: December 2013

Hi all! I know I've been delinquent posting our group notes lately. We had a lot of fun Monday night, and I wanted to recap, as we talked about several things. (Sorry this kind of turned into a novelette.)

Upcoming dates:

December 14 - Possible Friendship Quilting Day (or getting done with Christmas Projects day)
No December Group meeting
January 11 - Friendship Quilting Day
January 16-19 - Seabeck Quilt Retreat - I need to turn in our names very soon (like the middle of December), so if you want to come to retreat, please let me know!!
January 27 - Quilt Group Meeting (wow that sounds so far away!)
February 8 - Pillowcase Making Frenzy Friendship Quilting Day

Missionary Quilts

Back in October we talked about doing some "quilts for others." The idea was put out there (thanks Sherri) that it would be nice to make quilts for our missionaries (aka Global Outreach Partners). This would be something that we would all make blocks for and put together as a group for the most part. Maybe one quilt a quarter? Also, we could make a point of praying for them during the time we're making the quilt, holding them up especially during that time. It will be harder to deliver some, depending on where they are and what their mail system is like, but we'll work that out with our Global Outreach department.

Anyway, I talked to the Global Outreach Director (aka Jack Fender, aka Dad), and he thought this would be a really cool idea!

I wasn't really sure how we decide what order to make quilts in, but Jack/Dad suggested that the Joe & Brenda Ziska could really use some encouragement at the moment, as Joe is battling cancer (still or again?). The group agreed. At the January 27 group meeting, we'll have a plan of a quilt to make (actually I have an idea), and then we'll all get busy! In the mean time, let's pray for them (and you can friend them on Facebook if you'd like). This is so exciting!

Baby Quilts

OK. So most of you know the baby quilt ~~saga~~ ~~story~~ info now. A few things have come up to stir the pot on Baby Dedication Quilts:

We've had some quilts returned in the past year because the parents wanted something different (something to match their nursery, no blue butterflies on a boy quilt, etc.).
Some parents have asked to not get quilts. I, of course, jumped to the conclusion that they are just ungrateful, but that is NOT (always) the case. One family has received several quilts already, and I think felt guilty getting another, as they understand that a lot goes into it. Some have quilter grandmas in their family that make lovely dedication quilts for them already. :-)
Baby Dedication has changed a little:

Parents are required to go to a one-time baby dedication class, explaining what it's all about, and they can choose at that time whether or not they want a quilt.
They are doing the dedications in groups on stage, rather than one baby at a time. I believe this is just due to the larger number of babies lately, and the short time allotted during Sunday services.
Because of the group dedication, and because some families may not choose to receive a quilt, the quilts are handed out "back stage" before or after the dedication.

We've been getting a really short notice time on larger numbers of quilts needed, so Debbie is having a harder time getting them done in time, and because she lives so far away, getting them to church in time. She has to work fairly hard to make that all happen in time.

OK. So at the October group meeting, we discussed whether or not we wanted to keep doing the quilts for the Baby Dedications. Perhaps we should turn our focus to babies that really "need" a quilt, rather than people who may or may not appreciate them? Linda contacted a couple of groups that would definitely appreciate quilts (Carenet, which CBC supports, and PICC, that previous CBC people have worked with).

But I needed to tell Paulette what we wanted to do, as she is the Director responsible for this ministry. She answers to Jerry, who loves the baby quilts, and we talked to him together. Jerry was not aware of most of what was happening above (dedications are now under Derek's jurisdiction), and understood our frustration. He has, however, heard wonderful things about the quilts - how people cherish them... put them with their bronzed baby booties to give them to the child one day, etc. He felt that we didn't hear the positive things often... just unfortunately the negative ones.

Jerry asked us to keep doing them for 6 more months, and we'd carefully track how many families want vs. don't want a quilt, what the turnaround time is like, etc. I couldn't really argue with that! :-) So, we'll keep going for now, and reevaluate next year some time.

Pillowcases

In all the discussions about doing quilts for others, we talked about how some quilts we make aren't really baby sized or baby appropriate. We talked about an outlet for quilts for teens or adults. Linda works with a woman who works at a recovery center in Kent for girls who have been rescued from the sex slave trade. They like to give the girls (ages 13-20) quilts, but also pillowcases.

We love the "tube" pillowcase method, and how fast they get made, so we thought we'd dedicate February 8th's Friendship Quilting Day

Lorraine's 60th!

We had a great time celebrating Lorraine's 60th birthday, and surprising her with the wonderful quilt that Nan made (with a little help from her quilty friends), and Kathy quilted! She was totally surprised... and surprised us all by picking out which block the majority of us made!