Sending hugs and warmth

Back in January the education committee from the AuSable Quilt Guild challenged its members to a jellyroll race quilt (note we weren't actually racing to make it,  just using the construction design).  Since most of the members are well-seasoned quilters, if they've already made this style quilt or have no desire to make one, they were offered the opportunity to make one as a charity quilt for the local Foster Kids Program.    These quilts would be handed out to children as they were removed from their homes and placed in a new environment.  The education committee even offered a twist on the race with the spinner design.  

I tackled this project head on.  I made my own jellyroll strips from my stash fabric and purchased new fabric to fill in.  It was fun to see the fabrics randomly move around as they were sewn together.  A jellyroll race quilt finishes approximately 50" by 64".  

So I made my first quilt and it went together in a snap.  Knowing it was going to a great cause and more fabric on hand I made a second quilt.  A great friend came to visit and I quilted her newly made quilt and she loved the idea of donating to the Foster Kids Program so she handed me cash to buy more fabric.  Well, that became quilt number three and four.  But wait,  I now have more leftover fabric so I went and bought more fabric to use it up, hence quilt number five and six.  A few months later my friend came to visit again and again left cash to make more quilts.  With our combined contributions came quilt seven and eight.  If my friend didn't live so far away I'm sure we would have sewn more quilts together, but eight is a number we both are proud of.

Here is the group of all eight quilts.

The above quilts were made in the traditional jellyroll race style using straight edge joining and mitered edge joining.

These three quilts were made with a twist called the spinner.  It uses the same concept as the jellyroll race, but a group of random strips are cut at an angle and resewn together for the center spin.

Last but not least, this quilt was made from flannel.  I had leftover precut squares that were 7" so I incorporated them randomly into this quilt.

Thanks to the partnership of a great friend, we both send love, hugs and warmth to these kids and hope for a good future.  A message to these kids - know that there are many people who care about you.