Beginning to Network

We have now been in our new ‘second’ home for just over a month. After the quick trip to Houston, I returned once again to getting to know my sewing machine after my long hiatus. While in Houston, I picked up a set of pieces to assemble for a quilt for Quilts Beyond Borders. I had never heard of the organization before, but I was impressed with the volunteers at the booth in Houston.

If you haven’t heard about the organization before, here is a brief history:

Quilts Beyond Borders is a non-profit organization run by volunteers that reaches out to under-served children, mainly orphans, across the world to provide a handmade quilt and spread love and hope.  Over 153 million children in the world today have lost one or both parents.  Quilts Beyond Borders was born in March 2007 with the desire to reach out to these children.  Initially they focused on Ethiopia with the delivery of 230 quilts to orphans. Since then they have delivered thousands of quilts all over the world, including Japan, Haiti, India, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Cameroon, Burundi, Uganda, Russia, Romania, Kenya, USA, Jordan, Gaza, Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, Thailand and Mexico.

I have found that simple sewing is a great way to get my creative juices flowing again, as well as to regain some of my free motion quilting skills. The packet I brought home from Houston consisted of simple 5″ blocks to sew together. But, true to form, I can never simply follow directions. It was fun to play with a layout of the seeming random collection of squares:

However, I couldn’t resist looking through my own stash for something that might liven the quilt up a bit more. I am always amazed at the pieces I have picked up at various sales and guild meetings, knowing that eventually they would be useful. Such was the case this time:

With a little more effort this past week, I was able to sew the quilt together and get it quilted.

It will get shipped off  this coming week. I look forward to hearing where the child who receives it lives.

While I know many of us make quilts for many charitable organizations, adding in one more quilt for these kids would not be too much of a challenge. The quilts desired are mainly 40-45″ wide and 48-60″ long. And, if you only have time to piece a top, they will find someone to quilt it for you. If you would like to support Quilts Beyond Borders, you can find more info on their website.

Linking to Nina Marie’s Off the Wall Friday so you can check out what other artists are doing.