Parade of Children's Quilts

Pine Belt Quilters had a large turnout for our annual July luncheon and Parade of Children's Quilts. We had 34 new quilts brought in for the Parade, and members voted for their favorite by ballot. Makers completely encircled the room to give everyone a good look at the quilts.

The tables were decorated with red, white and blue streamers and flags, and we had a full table of delicious summer foods. In addition to the quilts brought in, members turned in 63 pillows, 15 walker totes, and 23 catheter bag covers. These will be donated to Forrest General Hospital and Marion County General Hospital. We have received thank-you letters describing how happy these gifts make the patients who receive them.

 

 



Winners  3rd - Otha Mae Edwards, 2nd - Dianne McLendon, 1st - Kathy Houseal



Representatives from five agencies were present to receive quilts. We gave each agency approximately 17 quilts, for a total of 85 quilts. Teressa Ellzey and Riley Herrin represented the Shafer Center for Crisis Intervention; Annie Jackson for South Mississippi Children's Center; Joan Harper, from the "Chain Gang" volunteers at Wesley Medical Center; and Leigh Ann Leonard from Forrest General Hospital.

Teressa Ellzey and Riley Herrin , Annie Jackson, Joan Harper, Leigh Ann Leonard



Geraldine Simmons and Betty Herring (pictured above) head up the walker totes and catheter bag covers. They write up instructions for the making of these and deliver them to hospitals. Betty and Joe Bingham look after the pillows and deliver them after each meeting.

PBQ June Meeting

Our June meeting featured the reveal of the Sampler Quilt Challenge that had been led by Donna Burges, Kim Overstreet, and Rhoda Libiez during 2012. A different block design was featured every month of last year, and members could add any other block of their choice for their quilt. Fifteen stunning quilts were displayed, and members chose these winners:  Frances Good, Ruth Byrd, and Mildred Jenkins for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place; money prizes of $75, $50, and $25 were awarded.

Frances Good (green/black--1st place) with Jean Martin and Donna Burges holding Mildred Jenkins' quilt

Ruth Byrd's (2nd place) held by Pat Faulkender

Mildred Jenkins' quilt (3rd) with Donna Burges, Susan Ellis

 Doris Dunn showed variations of the 3-D bowtie quilt with hidden pockets to introduce the workshop that she will teach the following week. Doris prefers a planned color palette over scrappy. She says “I don’t like scrap quilts--that’s like eating leftovers.”

Doris Dunn showing her scrappy bowtie quilt

 

     The raffle quilt “Blueberry Dance” (fund raiser for Children’s Quilt funds) was on display. Betty Moore embroidered the blocks and assembled them, and Wanda Wallace quilted the quilt. Tickets are $1.00, and the drawing will be held September 18. We often have to purchase solids for borders and rolls of batting to meet the needs of our projects. We donate the quilts at our July and December luncheon meetings.

Reminder: At the July meeting we will have our Parade of Children’s Quilts. In addition to our monthly work days to make quilts, we ask that each of our members make at least one children’s quilt each year. We will vote on our favorite. We also will have representatives of various agencies at the meeting to receive our current supply.

Reminder:  18th Annual MQA Educational Seminar with Nancy Mahoney, July 19th & 20th 2013 at UBC in Hattiesburg. Preregistration is required. Different class on each day; you may take one day or two days. See the MQA website for details and registration information.
     Nancy is an author, fabric designer with a 25 yr. history of quilt making. She has created over 90 quilt patterns for a variety of fabric manufacturers. She has authored 12 books published by Martingale Publishing Co. She has taught many workshops nationwide for guilds, shops and conferences including International Quilt Festival in Houston, A Mountain Quilt Fest in Pigeon Forge TN, and Road to California. Nancy believes quilting should be fun. In her classes, her goal is for students to have a good time, learn something new, and make a quilt they will enjoy for years to come.  

     Our generous members brought in 12 walker totes, 6 catheter bag covers, and 33 pillows today.      The family of former member Jo Steele donated many of her books to our PBQ library, as well as a box of fabric for Children’s Quilts. Correction in last month’s pillow count: instead of the reported 108, we had 170 turned in. Pediatric nurses say these really brighten the faces of frightened, sick children.

Parade of Children's Quilts; Christmas in July

We encourage all our members to make at least one children's quilt during the year, and these are paraded around the room for a viewers' choice vote at the July meeting. Thirty new quilts were brought in.
Many of these quiltmakers also participate in the monthly meetings to work on quilts all year long, and we could not comfort as many children without this help. We were given ballots to vote for our choice. There were so many charming quilts that it was difficult to choose, but Sally Henderson's teddy bear quilt was the winner. Two prizes were awarded--hand-dyed fabric furnished by Kelley's Pins & Needles (dyed by Mary Nell Magee). The names of each quilter who brought in quilts were put in a hat and Elaine Magee's name was drawn to receive the second prize.

Sally Henderson's teddy bear quilt, also Vivian Plummer holding Paula Jones' cowboy quilt

Kelley McKenzie of Kelley's Pins & Needles was our vendor, and we were treated to shopping time before and after our potluck lunch. We gave lots of door prizes, many patterns furnished by Lucy A. Fazely. We had a hundred members and guests at this meeting, so the food was a real feast.

We gave away 80 completed quilts at this meeting. Pictured above receiving quilts are Cherie Wright from Wesley Medical Center, who will deliver the quilts to Angie Stringer, director of Women's Services. Natisha Polk from South Mississippi Children's Services and Lisa Mann from Shafer Center for Crisis Intervention each received 20 quilts for children their agencies serve.

Forrest General's representative, Tangela Boutwell (not pictured) picked up her 20 quilts later. She also received 11 more isolette covers for the Forrest General new NICU. We had previously given Tangela 10 isolette covers, and this completes our 20 covers we promised, plus an extra! These covers had to be made in so many odd-shaped pieces that we lost count and overshot our goal. We are proud to have this interaction with FGH and be able to share our talents in ways that minister to children.

Bonnie Bolt showed us several of her Christmas decorative projects that she will be teaching at the Christmas in July workshop. She will have three patterns from which to choose. What a good way to get an early start on Christmas gifts!

Watermelon Patch Quilt Raffle

Diann Loper of Purvis was the lucky winner of the Watermelon Patch quilt at the drawing today at the Pine Belt Quilters meeting. The quilt had been displayed at the June 13 Blueberry Festival in Poplarville where tickets were sold. It was a cooperative effort by Vivian Plummer (the top); Mary Nell Magee (borders and binding); Sally Henderson (machine appliqued watermelon halves in the corners); and Susie Jackson (elaborate machine quilting).
We lost one of our prolific quilters last month--Barbara F. Parker--and her family donated her extensive fabric collection to our Children's Quilts Projects. There was far more than our storage could accommodate, so we offered some for sale to our members. The sale brought in just under $300, which will be used to purchase batting. Proceeds from the Watermelon Patch quilt raffle will also go to Children's Quilts.

Logan Brenner, Women and Children's Operations Manager at Forrest General Hospital, attended our meeting to accept 66 small pillows that our members made for the children. She is pictured with Ruth Byrd, who headed up the project. Logan said the pillows brighten the clinical environment and cheer up the patients as well as the pediatric staff, who appreciate the fact that there are so many wonderful people in our community who care about these children.
Our June program was a presentation by Shirley Wiltshire of advice on ways to organize sewing spaces and supplies. She showed slides of many storage arrangements and encouraged quilters to first remove everything from the sewing area and obtain the proper tables and shelving in order to create the most efficient use of the available space.

A very special thank you

Dear Pine Belt Quilters,

Hello, my name is Brenda Campbell I am Michael Garrett's sister I recently came across your website while researching some information on Michael's Ministry. I noticed your quilts for children article and it quickly took me back to one of my first memories that I have of my first day at the Louisiana Baptist Children's home. I was 12 years old when I went to live at the home I remember my house parent showing me my room and my bed, and handing me a quilt. My first night at the home I remember sitting in my bed crying and feeling scared and very lonely. I reached down and picked up my quilt I noticed writing on the quilt it read, "Presented to the children of the LBCH made with love the Ladies of the First Baptist Church". I sat in bed that night carefully looking at each patch I thought of these women and how much work went into making that quilt and how much they must care about the children at the home and a sense of comfort came over me. It was hard for me to part with the quilt when it was time for me to leave but for the next seven years I took very good care of it and I knew it would bring comfort to the next little girl or boy after me.

Although my quilt came from another organization, I wanted to share my memory with you and say thank you for giving your quilts to hurting children.

Sincerely,

Brenda Campbell

Quilt for Outgoing President - Jo Morton's Hattiesburg Collection

Pine Belt Quilters' outgoing president Gloria Green received a surprise gift at the December Christmas Luncheon meeting. Gloria's four years as treasurer and two years as president were commemorated by the guild with a quilt titled "Friends Who Meet in Hattiesburg." Our members live all over South Mississippi and a few out of state. Gloria is shown opening the box and displaying the label. Paula Jones talked until Gloria quit crying.

Jo Morton , quilt teacher and fabric designer for Andover Fabrics, has a line called "Hattiesburg," and these fabrics and color scheme were used for the quilt. Members made signature blocks, Paula Jones assembled the quilt, Diann Loper quilted it, JoAnn Keeney embroidered the label, and Mary Nell Magee bound it, all as a complete surprise to Gloria. She was speechless and very touched.

A long-standing tradition at our December meeting is bringing gifts for mothers and children at the Domestic Abuse Family Shelter. We brought 25 stockings and a table full of gifts to share with this agency. Becky Sims, director, and her daughter, Priscilla Sims were there to receive the gifts.

Mary Nell Magee and Linda Basden help hold one of the full-size quilts Linda Basden made for the shelter.

We also collected $580 in cash to donate to Christian Services. Quilters love to share!

Happy 99th Birthday, Leola! Still making Children's Quilts

Top left: US Army CPT Terry Partin, Martha Ginn, 1SG John Stiles, Leola Kriegbaum. Right: Leola with her great-niece Katy Smith.

We are proud of our oldest member, Leola Kriegbaum. Leola turned 99 on Saturday, November 11, 2007. She lives with her nephew and his family in a large home in Hattiesburg's Historic District. Her bedroom is upstairs, and when encouraged to move to a downstairs room, Leola declines, saying, "the exercise is good for me." She is an avid gardener and stays busy outside in pleasant weather weeding and tending the flowerbeds.

She said she made her first quilt at age nine "and the doll didn't mind how it looked." She has been a quilter for many years and is meticulous in her choice of fabrics and construction of her quilts. Leola is one of our most active participants in making quilts for children, even though she can't always attend our workdays. Her goal is to make one quilt a month and she is an inspiration to other members. She is constantly trying to use up her scraps but does not hesitate to go shopping for "just the right fabric" for a border or to combine with some fabric she has. She brings in the tops and another member layers and quilts them. She was a member of the Jackson Quilters in Jackson before moving to Hattiesburg in about 1997. We are lucky to have her in Pine Belt Quilters. Happy Birthday, Leola!

PBQ Donates 46 Children's Quilts to Camp Shelby

PBQ makes quilts for children all year long. Camp Shelby, just 15 miles south of Hattiesburg, trains thousands of US Army men and women before they are deployed. Every time our TV station (WDAM-TV 7; http://www.wdam.com/) covers a unit being deployed, with soldiers saying goodbye to spouses and children, we are moved to want to give those children something to comfort them in the absence of their parent who is sacrificing for our country.

We contacted Chaplain Col. Tom Fuller, who arranged for Chaplains Cpt. Terry Partin (left, top photo) and 1st Sgt. John Stiles (right, top photo) to attend our Children's Quilts Group on 11/06/07 and receive our current supply of 46 quilts to be placed with children. Martha Ginn is shown presenting the quilts.