The Linus Connection is a Central Texas non-profit organization whose mission is to make and deliver handmade security blankets that are for children in crisis situations in the Austin and Central Texas area. The blankets go to children in hospital emergency rooms, in crisis centers, foster care, battered women’s shelters, and to any child who is in need of a little extra security in their lives.

All of the blankets are handmade (quilted, knitted or crocheted) by volunteers in the community, either as a group or individually. Each blanket is given to a child in need of some extra security.

Since 1999, The Linus Connection has distributed over 33,600 blankets to children in need across Central Texas. Almost 3,000 of those blankets have been distributed in 2009 alone.

TLC will celebrate it’s 10th anniversary serving Central Texas in October with an annual challenge, food and visits from both sponsors and recipient facilities.

When we meet: The 3rd Saturday of every month, 9 – 11 am (next meeting October 17, 2009)

Where we meet: St. Philip’s Methodist Church,16321 Great Oaks Drive, (the parking lot is off Racine), Round Rock, Texas 78681-3659

To learn more about The Linus Connection, see Show & Tell photos, contact us, leave a comment or to find out how you can help, please visit the TLC web site.

Did you ever wonder why I started this web site? What was behind me creating the Quilting Bloggers directory? What’s my vision for the Quilt Shop Locator?

Find these answers and more as I’m a guest blogger at Women on Quilts: Michele Foster on her Quilting Gallery, Not an Anonymous Woman Anymore.

The Charleston Museum invites you to participate in a new program, the Charleston Museum Quilting Bee.

Their first project will be based on a Chimney Sweep album quilt in the Museum’s collection. This sweet 1853 quilt, pictured right, is believed to have been made for a bride by her friends in Sumter, South Carolina.

Please consider participating in Phase One of the project by making a quilt block. Block instructions are available online [PDF File]. Blocks are due no later than August 31, 2009. Your time and contribution are greatly appreciated.

After the selected blocks are prepared for quilting, Phase Two of the Charleston Museum Quilting Bee begins this Fall. The album quilt will be out for Museum visitors to try their hand at quilting two Saturdays per month. Please consider volunteering to work with the public on the hand-quilting of this project. Volunteer for just one Saturday or sign up for once-a-month duty – the choice is yours!

For more information, please contact Rachel Chesser at (843) 722-2996 ext. 235 or rchesser@charlestonmuseum.org.

As part of an ongoing rotation of quilts from the Charleston Museum’s permanent textile collection, the Museum displays thirteen quilts in an exhibit called Starry, Starry Nights. Ranging in date from 1840 to 1900, each piece offers a unique interpretation of a star theme. Dating back to even the earliest pieced quilts, stars made of diamonds or triangles appear in borders, blocks and as central motifs. This exhibit is available until November 29, 2009.

The Charleston Museum, America’s first museum, showcases a variety of cultural and natural history artifacts that tell the story of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Visitors of all ages are transported back through time, viewing artifacts from ancient fossils and an enormous whale skeleton to elegant costumes and Charleston silver. Kidstory, the Museum’s new interactive children’s exhibit, is now open! $10/adult, $4/children 3-12, under 3 free. Museum hours: Monday-Saturday 9-5, Sunday 1-5

NOTE: Please don’t contact me for further information. Follow the links provided in the post and contact the Museum directly if needed. Thanks, Mishka.

Congratulations to #50 Frances and #45 Sandie for winning a Perfect Half-Square & Quarter-Square Triangles Ruler in last week’s Friday Give-Away donated by June Tailor.

When you are done entering the Friday give-away here, visit the Happy Canada Day post for your chance to tell a Canadian story and win some funky fabrics from a new Canadian fabric retailer. There’s also a give-away from a very inspiring guest blogger, Margaret Bucklew.

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all of my quilting friends south of the border a happy and safe July 4th weekend.

Antique Quilt Dating Guides…by Style

Now, I’m turning over this blog post to Kimberly Wulfert of Women On Quilts and Quilter’s Spirit to let her tell you about the fabulous Friday give-away this week.

Quilting has always been a great part of American history, and as we Americans celebrate Independence Day this weekend, I’m pleased to offer my Guides for dating antique quilts as a give-away at this special time.

With that in mind, antique quilts can’t help but enter your mind when thinking of the cold New England winters and need for warm covers that also beautified the log homes. Quilt collecting is a popular hobby today. Making new quilts that look like 19th and 20th century quilts is possible and easy with the wonderful reproduction fabrics available today.

Do you wonder what quilt would have been made using the reproduction fabrics you bought at the last show and loved but are now not sure what to do with them? The Antique Quilt Dating Guides…by Style will give you many options to chose from.

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Please join me in welcoming a Guest Blogger to the Quilting Gallery. If you’re interested in being a Guest Blogger, please read the info on the submit page then drop me an email.

By: Margaret Bucklew

An epiphany happened to me about twenty years ago. There was a void in my life and I didn’t even know it was happening.

I think an inspiration is like a flash of light in your psyche just waiting for action, and I needed one.

On the wall in a fabric store hung a stunning Oregon Trail Jacket. I bought the pattern and soon realized, even though I had no quilting experience, it had to be very similar to making a quilt. There was piecing, thin batting, matching seams and so on. Whatever it was called, I was hooked.

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By: Laura Gilkey

The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project is a national effort developed to draw public attention to the current maternal death rates, as well as to the gross under-reporting of maternal deaths in the United States, and to honor those women who have died of pregnancy-related causes since 1982.

The quilt is made up of individually designed squares; each one designed and dedicated to one mother’s memory, and may mention the date and place of death and the name of the woman. The Safe Motherhood Quilt is the voice for women who can no longer speak for themselves.

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