Sew Popular Voting and on the way to Houston!

The voting is underway for the 2013 Hopes & Dreams SEW POPULAR contest.  There are eleven quilts that have been selected for the SEW POPULAR contest.  The winner is the quilt that receives the most votes.  How do you vote?  Click on the photo of the quilt that you like and then post a comment saying that you like the quilt and cast your vote for that quilt.  The voting will end Tuesday evening October 22 and the winner will be announced Wednesday, October 23.  Click on the picture of the quilt below and it will take you to the Hopes & Dreams Facebook page where you can view all eleven quilt photos and cast your vote!

Click on the photo above to be taken directly to the 2013 Hopes & Dreams SEW POPULAR category voting.


This week is a busy one for us at Quilters Dream Batting.  We are finalizing all the plans for the 2013 Houston International Quilt Market.





The Houston Quilt Market is Saturday, October 26 through Monday, October 28.  We would love to meet as many of you as possible during our stay in Houston.  Stop by and visit us at booth 951.

 

 

Packing for the 2013 Houston International Quilt Market & Quilt Festival



Lots of boxes have been packed and are headed to Houston, including this box.  We are thrilled that Quilts, Inc., the event management company that hosts the Houston International Quilt Market, asked Quilter Dream if we would like to showcase the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS with a seven (7) booth display during the Houston International Quilt Festival, October 31st - November 3rd.  

Quilters Dream Batting owner Kathy Thompson preparing the written descriptions of the Hopes & Dreams Quilts
that will be on display at the 2013 Houston International Quilt Festival October 31 - November 3.

There are a total of nine (9) quilts that will be a part of Houston International Quilt Festival.  We set up the exhibit a week from Tuesday and will make sure you get a front row seat in our next blog post.  We hope you have a terrific week and we look forward to meeting many of you in Houston.

Your grateful Hopes & Dreams Coordinator.

Our 5th Year of Hope

We kicked of the 5th Annual Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS on August 1st and have shaken up the challenge a little bit.  Some categories remained the same and some changed.  The "Sew Lovely," "Sew Generous Individual," and "Sew Popular categories remained the same.  For those that might not be familiar with these categories -

Sew Lovely 

Everyone individual that donates a quilt is entered to win great prizes from our fabulous sponsors, such as fabric, books, patterns, notions, and Quilters Dream Batting totaling $1,000.

Sew Generous Individual 

The individual who donates the most quilts during the challenge year (August 1, 2013 - July 31, 2014) will also win a $1,000 worth of wonderful prizes from our sponsors, as well as Quilters Dream Batting

Sew Popular 

The top 10 to 15 quilts submitted in the challenge year are posted on Facebook and voted on by our friends.  The individual submitting the quilt that receives the most votes will likewise enjoy $1,000 worth of great prizes and batting.

The four categories we are shaking up a bit are "Sew Generous Quilt Guild," "Sew Generous Professional," "Sew Generous Quilt Shop," and "Sew Creative."

Sew Generous Quilt Guild

The Quilt Guild that donates the most quilts in the challenge year will receive $500 worth of Quilters Dream Batting and other great items from our wonderful sponsors totaling $1,000.

Sew Generous Professional

The Professional Quilter, Longarm Quilter and/or Quilt Teacher donating the most quilts will win $500 worth of Quilters Dream Batting and other great items from our wonderful sponsors totaling $1,000.

Sew Generous Quilt Shop

Quilt Shops donating 20 quilts are entered into a drawing to receive $1,000 in Quilters Dream Batting. Quilt Shops will earn one additional bonus entry for each quilt donated over 20.

The category that has changed significantly is "Sew Creative."  Many of you have expressed an interest in participating in the Hopes & Dreams Challenge and you sew, but don't make large quilts.  This category is for you.

Sew Creative

Fabric postcards, handbags and accessories, miniature quilts, mug rugs, paintings, placemats, tablerunners, table toppers, wall quilts, watercolors and more.  These items will be sold to raise funds for ALS Research.  All donations will be entered into a drawing to win a $250 gift card.

We still need quilts and that is our priority - to warm the life, heart and lap of an ALS patient.  However, many people want to help in a way that allows them to use their creative talents and this category welcomes your participation knowing 100% of any profits from the sale of your donations goes to ALS Research.



Josh and Joy Thompson

 



As most of you know, the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS was created to raise awareness about ALS and research funds for ALS research shortly after Josh Thompson was diagnosed with this devastating disease.  Josh's lovely wife Joy is often asked about how she feels to see so many people participating in the JT Walk and Hopes & Dreams.  We leave you with her words of love and thanks to each of you.

          First and foremost I want to thank each and everyone of you for your love, kindness and      generosity.  Our story, mine and Josh, began about 11 years ago. I was leaving a store and someone had opened the door for me. I looked up to say "thanks" and  gazed into the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. If the world could have stopped turning (cue in the music and birds encompassing us in a whirlwind of love) it would  have been in that exact moment.  At least for me.

A few months later we met at one of our favorite restaurants for drinks and appetizers.  Josh wasn't completely sure if he had the right girl in mind so he had a good friend come along, just in case.  Needless to say, I AM the right girl and three years later we had a fairytale wedding surrounded by our loving family and friends.

But our fairytale wasn't written like the traditional story. Less than a year into our marriage, and one month prior to our first son Wyatt's birth, we were given the most horrific and hopeless news imaginable. Josh has ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. We were all so devastated. I was in a state of shock and denial.  "No, no way....that is not our story.....they don't write fairy tales like that!"

Since that day in March 2007 I have learned that we have to write our own story.  One few have to write. But now a story influenced more by fact than fiction.

Our love story is based on the most recognizable book ever written.  We have learned that LOVE never fails; LOVE never dies; that HOPE, COURAGE, PATIENCE,  FORGIVENESS,  and FORTITUDE are the best lessons in life.

To have a belief that everything is the way it is for a reason....a higher purpose.  And that has led us to you.....our family, our friends, your family and your friends. This wonderful collaboration  of love, friendship, hope and generosity! We thank each and everyone one of you. 

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you for becoming part of our story. It would not be complete without you.  Without the support from OUR FAMILY and FRIENDS.

God Bless!

Much love,
Joy Thompson

A Brother's Love

Many of you know that the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS was born out of the love of a mother who knew that the only way another mother would never face the devastation of ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease would be to find a cure for this 100-year old disease.  While Kathy Thompson and her staff at Quilters Dream Batting were creating the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS to honor her oldest son Josh, her youngest son Chris was also determined to raise awareness about Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Chris and Kathy Thompson
 

Chris and Josh Thompson are very close.  When Chris learned of his brother's diagnosis he worked with his friends to create what has turned out to be one of, if not the, largest walks for ALS in the country.  It's called the JT Walk and this Sunday, October 6, thousands of people will gather on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk to raise funds for ALS Research and provide services to ALS patients.

In the last 5 years over 30,000 people have walked to stomp out ALS.

Team Leaders recruit new members and ask friends and family to sponsor their walk on the Virginia Beach boardwalk.  Chris and Kathy have a team if you would like to make a donation.

Speaking of donations, August 1 marked the official beginning of the 5th Annual Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS and your boxes of quilts have started to arrive.  We're shaking things up this year and have new prizes for some favorite categories and have changed one category completely.  We will visit all the categories in the coming weeks. Here's a look at the new Entry Form cover.

 

While people all over the Hampton Roads/Tidewater Virginia area embrace Chris and his older brother Josh this weekend, you have equally embraced their mom Kathy these last four years.  As a result, you have provided renewed strength to Kathy who continues to fight for a cure.

 



 

Wishing you a peaceful and safe weekend!

 

 

Your Thankful Hopes & Dreams Coordinator



 

 





"Remarkable Craftsmanship"

 

The words jumped off the email and made us smile.  The note was from Chris Clouse of Tiffin, Ohio. 

 

"I WON your quilt from the South/Central Ohio ALS Association through which our daughter attends support group meetings."

 

Wind Rose Quilt Guild

"The beauty and craftsmanship is remarkable and the colors perfectly match our newly painted bedroom.  It has a special warmth that only a PAL (person with ALS) would understand.  I feel so fortunate to have received it and wanted to let you know how much your generosity is appreciated."

The quilt was from a member of the Wind Rose Quilt Guild in New York.  We are not sure which quilt she received, but the quilt pictured above is one of the 32 quilts the guild sent in to Hopes & Dreams.  The South/Central Ohio ALS Association Chapter helps all their PALS believe they are winners when they gift them with a quilt.

As does the  ALS Association DC/MD/VA Chapter.

ALS Association DC/MD/VA Chapter Care Services Coordinator Jennifer Mundy (kneeling)
with PAL Anna and her Hopes & Dreams quilt.

Jennifer Mundy, Care Services Coordinator of the DC/MD/VA Chapter, wanted to share several pictures of PALS with their Hopes & Dreams quilts. 

Barbara and Kirby of Southwestern, Virginia

"Words really can't express how meaningful your work is or what an honor it is for me to be able to distribute the quilts on your behalf," writes Jennifer.  "I get to see first hand the joy, love, and comfort each one brings to the PALS receiving them."

 

Linda and her Hopes & Dreams Quilt.

 

 

"Your act of compassion means so much and I, along with the PALS that I serve thank you for your work!" adds Jennifer.

Each quilt brings joy and comfort.  This was expressed so clearly in a recent note from Joan Deye of Maryland -

"I would like to tell you about one of the many quilts your group has sent to the ALS Association. I facilitate the caregiver support group in Montgomery County, Maryland. A young woman attends regularly, who is the daughter of a PALS (person with ALS). Her mother lives in St. Louis, so she tries to visit every three weeks. Needless to say this has been very hard on them both, given the fact that she has no siblings. Those of us in this group feel like we know her mother because of what we hear and she seems like a wonderful, loving mother. Because I started to feel so deeply about this person, that I had not met, I asked her daughter to take one of the (Hopes & Dreams) quilts to her. This lady just loved it and had it over her all day in her wheel chair.

Several months ago St. Louis was struck with those bad tornadoes. Mrs. L could not get to the basement for safety so she and her husband huddled in the bathroom. They no sooner got in there when she asked her husband to go back out and get her quilt. She told him she knew she would be safe with that covering her.

I think this just shows the far reaching impact your project has. It is like wrapping your arms around someone. Thanks for what you and your group are doing and continue to know that your work is not forgotten."

As we begin the 5th Annual Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS may these words bring a smile to your heart knowing you are making a big difference - one quilt at a time.

Hopes & Dreams Coordinator

The Ties that Bind!

"Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learned how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future." 

~ Nelson Mandela

 

 

This past Saturday, August 17, was a big day for Hopes & Dreams.  As the morning fog was lifting in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Mary Anne Fitzgerald, owner of Mary Anne's Antiques & Things Quilt Shop in Covington, Virginia was busy turning the banquet room of a local church into a quilting room for the day.

 

Covington is a small city totaling 6 square miles and is nestled in the middle of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Southwest, Virginia.  Here's a fun fact for you - from a distance the mountains look blue and are that way due to the trees, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their distinctive color.

 

Mary Anne invited us to visit, so we did.  Armed with sewing machine (which ended up being used by a volunteer who pieced rail fence quilt blocks for PALS - persons with ALS) the beautiful scenic drive was topped only by the beauty of the town's generosity in supporting the day-long Hopes & Dreams Sew-A-Thon.

 

We shared lots of laughs.  Mary Anne (standing in the above photo) invited the entire town to participate and Mayor Tom Sibold, Jr. (sitting) accepted the invitation.  He was determined to piece together one full block and received some assistance from fellow quilt volunteer Deborah Broughman (sitting to the right of the Mayor with 'seam ripper' in hand!).

 

Not to be outdone, J.B. Broughman (above), Covington's City Manager and Police Chief, showed up and learned how to sew that perfect quarter inch himself.  There was a lot of 'stripping' going on, as well as pinning, pressing and binding.  We even learned how to tie a quilt using multiple needles and a whole lot of string.

And there was a lot of reflection - about life.  What we learned in the course of sharing quilting lessons is that one of the ladies excited about participating in the Sew-A-Thon died suddenly the week before the event.  We learned through some tears that in the past five years two of the ladies in the group lost their husbands to ALS.  And in talking with the Police Chief we discovered that his uncle, who helped raise him after his father's passing when he was 12-years old, also suffered and passed away recently from Lou Gehrig's disease.

With the help from co-worker Gina Thompson, we tried to capture the day through pictures and interviews and put it all together in this You Tube video.
 

 

We left Saturday evening with a backseat filled with quilts for PALS and lifelong ties that bind us together in our common goal of creating awareness and much needed research funding for a treatment and cure to ALS.  We were fortunate that the journey back home was pleasant, except for one detour and even that made us smile.  (Do you see the coffee pot?)

 

 

Like a good cup of coffee, the 12-hour Sew-A-Thon in Covington, Virginia was rich, warm and filled with plenty of strong support for finding a cure for ALS - one quilt at a time. 

Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS

 

 

And now...a word from our SPONSORS!

All of us here at Quilters Dream Batting love when our UPS and USPS men visit us each day.  They may not feel the same after carrying hundreds of heavy boxes into our office.  We all love the surprise and find ourselves guessing (sometimes out loud!) what gifts await in the brown colored packages.

 

 

When this box came in I confess I did not want to open it.  The box and it's contents are from Angela Walters for one person in particular - the winner of the 2013 Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS "Sew Popular" category.  Well, Gina had other ideas and twisted my arm to open the box (she didn't have to twist hard!)  

 

 

 

 

Can you pick out the message?  Angela shared with us that she lost someone very dear to her this year who passed away from ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease.  She wanted to honor her friend by becoming a Grand Sponsor of the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS.  Specifically, Angela wanted to provide the entire $1,000 gift package for the "Sew Popular" category winner.  This  "QUILT" features fabric designed by Angela which highlights her fabulous quilting.  

 

That's not the only thing in the box.                 

 

 

 

 

Angela pulled out all the stops for the winner.  She included two of her books, a copy of Quilters World Magazine, yardage of her very own fabric "Textures" that she designed for Art Gallery Fabrics.  There is much more, including lots - we mean LOTS - of Aurifil threads. 

 

This is only HALF of what the "Sew Popular" Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge winner will receive.  Angela herself will be mailing a $500 check to the individual that receives the most votes from you in our Facebook voting (coming up in a few weeks). 

 

The boxes didn't stop with Angela's.

 

 

Justin Hancock of Hancock's of Paducah sent their Grand Sponsorship prizes, too.  We are keeping these boxes closed until it's time to prepare the boxes of goodies for winners.  We know what Justin sent - FABRIC!  Last year we were blessed with Justin's gift of fabric to send to winners.  In fact, the winner of the "Sew Generous Professional" category last year, Joe Filer of Illinois, along with his wife Bunny used the fabric they won to make quilts and gift them right back to Hopes & Dreams this year.

 

 

Each quilt is lovely and Bunny writes, "Most of my quilts are wild and bright and 'out there.'  Usually if you want a place for your eye to rest - you just need to look away!"  However the fabric Hancock's of Paducah sent included some with ducks printed on it.

 

 

 

Bunny said this quilt was a little unusual for her, but is a little more relaxing to the eye and may be just the right quilt for the right person.  We know it will be!

 

So a big THANK YOU to Angela and Justin for being gracious and generous Grand Sponsors and to YOU for being as gracious and generous with your quilts of love.  We know our PALS (patients with ALS) get just excited when their boxes arrive as we do when yours arrive at Quilters Dream Batting.

 

Your Grateful Hopes & Dreams Coordinator

 

 



Finding a Cure for ALS - One Quilt at a Time!: Super Saturday Sew-in's for Hopes & Dreams

Finding a Cure for ALS - One Quilt at a Time!: Super Saturday Sew-in's for Hopes & Dreams: Saturday, August 17 is becoming a big day for Hopes & Dreams.  Next weekend in locations approximately 2,700 miles apart there will be d...