November 2024: Community Quilt donations
Linda Wesley and Deidre Gold from the Cranbrook Quilters Guild presented these quilts to Lori Bender with Canadian Mental Health for Cranbook Transition House and Second Stage Housing
These quilts were donated to the Oncology Department at the Cranbrook Regional Hospita and were accepted by Erica Kwasney.
Many other quilts were donated to these organizations as well:
- Cranbrook Regional Hospital Maternity and Pediatrics Wards
- Women’s Resource Centre
- Kootenay Child Development
The following photo shows just some of the quilts that have been donated by guild members to be given to various community groups in December of 2023.
The Cranbrook Quilters' Guild provides quilts for community needs as they arise.
In 2023, guild members donated quilts to families and individuals that were affected by the fire on the St. Mary’s Reserve. In 2020 and 2021 guild members sewed and donated over 400 cloth masks. The quilting community also sent over 25 quilts to Lytton, BC after the fire in summer of 2021. Members have donated quilts to Quilts of Valour, an organization that supports injured Canadian Forces members with quilts of comfort.
Women sew and knit and crochet in response to tragedies and loss worldwide. These efforts meet a need for both the maker and the recipient. The recipient is reminded that someone, anonymously, has taken the time to provide care and love and encouragement in a real and useful way. The maker finds a place to channel their creativity, sympathy and kindness into a tangible and helpful gift made of the materials that give comfort to all of humanity…Stitch by stitch we work through the emotions that relate to the times we are living through. (Dermenjian, Joanna. 2021. And the Women Sewed On, Canadian Quilter (Spring 2021). p.74-76
Currently, quilts are donated locally to:
• Oncology Department, EKRH
• Maternity Department, EKRH
• Pediatric Department, EKRH
• Transition House
• Better Babies
• Friends of Children
Past projects include: making placemats for the Meals-on-Wheels program (2008); making bereavement bags for the Emergency Department of EKRH (2010); and making pillow cases for The Oncology Department of EKRH (2016-2017). The guild also contributed quilts to the Rock Creek fire aid, the High River flood aid and the Fort McMurray fire aid.
Guild members are encouraged to contribute to the Community Quilts program by:
• making one quilt per year
• volunteering to bind or machine quilt some of the quilt tops
• joining the group on Tuesday mornings to hand-quilt
• joining the group on Wednesday evening to sew, bind, or whatever is needed
• or joining in other similar projects.
Guidelines for donations to the Community Quilt Committee:
Please follow the guidelines for quilt sizes.
The guidelines for quilt sizes are:
Baby size 48" X 54"
Child size 60" X 72"
Lap size 54" X 68"
Twin size 60" X 84"
Double size 80" X 88"
The quilt needs to be quilted with a maximum 5 inch spacing.
No buttons or beads please as they can be a choking hazard.
As all quilts are donated anonymously, a Cranbrook Quilt Guild label is to be sewn on the back of each quilt.
We would like to have you display your quilt the evening you donate it, during Show and Tell.
Members may get a panel to use in creating a quilt from the Community Quilt Coordinator or create a quilt from their own stash or the guilds' stash. Members may select stash fabric at any meeting or on Tuesday morning. Panels are purchased by the Community Quilt Coordinator. Batting is also available for community quilts, and a member can be reimbursed once a year for the cost of backing/binding for a donation up to the cost of $75.
Deidre G., Linda W. and Terri J. will coordinate the collection and distribution of community quilts.
Drop off your completed quilt in the cupboard downstairs. Please attach a label (in a box in the library cupboard) or a small tag attached to the binding that says “Cranbrook Quilters Guild.” Attach your name with a pin and paper and it will be recorded and you can track where the quilt was donated.
