We had a speaker from Sojourn House last month, a group that provides an essential lifeline to refugees coming to Toronto to escape unlawful persecution.   Assistance is in the form of counselling and housing; they are the helping hand and the umbrella of hope for refugees while they begin to rebuild a life. The quilts made by YH members go a long way to bring warmth, colour and beauty into the lives of their clients.

A former guild member, Alia Awan, heard the speaker and was moved to make a substantial donation of batting to Community Quilting. Her donation was so generous – ten boxes of packaged batting – enough to make one hundred and twenty (120!!!) comfort quilts. The dollar value was a thousand dollars. Community Quilts and YHQG sends a great big THANK YOU to Alia Awan for her generosity. Many, many people will benefit from your big heart and generous gift.

As mentioned at the November Guild meeting, the large influx of Syrian refugees means that a large number of quilts will be given as gifts of warmth, welcome and beauty. The Fairlawn Avenue United Church has already furnished an apartment for the family they are sponsoring, and we provided quilts. In a thank you email, they wrote: ” They are beautiful quilts and will help to make this a warm and welcoming home for the  family”.

A number of guild members have contacted me requesting quilts for their sponsoring organizations. Every attempt will be made to provide at least two quilts per family…. and more if we receive more quilts from guild members. Please, DO get in touch with me (at yhqg.community@gmail.com) to add your group to the list.

So many quilts, quilted sandwiches and tops were brought to the Community Quilting table…..the volunteers were so overwhelmed that accurate record-keeping of all contributors went awry. Thanks so very much to all who contributed….we’ll make a concerted effort to ensure that, in future, each and every one will be acknowledged here in this newsletter.

For the January Guild meeting, you can look forward to participating in a good old-fashioned quilting bee.   There are three different activities for which you are asked to bring your portable sewing kit including small &/or large scissors, needle, thimble, needle threaders, a 6″ ruler, marking pencil and thread, plus a mug for tea or coffee.

1. You will have the opportunity to learn ‘how to’ do Hexies. Jan McGoey has done much preparation in ‘fussy-cutting’ for this project.
2. Another option is putting together slab-blocks that will form the basis for blocks for comfort quilts.
3. Lastly, Bev Stevens will be demonstrating the best way to handle all those various fabrics used to assemble a touch quilt. We need three or four people to bring their sewing machine to assemble a touch quilt. So we only have the required number, PLEASE, contact me – Wendy Dines – yhqg.community@gmail.com – to sign up for one of these spots.

FOR SALE :   A Little Gracie II quilting frame….”It’ll turn your personal sewing machine into a home quilting system”. It’s made of engineered hard birch wood, aluminum and plastic, with steel roller bearings. It’s yours for $200 AND all the proceeds will go to Community Quilting! For a full description, go to wwwgraceframe.com.

Contact Wendy Dines yhqg.community@gmail.com to arrange a demonstration.