Jeremiah’s Letter, Inc. Quilts

Jeremiah’s Letter, Inc. shares services and goods with its guests in the inner city of Dayton Ohio, including household goods such as quilts and kitchenware, clothing, two hot meals a week, and assistance in obtaining certified copies of birth certificates. Many of the individuals who are helped are children who live in very challenging environments.  For those on Facebook, here is their FB page Jeremiah’s Letter.  The first photo below is Pastor Terry Bruns, Executive Director, Jeremiah’s Letter, Inc. receiving some of these beautiful quilts.

The photo legend for the quilters and piecers is below. (photos from left to right)

Photo #1: Three quilts pieced by Marsha Johnson, quilted by Terri Desmond

Photo #2: Pieced by Marsha Johnson, quilted by Terri Desmond

Pieced by  Marsha Johnson, quilted by Linda Dranchak

Quilt by Linda Dranchak

Photo # 3: Pieced by Donna Sciandra, quilted by Frances Fink

Pieced by Sherry, quilted by Frances Fink

Pieced by Theola Breaux, quilted by Barbra Buckley

Photo #4: Quilt by Donna Motyl

Pieced by Hong Chang, quilted by Terri Desmond

Pieced by Church of Christ, Whitewater, TX; quilted by Karen Matheson

Photo #5: Quilt by Pat Wildman

Quilt by Charlotte Kieliszek

Pieced by Kelly Chladil, quilted by Tracy McKearney

Photo #6: Quilt by Prayers and Squares, Simsbury, CT

Quilt by Cindy Hatfield

Photo #7: Three quilts by Sheila Hughes

Karen Matheson, North East Regional Coordinator

More Quilts for Syrian Refugees

My favorite part of this Regional Coordinator thing is when I get to show you whose quilts are going where. Together we (the Northeast Region team of QBB) have sent out 105 quilts and 48 packaged kits since January 2016. OUTSTANDING! Awesome! And yay us!! This latest group is going to the Syrian Refugees. It feels so good to be doing something for those poor people, doesn’t it. Earlier in August we sent 9 specifically for the babies. These larger quilts will go to the trauma centers where the older kids who are so damaged by war are being treated.  The need is great, as you know.

Photo legend, left to right:

Picture # 1: Both quilts pieced by Hong Chang in Australia; quilted by Pam deSautels, quilted by Jan Baker

Picture #2:  Made by Linda Dranchak; made by Susan Elliott

Picture #3:  Pieced by Hong Chang, quilted by Terri Desmond; pieced by Marsha Johnson, quilted by Tracy McKearney

Picture #4:  Made by Barbara Laddaga; pieced by Shirley tucker, quilted by Fran Fink

Picture #5:  Made by Leesa Plude; made by Pat Wildman

Picture #6:  Made by Liana Laddaga; made by Mary Hardy

Picture #7:  Made by Charlotte Kieliszek; pieced by Quilting For Christ in Hurst, Texas, quilted by Charlotte Kieliszek

Picture #8:  Made by Donna Killoran; made by Jan Baker

Picture #9:  Made by Karen Matheson from a kit designed by Marki Ware; pieced by Hong Chang, quilted by Deb Jacoby

Picture #10: Two quilts made by Josi Klein

As long as we have strength in our fingers, I hope you will continue to sew and I will facilitate getting your treasures to these people. I am humbled by the whole process.

Regards, Karen Matheson, North East Regional Coordinator

Quilts for Syrian Refugees

The Syrian Refugees will be warmer this winter with the beautiful quilts in the pictures below. A special thank you to all the piecers and quilters who gave of their time and talents to create and help others in need. The quilts will be delivered by the Salaam Cultural Museum.   A number of quilts were made and quilted by Ellen Janes, the Quirky Quilters, Brian Williams, Delleen Kompkoff and the Quilts for Christ Ministry. The piecers are Theola Breaux, Karen Okerstrom, Donna Sciandra, Karen of Arizona, Ardith Louderback, Pat Johnston, the Castle Rock Quilters, and Susan Schmidt. The quilting was done by Sherri Wallaert, Penny Evers, Lloyd Clemens, Laural Hertel, Robin Reilly, Tomme Fent, Becky Goldner, Pat (RFQ), Delleen Kompkoff, and Annie O’Brien. You can click on the picture to find out who made each quilt.

Susan Schmidt    Northwest Regional Coordinator

Baby Box Project

These 46 baby quilts below will be traveling by container ship to expectant Syrian Refugee mothers in September. They are a part of the Baby Box project through the Salaam Cultural Museum. Cardboard bassinet beds filled with baby supplies and a quilt will be given to new mothers. We are honored to be a part of this project so that newborns can be wrapped in a clean new quilt after delivery. Thank you to the many quilters across the country for helping us reach our goal of 300 baby quilts this year for this project.

Colorful quilts from the Northwest and Beyond are shown below. 24 quilts were made by Delleen Kompkoff, Catherine Rose, Doris Goins, Judy Warner, Castle Rock Quilters, Judy Salinas, Tonette Truillo, Bonnie Johnson, Becky Goldner, and Susan Schmidt. The remaining quilts were pieced by Theola Breaux, Karen Okerstrom, Donna Sciandra, Misty King, Kim Bennett, Liz Clark, Sharon Johnson, and Leona Ross. The quilting was done by Catherine Eith, Heidi Oliver, Delleen Kompkoff, Annie O’Brien, Susan Schmidt, Mary Craft, Marcy Martin, Becky Goldner, Tomme Fent, and Kayleen Davis.

You can click on the picture to see who made the quilts. Thank you again to our quilters for your time and talents to make these quilts that we know will bring a little more joy to mothers and warmth to a newborn. We could not have made our goal of 300 without you!!

Susan Schmidt      Northwest Regional Coordinator

Small Treasures

Everybody loves babies. Sure, it’s tough at 2 am when the responsibility is all yours and you haven’t slept for a week. But babies are life’s previous gift. When we learn that babies are born into horrifyingly difficult situations, like in the Syrian refugee camps,  we feel a great need to do what we can to make their little vulnerable lives a wee bit better. These baby-sized quilts, sent with love and warmth, are destined for the refugee camps through Salaam Cultural Museum.

The legend below details who made the quilts from left to right.

Picture # 1: Pieced by Whitewright, TX Church of Christ quilters,  quilted by Karen Matheson; Pieced by Hong Chang, quilted by Barbra Buckley; Pieced by Marsha Johnson, quilted by Charlotte Kieliszek

Picture #2: Two quilts pieced by Sheila Hughes, quilted by Pat Wildma; Two quilts made by Donna Sciandra

Picture #3: Two quilts made by Prayers and Squares, Simsbury United Methodist Church, CT

Karen Matheson, North East Regional Coordinator

Quilter’s Spotlight: Delleen Kompkoff

We are so excited to feature Delleen Kompkoff from Gresham, Oregon.  Delleen is a piecer and quilts on a domestic machine. She is a great supporter of QBB and willing to help any way she is needed.

Name:  Delleen Kompkoff

Hometown & State: Gresham, Oregon

Years Quilting: about 50 years! (but I can’t be that old!)

Favorite Quilting Style: Happy to be Scrappy

Quilt Guild or Group: Mt. Hood Quilt Guild

Why do you volunteer with Quilts Beyond Borders?  I love the fact that something I’ve made can travel to distant countries I will never visit.  I’ve visited an orphanage in China, and carried full suitcases to the children there.  Giving quilts to Quilts Beyond Borders is an easy way for me to support children without families, families in crisis, and the people who travel to help them.

 How did you learn about Quilts Beyond Borders?  Oddly enough, I learned by reading this blog several years ago.  As soon as I found my regional coordinators, I was hooked!  Karen and Susan are inspiring, and I feel lucky to know them.

 How did you learn to quilt?  I’ve been sewing since I could reach the foot control of my mom’s Singer.  Playing with her scraps, and following her quilting techniques got me started.  I can remember how excited she was to give me a rotary cutter and ruler when they first were available. My first bed-size quilt was a project in high school home economics class with a creative teacher who saw tea towels and aprons were not really my thing.

 Where do you get quilting inspiration?  Inspiration is everywhere.  Sometimes I see colors used in advertising or nature, and jump from there.  Quilting blogs, books and magazines are always reminding me of how to play with shapes and colors.  Now that I’m in a guild, I get inspiration from other members’ projects.

 What’s your favorite quilting tip or technique?  Add an element of surprise to a quilt.  Use an unsuspected FMQ shape, an unusual piece of novelty fabric, a 3-D folded block, a piece of chenille, a flange in a border, a pieced backing.  These little surprises are like an extra gift I’ve given to make the quilt special for the recipient.  

What else should we know about you?  For 10 years, I worked with 4^th and 5^th graders during a recess craft group.  I collected donated yarn supplies and taught knitting, but also had a couple sewing machines in the room as well.  The students sewed precut blocks into quilts that we donated to children’s charities. Their excitement as the quilts were planned and completed was the highlight of every day.  There was something very powerful about watching kids making comfort for other children.  Now I’m the charity coordinator for my quilt guild, and find that same excitement as members create for people in our community.

Delleen has been a great help to me this first year as coordinator and is a great promoter of QBB as well. She definitely has a heart for children and quilting.  Thanks Delleen!

Susan Schmidt, North West Regional Coordinator

August Fat Quarter Challenge

This was a month of brilliant, exciting colors.  I received four quilts this month from Susan Seward, Superior, CO; Kathy Heagle, Johnson City, TN; Lauren Eisenmenger, Boston, MA; and Nancy Eisenmenger, Houston, TX.  If you hover over the photos, you can see who made each quilt.

I loved each one and relish the fact that they are going to make a child in need sooo happy and warm.  Thank you to all who submitted quilts to the fat quarter challenge.  You, your time and  your talent are most appreciated.

Congratulations to Susan Seward, this month’s winner of the $25 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop.  Remember, there is one month left in this year’s FQ Challenge.  You could possibly win the September $25 drawing or the full year $100 cash award.

Cheers, Karen Vanderstoep

Quilts from the Northeast Region

It’s a collaborative effort of love and talent. The creation of these 20 quilts, which have become soft, cheerful ambassadors for orphans and refugees around the world takes many hands.  From as far away as Australia and Florida and as close as CT, New Jersey, Maine and Massachusetts piecers, quilters, binders, fabric cutters and fabric donors have worked together to make these particular quilts, now destined for the Syrian refugees being assisted by The Saalam Cultural Museum. The Northeast QBB Region is a prolific and talented bunch! It is with great joy that I continue as Northeast Regional Coordinator from my home in Rhode Island.

Since many of the quilts are a collaborative effort, you can identify the makers by the picture # associated with the photo.

Picture 1: Three quilts by Sheila Hughes

Picture 2: Two quilts by Jan Baker

Picture 3: Three quilts by Debbie Hendricks, one on the left is pieced by Quilting for Christ Ministry

Picture 4: Pieced by Marsha Johnson, and Quilting for Christ Ministry; quilted by Linda Dranchak and Fran Fink

Picture 5: Pieced by Karen Matheson, quilted by Fran Fink

Picture 6: All pieced by Kelly Chladill, quilted by Terri Desmond, Fran Fink and Linda Dranchak

Picture 7: Pieced by Hong Chang, quilted by Fran Fink and Linda Dranchak; baby blue quilt by Linda Dranchak

Cheers, Karen Matheson

 

Baby Quilts for Baby Boxes

 

The majority of our quilts are provided to children to children that are in orphanages around the world, but occasionally we provide quilts to other efforts and sometimes those needs aren’t the “standard” size of 40-45″ wide by 48-60″ long . Earlier this year, one of those requests came from the Salaam Cultural Museum, who does an amazing amount of work to try and make the lives of Syrian refugees a little better and has provided hundreds of our quilts to children over the last 2 years.

This year they started a new effort to send baby boxes to refugee camps in Jordan and Greece. If you (like me!) have never heard of a “baby box”, it is a concept that started in Finland in the 1930s to help new mothers keep their new babies warm and have a place to sleep. It remarkably changed the infant mortality rate to make Finland one of the safest places in the world for newborns. The ideas has been adopted on several other continents, including the United States, and the contents of the box are modified for climates and cultural differences but the main goal is to provide all newborns with some of the basic necessities. You can read about one such effort in at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia here:                                                                                                    http://www.forgottothink.com/temple-university-hospital-program/
and one in London here
http://coach.nine.com.au/2016/06/30/14/25/why-babies-sleeping-in-cardboard-boxes-is-a-brilliant-idea#7R3Tzj4PwPmYTsYz.99

So, to assist with baby boxes for the Syrians in refugee camps, we have provided 200 quilts this year and one of our Regional Coordinators also put together an effort to provide 100 receiving blankets. I am fortunate enough to have a “secret weapon” in my “quilt posse”. Linda Roush sends me quilts every month, and she heard that we needed baby quilts so she suspended her work on the regular size quilts and sent these 6 beauties specifically for the babies. They are now at the Salaam Cultural Museum to be packed and sent to where they are needed. The baby boxes should arrive at their destination in the fall and just in time to keep babies warm in the coldest months of the year. Thank you, Linda, for helping us meet our goal!

 

If you would still like to help, you can send supplies directly the SCM by using their Wish List on Amazon. I sent some diapers and diaper pins since I can’t imagine being a mom without them!  Here’s the link:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/ref=sr_1_1_acs_wl_1?cid=A3PTNCRWSY0PNL&ie=UTF8&qid=1471269084&sr=8-1-acs

Gratefully,

Linda

 

Quilts from the Northwest

These 20 beautiful quilts went to the Salaam Cultural Museum for the Syrian Refugees in Jordan and Greece. They were made by Karen Okerstrom, Lauren Kerns, Nancy Miller, Judy Warner, Leona Ross, June Berry, Theola Breaux, Peggy Alexander, Carolyn Sower, Lana Davis, Sharon Turvaville, and Susan Schmidt. Many were quilted by Robin Reilly, Laural Hertel, Kim Walsh, Rhonda Adler, Tomme Fent, and Jessica Newton.

To see who made each quilt, click or hover over the thumbnails.  If you click on them, you’ll be able to see a larger version.   The pictures don’t do them justice.  I know they will be loved and cherished by the children who receive them, especially as the winter draws near!  Thanks to everyone for making it possible to help the children and families in the refugee camps.

Susan Schmidt   Northwest Regional Coordinator