Quilts from the Cresco Ladies

Oh my…Remember I told you that the ladies from Cresco, Iowa, just north of here were BUSY and brought me quilt tops.  I told you that I sent them out to Ohio to the ladies that are making baby quilts to send on to Tanzania.  Well a short couple weeks later Sandra from Cresco called me again.  She had sorted through more of their finished quilt tops and was wondering if I might be interested in more.  I contacted Celesta who works with the Tanzania baby quilts and asked her if she wanted more…She said SURE!!

Well about a week later, Sandra in Cresco called me again.  She was wondering if I wanted SIX (yes SIX) large totes for quilts tops.  I told her that I was sure I could find a home for them if she wanted to donate them….So, I started looking for homes.

Here is a picture of just five of the six totes!

Oh my word…that is a lot of quilts.

Sandra told me that when I sorted through them I would find a lot of Christmas tops.  Well that gave me a clue to get in touch with my friend Lana.  She’s the same one that does baby layettes for Lutheran World Relief and the Samaritan’s Purse Shoe Boxes.  She knits hats for the shoe boxes and I’ve gifted her yarn that has been sent my way from time to time.  I also send a lot of flannel her way.

Well she is doing a project and making lap quilts for Veterans at the VA. Well I know she makes a lot for Christmas.  I often pass on Christmas fabric to her for this very reason.   So I asked her if she was interested.   She was THRILLED.  She was worried she couldn’t make her goal as she usually makes all the tops.  Well with a donation of tops, she could happily reach her goal.

As we were talking I mentioned that I had more tops.  She smiled and said she makes veterans quilts that aren’t Christmas too….and she makes quilts for the layettes she does for Lutheran World Relief.  Oh my.  I ended up packing up another HUGE box for her and she’ll be finishing lots of them for layettes and veterans.

From there I contacted Caro from the Pierce City Library Quilters.  In the past she has gotten fabric from me…this time I thought she could use quilt tops.  She was thrilled and very happy to get them.  I sent ones to her that were a little bit too large for what Lana needed.  I assured Caro that it was okay for these to be added on with more borders to if needed.  Often times adding borders onto something already sewn makes tops just enough bigger to meet the requirements of groups.

I had more tops that were a little big and I contacted someone off of the donations list (Find that HERE) Elane.  I haven’t sent things to Elane before and her group seemed to fit what I have.  She quilts with Lutheran World Relief.  She said that she has since moved and now quilts with a new group of ladies but would happily accept these and add onto them if needed and forward them on to her old group of quilting ladies.

So between all of them, that took up about five of the totes of quilts.  I have a few left here.  Most are baby sized.  Most are made up of what the ladies have on hand for fabric as they sew with donated fabric.

Here are a few typical tops.

and more….

I’m looking for a group who would be interested in finishing these and donating them on to their charity.  You can contact me at rogjok@iowatelecom.net.  Of course I’d love a few pictures of the finished quilts and to know a little about your group or where you donated the quilts to.  It’s okay if the quilts are finished by tying them.

If anyone is looking for a good worthwhile place to donate fabric to, Sandra’s group in Cresco accepts AND uses fabric donations.  You can email me and I will pass on Sandra’s contact information to you.

Before I sign off, I wanted to tell you a little more about Sandra that is my contact for the Cresco group.  She told me that they besides sending all of the tops to the Tanzania group and the boxes of tops they’ve sent besides that, they also donated a whole bunch of tops to Project Linus, to one of the local church quilting groups and I think somewhere else too.  They have sent WELL over 100 tops…closer to 175 tops to me in this last bunch.  Oh my, I am so impressed.  You ladies ROCK!!  I’m so impressed with Sandra herself.  She is always eager to get fabric and drives to me to get it.  She usually has one or two of her friends with her.  They all claim it’s Sandra that does most of the work…So a HUGE hats off to Sandra and her quilting friends from Cresco.  You ladies (and the husbands who carry the totes of quilt tops) deserve a BIG round of applause.

Sandra did tell me not to expect anymore until Spring.  Oh my word ladies…you aren’t letting a needle rest!

Contact me about your group, or contact me if you want to get in touch with Sandra.  If you’re cleaning out your stash, I promise, these ladies will put it to good use!!