National Quilting Day

Tomorrow is National Quilting Day. This is a serious day, unlike National Iron Your Hair Day or National Eat a Kosher PIckle day. Really! It's been celebrated for nearly twenty years, with events held in quilt shops all over the country.

Over that time, it has morphed into a holiday for doing something for the community at large, not just celebrating the community of sewers. Quilters get together and sew projects for people in need. Charity quilts, comfort quilts, whatever they're called, the result is the same.

Making quilts for others is a long-standing tradition. I have a friend who has quilts under her bed for unborn great grandkids, graduations that are ten years away, and marriages that might never take place. For many quilters, after the needs of the family and extended family are met, they turn to sewing quilts for charity.

Quilts are being made for premies, for war veterans, for nursing home residents, for troubled teens and for the homeless. Kids taken out of violent homes often receive a handmade quilt. Quilts are made for the survivors of war, or terrorist acts. The recipient tell of feeling wrapped in love.

My local guild, SCVQA, has a long-standing Philanthropy Committee that makes flannel receiving blankets and quilts for kids. Last year, guild members donated nearly one thousand items to local charities. I'm pretty sure that our numbers are in keeping with most of the quilt organizations across the nation. That's a lot of quilts. What amazes me is the sheer number of requests that we get. Seems like the number of unfortunate people who could use a quilt never diminishes.

So if you have the notion tomorrow, make a block, or a quilt top. I'll be sewing on a binding for a quilt that someone else pieced. This small quilt will be passed on to someone who needs a little comfort.