'Tis the Season

The thing about the TBay is that we are rather isolated.  It is more than an eight hour drive east or west to get the the next big city, and the one to the west is in a different province.  We're it.  No passenger trains come through here, and it is actually cheaper to take a plane down to southern Ontario than it is to take the bus.  That means we are often the final stop for people in need of more services than they can get in outlying areas.  This is most obvious at Christmastime.

My department at work collects toys, clothes and food, basically a family's entire Christmas, each year for a family assigned by CAS or another local family organization.  Last year we had a family of eleven, this year we had a family of six.   We also collect toys and food for the local women's shelter.  

At the quilt guild, we contribute to the local Christmas toy drive by making quilts for teddy bears.  At one of the hockey games in November, spectators throw stuffed animals on the ice for the toy drive.  The guild gets the toys, and we each take home a few and make them a little quilt

This year I made two quilts, one for a moose and one for a teddy.  It is a fun way to test out a technique or use up quilt blocks you have lying around.  

Mr. Moose's quilt was an original design inspired by this quilt and using fabric that a friend had given me from her mother's stash as well as some bits from my own.

Teddy's quilt was made from some blocks my friend received in an exchange but did not use in the final quilt she made.  And I could tell why, I had to restitch so many seams and make sure that I caught any potential weak spots with my quilting.  Be forewarned when joining any kind of bee or quilting exchange, the skill and technique of some people is not what you might desire!  In the end, I was able to make it a sturdy, sparkly pink, quilt.  The sashing and borders are made from Mirror Ball Dot fabric from Michael Miller, and they add just a bit of shiny sparkle.  I showed it to my mom's little neighbour on Skype one night, and the quilt was heartily approved of by a very Fancy Nancy little girl!

Here is the news article about our teddy bear quilt donation.