The Parkinson’s Quilt Project is the first global quilt project to focus the world’s attention on the nearly one million people in the US and more than 4.1 million people worldwide living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The project aims to raise awareness of the impact that the disease has on people living with Parkinson’s along with their families, caregivers and friends and on our continued urgency to find a cure.

The Quilt gives people all over the world the chance to express their support of people living with PD and highlight their connection to the disease by adding their own personalized panel. You do not need to be a sewing expert to create a panel for the quilt. You can use paint, needlework, iron-on transfers, fabric markers or even spray paint. If you are a poet, you can write a poem on the panel or even write it on a piece of firm paper and sew that paper to the panel.

The Quilt will consist of panels made by individuals and groups affected by Parkinson’s, in honor of the cause, of their group or in honor of their loved ones affected by PD. Each panel will be two feet tall and two feet wide, and will be sewn together in eight foot sections. There will be the opportunity for groups to create both panels and sections.

The Parkinson’s Quilt will be displayed for the first time at the 2nd World Parkinson Congress in Glasgow, Scotland from September 28th through October 1st, 2010. After this initial showing, blocks of the Quilt will be available through 2011 for rent to display at PD events. Details of this opportunity will be available in 2010.

The sky is the limit with this project and it is open to anyone touched by Parkinson’s or wants to honor those with Parkinson’s. The more creative the piece the more exciting it will make the final Quilt!

Registration to make a panel opened December 1, 2009 and will end June 1, 2010.

• How to get involved
• Help raise awareness

By: Tammy Gilley

Quilts were meant for sharing.

I’ve been noodling about quilts. Women who make them. Women who need them. Quilts, especially those that are handcrafted, are really just a giant hug for anyone who wraps one around herself.

Perhaps by stitching quilts, we’re comforting ourselves, too, because the whole concept of what has happened in Haiti is overwhelming. And sending a check helped me for a day or so. Then I grew antsy. So, I stitched. And I thought.

I’d like to do a "quilt drive", for lack of a better term, and get quilts to the women, children, men (we don’t discriminate here) in Haiti. I realize the needs in Haiti are huge, and "sending blankets" may not seem like the answer. But consider this. Quilts offer comfort, solace, warmth. These beautiful people lost everything. Perhaps by sending our quilts, we are also sending our love.

I’ve been talking to my friend, Rebecca Sower. I know many of you follow her blog. Rebecca returned home from Haiti only days before the earthquake hit. I checked her blog everyday to see if there was word about the people she met, what was happening, how I could help.

When I presented the idea of sending handcrafted quilts to Haiti, she said, "I absolutely love the quilt idea! Truly, one thing they need right now is warmth and comfort."

So. Without further ado…let’s Quilt Haiti.

Rebecca is planning a trip back to Haiti later this year. She has generously offered to get our quilts to Haiti. So, let’s send her a whole big bunch of them! If you’re a quilter and like me, you have oodles of quilts in your home. Send me one of those. Or create a new one to send. Send a handmade bunny or bear. Send a baby quilt. Send a king size quilt. It’s up to you. Whatever you send will be absolutely perfect.

If you’d like to be involved, simply leave a comment on my blog. Please be sure to include your email address, so I can contact you with the details.

I am so excited about this! And I hope you are, too. There are blog buttons available on my blog (thanks to my pal Monica Solorio-Snow for giving of her creative and technical talents). Don’t be shy, spread the word. What the world needs now, is quilts, love, and more quilts. And more love.

Send quilts. Send love. Pass it on.

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.

Registration is now available for the 2009 Victoria’s Quilts Canada Quilt-a-Thon. Registration closes October 2, 2009.

Date: Saturday, October 17, 2009
Time: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (Check-in at 8:30am)
Place: Orleans United Church, 1111 Orleans Blvd., Orleans
Cost: $12.00 (assists in cost of supplies) Payable on-site or to your Group Leader.

I’ve participated in this event the past two years. It’s great fun for a great cause. Visit the Victoria’s Quilts Canada web site for more information.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to attend, as I’m still hoping to be able to go to Quilt Market and Festival in Houston this year. Hopefully some of the ladies from my charity sewing group, the Quarter Inch Club, will be in attendance. We’re actually working to have a few tops ready for the Quilt-a-Thon.

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.

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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