The Niagara Heritage Quilters’ Guild is proud of the work we do, not only in quilting but supporting our community in various ways. Approximately 100 quilts per year are donated to local charitable organizations, including Hospice, Gillian’s Place, Kristen French Advocacy Centre, Niagara Region Mental Health, FACS for babies going into foster care, as well as refugee families, and families who have devastating losses, such as a fire.  We’ve also recently accepted the challenge of making 40 quilts for the YWCA Transitional Housing facility that will open in January of 2021.

We love  “Making a Difference”.

Here are several ways we give back.

Community Outreach

The pandemic seems to have been good for quilters! Many of you have been sewing up your stash and contributing your tops or finished quilts to Community Outreach. In fact, since last March, Community Outreach has processed 154 finished quilts (not counting quilts in progress). Since most places are not taking quilt donations at this time, the spare bedroom at Jennifer’s house is rapidly filling up with all of these completed quilts. You’ve also made 119 baby quilts for FACS for Project Noah since February 2020.

Because of the lockdown, the stay at home orders, and the increasing stacks of quilts at Jennifer’s, we are asking that you refrain from pickups or drop-offs at Jennifer’s house until further notice. But we encourage you to keep on sewing at home, as there will certainly be a need once the pandemic starts to ease. So here are some guidelines for working on things at your home.

• FACS Project Noah quilts – size should be approximately 40” x 40”, flannel backing. If you are not quilting it yourself, see guidelines below for preparing a quilt and backing for long arm quilting, and also the binding preparation
• Child or Kristen French Advocacy Centre quilts – 0 to 10 years: between 50” & 54” wide, and between 60” and 64” long. 11 to 18 years: between 50” & 54” wide, and between 72” and 76” long.
• Lap size quilts – for Hospice, Niagara Mental Health, fire victims etc. Approximately 52” in width and anywhere from 52” to 78” in length.
• Although we have completed the challenge for all 40 quilts for the YWCA, there will still be a need for larger quilts, e.g., for fire victims, Gillian’s place, etc. Twin size should be approximately 70” x 90” and double size should be approximately 80” x 90”.

Preparing a quilt and backing for longarm quilting

• Be sure all excess thread is clipped off on both sides of the quilt top and backing. You don’t want to have a thread show through to the front of the quilt, once it is quilted.
• Look to see if there are seams around the outer edges. If so, stay-stitch through these seams about 1/8th of an inch in from the edge. This will ensure the seams don’t pop open when loaded onto the longarm. The binding will eventually cover up these stitches. You may have to stitch around the entire edge of the quilt if there are multiple seams or just through each seam if there are only a few.
• Make sure your quilt top and backing are both squared and even across all four sides.
• The backing should measure a minimum of 8 inches longer and wider than the quilt top. In other words, 4 to 5 inches of extra fabric all the way around the quilt. This is for holding the clamps to make the fabric tight, and also for checking tension. If the backing needs to be pieced, cut off selvages if there are any, and sew together with a ½ to 5/8” seam allowance. Press the seams open to reduce bulk.
• Binding – cut strips 2.5” x WOF. Join with a diagonal seam and press in half. Preparing a binding is especially helpful if your quilt top has a limited number of coordinated fabrics. It is sometimes hard to find something that will match or blend with the top in this case. It’s much easier to find a suitable fabric in our stash for binding if the quilt top is scrappy.

If you have any questions about Community Outreach quilts, please contact Jennifer Dyck, jenniferk2p2@gmail.com, or 289-690-1625

HOBBS CHARITY BATTING PROGRAM

Please save your UPC labels from Hobbs batting packages so we can participate in the Hobbs Charity Batting Program. With 5 UPC labels, we can order a roll of Hobbs 80/20 for a drastically reduced cost. This is just another way you can help you community quilters.

The picture above shows Kathleen O’Flaherty happily presenting 40 baby quilts to FACS Social Worker Tracy Nicole.

This photo was taken July 13, 2020 at the Kristen French Advocacy Centre were we presented them with the actual cheque for the proceeds from the quilt raffle. Mark Doyle is on the left and Frank Parkhouse is on the right. Janet Handy (from the Centre) is flanked by Gloria Meyer and Lynne Wilkinson with Sharree Eidt beside her. We are pleased that despite these unusual times, we were able to raise as much money as we did. We hope to do something like this again in the future. Needless to say, they were thrilled.

For more information on the Kristen French Advocacy Centre visit their social media pages:

@KristenFrnchCACN – Facebook;

@kristenfrenchcacn – Instagram;

@KFCACN – Twitter

Meals On Wheels

Meals on Wheels is an organization which provides a hot and nutritious meal once a day from Monday to Friday to the area shut ins and seniors in their own homes. The Niagara Heritage Quilters’ Guild donates ‘Meals on Wheels” Placemats to this organization, to help brighten up even a simple meal. The placemats are distributed at Christmas time. The St. Catharines/Thorold chapter distributes around 350 meals. Quite often this is the only present the recipient receives.

The following are some suggestions for making the placemats:

1. The finished size should measure about 12 “ x 18 “. 
2. Get together with a couple of friends for coffee, chit chat and sew.
3. Make a crazy quilt design with batting and backing.
4. Make it reversible with Christmas on one side and another season on the other.
5. Applique a cut out from a large print on background fabric and add borders.
6. Use an orphan block or make a log cabin block and add borders.
7. They don’t have to be Christmas themed.

Please continue making these placemats. Information on when and where you can drop them off during Covid-19 will be provided soon.  

Neonatal Quilts

Every Month we collect Neonatal Quilts on behalf of the Special Care Nursery at the St. Catharines General Hospital. We are proud to say in 2019 we delivered 167 quilts. 

To make these Quilts here are the requirements:

• Neo-Natal quilts should not be any larger than 22 to 24 inches square
• The front or top of the quilt may be made from either cotton or flannelette. You may be as creative with the top as you wish.
• The backing must be flannelette, and have no seams (there is no batting put in these quilts).

Simply lay top of quilt and backing fabric right sides together stitch around the edge leaving an opening.  Turn right side out. Top stitch around the edge.

If you’d like to make some, we would be very grateful. Information on when & where you can drop them off during Covid-19 will be provided soon.  

RAFT

RAFT – operated by the Niagara Resource Service for Youth contributes to the welfare of our community by helping at-risk youth, families and neighbourhoods become independent and self-sufficient.

Our services strengthen the emotional and social well-being of clients and act as a portal to community resources.

Services are based on the principles of Empowerment, Quality of Life, Dignity and Respect. Services are provided in a supportive and caring environment, which encourages independence and self-reliance.

We believe that helping clients take control of their lives builds self-esteem and confidence while empowering clients to become fuller more involved members of their community.

Every November the Niagara Heritage Quilters Guild collects donations of hats, scarves, socks, mitts and gloves. Personal Hygiene items  (shampoo, soap, creams etc.) for both men and women are also collected.

Due to Covid-19 collection for RAFT has been suspended for this guild year. 

Scholarships

The Niagara Heritage Quiters’ Guild has established a Scholarship Valued at $1,000.00 to promote an interest in Fine Arts, Art History, Visual Arts or Design, with an interest in textile/Fibre Arts as a career or lifeskill.

One of the founding members of the Niagara Heritage Quilters’ Guild, Nina Stahlschmidt, began the idea of the scholarship as a way of involving the guild in the Niagara community. Nina and a group of members organized a silent auction to raise funds during the NHQG Quilt Show at Niagara College
May 18-21, 2011. Members donated items for the auction and we received monetary donations by members of the community. The monies raised are invested in GIC’S. The interest and any additional funds raised each year are kept separate and used to fund the annual scholarship.

Above is a picture of our 2020 recipient, Krystyna Augustyn.   She is a graduate of Notre Dame College School and is going to York University to pursue a degree in Design. She has b been a top scholar throughout her high school years and has had numerous positions of leadership. Krystyna is an outstanding student and we wish her great success in her future endeavours at York University and here career.

Qualification Requirements:

1. The student must be graduating or have graduated last year from a secondary school program in the Niagara Region.
2. The student may win only once.
3. The student must be a Canadian citizen.
4. The student must show personal growth and leadership in school and community activities.
5. The student must include a typed 350 – 500 word essay on the topic of “Textile/Fibre Arts as a Life Skill and/or Career” with their application.
6. The application must be signed by the student and student’s Principal or Vice Principal.
7. The student must provide names and contact information of 2 references.  These references should not be immediate family members.
8. The student must be registered in a Canadian Post-Secondary institution.
9. The student must indicate which Canadian Post-Secondary institution and program of study they will be attending.

Conditions:

1. To receive the Scholarship award, the student must obtain 75 merit points or more as outlined on the application form.
2. If the scholarship recipient does not attend an accredited college or university in the Fall or Spring for any reason, he/she shall forfeit the scholarship to allow another student who has achieved 75 merit points or more, to take advantage of the scholarship.  In the event that the successful applicant must forfeit and no other applicant has achieved the requisite 75 merit points, there shall be no scholarship for that year.

Applications must be postmarked by May 31st of each year.

Please send completed application with applicable attachments to:

Niagara Heritage Quilters’ Guild,
P.O. Box 284, Thorold, ON, L2V 3Y9
Attn:  NHQG Scholarship Committee

OR

info@niagaraquiltersguild.com

Subject: NHQG Scholarship