A Good Saturday

For over ten years Quiltmaker has supported Project Linus in their efforts to give handmade quilts and blankets to kids in need. In years past we’ve held a Make-A-Blanket day in our office where volunteers spent the day making quilts and buying fabric from QM’s stash of “stale” fabric (more about that in a second). This year we had to try something different that didn’t take as much staff time to prepare.

This year we held a fabric sale and the admission fee was either a handmade quilt or $20 and then we sold our “stale” fabric–all to raise quilts and money for Project Linus.

What is “stale” fabric you wonder? Many fabric manufacturers send us sample fabric before it’s available in stores, so that we can select fabric for the quilts and color options that we make for the magazine. We work several months in advance so, by the time the fabric appears in stores, it’s “stale” fabric that is too old to go in the magazine. But of course, it’s still perfectly wonderful fabric to use in quilts. So we clean our fabric room out and Project Linus benefits from the money raised in our sale. It’s mostly small samples and fat quarters that we sell by the pound.

Last Saturday we had people braving the early morning roads following a wintry storm on Friday for our fabric sale. They brought 64 quilts for local distribution to kids. Plus the sale raised over $1300 for Project Linus. What a great day! Thanks to all who came and supported Project Linus–can’t wait to see what you make with your treasures.

• Quiltmaker’s Project Linus patterns are available free at quiltmaker.com/projectlinus.
• Want to get involved? Find local Project Linus chapters.

Thanks also to Caroline Reardon, former QM Editor and longtime Project Linus supporter, Sue Kroepsch, Project Linus Volunteer Extroradinaire, and Deb Nickel, QM home sewer and Project Linus fan, for the time you invested organizing and running the fabric sale.