Christmas 2008

Annapolis Quilts for Kids is preparing a box of quilts to ship to our friends at Project Rudolph. If you would like to help, or have fabric to donate, please contact claudinne@comcast.net

What is Project Rudolph?

The goal of Project Rudolph is to provide gift bags for military members transitioning through the airport on days leading up to Christmas, active duty service members who work round the clock to keep the airport running smoothly, injured troops at the hospital, injured warriors at transition barracks, deployed Army, Navy and Marines working in Germany and our deployed troops downrange.

Project Rudolph has continued to grow and expand, providing more than 4,000 gift bags for Christmas 2007!

Our goal for 2008 is 7,000 gift bags.

Our new goal requires more people to be involved.

• 7,000 brown paper lunch bags need to be decorated,
• 21,000 letters need to be written (3 per bag),
• 7,000 ornaments need to be made or purchased, and
• Over 2,500 bags of candy need to be donated.

The cost of shipping this much also needs to be met.

We hope to involve more communities in this effort through schools, churches, youth groups, clubs, and individual donations. Please help by sharing this information with others so that we may be able to reach our goal. Thousands of lives have been touched through this project. Those receiving, those donating, and those distributing have all had their hearts touched. For some soldiers, this was the only Christmas gift they received!!!

What you can do to help

Many soldiers have said the letters were the most important part of the bag (you can read solider responses on the website).

We need donations of these items.

• Decorated brown paper lunch bags

(use crayons, markers, photos, glitter…)

• Unbreakable, flat ornaments

( 5” across or smaller – no foamies)

• Letters of support

(handwritten only, please see below)

• Bags of individually wrapped candies

• Boxes of brownie and cookie mixes

• Money to cover the cost of shipping

Christmas Visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Our American Flag quilt now resides on the wall in Ward 68.

We met some special visitors at Walter Reed while waiting for our escort in the Lobby.

We arrived at Walter Reed 10:00 am yesterday with an enormous load of beautiful quilts, Christmas stockings stuffed with goodies, cards and letters, giftwrapped electric shavers and Girlsout cookies. Our visit began on the 7th Floor in Oncology. The first patient we visited was a young woman in a big room all alone. She saw us come in with our arms full of gifts and began to cry, she said she didn't really feel like it was Christmas until we covered her with the quilt, and told her about how kids from the 4th and 5th grade made the stocking just for her. She asked us to thank the children who made the stocking and wished us a Merry Christmas through happy tears.

The next room was another young female soldier. She looked pleased to see visitors and was greatful for a warm quilt, Christmas stocking and especially the Girl Scout cookies. She took the box of Tag Alongs and said, "these are my favorite!" Maria went back to the cart of gifts and brought in a Build-a-Bear dressed in an army uniform and gave it to her. The little bear was made by a sweet girl in the 5th grade--it brought a big smile. We left the room and looked back through the little window in the door and saw she was holding the bear in her lap studying the details on the uniform and smiling. We visited many more cancer patients, soldiers from this war and wars past. All were grateful for the company and extended their sincere thanks for the hands that created the quilts and the children that put their hearts into making the Christmas cards and stockings.

We made our way to the 6th floor and I entered a soldier's room and saw a young man curled up in a white sheet in the hospital bed sleeping. All I could see of him was his dark hair and a pair of dusty army boots still on his feet, hanging off the end of the bed. I walked in quietly and placed a quilt at the end of the bed and left a stocking, cookies and a shaver on his table.

The next room was empty, the soldier was in surgery and his belongings were piled on a chair. I noticed a pair of worn-in army boots on the floor covered in a fine dust speckeled with large dark red drops of blood. I placed the quilt and gifts on a table and left the room thinking of where those boots had been, the soldier wearing them and the friends he had left behind in Iraq.


I visited a young man who had been at Walter Reed for several months, his room walls were covered wth cards and drawings from friends, family and visitors. His right leg was broken from hip to ankle, held together with a metal halo with screws and rods holding his bones in place. His left leg was still healing from large wounds left by a rocket propelled grenade. This soldier was in good spirits and in the mood for a long chat. I asked what happened and he told me a dramatic story of being on patrol with his unit in Iraq. He and his unit were exiting a house when a rocket hit the soldier in front of him taking off both legs. The blast from the explosion pushed the first soldier into him, and killed his best friend standing beside him, as well as shattering one of his legs and a opening a large flesh wound the other. The soldier said President Bush had visited the day before, and spent some time talking while giving him the purple heart. I asked how he was doing aside from his obvious injuries, he talked about the long uncomfortable nights unable to turn over in bed and the frustratingly slow healing process. He was encouraged that he had just stood up that day for the first time in physical therapy, and looks forward to gaining strength and making progress towards recovery in the new year.

I met another soldier who had a facial injury, one side of his face severely distorted and swollen with bandages and tubes attatched. I held up a box of cookies and a quilt, he smiled and gave me the thumbs up and waved me into his room. His wife was sitting beside him holding his hand, she took the quilt and gently covered his legs with it.

Making our way to many more rooms I met some remarkable veterans I will not forget. Each of them has a story to tell, each one different and intense. I had the privledge of making a connection with several men and women as I shook their hands and met their eyes with a sincere understanding--me giving my deepest thanks to them and, they receiving my thanks on behalf of many on a very real and palpable level. Their hands were warm and strong and reluctant to let go. It was an honor and a blessing to meet and touch each and every one of them.

We had given away every last quilt, cookie, shaver and Christmas stocking when I realized I still had one last card in my bag. The card was carefully prepared by my 8 year old son with instructions to be given to a special soldier. Our escort Col. Cooper said that one of the soldiers we visited on July 4th was still there and getting ready to fly home for Christmas. I was very happy to hear that this young man had made such a remarkable recovery. When I met David in July he was unable to talk and had large open wounds left by an IED to his stomache and legs. We made our way a small lobby of the Malogne House where a friendly voice called out to Col. Cooper. A woman was sitting in a chair in a waiting area, she is the mother of a soldier staying at the Malogne house and knew Col. Cooper well. She reminded Col. Cooper of a promise to sing Christmas carols--Col. Cooper responded with an impromptu performance of Silent Night. Maria and I joined in and stumbled our way through the words, each of us recalling a different verse. For me, this was one of the best versions of Silent Night I have ever heard. Right there in a quiet corner of Walter Reed, young soldiers bundled in coats, hats, and scarves passing by on prosthetic legs and smiling at us as we sang our way through Silent Night together.

David called out to us as we walked through an outdoor patio on the way to his room. I couldn't believe my eyes, he was walking, smiling, and looking healthy and strong. He greeted me with a big hug and a hearty Merry Christmas. I studied his face and it was a dramaticly different David than the one I met on July 4th. The David in July was pale and thin and couldn't talk because he had so many tubes in his nose and mouth. I gave him the Christmas card my son made, he looked carefully at the tank and stick-people soldiers with helmets that looked like halos. A smile flashed across David's face and he read the greeting inside that said,"thank you for 'fiting' for our country". He tucked the card into the inside pocket of his jacket and asked that I send a thank you and a Merry Christmas my son. David then treated us to a few hundred photos on the computer of his new baby boy. The visit with David was the perfect ending to our day among heros at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Annapolis Lighthouse Shelter

We delivered some quilts, toiletry kits and home-made cookies to the
Lighthouse Shelter this week.

Betty sorts squares

Betty and I sorted some of her squares from previous quilts. I still liked the red Betty!

Melinda wraps quilts for the Annapolis shelter

We wrapped several quilts for infants, toddlers and older kids at our Saturday quilting workshop to get ready for the delivery to the Annapolis Lighthouse Shelter. Some ladies donated some very nice toiletry items and two of our new members (Lisa and Judy) quickly sewed up some beautiful bags to put them in.

Lizzie and Marilyn

Lizzie holds one of Marilyn's most recent beautiful creations--Rainbows and Waterfalls

Thank You Soldier

December Projects

Afghanistan: I heard about an Army National Guard Captain deployed to Afghanistan who is collecting cold weather clothing for some local kids. These children are not prepared for the coming winter and need everything from mittens to shoes. I packed up a box of some our kid-sized quilts and shipped them out today!

Annapolis: We are also making a delivery to AAMC NICU this week, as well as the Annapolis Lighthouse shelter the week before Christmas.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center: On December 21 I will be making a delivery of 90 Christmas stockings, quilts and all kinds of other goodies for the wounded soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Thank you to the Annapolis Area Christian School 4th and 5th graders, the Calvary Chapel Christian School in Auburn California, the Girl Scout Troop in Millersville for the cookies and cards, and the wonderful Quilts for Kids chapters in Tennessee, Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and Ft. Myers Florida!

The photo above is the Annapolis Area Christian School 4th and 5th graders holding the stockings they made for the soldiers and the American flag quilt they assembled to present to Walter Reed as a gift from the class.

Quilting Projects for December

It was great to see more of our quilters show up yesterday! We will meet again on Saturday December 13th from 8-12. We have a couple of quilt deliveries planned for December, one will be to the AAMC NICU, the other will be to the Annapolis Lighthouse Shelter and possibly one of the women's crisis shelters in Annapolis. We have given away so many quilts in recent months, but still have plenty more to share the children who need them in our community.

We are working on another project for the Walter Reed Army Medical Center with 4th and 5th graders from AACS in Annapolis, and CCCS in Auburn, California. The Annapolis kids are sewing Christmas stockings from heavy fabrics that we can't use for quilts, writing letters and earning a few dollars doing chores to buy a gift card for the stockings. The Auburn kids have done an awesome job raising funds with bake sales to buy some needed items for the soldiers and are creating Christmas Cards to go with the stockings. The kids are also sewing a big quilt of an American Flag to hang in the halls of WRAMC. We are very excited to work together on this project and will post photos here of our finished stockings, gifts and cards before we deliver them in December.

We are in need of a sewing machine! If anyone has one they can donate we will put it to good use! Please contact claudinne@comcast.net if you can help.

Quilts to fire victims in Southern California

The Annapolis Chapter boxed up 35 quilts to send to the kids who were evacuated in Southern California due to wildfires.

11/12/07 Update!

We received a letter from the people in San Diego who received our box of quilts:

Thank you so much to you and your quilters group for the donation of children's quilts. They were beautiful. I live in one of the burned communities and am involved in a major fire relief project that has been ongoing since all of this started. So many of the families are dispersed at this time and quite overwhelmed I might add so our main plans of attack are A) working directly with famlies we know personally B) working through a relief team (mine is Hope United Methodist) and C) working colaberatively (50+ teams) to effectively reach all famlies.

I delivered the quilts to the Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Poway, California where an event called a Free Store took place this past Saturday. I chose this particular event because it is close in location to a community, Ramona that has 300 fire families below the poverty line, and thus uninsured or underinsured. This event was open to any family that had a FEMA registration card which means anyone whose home was lost.

The volunteers were ecstatic to receive the quilts as bedding is one of the big needs. So, a huge thank you to you and your group. I just came home from serving a Free Turkey Meal to fire fighters and fire families tonight in Ramona. It is a humbling experience to be with people who have experienced such loss yet they are trying hard to stay upbeat and keep going. The quilts and other acts of kindness are what they are relying on to bring peace during this challanging time. We are all so greatful that people across the country or pouring out their kindness to help as these families begin to build their lives. All the best to you and your quilters. I am so glad there are people like all of you in this world caring and loving those who need it!

Blessings to all,

Beth Preece Foster

We have a new Quilt Photo Gallery!

I created a new blog to showcase our quilts. I will continue to load the older quilt photo to the quilt gallery over the next few days, so check often! The link to the quilt gallery is: http://annapolisquiltgallary.blogspot.com/ and there are instructions there for posting your own photos when you finish a new quilt. It is very easy, just send an email to the address and attach a photo. Within a minute or two the photo will show up on the blog! Just hit the refresh button to see it.

Mariner's Church Quilting Workshop

Paula and the ladies from Pieceful Quilters at Mariner's Church in Annapolis have made some beautiful quilts for the Annapolis Chapter of Quilts for Kids. Paula recently made the big delivery to the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital--Thanks Paula!

Lizzie goes batty for quilting!

One of our younger quilters, Lizzie, is busy working on a purple quilt with her Grandma, Marilyn. Lizzie was very happy to have moved up to a bigger sewing machine recently, no more kid stuff for this serious quilter.

Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital

My trusty helper Paula from Mariner's Church delivered over 50 beautiful quilts to the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital Thursday October 4th. Mt. Washington provides inpatient, programs for infants and children with rehabilitation and/or complex medical needs. The caregivers at Mt. Washington strive to stabilize children with chronic medical illnesses, as well as maximize their developmental skills and meet their emotional needs.

Col. Cooper's Quilt

I made this quilt for Col. Cooper at WRAMC out of some remnants from making soldier quilts. Without Col. Cooper I would not have been able to bring all of those quilts to the our wounded warriors. I have been blessed beyond words for the opportunity to meet so many of the brave men and women who have chosen to serve our country. I hope to continue making visits to WR and warming toes and hearts with our quilts.

Amy's Quilt

This one is for Amy in California.

Johns Hopkins Pediatric Cancer Center

The Child Life Specialist at JH holds one of the soft flannel quilts that will be given to the patients.

We made a delivery of 20 beautiful flannel kids quilts today at the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Cancer Center in Baltimore, MD. We also stopped by to visit Shannon and her mom Bonnie. Shannon is going through a really rough week, you can read about how she is doing on her blog.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

My happy helper Michelle B. takes charge of the quilt cart on the 5th Floor

We spent the day with our wonderful escort Col. C. at WRAMC.

I arrived with almost 70 beautiful quilts and a few tote bags loaded with a quilt and girlie-smelling things for the female soldiers. We also brought letters for each soldier written by 4th and 5th graders from the Annapolis Area Christian School, the Naval Academy NAPS School, and the Calvary Chapel Christian school in Auburn, California. We read a letter to each soldier and provided an addressed return envelope so they could write the kids back.

Before we entered the building we met a female soldier who was blinded by an IED blast being pushed in a wheelchair by her friend. She was fairly outgoing and curious why we were there and what we were unloading out of my car. My friend Michelle who came to WR with me placed a quilt on her lap and the soldier stroked the quilt with her hands and loved it. As she was pushed away in her wheelchair we could hear her asking what color it was and she liked the softness and the feel of it.

We entered the hospital and began making the rounds around the main floor. The first room I entered was a Sgt. who had a reputation with the nurses for smoking way too much and giving them grief. The Sgt. had lost both legs in an IED blast. He had a big smile when we came in with quilts--he picked a brown plaid flannel one and covered himself up with it.

I entered another room and met a young man who had been hit by sniper fire in the stomach. He was sitting on the edge of the bed with bags and tubes attached, and his mom was sitting on the floor putting socks on his feet. He picked a red white and blue quilt, and teared up when we read the letter to him. His mom quietly mouthed the word thank you through more tears.

We walked to another ward and stopped to look over the list of soldiers. We noticed an older woman in front of the nurses station in her hospital bed, it looked like she was moved out of her room for a new view, she was quietly watching the activity whirl by. My friend Michelle noticed her and grabbed one of the female soldier bags and brought it to her bedside. The woman's face lit up and she smiled so big--the nurses rushed over to her and made a big deal out of her response, encouraging her to talk and respond more. They took a fuzzy pair of socks out of the bag and held them to her cheek, and she smiled more--then they placed the socks on her feet and covered her with a beautiful quilt with colorful pansies and little brown bunnies. I have never seen anyone smile so big! The nurses said it was her first day she agreed to come out of her room in a very long while.

We handed out most of the quilts and met some wonderful people and family members. Our escort decided to take us to a couple of areas that normally do not get visitors. Our last stop was the ICU. Our escort received permission to bring one of us in at a time--it was a very busy place with some very serious injuries. I had one quilt left, it was a big quilt with lots of green and deer and trees. We had held this one for someone special without knowing who that someone would be. I found him in the ICU. I stood in the doorway and saw a big strong muscular soldier in a hospital bed with tubes, wires, beeping monitors, his breathing assisted by a ventilator, swollen face, and a long incision from his sternum down past his waist. I spoke with his mom and she said today is the fist time he has been partially conscious--he had just been told that he had lost both of his legs in an IED blast. His mom held the quilt and said that he would love it because he loves the outdoors and loves to go hunting. I walked out with my eyes full of tears and such a heavy heart... I could feel that moms fear and pain for her son. We remained in the hall for a few minutes and my escort went back in and told the mom about some family resources that were available for her. She came out and walked with us to pick up some needed items and thanked us for stopping by. We thanked her for her son's service and sacrifice.

A Day Among Heros at WRAMC

Saturday workshop

Booklets from Tyndale House

I would like to say thanks to Tyndale House Publishing for sending a big box of booklets on Heaven to give to the soldiers at WRAMC. I will be visiting WR this coming Saturday with some volunteers to hand out 80 beautiful handmade quilts from Quilts for Kids chapters all over the USA! Thank you so much!!

Shannon's Finished Quilt

Here is the finished quilt we made for Shannon! Please keep Shannon in your thoughts and prayers for the next few weeks especially--she is in the hospital right now and her mom is by her side.

Fabric Donation from Sharon

The Annapolis Chapter of Quilts for Kids recently received a very generous donation of fabric from the daughter-in-law of a local quilter named Sharon. The daughter, Rayne F. said her mother-in-law recently passed away and had a left a treasured stash of beautiful fabrics and partially completed quilt projects.

Thank you Rayne for thinking of us! We are greatful for your generous donation and will make very good use of the fabrics making quilts for sick children in the Annapolis area.

A Quilt for Shannon

We have a special mission... a beautiful young girl named Shannon at BACC is very ill with an aggressive form of cancer. I would like us to join together and make a quilt for her. I emailed her mom and asked her for her favorite colors--she said whites and creams.

How about we each make one or two 12 inch square quilt block(s) of any design in creams, whites, and soft pinks.

Our next workshop on August 11th sounds too far away to get this done, Shannon is going through Chemo now. I know some of us are still on vacations, but whoever can help on this special quilt please do! When you are done with your 12 inch block leave it at the church office and I'll pick them up and make the top.

Betty and I can get together and put the quilt back on and finish. Sound ok to everyone? Please leave a comment here if you plan to make a block so I can figure out how many we will need.

Thank you!
Claudinne

Soldier's Wish List

I asked what the soldiers at Walter Reed needed, and I received a response today from the Col. who coordinated our visit.

These are some of the items needed:
Weight Lifting Gloves for Wheel Chair Bound Patients
Electric Razors
Stamps
Business Card Organizer
Laptops

If you can provide any of these items, please send me an email, or deliver the items to the Bay Area Community Church during office hours. (link for BACC is in the column to the lower left)
I will make sure they get to the soldier's who requested them.

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

July 4th 2007

I spent my day with three other volunteers at Walter Reed visiting wounded soldiers and delivering about 75 hand made tote bags filled with bibles, books, cd's dvd's, gift cards and other creature comforts assembled by some very generous people at Bay Area Community Church in Annapolis--and toiletry kits assembled by the kids at the Severna Park Middle School Lions Club. It was an experience to say the least--it shook me up and changed my perspective. Some of the soldiers were fresh from the field, some had been there for months and have a long road ahead. Most were missing arms and legs, some missing parts of their face, all were gracious polite and thankful for some warm conversation and a diversion from the usual.

I talked for a long while with a Special Forces soldier who had an RPG come through the windshield of his vehicle. He was operating a 50 cal. machine gun when he was hit in in the upper right thigh, severing his femoral artery. This soldier kept shooting and took care of the enemy who fired the RPG, then collapsed and nearly died. He is looking forward to healing so he can return to his team and finish business--it's his third tour and he loves his job.

I also met a young man who was hit with an IED in the chest. He had a broken jaw and a feeding tube, so he could not speak, but his eye contact did all the talking necessary. His fiancee was in the room when I brought in the bag of goods, he was glad to see some company. As I was talking and saying thank you, he reached out his hand and grabbed my hand--a warm strong grip that didn't want to let go. He held on for a long time and maintained strong eye contact as he teared up, I was already crying... still he did not let go. This young man had just received a purple heart the day before by President Bush who visited Walter Reed. I said I didn't have a medal, but had some Girl Scout Cookies for when he could eat again. He let go of my hand and gave me the tumbs up for the cookies, and we said goodbye--

I met a young beautiful woman named Monique who was hit in her right temple by AK 47 sniper fire, I asked what she was doing when she was hit and she said she was just walking to her room. She said she gets terrible headaches and has double vision, but thanks the Lord she is alive to talk about it. The bullet ripped through part of her brain, and she will be staying at Walter Reed for a while as she receives therapy for the TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury).

I met another young man who was out in the sunshine for the first time with his mom pushing his wheelchair. He said he was hit by sniper fire, the bullet entered his right chest, tore through his intestines and broke his femur before stopping in his left thigh. He pulled up the leg of his shorts to show us the bullet--he was proud it was visible, but said it was quite itchy.

The last young soldier I met for the day touched me the most. He was walking down a path outside and I noticed that the lower half of his face was distorted, some of it missing. He had a large scar running from below one ear, across his neck to the collar bone. He had most of his upper lip, but it looked like the lower had been re-created from skin from another area, it looked like most of his teeth and palate were missing. He stopped when I offered him a handshake and a bag of goodies, said "thank you ma'am" and he wished me a happy July 4th.

I wanted to share my day with you to remind you how blessed we are to live in this country, how young men and women are fighting hard for us in Iraq and Afghanistan, so we don't have to fight this enemy on our own turf. What you see on the evening news is a distortion of reality--if you want the truth go spend some time with a soldier who just left the fight. All of them wanted to return to duty and wanted to finish the job they started. The next time you drive down the road and see a yellow "Support the Troops" ribbon magnet on car bumper--let it be a reminder to pray for the soldiers fighting to keep us safe from an RPG coming through the windshield of our family car here on U.S. soil.

Tote Bag Update

I tended the Soldier Support table today in the BACC Bay Cafe and very quickly handed out over 50 Wounded Warrior Tote Bags. I ran out of bags after the first service! Thank you to everyone who picked one up!

I will be sewing more bags this week and they will be available next Sunday. Some people who did not get a tote will be bringing their items in a plastic shopping bag, and will transfer the items to a tote bag on Sunday.

Delivery of the bags is expected to take place on July 4th by the older kids in the BACC Youth Ministries with their fearless leader Rick Gebauer. I will be working out the details this week with the Chaplain at Walter Reed.

Thank you to the Youth Rise Leo Club at Severna Park Middle School who put together about 50 "comfort bags" --handmade fabric pouches containing tooth brushes, soaps, shampoo, shaving kits and all kinds of comfort items for the wounded and recovering soldiers. The comfort bags were placed into the totes and handed out today.

Reminder, the filled totes are due back to BACC by next Sunday July 1st. Filled bags can also be dropped off at the BACC church during office hours this week, the phone number is 410-544-2222.

Thank you to everyone who helped sew the bags, and donated supplies or money to make this project happen!

Tote Bags and More

A beautiful Saturday could not keep our most dedicated quilters away from sewing this morning, Miss Lizzy gets an "A" for perfect attendance! :)

(Photo) Lin's Grandaughter holds a quilt she helped make for the Franklin Square NICU. Lin has been very busy making several more soft flannel and fleece baby quilts!

We missed the ladies who could not make it today, but hopefully we will see you very soon. Betty and I were chatting today and we came up with a fun idea that will involve all of our volunteers.

Before we meet again next month (July) everyone dig into their scraps of fabric and create a 12 x 12 inch block--anything goes, any color, any pattern. We'll sew them all together and make a crazy and colorful quilt from all of us.

A couple of months ago Betty, Nancy and I put together a group effort quilt in just a couple of hours at a Saturday workshop. It turned out very nice--except I was so busy chatting with the ladies, I put the binding on before doing the qulting that day. Betty spent some time this morning chatting with Melinda and I about a film class, while she snipped away at the binding, so she could quilt it without a bunch of tucks and wrinkles.

About the tote bags-- I would like to wrap up the tote bag project and possibly have them ready to distriute by the weekend of or prior to the 4th of July. Don't know if that is possible, but I thought we could try! I would like to get all of us together again (Women's Ministry and the quilters) maybe on a Friday evening or a Saturday morning at BACC and finish sewing tote bags. I thought 4th of July would be a great target date to say thank you to our soldiers, and give families at BACC an opportunity to reach out and say thank you in a personal way. Please send me an email if you would like to help!

Thanks for all the wonderful hard work ladies, each one of the quilts is a work of art that will be loved and appreciated. We are ready to make a delivery very soon, I will anounce here when I arrange a time and day with Mt. Washington Pediatrics.

Tote Bags for Kids and Soldiers

I would like to finish up the tote bags if we can this coming Saturday at the quilting workshop. If you have any finished or unfinished tote bags please bring everything to room 223 this Saturday and we will count how many we have, and sew on the handles.
We will be working on quilts also!

Ideas for the tote bags
Give them to friends, neighbors and families within BACC to take home and fill up with:

• School supplies, toys, games for kids. These bags will be handed out by the Univ. of Maryland Medical Center Breathe Mobile in Baltimore. These mobile units go into poor neighborhoods and provide medical attention to kids without medical insurance.

• Books, music, movies, sweats, socks, goodies, for injured soldiers at Walter Reed Army Hospital. These bags should include a note from the family filling the bag including a phone number and address. Many soldiers have no family nearby and would appreciate having someone who cares close by.

I found this list on a wounded soldier blog at Walter Reed--this is what they say the need:

• International Phone Card (500+ minutes) $40 If a Soldier doesn't have to buy three of these he/she can usually buy a plane ticket for their family to come see them without having to jump through all the hopes of having to have the Army buy one.
  

• Gas Cards $50 With two of these a Soldier saves enough to pay for a hotel for that family member, or with just one he can afford to pay the cab fare from DCA to Walter Reed. He could even use the gas card to have his family drive him around DC for a week.
  

• Restaurant Gift Card (national chains) The food at the dining facility (DEFAC) is good and it is cheap, but after a while it gets old. A gift card like this goes a long way for a wounded warrior that just wants something "normal" again. And being able to take a family member for dinner goes a long way towards doing that.
  

• Visa Gift Card The District of Columbia isn't cheap. So every dollar that is on that card is one more a Soldier can put back for that rainy day.
  

• DVD movies, and music CDs Life in outpatient can be extremely boring. Hurry up and wait. And wait. Movies go a long way. There is a lending library on post, but after being here for over a year I think I have seen them all. I've rated over a thousand movies on Netflix, and I am still here. So something new is always appreciated. For those that should say we should read more... I do, and even that gets stale after a while.
  

When the bags are filled, they can be brought to the BACC church office. I would appreciate your ideas, please leave a comment here!

Infant Quilt Delivery to AAMC NICU

Volunteer quilter Lin and I dropped off a batch of infant sized quilts to the Anne Arundel Medical Center NICU in early April. Lin crafted 16 beautiful soft flannel blankets and matching burp cloths for the NICU babies, and is busy making another batch for the Franklin Square NICU in Baltimore. On another note, we had another fun morning together last Saturday at the monthly quilting workshop at BACC. Betty has been busy this month and dropped off several beautiful quilts and picked up a big bag of fabric to sew more--thanks Betty!! I have also picked up several more quilts from the church drop off basket over the past few weeks, we have already collected about half of what we need for the Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital! That is amazing considering I just dropped off over 20 quilts to the Univ. of Maryland a few weeks ago. Thank you ladies!! I will be posting photos of all of new new quilts in our online photobook soon, so keep check our blog in a few more days to see all of our new additions. I hope to see you all on May 12 for the next workshop.

Date Change for Quilting Workshop

We need to change the date for the next quilting workshop! There will be no workshop this coming Saturday April 15.

The next workshop will be Saturday April 21 at 8:30 at the Bay Area Community Church upstairs in room 223.

Sunday Update

Hello Quilters,

I picked up several beautiful finished quilts from the bin at BACC today! They are so soft and colorful! I am excited about our next delivery--this one will be to the Mount Washington Pediatric Hospital. They provide inpatient, outpatient and day programs for infants and children with rehabilitation and complex medical needs. There are 60 beds for the inpatient kids, I think we can have about that many ready by April or May depending on how fast we can sew. I have 8 finished quilts in my stash now.

I added some new photos to our photo album, you can look at the new quilts by clicking here. If you see your quilt, leave a comment.

The ladies at the Pieceful Quilters group at Mariners' Church have joined forces with us! They have quilting workshops mid-week if you want to sew and socialize more often than our once a month workshops at BACC. I need a couple of volunteers to make phone calls to local businesses, if you are skilled at fundraising please send me an email and I'll put you to work. We need a little cash to buy batting and some fun kid fabrics to mix in with all of our beautiful florals and pattern fabrics.

Quilt Delivery to the University of Maryland Medical Center

We delivered 20 quilts today to the University of Maryland Medical Center! The quilts you see in the photo will be going to the kids in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and the Pediatric AIDS Unit in the Baltimore UM Medical Center. Holding the quilts are Paula M. and her assistant. Paula is the Senior Associate, Director of Development for the UMMC Foundation.

Sailboat Square

I just found a pattern for a sailboat that might look nice with some of the new sailboat fabric that arrived from P. Kaufmann! Here is the link: http://www.quilterscache.com/S/SailboatBlock.html

Sunday Update

Hello ladies!

It was so great to see all of you yesterday morning! Thank you to the ladies of the BACC Women's Ministry for helping cut fabric for the bags! We started sewing some yesterday and they are BEAUTIFUL!! We added a small pocket of contrasting fabric on the plain side on some, very cute. I will purchase some of the webbing for the straps with the money that was donated yesterday.

I have an idea for those bags, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. We have about 100 bags in this first batch with fabric for kids, and adults. We can use them for a few different projects, If you are familiar with Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child, we could do something similar. Here is the idea--

Make an announcment to the community and church body of our project. If anyone wants to participate they can pickup a bag at our table in the Bay Cafe or the church office. Each bag should include a note of encouragement, hope, thanks (to the soldiers) from the individual/family. The bags will have a tag inside that designate where they will go:

1- Walter Reed Hospital--fill the bags with things like a books, toiletry kit, snacks, pajamas, etc.

2- Annapolis Lighthouse Shelter (or other local shelters)-- Books, socks, scarf, gloves, gift cards, snacks, etc.

3- Univ. of Maryland Mobile Medical Units-- These units go into poor neighborhoods in Baltimore to provide medical care to kids. These bags can include books, school supplies, snacks, games, etc.

4- Local hospitals--send a bag of goodies with the quilts. Some of the bags will have boy/girl and an age group tag similar to the boxes with Operation Christmas Child. Fill the bag books, pajamas, socks, and toys appropriate for the age group. For these bags we might add adjustable clips to the straps so they can be attached to the side of a hospital bed or wheelchair.

Online Photo Album of our Quilts

I created an online photo album of the quilts we have made and delivered. Take a look!

http://quiltsforkidsannapolis.shutterfly.com/action/

February Quilting Workshop

We had another great quilting workshop last Saturday morning and welcomed several new quilters to our group! I picked up a big stack of beautiful finished quilts, we will be making a delivery next week to the Univ. of Maryland PICU and Pediatric Aids Program. The ladies from the BACC Women's Ministry will be joining us for the next quilting workshop on Saturday March 10th for a brief demonstration of what we do.

If you need more fabric prior to the next meeting, I have a bin of fabric available in the BACC church office as well as a bin to drop off finished quilts.

Monthly Quilting Group

Greetings Annapolis Quilters! We had our first sewing session yesterday for the Annapolis Chapter of Quilts for Kids at BACC. I somehow didn't remember that Saturday morning was THE Saturday we were scheduled to meet, so I was at home leisurely drinking my coffee until Carolyn called to ask where I was. I had my sewing machine and bins of fabric loaded in my car and on the way the church in about 45 seconds.

I apologize to our new volunteers for the chaos, but it turned out ok. We had several new ladies show up with sewing machines, smiles and willling hands to help out. I met two wonderful ladies from my home state of California, a grandmother brought her grandaughter and started sewing a beautiful planet themed quilt, a gaggle of giggly teen girls were there and started some very nice quilts, and several experienced quilters stopped by to pick up some fabric and see what we were doing. I enjoyed meeting everyone, and from all the laughing and chatting going on in the room I hope everyone will look forward to next month's meeting. At the end of the morning two ladies stopped by from Mariner's Church in Annapolis and we talked about joining efforts! I am so excited!

The next meeting: Saturday Feb 10th 8:00 am till 12:00 pm. You can drop in and out anytime, or stay and sew for the duration.

On another note, Olga and I dropped off a batch of quilts to the Annapolis Lighthouse Shelter last week. Karen, an employee at the Lighthouse is holding one of the quilts for the eight kids staying at the shelter. I received a note from the director later in the week saying that the kids loved them. Our next delivery of quilts will be going to the University of Maryland Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Please drop your finished quilts off at the BACC church office, and pick up another batch of fabric there if you need some.

Annapolis Chapter in the News

Charity creates quilts for kids

Arnold resident is founder of Annapolis chapter

By Wendi Winters

One quilt is a quirky mix of prints that make sense out of nonsense: bold red hibiscus contrasted against saucy seashells and yet another very silly image of Sponge Bob Square Pants and Patrick the Starfish wearing grass skirts. A second quilt has a repeating pattern of a sweet white rabbit on fields of Laura Ashley prints. Both quilts were lovingly made and, just as lovingly, they'll be given away to strangers.

Claudinne is the founder of the Annapolis chapter of Quilts for Kids, Inc. The primary purpose of the charity is to create quilts for kids in need.

Six years ago, founder Linda Arye, of Yardley, Pa., was attending to business at the Philadelphia Marketplace Design Center, home to over 50 interior design showrooms. She said, "I noticed more than 20 industrial-size trash bags filled with discontinued designer fabric that were to be thrown away. What a waste!"

Mrs. Arye remembered when her daughter had been hospitalized. The child was not allowed to keep her favorite stuffed toy with her. She found out many hospitals, instead, eagerly accept 100 percent cotton, machine-stitched quilts because they help comfort their young patients and are easy to clean in hospital heavy-duty washers and dryers.

Determined to "bring love and comfort to children in need" and keep tons of beautiful fabrics out of landfills, she went back and retrieved the fabrics. Not long after, with the help of friends and family, she launched Quilts for Kids.

The concept spread like wildfire. Over 40,000 quilts have been made and given away to kids in hospitals, shelters, Ronald McDonald homes and wherever there's been a need. Fifty-eight "Quilts for Kids" chapters have been set up in 29 states. Fabric manufacturers, too, have been generous, donating tons of fabrics they'd normally throw away.

Claudinne moved to the Annapolis area from Sacramento, Calif., three years ago with her husband, Bill and their two children. She was busy with work and kids, but didn't know anyone. Back in California, she'd made quilts whenever a friend had a baby.

"I still wanted to make baby quilts," she said. "So I Googled 'quilts' and 'kids' and found Quilts for Kids. I called Linda and asked how to help." Mrs. Arye suggested she start a chapter and sent her a "starter kit" of fabrics.

"Boxes started arriving... she sent ten 50 pound boxes. They were filled with high-end decorator samples. Gorgeous fabrics from Ralph Lauren, Laura Ashley and Waverly, and more."

A member of Bay Area Community Church, she appealed to its congregants for help. Carolyn Sabisch of Severna Park, who works at the church, came right over.

The church, known as BACC, is now in its brand new home at 884 Chesterfield Road in Annapolis, not far from the mall. For years, it held services at Annapolis High School while construction was underway.

"We sorted through fabrics for hours and made hundreds of color-coordinated quilt kits. They're all ready to sew; all we need are people to sew them," smiled Claudinne. After that, she established a monthly "Quilting Session" at BACC. "Quilting Bee sounds 'too old,' what's a better word for a bunch of people sitting together, stitching up a storm and having a great time?" she asked.

The Quilting Session is the second Saturday of each month, from 8 a.m. to noon. The next session is Jan. 13. For directions to the meeting, call 410-544-2222 or visit the Web site www.bayareacc.org .

"Attendees will get a bundle of fabrics to get started, a lot of fun and a bunch of new friends," Mrs. Sabisch promised.

Claudinne set up an online blog to recruit new members and update the dozen or so core volunteer quilters - www.quiltsforkidsannapolis.blogspot.com.

Some people don't stay for the meeting, she said. They just breeze in, drop off a quilt or three, and pick up new kits to work on at home. Even people who have never quilted before are welcome to try. Each session offers easy lessons for beginner quilters. The Web site www.quiltsforkids.org has a beginner's section on constructing colorful quilt patterns.

The rules for making the quilts, Claudinne said, are simple. Make 'em fun. Make 'em kid sized and attractive to children. The fabric and thread has to be 100 percent cotton and completely machine washable and dryable. For safety's sake, no hand tying is allowed - quilts have to be machine sewn to withstand tiny, prying fingers and notoriously abusive hospital washing machines.

Right now, quilters also need to supply batting and thread. All the top fabrics are provided.

A Glen Burnie woman learned of Claudinne's efforts through her own online search and got in contact. Her mother Alice had recently passed away. Alice was a quilter and had piles of fabrics in her home that her daughter was reluctant to toss out. "Come over and bring a truck," she told Claudinne.

"I went over and filled up a Dodge Ram with gorgeous quilting fabrics. Alice had started 10 large quilts and stored them in pizza boxes. I resized them and made 20 kid-friendly quilts. When I'm using her fabrics, I sign the quilt 'Love, Alice' in her memory," smiled Claudinne.

Quilts have already been donated to the Neo-natal intensive care unit at Anne Arundel Medical Center and the NICU at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore. The D.C. Ronald McDonald House is waiting for a supply of quilts, there are eight children served by the Annapolis Lighthouse Shelter who are hoping for a quilt, and Arbor House for abused women is in need.

The Annapolis Chapter is looking for non-sewing volunteers, too, to field requests and deliver quilts.

One quilter, an 8th-grade boy, made his first quilt for a family whose child was not going to survive. It was a baseball-themed comforter. "He did it all by himself. Seams puckered or were crooked and it was stitched wrong in places. But the family loved it because it was made by a kid who wanted to help their baby, it was the most beautiful one of all."

"These quilts aren't meant to be art or hang on a wall. They're meant for use, for a child's comfort."

Link to the Annapolis Capitol

Sunday Update

The Quilts for Kids table was set up at church this morning and I gave out many bundles of fabric, and ten new volunteers sign up to help. Our group has 40 people now! Not everyone is a sewer or quilter, we also have volunteers to help deliver quilts, coordinate with local businesses and make phone calls. If you just signed up today and you are not sure how to get started, please leave a comment here and I will get back to you.

Everyone is welcome to join us on the second Saturday of the month in room 223 of BACC from 8:00 am to 12:00 for a hands-on quilting workshop. Bring your sewing machines, fabric, supplies and a power strip if you have one. If your are a beginner, Olga will be teaching a beginners class to get you started. I will also have plenty of fabric on hand to get started.

We need to come up with a name for our group, send me some ideas!

We are planning to deliver 8 quilts to the Annapolis Lighthouse Shelter tomorrow evening (Monday January 8th) if anyone wants join us. Please leave a comment if you are interested.

Also this week I will be making a delivery of quilts to the University of Maryland Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. If you have any quilts close to done, please let me know so I can include them in this delivery.

Quilt Delivery

A quilt deliver was made last Saturday morning to the Franklin Square NICU in Baltimore. Heather, (far left) contacted me through the Quilts for Kids website and said they would really like to receive some of our quilts to give to families of babies in the NICU.

Thank you for contacting us Heather! We make another delivery soon!

Monthly Sewing Meetings Begin in January

I overcommitted for the month of December as usual. I'm guessing that most of us will be busy during Christmas-time, so lets begin our monthly sewing meetings at BACC in the new year. Please mark your calendars for Saturday January 6th at 8:00 am. We will be meeting at the Bay Area Community Church, bring your sewing machines!

Monthly Meetings at BACC

Greetings quilters! We had a wonderful time sorting through mountains of beautiful fabrics yesterday morning at the church. Thank you to all who helped! We decided that a monthly "quilting bee" would be fun and helpful to our beginner quilters. December is a busy month, but we thought we could try our first meeting on Saturday morning December 2nd at 8:00 am at BACC.

We will meet on a regular basis on the first Saturday of the month at the same time and place. Bring your sewing machine and thread any projects you have already started. We will have a big bin of fabric to choose from and a limited supply of batting. One of our more experienced quilters, Olga, will be giving a "Beginners Workshop" for anyone who would like to learn the basics on Dec 2nd.

Please leave a comment to this post, I need the feedback!

All Hands Meeting at BACC

We need all the helping hands we can get on Saturday November 11 @ 8:00 am at BACC. We will be sorting and bundling quilting fabric to distribute to anyone who would like to make a quilt for Quilts for Kids. We have so much fabric, we need to share with other churches in the area who would like to join in on our efforts. If you have any large clear plastic bins you can donate to store fabric, please bring them.

We will have some breakfast goodies to share while we make new friends and fold. Please leave a comment so we know how many helpers to expect.

An Incredible Gift!

I recently received a call from a woman named Rita, who's mother Alice passed away last August. Alice was obviously a skilled quilter and had collected an enormous amount of beautiful quilting fabrics and supplies over the years. Rita wanted to donate her mother's fabrics and supplies to Quilts for Kids, so we could create beautiful quilts and give them to local children who need them. I picked up the fabric yesterday and need some help sorting it all out. There is so much beautiful fabric! I am looking forward to seeing all of the beautiful quilts and smiles that will come from this very generous gift. Thank you Alice! 

Request for a quilt and lots of prayer...

We recently received a request for a quilt from Carolyn D. to go to a 5 year old little boy in Catonsville named Patrick who was recently diagnosed with cancer in his hip (osteosarcoma). Patrick began chemo last week, and has been up to the challenge so far. In about three months he will endure hip replacement surgery and another nine months of chemo. Carolyn said the family would appreciate prayer for Patrick and will keep us updated on Patrick's progress by leaving comments to this post.

I am sending out this beautiful quilt today to go directly to Patrick's house. Thank you to the wonderful quilter who made this one!

Request for Infant Quilts

We recently received a request from a local hospital NIC Unit for some infant sized quilts. The infant quilts are made of soft flannel and no batting is required--they are about the size of a cloth diaper. I delivered some of these infant quilts to the Anne Arundel NICU a few months ago, the photo is one of them. If you are available to meet at BACC one evening to sew some of these, please leave a comment with the best time/day and I will reserve a room.

Thank you!

September 3rd Update

Hello BACC Quilts for Kids volunteers! I'm happy to announce that we had 21 new volunteers sign up today, handed out 18 quilt kits and received one beautiful finished quilt as well as some fabric donations. The finished quilt was skillfully handmade by a middle-schooler young man! He did an amazing job and I'm sure his fine work will be appreciated.

The photo above is from the Philadelphia, PA chapter of Quilts for Kids delivering quilts to the St. Christopher's Children's Hospital. Our next scheduled delivery is to the Ronald McDonald House in Washington DC. No date set yet, but they offered to give us a tour when we have a batch of quilts ready!

Many of you inquired about meeting at the church on a regular basis--please leave a comment to this post if the first and third Thursday of the month would work. We can meet at BACC in the Fireside room from 7-9.

I sent invitations to join this blog to many of you who left an email address on the sign up sheet. Check your spam folder in your email if you did not see the invitation. By joining, you will have access to create your own post here.

If you don't see the Quilts for Kids table set up on a Sunday, you can drop off your finished quilts in the church office drop box.

Quilts for Kids Table at BACC

I will have the Quilts for Kits table set up again this coming Sunday (September 3rd) after the first and second services at BACC. I will have more quilts kits available to pick up, as well as a place to drop off finished quilts.

Quilt Kits

We passed out about 40 quilt kits at BACC today! I am looking forward to seeing the finished quilts in the weeks and months to come. We had volunteers of all kinds offer to help--some very experienced quilters, non sewers, beginners and even an offer for sewing machine repair!

When the kids return to school in a few short weeks the Sisters in Stitches will meet again at BACC on Thursday evenings. More on that later...

Quilts for Kids will be back at BACC in the Bay Cafe in two weeks to hand out more quilt kits and receive any finished quilts.

Instructions for Quilt Blocks

I found a link that has lots of FREE instructions for making quilt blocks. This quilt is called the "Friendship Block". I adjusted the measurements and made one big block instead of many small blocks. Be creative!! 

Quilt kits ready to pick up

We have assembled about 50 "quilt kits" that can be picked up this sunday at the Bay Area Community Church after the first and second services. Look for the Quilts for Kids table in the Bay Cafe. Directions and service times for BACC can be found here.

Anne Arundel Medical Center Pediatric Unit

 

Anne Arundel Medical Center Pediatrics

We made our first delivery of finished quilts to the Anne Arundel Medical Center Pediatrics unit lat week! The Pediatric unit has a need for isolette covers for the very little ones in the hospital--Please send an email to claudinne@comcast.net if you are interested in helping.

-Claudinne

Quilts for Kids--Welcome

Quilts for Kids, Inc transforms discontinued designer fabrics into quilts that comfort children with cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening illnesses as well as battered and abused children. The Annapolis Chapter serves the greater Annapolis, Baltimore, and Washington DC areas.

We need sewers and helping hands! Please contact claudinne@comcast.net if you would like to help.