Programs

if you have pieces of fabric that are about 12' square or larger that you wouldn't mind parting with... make quilted pads for your local humane society. Many animal cages are very cold and they'd love something to snuggle up in. Just make sure to run stitching across the pads to keep the layers together and make it less easy for the animals to get caught in the fabric (I run them diagonally at least and sometimes from side to side depending on how large it is). 2 layers of leftover fleece work nicely as well. Serge the edges to make really short work of the project..

I didn't have any tops to quilt for customers at the end of June, so I volunteered to do another Quilt Of Valor. (My third one).  I just barely got the QOV in the mail and the next day one of my clients brought me a top to quilt.  Then in the next 2-3 days I got two more calls for quilt tops to be quilted.  So volunteering for a charity like QOV or Linus is a great way to attract more business.

I belong to an online quilt group that makes quilts for our wounded soldiers. Some of them make the quilts and others quilt them for the ones who piece them. Then we send them off to our soldiers and that lets them know that we do care about them and what they are doing for our country.

When I quilt for a local charity, I take a digital picture, print it out and put as much information (name of group, who pieced the top, name of quilt, date and size)on a 3/5 card along with the picture. When someone wants me to do a quilt for them, I can open the album and show them the different quilts I have done for the community. They enjoy the fact that I help out for different charities and there are different quilts and colors to look and browse through.

I save all my scraps- even selvages and donate them to the local Head Start Program.  They make great collage materiels for the preschoolers.They can even teach shape concepts: triangels, squares, etc.  Our program also gets matching funds when things are donated.  I love it, because it makes it easier to part with each little snippet of fabric!

An excellent charity program for quilters is the "Snuggles" project for Hugs for Homeless Animals. This program provides animal shelters with quilts to place in cages and kennels. These quilts provide comfort to cats and dogs who are often forced to sleep on steel bracing, hard plastic, or bare concrete. The "Snuggles" program allows dogs and cats in animal shelters a bit of comfort as they wait to be adopted. Hugs for Homeless Animals has general size guidelines for you to create your quilts to best fit in cages or kennels.

A quilt is an excellent item that you can donate for raffles or auctions. If a charity or organization is having an event, think about creating a quilt to donate. Before you start sewing, make sure the organization is allowed to accept outside donations. Also, make sure you plan enough time to create the quilt before the event. If you belong to a quilting group or organization, see if creating a charity quilt is something the entire group is interesting in completing.

The Wrap them with Love Foundation accepts quilts as donations to give to needy children around the world. A quilt provides a practical item for children, as it is used for warmth. However, quilts also provide children with an emotional being they can latch on to. In many cases, these lovingly crafted quilts are the only possessions these children have. Donating a quilt lets these children know a person somewhere in the world cares about them. Sadly, this might be the only affection these children have seen in their young lives.