Quilt-a-thon
This is our day-long annual event that is devoted to creating quilts as a group. These quilts will be donated to provide comfort to unhoused individuals through local shelters, cancer patients, victims of fire and domestic crises, and others who are in need of love and support from the community.
Guild members are asked to donate a finished quilt top with an appropriate backing at least once a year. The guild provides the batting (cotton filling) for these quilts. This is an opportunity for guild members to experiment with new patterns and colors that might be outside of their typical style. It’s fun to play and see what you discover – and we can admire each other’s quilts while we work!
The guild supplies a light lunch and beverages, while quilters are also asked to bring a potluck dish to share, such as a dessert, snack, or side dish. Any quilts that are not finished during the event are passed to our comfort quilt groups which meet monthly to stitch between meetings.
Feel welcome to bring a friend, relative, or stranger who wants to help. Stay all day or only for an hour, we appreciate whatever time you are able to give. If you can join us for the day’s event, please bring:
- An assembled quilt top with an appropriate backing, folded and tied together with a strip of fabric or string. Important: Please pin a piece of paper with your quilt top’s length and width to the bundle for the quilters who will be measuring and cutting batting.
- A potluck dish to share
- Your name tag
- Your smile
For more information about Quilt-a-thon, please contact Marla Richmond or Joy Sussman.
Comfort Quilts
Throughout the year, guild members work on comfort quilts individually at home and in groups. Fabric is donated by members and by generous individuals who are retiring from quilting. Kits for quilt tops that are fast and easy to sew are also provided by the guild and available at our monthly meetings.
A group also meets periodically to tie quilts that have been sandwiched at the Quiltathon. Other quilts are taken home to be machine stitched and then once completed they are returned for donation. On average, between 120-150 quilts are donated to charity each year.
For information about how our Quiltathon quilts are assembled, go here.
Note that specific sizes have been specifically requested by our recipient organizations as described below.
Requested Comfort Quilt Sizes
Kid-themed Fabrics (Quilts for children or with kid-themed fabrics must be machine quilted and should not be tied due to safety concerns)
- Lap, 40” x 45” to 48” x 60” (larger is most popular)
- Twin bed size, 57” x 82” preferred, minimum of 55×70” (based on an 8” drape over the mattress, like a coverlet)
- Wheelchair, 36” x 45” (least popular)
Any Fabrics
- 32″x40″ to 40″x50″ for hospital programs
- Twin bed size 55″x70″ minimum for Household Goods and shelters
We rarely need quilts bigger than this, although welcome them if you are so inclined. Full/Queen size quilts are lovely for donating as a raffle prize. Please, nothing smaller than wheelchair size, as we are unable to use them at this time.
For more information, please contact Leslie Garrison at comfortquilts@concordpiecemakers.org.
Playmats for NICU Patients
Throughout the year, guild members make textured playmats to donate to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Emerson Hospital.
New and especially early babies cannot see well. Generally, high contrast black and white shapes is the limitation of their vision until their eyes have developed enough to see more clearly. The playmats are black and white with different fabric textures mixed in with quilting cottons to provide both tactile (touch) and visual stimuli to help the baby’s development.
The quilter stitching these mats may choose a simple 5×5″ block pattern or a more complex pattern for the playmat, as long as it remains high contrast. Playmats for the NICU must be machine quilted (not tied) for safety reasons.
Kits for these playmats are available at our monthly meetings and provided by the guild. Members can pick up a kit or two at a time and return them when completed. They are then distributed to the NICU for gifting to the newborns during their hospital stay.
For more information, please contact Eileen Ryan.
Sewing Kits
The guild also assembles sewing kits for those in need. Please contact Suzanne Knight if you can donate any of the following items.
- Medium size tins
- Scissors (any size)
- Thread
- Buttons
- Needles and pins
- Safety pins
- Measuring tape
- Bobbins – any style with or without thread
Click here for Tina’s notes on making sewing kits.
Pediatric Pillowcases
We currently assembling 100 pillowcases for the Pediatrics Unit at Emerson Hospital. For additional information about our Pillowcases Project, please contact Nanette Moffa and Sue Colwell. Directions for sewing pillowcases are here.
Community Recipients
Would you like to help with one of our community service projects? Below are just some of the organizations we support. There is one which fits just about anyone’s favorite charity or stash!
- Emerson Hospital, Concord: Pediatrics, Special Nursery, Palliative Care, and Naka Cancer Center.
- Household Goods, Acton, MA. Provides a full range of donated furniture and household items, free of charge, to help people in need make a home.
- Family Shelters: Facilities managed by Making Opportunities Count, NorthStar Family Services, and others
- Skilled Nursing and Assisted Living Facilities: LifeCare in Acton, Westford House, ConcordOne Nursing, and others
- Heywood Hospital Gardner: Families with new babies
- Veterans Affairs: Bedford VA Hospital
Requests for Additional Recipients
If you are a guild member and would like to nominate an organization to be a recipient of our comfort quilts, please complete the form below and submit it to Leslie Garrison at comfortquilts@concordpiecemakers.org.