With a board of directors, a slew of volunteers and a few staff, they do a pretty bang up job sharing quilting throughout the nation.
In 2016, a few decided to hatch a plan of making 1,000 quilts for kids in care at Ronald McDonald Houses. A committee was formed and plans began, to start the huge undertaking of the Big Quilt Bee.
Quilters across Canada were asked to make blocks, tops or finished quilts. The goal was to have a final Big Quilt Bee in conjunction with Quilt Canada 2017 in Toronto ON, and finish up the remaining quilts to reach the 1,000 quilts.
Quilters didn't just come on board, they jumped on board with enthusiasm and excitement! Not only did quilts come in, but stories that touched your heart and brought tears to your eyes. Kids, adults, grandmas, all got involved in making quilts.
But there is another side that you may not know about. In order to finish the quilts at the Big Quilt Bee at the national conference, supplies were needed. Lots of supplies, from sewing machines, to batting, to backing, to thread, irons, cutters and so on.
Here is where the story got interesting. In the business world, competition among brands is a healthy thing. We also knew that we needed these brands to all be in one room in order to make this work.
We needed alot of machines to put in the Big Bee room, from domestic, to sit down long arm to stand up long arm. We started by asking one brand, Janome. They instantly came on board. Then we moved to Brother Canada and it was a resounding yes. To Handi Quilter, Bernina, Grace Co., Gammill, Husqvarna and Pfaff and the same answer every time. No one refused. All these brands in one room for one cause - to help kids in a time that is stressful, scary and unknown.
It didn't stop there, we needed backing. J.N. Harper came forward with bolts of backing, Riley Blake Designs and International Textiles did the same. WonderFil and Coats & Clark jumped in with thread as did Kawartha Quilting Systems.
Batting came from Hobbs Batting and Contemporary Sewing Materials. And all the notions like irons, cutting mats, cutters, H.A. Kidd came through on this.
Truly CQA/ACC has the most incredible sponsors ever!
We are currently sitting at 800 completed quilts made and our organizer is banking on 200 to be finished at the Big Quilt Bee at Quilt Canada June 14-17 in Toronto. Here you will see quilters and brands working alongside each other with one goal. 1,000 quilts for Ronald McDonald Houses in Canada.
Please join us at the conference or on social media to watch as our sponsors and our quilters reach this incredible milestone!
I am so glad you choose this as your big 150 project. Our guilds ( I belong to two) challenged us to come up with blocks. I ended up sending 2 tops to the project. All the time thinking of how it was giving back. My dad spent many years going back and forth to Sick Childrens. There was no Ronald McDonald house then but he was given a bear. That bear remains in his room at home. He is 85 and still working every day. Great project and I hope there is a way we can continue to make blocks or tops to give some snuggle value to kids. We know the item means a lot to the children.
ReplyDeleteEach and every time I have organized a quilting event, the companies and individuals I approached have been exceedingly generous with donations, information and support for our quilters. Hurrah for their support of this special project!
ReplyDelete