Sewing With Nancy

"Quilt." The term itself means comfort. When sewn with love and given to a child suffering with a life threatening illness or to a child who is a victim of abuse the comfort of this quilt is exponential. I'd like you to welcome Bob Urquhart. Bob is the chapter director for Quilts for Kids the Illinois chapter. He is a champion for providing quilts to those who need them most. Bob, welcome. Thank you, Nancy, for having me and allowing me to be here. When I first met you and talked with you you told me that one of the first quilts you made was for Quilts for Kids. That's correct. I was starting on a quilt from your ombre quilting show but I decided that, after doing some research that Quilts for Kids was a charity that I wanted to become associated with. They had a two-fold mission. To make quilts for children who were seriously ill and to also help keep fabric out of landfills. A lot of fabric is dumped if it's not sold. So, Quilts for Kids would take donated fabric and make these quilts for children who were suffering usually from cancer or some form of abuse. They are fun. The four-patch is kind of the style that you encourage. Right, and it's a very easy pattern. The only block that is actually assembled by the quilter is the four patch. Everything for the quilt except the batting and the thread is provided in a pre-cut kit that we send, free of charge to anyone requesting them from our website. I think this is amazing. You get all the instructions. You've gathered the instructions. You have a little brochure, and you even have a label. Right. So that if you don't have the fabric at home in your stash you can certainly just find it through the website. We'll reference that a little bit later. The sizes, they're not that large. No, they're about 42" by 48". Those sizes, we found, are really good for children up to about age 8 or 9. We do ask, if quilters are more experienced and able to make a larger quilt, up to like a twin size because we do serve children up to 18 years old that are in the hospital. These are 100% cotton so that they can be laundered, and loved. and used. Right, and these aren't quilts to be just hung on a wall. They're meant to be used by kids, drug around. Comfort. Comfort, yes, that's correct. As an Illinois chapter, you have donated these quilts locally. Correct. We have donated our quilts to Children's Memorial Hospital to their oncology unit. They've requested approximately 50 quilts per month. It's a pretty big challenge. Yes, it is. If you're not in the Chicagoland area you will find on our website references to Bob's website of the Illinois chapter so you can work with your local chapter. But you give this great kit away. Right. That's so wonderful. That's what makes us kind of unique from other quilt organizations. You mentioned that one of the most heart-warming things or portions of your donation is to go to the hospital and present these quilts. Right. To see the child's face light up when they're receiving chemotherapy and they get one of these quilts is just an unbelievable experience. A couple weeks ago, right before Thanksgiving we went and donated quilts. It was just a truly memorable experience. The gift is always in the giving. That's correct. It definitely comes through the love that is put into the making of these quilts. You're a relatively new quilter. Oh, definitely, yes. Less than a year. Look what you have done! To prove that you were worthy of being the chapter director you made the first quilt, submitted it. Right, got it approved. But I think a lot has to go back to you because without your inspiration-- You're sweet. Bob, I thank you. I know that many of our viewers will be going to your website finding it out. If you'd like to find out more about this program

I'd like you to go to

NancyZieman.com and click on "Nancy's Corner." At Nancy's Corner, you will be directed right to the website for Quilts for Kids the Illinois chapter, and Bob's great work and all the others that are with it. Also at NancyZieman.com, you'll see additional episodes and you'll see my blog. There'll be a lot more information there. Thanks for being with us for this first program of "Sewing A to Z." Bye for now.