program, sponsored by Downey. If you like to quilt you should check it out. They send you all the fabric and the pattern for a child's quilt. You put it together. The only thing you have to add is the batting. Then they give the quilts to children in hospitals. They even give you a label to "sign" your quilt and then you can check on it's journey at their website. (I, of course, lost my label.)
I am what you might call a beginner quilter. I've been quilting a long time, but I don't do fancy things. I love to piece quilts together but I don't have a terrible amount of skill or patience. I heard about this program from my friend Cindy. She claims to be a beginner quilter too, but I think she is much better than me. Anyway, I got on their website, and requested a kit. The fabric they sent me was so cute and kid-friendly and the pattern was super easy. They would like to get the finished quilt back in about 4 weeks, and they would love it if you would send a second quilt too. They are figuring on a more dedicated quilt maker, who probably has enough scraps to do one of these little quilts. Yea, well that isn't me.
To piece together their quilt didn't take very long, I must admit. I had it finished in an afternoon easily. It took me longer to get around to the machine quilting. They wanted it with a little more quilting than I typically do. It has to hold up to industrial washing. Then I went looking for material to make a second one. I found a cute bundle of fat quarters all with dog prints on sale. I pieced that together in a really easy pattern of diagonal squares. I ran into a problem when I need the border and backing. Of course, the cute little dog prints were no longer anywhere to be found. Every dog print I found was done in muted colors with an emphasis on beige. My squares were bright primary colors. After checking several stores several different times, I finally went with a bright red dog print border and backing. So both quilts are finally finished and ready to send off.
Dear Downy and Children's Hospitals,
I'm sorry this took so long, but I hope the kids like their quilts. I think your program is fantastic. I hope you get many quilters, more talented than I am, to join in this effort. I know all kids love having a quilt that is uniquely theirs and I would think that would be especially true for a child in a hospital. Thanks for letting me take part.
Janet
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