Celebrate! Good Stitches
It's time to Celebrate!
do. Good Stitches {a charity bee} has been making modern quilts for charity since it began as just a few quilting circles summer of 2010. We're combining the fun and community of a virtual quilting bee with a wonderful reason for being - to bless and serve those in need with a tangible expression of love. Our bee is composed now of 24 circles, each circle made up of 10 sewists. Each month each circle works together to make a quilt for their chosen charity. This all happens over at Flickr, a free online platform for sharing pictures that's also great for organizing groups. If you're active on Flickr and enjoy quilting in a modern style, why don't you join us? Next year, we'll be celebrating you!
So what is Celebrate Good Stitches? It's an end-of-the-year bash to celebrate and encourage our members in their work. The bee only exists because so many folks have volunteered their time and fabrics on an ongoing basis to make blocks and do the hard work of quilt-finishing and crucial leadership. I know that the quilters especially can use some extra momentum to finish up quilts! Celebrate Good Stitches is a chance to give a shout for what we've accomplished and award prizes to all types of do. Good Stitches members. Here's how:
Members Awards
Every pair of hands deserves our thanks. I wish I could pass out prizes to all 240 beautiful people who currently make up this bee! Happily some very generous souls have agreed to do the next best thing. To make sure that everyone feels the love, Members Awards will be randomly bestowed upon 1 member from Every Circle. That's a lot of prizes and they're good too!
Pam at Mad About Patchwork is providing $25 gift certificates as Members Awards for the Love circle, Faith circle, Hope circle, Joy circle, Peace circle and Bliss circle. Thank-you, Pam, for jumping at the chance to encourage our bee with these gifts!
The team at Fat Quarter Shop is providing $25 gift certificates as Members Awards for the Grace circle, Cherish circle, Harmony circle, Trust circle, Empower circle and Care circle. Fat Quarter Shop is always so generous to the online sewing community. Thank-you for being a blessing to our bee!
Connecting Threads was also eager to get involved. They are providing $25 gift certificates as Members Awards for the Imagine circle, Humility circle, Heal circle, Believe circle, Wish circle and Cheer circle. Thanks!
And Tammy of Marmalade Fabrics happily sends $25 gift certificates to Nurture circle, Haven circle, Together circle, Promise circle, Happiness circle and Comfort circle. We so appreciate your generosity!
The Members Awards gifts will be randomly bestowed on December 10th! All members currently active in the bee on that date will have a pretty good chance to win!
Best of 2014
Alright, now let's have a little fun. This prize goes to the whole circle whose quilt is voted best of 2014. Yes, that means every member of the winning circle gets a juicy prize, this time sponsored by Robert Kaufman. But first, the details...
All 24 quilts (one representing each circle) will be presented at Stitched in Color on December 10th for voting. The general public (both bee members and all readers) will vote to select the overall Best of 2014 quilt. Current members of the winning circle will each receive
a gorgeous big bundle of Kona cottons, colors specially selected by Emily Cier! I love the warm berry tones, combined with cool blues and grays, don't you? That's a total of 25 fat quarters with a $70 retail value.
Can we say THANKS to Robert Kaufman? Prize includes delivery to your door, wherever you are in the world. Oh how we love our Kona! I was totally stoked when they offered this amazing prize!!!
Winning circle will be announced on December 16th!
Quilters Grand Prize
This year 2 quilters will win big! The Quilter's Grand Prize is your motivation, oh quilter, for finishing that bee quilt now! Each do. Good Stitches quilt finished in 2014 by December 15th qualifies as an entry into the Quilter's Grand Prize drawing. Finished means quilted and bound! If you finished a qualifying quilt in 2014 but are no longer active with do. Good Stitches, you can still submit your quilt for this drawing!
On the 10th, I'll open a link party here at Stitched in Color for all finished in 2014 do. Good Stitches quilts. More quilts? More chances to win! And, if you finished a quilt for another member (i.e. someone passed you the blocks or quilt top) then you're the quilter who earns a chance to win!
I'm so looking forward to seeing our year's work gathered in one place. What a sight! On December 16th two winning quilters' numbers will be randomly selected from the pool of 2014 finished quilts.
{the U.S. Prize} * Updated November 19th
I've long been a fan of Warm & Natural batting from The Warm Company. Having a big ole roll of it on hand makes me soooo happy and feel so free to create that next quilt. Every time I baste a quilt, I totter through the house like a penguin carrying this gigantic roll to my sewing room. It's perfectly delightful. I can't think of a better gift to give any quilter. Because we all love our fabric, but we need our batting!
This fall The Warm Company has released a new product called Warm & Plush. It's 100% cotton, so it’s thicker, warmer and feels more substantial between your top and backing fabrics. This year's lucky winner will receive a gigantic (and quite valuable) 90" wide, 25 yard roll of this premium product. And you'll be set to make a whole lot of quilts! Some, no doubt, for charity.
The Warm Company makes lots of great products, but their low-loft Warm & Natural batting is currently my top recommendation for batting. It's affordable, soft and durable. I use it for machine and hand quilting with happy results! I'm experimenting with Warm & Plush this winter and will get back to you with my thoughts soon!
{the International Prize}
Fat Quarter Shop is also sponsoring our Quilter's Grand Prize for a lucky international winner! You'll take home a $100 gift certificate to spend as you please! Fat Quarter Shop is located in Texas, and happily ships the world over! International orders under $20 can be shipped for just $12 (First Class).
I am very grateful to each of these fabric shops who is generously supporting charitable quilting. You know that we're going to use those gifts to keep that cycle of fabric and quilt running along! Thank-you sincerely!
Let's Celebrate!