Glancing back at 2022

 Annual Report 2023

At the end of last year (2021), a quilt was given to one of our own @St Peter's  Episcopal church,  who was dealing with breast cancer.

In Jan 2022, we sent a quilt to an Afghan woman in Windsor, CT, who escaped Afghanistan after the US evacuated the country, in the hope's to start a new life. We also sent 15 children/teen quilts to IRIS to distribute to children from Syria/Afghanistan, recently immigrated to the US.
In March, we gave three quilts to the family who escaped Afghanistan with nothing, but what they could carry (the wife being pregnant). They have kept our quilts, as they move from South Windsor, CT to continue their journey to settle in St Louis, MO.
We also sent a quilt to a Manchester, CT woman, in her 50's, who has struggled with Crohns/ulcerative colitis and been house-bound for a year. She was teaching young children and  extremely active before this disease.
In April, a quilt was sent to a 70 yr old Manchester (CT) woman, who had heart valve replacement and is dealing with other health issues.
During the summer we sent three quilts to St Stephen's Episcopal church in AL, to be given to members of their parish who are going through difficult times, in memory of the three congregants who lost their lives at that devastating shooting, during a potluck dinner.
In October, we delivered a quilt to a 57-yr old Andover (CT) man, suffering with Lymphoma.

 
Nov 2022

We've sent a quilt to Bristol (CT) Officer Alec Iurato, who was injured in an ambush, where two of his fellow officers were killed. It was delivered to the station for officers to delivered it to him.

We have 14 quilts that have been completed this year 2022, with several in various stages of work left to be done. We take the month of Dec off, but will be back to meeting on the first Sat of each month. We haven't been meeting at church during the summer, but work from home. Anyone is welcome to stop by if you're out running errands, just to see what we do (9am-2pm). Stay long enough, we may ask your opinions or put you to work.
I will try to keep you updated with our ministry on a more regular basis.
If you know of someone going through struggles that alter their normal lives, please let us know. There are very few reasons we cant accommodate a request. You can call Nancy Eaton (860-966-9072) for any questions/requests. Thank you for your continued support.

Novembers meeting was special!

 This months meeting was the last of this year. We dont meet in Dec, as everyone's schedule is pretty busy. In Jan, we will take stock of our supplies and see where we are.

Today we almost had a full house (Maria was in Israel, go figure...). But the special part was, that we had Kathy and Marilyn (AND Delaney). We were able to present Marilyn her original quilt, "Blue Hawaii", for her years of service, donating quilts to charity and never keeping one for herself! We even read her the history of it (from 2013 to 2022).

We got Maria's quilt, "Mask-Awe-Raid", labeled. It's the first quilt Maria ever put together (she had many fabrics cut out to make masks during the early pandemic- never used for masks, so we helped her put them into a quilt! Came out lovely... love the lime green (quilt on right)

Also, got another "orphan mishmash block" quilt tied, and trimmed. Now I've taken it home to turn the backing to be its binding and I'll sew that up this week!

Finished a quilt top, "Ann's Charm Swapper", but I think we need to reduce the inside light border, then add an outer border of light to it. We at least have a backing picked out.

We picked out a backing (purple batik) for the purple log cabin. We'll 'bat' that in Feb.

Added red barn boards backing fabric to our "orphan Frenzy". I think I can get it machine-quilted in the next few months. We'll wrap the backing to be the binding. The red will really perk up the edges.

Set up for the day.

"Orphan Frenzy"

Dee and Jane working up batting for our orphan quilt.

What I get to play with at home...

Three amigos...

Consulting going on...

All in all, it was a very productive day! Thanks, ladies!!!

Donated quilt this week

 We were able to give one of our quilts to an Andover, CT (57yr old) man with lymphoma. We are all praying this quilt brings you some kind of comfort during your treatments.

Comment from recipient's spouse...
"Oh my dear, the quilt left us both speechless and is a continuous blessing and reminder of the angles that walk among us. Thanks to you and all of your friends for the stitches of life, blessings to you, my dear with love ❤️ D and B"

Since we didnt have a chance to see each other in September... Oct mtg

 Yeah!!

Finally got together after missing out on last months mtg (and NOT mtg all summer).

We only had 4 of us, but we got lots done

1. Finished the binding on a donated quilt.

2. Pin-basted 2 tops.

3. Machine-quilted and trimmed one of those quilts. Marilyn's "Hawaiian Paradise" has now had the binding pinned and will go to Kathy (a member who quilts from home) to finish. This quilt will then get presented to Marilyn, who has made/donated hundreds of quilts and never kept one for herself. We've all shared in the process of finishing her quilt from the top that she made for us.

4. Decided on an outer border and flange (green batik) for a busy orphan block quilt top. 

5. Took an assessment of quilt tops to see what the plan is, going forward.

6. Decided to hold off on a trip to Mardens in Maine until Spring. Also, held off giving ladies homework until we need to work on those types of quilts. 

Nicely done ladies!

Summer news

 Here are some updates of projects done by members during the summer.

June:

Guess what just got finished?... 

Machine-quilted and binding done with a red flange peeking out.

Thanks to Kathy (long time quilter who helps us from her home), she used up some of our orphans and made 2 adorable Project Linus quilts! She also sewed the binding to this large wonky log cabin.

Got a great deal on batting! 90" wide x 20 yds for $95.00. Averages to $4.75/yd.

Cheaper than Mardens which was 8.99/yd. (And saved on the gas)

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We are sending three quilts (TBD) to be given in honor of Jane, Bart and Sharon, to three members of their congregation that are also going through difficult illness/injuries/surgeries.

For the news article regarding this tragedy, so article below....

https://apnews.com/article/alabama-birmingham-shootings-religion-1c773c7332c344e5ac30a1101cedeeef

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Boxed up 3 quilts to send to St Stephen's Episcopal church in AL, to be given to 3 people who are going through any type of illness, in memory of the 3 parishioners that were shot during a potluck dinner.

Hope they bring comfort to someone.

Last meeting for the season

 Nice meeting yesterday... even had a guest, who I hope comes back, when we commence in Sept. (We have decided to take the summer off). She's an old friend of mine that reconnected recently (online). She fun, so I hope she is able to come back as often as she wants.

We added 3 sets of bars on "Marilyn's Batiks" to lengthen her quilt. Loved what the girls picked out for widening strip on the back (purple).

Taught the group about using pool noodles to sandwich quilts (only Dee and I know the near disaster that we discovered, after she was pinned. I'm sure we figured out a quick fix on it. I took it home to repair...

Dee and I,  also pieced a backing for a teen quilt (thinking of calling it "It's My Room, So What..."). We can have the next meeting be a Sandwich Club meeting. Thanks to all the input from you ladies...