Bragging rights for the 2014-2015 Challenge Year!

2014-2015 

WRAP UP

We would like to thank everyone for their participation in the 2014-2015 Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge. Through continuous support and spontaneous giving, this program has been an incredible success thanks to all of our generous sponsors &  quilters!

We'll just cut to the chase with a breakdown and acknowledge the winners for the challenge categories!

We have collected 913 quilts this year and that's not including all the other  creative items that we can sell with 100% of the  funds going towards ALS research!

We have given the ALS chapters over 600 quilts to be distributed to PALS (patients with ALS).

Your quilts have given these patients hope and have definitely warmed their laps and hearts! 

Thanks Pat for donating 75 quilts AND delivering them to us in Virginia Beach!

We had 13 quilt guilds participate in this year’s challenge for a total of 168 quilts and well over 100 various quilted items!

 The Virginia Beach Modern Quilt Guild generously donated 51 quilts. 

Three shops participated in this year’s challenge but it was Around the Block Quilt Shop that took home the trophy donating over 40 quilts.

Our professional quilters always are so generous with their donations. Joe & Bunny Filer won this category! 

   

In our Sew Creative Category, Hill 'N Hollow Quilt Guild of Mountain Lake,  Arkansas donated many items: runners, wall hangings, bags. These items will be great sold at local craft shows and festivals will all proceeds going towards ALS research! 

  

Did you know that donating just one quilt/creative item gets you a chance to win some awesome prizes?? That's right! Everyone is entered into a general drawing and 3 winners are picked at random. These lucky ladies scored some great gifts for participating! 

Also, as part of Quilter's World Magazine's sponsorship, 10 random winners will be chosen to receive a free one year subscription!

Last but not least we have the Sew Popular Category. This one is fun and we would LOVE for you to join! This year 12 quilts have been chosen. Each quilt is photographed at various angles and posted on the Hopes & Dreams website to be voted on for the duration of a week. 

The quilt with the most votes will receive a Baby Lock: Tempo sewing machine! Second place winner will receive prizes valued at $800 and third place a prize box valued at $500. 

Pretty awesome right? The new challenge year (2015-2016) has begun. We've already received lots of boxes filled with quilts. And our sponsors are amazing! Check out the PICS of what we have so far. We are constantly adding photos so be sure to keep checking in to see what YOU could possibly win. 

Once again, thank you! Your support of Hopes & Dreams is truly immeasurable in providing Hope to our Dream of a Cure for ALS!

Vote for your favorite quilt on Sept 3rd at 

hopesanddreams.quiltersdreambatting.com

Wrapping up the 2015 Challenge year!!

   My name is Kathy Kent and  since coming to Quilter’s Dream Batting, I have been the one to log in each and every quilt that we receive for the Hope and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).  I am a hand quilter and have truly developed a love and appreciation for machine quilting.   The beauty in the stitches is incredible.   I never knew machine quilts were so gorgeous.   So much more goes in to making the quilts than you could ever imagine:  choosing the fabric, pattern, backing and the batting.  It is truly a gift of love.

Being a quilter myself, you can imagine my excitement when receiving quilts every day by mail!    These quilts are stitched with love in memory of a treasured one or simply just because. Whether machine quilted, hand quilted, tied, large or small, each quilt is unique and special.   My job is to open the packages, photograph each quilt, thank their owner then display the quilt on Facebook.  I then separate the quilts to either be distributed to ALS patients all over the country for comfort or set them aside to be sold with 100% of the proceeds going towards ALS research! 

Sometimes we get a little overloaded with quilts, the table behind my desk is piled high with quilts. 

 Quilters are so generous with their time and passion. We receive quilts from guilds, shops, individuals, professional quilters etc. Did you know that you could be a winner of fabulous prizes including Quilters Dream Batting, fabrics, notions and books by simply donating one quilt? The photo below explains each category and prizes that could be won. 

  

Click HERE to see exactly what our generous sponsors have donated!

The pictures and letters of ‘thank you’ we receive from PALS (patients with ALS), are so heartwarming. Truly touched by your quilts, these patients are so grateful for the gift of love that they receive!  

Teri received her quilt from the DC/MD/VA ALS Chapter

                                               

Bill was thrilled to receive his special quilt which will keep him nice & cozy in his favorite chair. 

Janet from Clenton, MS sent this pic along with a thank you note. She says it makes her feel so  warm :)

    

We will soon begin wrapping up the 2015 Hopes and Dreams Challenge. 

Please keep in mind quilts or creative items MUST be postmarked no later than July 31, 2015. Anything dated after that will be entered into the 2016 year challenge. 

We are still hoping to get many more quilts to pass along to our PALS.  Surpassing last year’s total would be wonderful.  

Thank you in advance for all of your donations and your generosity!!!   Hope to see your quilts in my office soon.    We love our quilters!

Kathy Kent
Hopes and Dreams Coordinator 

Grand Sponsor Guest Blog: Judy Martin

                                                                                    

Hi everyone,

I’m Judy Martin. I design quilts. I make quilts. I write quilt books. The first was Log Cabin Quilts, written with Bonnie Leman in 1980. The most recent was Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts, released last fall. In between I wrote 20 other books, including Scrap Quilts, Pieced Borders (with Marsha McCloskey) and Stellar Quilts. To see those books and many others, click HERE.

Over the years I've invented 5 tools, the most popular of which is the Point Trimmer. It allows you to trim the nub off any patch that comes together at a 45-degree angle. This helps you perfectly align neighboring patches and helps reduce bulk. I've also designed several fabric lines.

The most unusual quilt-related thing I've done is design a game called Quilt Show, which has only recently been released. My husband and I are avid game players, and in 2009 we entered Quilt Show in the Rio Grande Games Design Contest. Our game was one of four winners. Our prize was to have the game published by Rio Grande Games, the leading American publisher of European-style games. Quilt Show is a game for 2-4 players. The things you do in the game are the same things you do as a quilter: You collect fabric; you turn the fabric into quilt blocks; you turn the blocks into quilts; and you win big cash prizes at the game’s three quilt shows! 

Right now I’m working on a quilt for a contest. Until this year all the quilts I made were specific projects for whatever my next book was. It didn't hurt that I really liked most of them, but there was always that other motive: It had to be appropriate for the book I was writing. Let me back track and tell you about the last quilt I made.

"The Fabric of My Life: 1969-2014"
Featured in Quilters Newsletter
Dec/Jan 2015 issue

Earlier this year I designed and made a quilt for Quilters Newsletter’s 45^th Anniversary Contest. The quilt had to be exactly 45” square. Since I have been making quilts for 45 years and used to be a senior editor at Quilters Newsletter, the contest was just calling my name. It was a labor of love. I plowed through my fabric, itself the accumulation of 45 years, and cut one patch from each of about 2100 different fabrics. Each fabric almost dripped with fond memories of where it was purchased or how it was used in previous quilts. It was like finding an old scrap book in the attic.

So I made this quilt, in part to enter it in that contest, but primarily because the project spoke to me. The quilt will never be patterned in one of my books. I simply made it because I wanted to, and what a wonderful feeling that was! Oh, and the quilt was the first runner-up in the Quilters Newsletter contest and will be on display at Quilting LIVE! in Atlanta, September 11-13, 2014.

Now back to my present project. Since that Quilters Newsletter contest experience was so good, I didn't hesitate when another contest piqued my interest. I suppose there is a chance this quilt I’m sewing right now could end up in one of my books, but it doesn't matter. I’m enjoying the process of making it.

I choose to support the Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for a couple of reasons. First, I can’t imagine the horror of watching a loved one succumb to this terrible disease. The mother in me wants to help in some small way.

The other reason has to do with giving back to someone whose products I use. I use Quilters Dream Batting for all my quilt projects. So when Kathy Thompson (owner) of Quilters Dream began this program, I was naturally more receptive. It’s human nature to help those who help you.

It would be nice if a year from now I didn't have to sponsor the Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge because a cure for ALS had been found and the disease had been eradicated. More likely, one more year isn't going to be enough to wipe out ALS. But one year can make a difference, and eventually we’ll get there.

Judy Martin
http://www.judymartin.com

You can join me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/QuiltingWithJudyMartin

Read about Judy our Featured August #battgirls