Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Charity Quilt Kit Assembly


We got at least fifteen quilt kits assembled yesterday at The Flower Cottage on the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus in Raleigh. These will be for small, 40-inch or less "Quilts on Wheels," for senior citizens in rest homes. Our guild basically has a room in the cottage available to store fabric, and we had eleven huge boxes of color-sorted fabric to work with, plus some bolts. Some of this was donated by families of deceased quilters, and there were some bolts and large pieces donated by the owner of Archangel Quilt Shop when they closed.
Jean and I were met by another CyberBee member, Roberta, who works nearby at N.C. State. I was disappointed in The Flower Cottage, as the little house is not well-cared for, had no charm, and had a musty smell. It is surrounded by other small homes that probably once were provided for staff members at Dix Hospital. One of the nearby homes had beautiful windows with leaded arch designs. Sadly, all the buildings have peeling paint and a shabby appearance. The hospital is scheduled to close, and the local developers are salivating over the chance to add condos, office buildings, and shopping to this beautiful green campus with huge oak and pecan trees. My camera's battery died after just one pitiful picture.
Since it is at least a 45-minute drive from Wake Forest, I decided to go ahead and bring home fabric for the kits I am to provide in January. We signed up for different months to sit at a designated table at Guild meetings, take in finished quilts and give out new kits. There was a large stash of homespun plaids as well as some outdoor-themed novelty fabric with cabins, moose, etc., so I took home a bunch of those. They were destined to go straight to the washing machine to get rid of any musty smell.,

Will try to finish two other small quilts on the longarm today, but don't have the backs ready yet.

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