In Mid November I had the pleasure of once again teaching my "Fun With Free Motion Quilting" class, this time to a group of quilters from the Parksville area who are members of the local group of Victoria's Quilts (Victoria Branch) B.C.
I created this class to teach some basic Free Motion Quilting skills such as knowing when and how to adjust the machines tension for beautiful stitch quality, what needles work best with your machine, how to choose the appropriate needle for your chosen thread and /or design and of course how to stitch a variety of designs.
This wonderfully generous and talented group of ladies wanted to improve their free motion quilting skills so that they could finish their charity quilts more quickly and with a greater variety of machine quilting designs.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable day with everyone stitching new designs with great success.
Though these lovely ladies have so far been too modest to share photos of their beautiful stitching they have kindly supplied me with photos of just a few of their recently completed donation quilts.
What is Victoria’s Quilts
Victoria’s Quilts is a non-profit
Canadian registered charity whose mission is to provide handmade quilts to
people living with Cancer in Canada. By providing these quilts the group seeks
to bring physical comfort to those undergoing treatment as well as the
knowledge that they are not alone in their struggle. The community cares! You
can learn more about Victoria’s Quilts Canada here.
Who was Victoria ?
Victoria Ann Morrison was a wife, mother,
grandmother, and the best friend of Deborah Rogers, the founder of Victoria's
Quilts in the United States. She was also a cancer patient. One of the comments
she made about her chemotherapy was that she got cold while she was laying in
the treatment facility waiting for the day’s infusion to be over.
After Victoria’s death Deborah remembered Victoria's comment about being cold and wanted
to do something. Since Victoria made so many quilts in her life time, Deb
thought that this would be a good place to start. Victoria took the fear out of
quilting by saying, "People aren’t perfect – why do quilts have to
be?" Out of this grew Victoria’s Quilts.
To learn more about Victoria's Quilts in the United States, visit
their web site at Victoria's Quilts
How
the local chapter came to be
When (Parksville) founding members Joan and Stephanie heard
that there was only one group in Victoria who were supplying all the quilt
requests for British Columbia they decided to get a group going to help with the
demand. Within a few months they had gathered over 30 women who now meet once a
month to help.
Fundraising
Victoria's Quilts rely largely on donations to raise money to buy fabric,
flannel backing and batting to make the quilts.
The Parksville group also has yard sales,
bake sales, advertises in the paper for donations and works at the yearly Sandcastle competition in Parksville.
Most of the materials come from the kindness the quilters themselves who
give so generously of their time and fabric!
When (Parksville) founding members Joan and Stephanie heard
that there was only one group in Victoria who were supplying all the quilt
requests for British Columbia they decided to get a group going to help with the
demand. Within a few months they had gathered over 30 women who now meet once a
month to help.
Fundraising
Victoria's Quilts rely largely on donations to raise money to buy fabric,
flannel backing and batting to make the quilts.
The Parksville group also has yard sales,
bake sales, advertises in the paper for donations and works at the yearly Sandcastle competition in Parksville.
To date the Parksville group has donated 257 quilts in this area and given over 150 to the Victoria group who mail all over British Columbia.
Each year the requests increase as the public becomes more aware of the program.
All local quilts are hand delivered at the members expense (Duncan to Campbell River) as the mailing costs are prohibitive.
Between the Parksville and Victoria groups 860 people have received quilts at no cost to the requester of the quilt or the recipient.
If you wish to donate funds (you will be
issued a tax receipt) or fabric to the Parksville chapter please contact;
Stephanie
Szymczak, 611 Attenborough Street, Parksville, V9P 1A5.
stephanieszymczak@shaw.ca
250-248-0110 /cell 250-937-0588
All fabric for piecing must be
good quality 100% cotton
Only 100% cotton flannel may be
used for the backs (As per Victoria’s Quilts rules).
Simply follow the
links above to donate to other branches across Canada.
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