Vote for your favorite 2014 "Sew Popular" quilt!

10 finalist have been entered into the "Sew Popular" category. 

(To see other prize categories you can enter, click HERE.)

It's now up to YOU to choose our winner! One lucky finalist will win a prize package valued at $1000. 

We want to thank everyone who participated, donated and sponsored in the 2014 challenge! Without your support we couldn't be so successful towards raising awareness and finding a cure. 

Let's keep our hopes up and have yet another awesome year. 2015 challenge... here we come!

Click HERE to cast your vote!

or

Check out more detailed photos from our FLICKR page!

**Voting ends Tuesday Sept. 30th**

States are finally putting the Right To Try law in effect.

The "Right To Try" law allows terminally ill patients to obtain experimental drugs without getting federal approval. 

The Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS was started by Quilters Dream Batting owner, Kathy Thompson in efforts to raise awareness and funds for this awful disease. Kathy's son, Josh was diagnosed with ALS in 2007. After many promises from the FDA and much time spent working to get the necessary treatments, Josh was denied access to a possibly life saving medicine, crippling this young man's ability to live and hindering his quality of life. 

In the video below, Kathy shares her story. 

However, there may be a bright side for patients suffering from terminally ill diseases. 

So far, five states including Colorado and Louisiana have jumped on board and put the Right To Try law in effect! 

Goldwater Institute's  Senior political advisor, Lucy Caldwell, interviews with Fox News about how this law could save many lives. 

Like most things, this law has caused debates and controversy. What's your take? Hope your state passes the law if it already hasn't? Leave us a comment. 

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

Sending quilts to ALS patients around the country.

One of the many rewarding parts of the Hopes & Dreams Challenge is sending quilts so generously donated to ALS Association chapters across the country. From there, those chapters will hand deliver the quilts to ALS patients (PALS).  Yesterday, we shipped 617 quilts totaling 67 boxes!! There are still a few more ALS chapters we are waiting to hear back from so that technically isn't the grand total. But who is really counting, right? The fact that one single quilt can bring joy and comfort to someone battling such a terrible disease is more than just numbers. 


Prior to shipping, one of our #battgirls here in the office, Neva, spent the day touching base with the ALS Association chapters to get an idea of how many quilts they needed. The response was great. Take a look at the warehouse with boxes of quilts piled up before and after!  Although we sent out 617 quilts, we could have used at least 500 more to cover all the requests we had from the ALS Association chapters! 

Ivanka and Kathy double checking each box before giving the "go" to ship.

Almost finished! Just keep sorting. Just keep sorting. 

Included in the boxes, was a letter from Kathy Thompson to each ALS chapter: 

On behalf of Quilters Dream Batting and the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS, we are pleased to send you these quilts to share with your PALS. Each quilt was handcrafted with love from quilters across the country who have given their time and talents to bring warmth to the laps and lives of individuals diagnosed with ALS.

As the co-founder and owner of Quilters Dream Batting, a Virginia Beach based business that manufactures high quality quilt batting, I knew just how generous and caring the quilt community would be. What I didn't know was how willing these quilters were to embrace the challenge and not only touch my life, but those living with ALS, including my son.

The Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS was created in 2009, when I decided to raise awareness and research funds to help find a cure for ALS. In 2007, my now 40 year old son Josh, was diagnosed with ALS. The disease has taken Josh from a strong, happy, athletic young husband and father to being completely paralyzed. He is currently on life support.

This annual challenge has been an incredible success over the years and has received thousands of quilts! More than 4000 quilts have been given to PALS through ALS chapters across the U.S. More than $80,000 has been raised through the sale of select quilts donated to the challenge and 100% of the proceeds have been given in the form of grants to support ALS research.

We appreciate your chapter distributing these quilts to your PALS. Many quilters have attached stories with their quilts- others did not. We encourage you or your PALS to contact the quilter as most are anxious to learn who received their quilt.

We are hopeful that the gift of these quilts will let PALS know that there are many people who care and they are surrounded by love and concern.

Thank you for all that you do.

 Sincerely,

 Kathy Thompson (mother of Josh Thompson)



With the holidays just around the corner, consider the gift of a quilt to a family member or friend and help find a cure for ALS. 

Select donated quilts can be purchased by visiting our Storenvy shop and stopping into Richard Stravitz's art gallery located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Because Quilters Dream Batting takes care of all Hopes & Dreams expenses, 100% of the money received from quilt sales will go towards ALS research.

Are you a quilter and wish to donate a quilt? Head over to the Hopes & Dreams website for more information. There are plenty of categories you can enter and chances to win fabulous prizes from our generous sponsors. Click HERE to see what 2015 prizes have already been sent in!

A big thanks to the staff at Quilters Dream Batting, who worked hard moving and shipping all those boxes yesterday! It was an exhausting effort, but filled with great joy and excitement for those patients who will receive a quilt.

We'd also like to say thank you to EVERYONE who participated in the 2013-2014 challenge! Without your quilt donations and our generous sponsors, we wouldn't have had such a rewarding day! 

End of year 2014 Challenge update

First and foremost, we would like to thank EVERYONE who participated in the 2014 Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS! We are currently still in the process of wrapping up the 2014 challenge.

We received SO many quilts this year and hope you will be patience with us as we continue to log them in. Once that's complete, we will be able to post our "Sew Popular" contest on our Facebook page for you all to vote! We will also be announcing the category winners shortly after that. 

August 1st marked the 2015 challenge year and we have already been getting in tons of new quilts and prize donations from many new sponsors! We sincerely appreciate your time and efforts and hope you will continue to join us in raising awareness and much needed funds to help find a cure for this disease. Stay tuned...

Ice Bucket Challenge

Why is everyone dumping buckets of ice water over their heads you ask?

If you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, lets catch you up to speed on the latest viral sensation that's getting out of hand...in the very BEST way!

It all began when Massachusetts resident Pete Frates, 29,  who's been living with ALS since 2012 and his family  came up with the idea. The challenge involves people getting doused with buckets of ice water on video, posting that video to social media, then nominating others to do the same, all in an effort to raise ALS awareness. Those who refuse to take the challenge are asked to make a donation of at least $100 to the ALS charity of their choice.

People all over, even celebrities such as the Kennedy's, Justin Timberlake, and NFL football teams have accepted the #icebucketchallenge. And since we are determined to find a cure and raise awareness for this awful disease, of course we took the challenge as well!

Those brave enough to get drenched on this sunny warm Friday (thank goodness, could you imagine this during the winter?) came prepared with bags of towels and extra clothes to change into afterwards. I even think I saw a hairdryer in the bathroom haha.

Buckets of all sizes, NONE too small were filled with ice and water to the rim! They were placed under the trees out front of Quilters Dream Batting Headquarters as 7 thrill seekers waited for a chill. Kathy Thompson, owner of QDB, decided it would be fun to "nominate/challenge" other batting companies. You will have to watch the video to see who she will choose.

Soooooo COLD!!!!!!!!!!!

Sharon

Jane

Jason

Kathy K.

Gina

Neva

How could we leave out the boss?? Kathy Thompson

We couldn't be happier to be soaking wet amongst many others in the hopes to find a cure and raise awareness for ALS! 

We hope to come across your video in the social media world. 

Meet Forever In Stitches- $1,000 Grand Sponsor

Meet the owners of Forever In Stitches, Ruth and Rick Grihalva. 

This photo captures the memory of Forever In Stitches's grand opening in 2004.
Ruth (with scissors), Rick (second from right) and son Peter (between both)

Forever In Stitches, LLC is a full service quilt shop located in northwest Ohio at the center of Bluffton. The 130 year old building houses 3,000 square feet of quilting delight. Forever In Stitches, LLC is the home of the Perfect Corner Ruler™ (which Ruth invented!)  and Raggedy Ruth Designs™. With products including more than 2,500 bolts of fabric displayed with their 5,000 fat quarters, wide backing, batting, notions, gifts, patterns, magazines, longarm services, and over 1,100 proprietary digitized quilting longarm designs...we are pretty sure their quilting customers, friends, and family can all find something to keep them busy in this shop! 

This is not the first year that Forever In Stitches have been Grand Sponsors of our quilt challenge but it wasn't until now we became aware of the personal connection Rick had with ALS. 

Twenty-four years ago I was talking to one of my best friends, Dave, and president of my company, Executive Insights. Dave Alderman asked me to raise my hands above my head. He wanted to see how difficult it was for me, which it was not. It turned out that he could not raise his left arm higher than his shoulder. Being a stout, strong man, the situation troubled him. Shortly thereafter he was diagnosed with ALS [Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Lou Gehrig's disease]. He rapidly deteriorated physically into a wheelchair. He resigned his position to seek ways to make his mark on the world before he died. As Dave moved from one level to the next, always lower, his cheerful, gregarious nature remained. Dave was fortunate that his wife, Helen, was a nurse. When you have a friend with ALS, you do things you did not think you would normally do. This is because ALS "disconnects” all of the nerves from the muscles. This makes it almost impossible to function in a normal fashion. These disconnects also include the muscles needed for breathing. One basically suffocates. Fortunately for Helen, David died in his sleep, even though he was using a breathing machine. I pray that our donation will help others.   Forever In Stitches is proud to announce that we are a Grand Sponsor of "Hopes & Dreams: Quilt Challenge to ALS."

                   
We are touched that Rick chose to sharing his story. As part of their $1000 Grand Sponsorship in prizes, Forever In Stitches has graciously donated an assortment of their patterns which include the Perfect Corner Ruler and Intersection Indicator.

If you have a moment, please click here to tell Forever In Stitches

 THANK YOU for continuing as a member of the Hopes & Dreams 

sponsorship team.  

You can also follow them on Facebook and get updates on what's going on in their shop!  

To Ruth & Rick, 

Quilters Dream Batting and the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS are incredibly thankful for your tremendous support!