I recently attended the American Quilters Society quilt show in Paducah, KY. For the past several years I’ve been volunteering at the Quilts for Love booth during the show. The booth is set up with machines and supplies provided by Babylock and fabric and batting donated by Calico Country. It gives attending quilters the chance to sit down and sew for charity. They can sew as much or as little as they like and when the show is over all of the finished quilts are donated to a specific charity. In the past the booth has partnered up with Project Linus. This year it was paired with Anna’s Quilts, a charity that distributes quilts to children with cancer at Cardinal Glennon Hospital in St. Louis. This is an amazing project!

The great folks at Calico country pre-cut and rolled coordinating fabrics and batting so as soon as the quilters arrived they were ready to go. All of the quilts were assembled using a quilt as you go method on Babylock Enlighten sergers.

Wait, you didn’t know you could quilt on a serger?! You can, and it is so fast and easy! It’s a great method for large projects that you would like to get through quickly. I’ve pieced a king size log cabin quilt top together in six hours before on a serger. They’re wonderful things! We were able to finish the quilts on the sergers using the Wave stitch along their outside edges.

Over the course of the quilt show, with the help of hundreds of quilting hands, we were able to complete 29 quilts! A huge thanks to all of the wonderful ladies that stopped by to sew a few seams. I know that all of your work will be greatly appreciated!

Are you working on a sewing project that requires many different fabrics such as a quilt or maybe it’s a cute little dress for your little girl? Many times when cutting out you fabrics I find myself tossing the scraps… well do not throw them away but donate these fibers to your locale animal rescue or animal shelter. These simple donations help keep the animals clean and comfortable before they are adopted. By this simple contribution, you will bring a smile to the shelter and all of the animals that live there.