Giving Back

Often here I have spoken of the wonderful quilting friends I am lucky to have in my life. One of them, Sheryll, has been trying to pare down the fabric stash that she acquired from her elderly mother. One way Sheryll thought of to do this was to make pillowcases for charity. Much of the fabric is dated and out of style for what Sheryll typically likes to work with, so she knew she would not be using the fabric for quilts, yet she had to do something to use this yardage.

Enter the Frankfort Girls! When we last met at Sheryll's house, we saw the giant stack of prepped pillowcases - WHOA! She had been busy! There was easily 50 in the stack. So each of us grabbed a few to help her out. If each of us made some, the job would be finished lickity-split.

Many hands, quick work, as the old adage goes.

I finished mine this week, and I thought you'd like to see. From the stack of fabrics to the finished product, here is a picture-story.

I took the stack of greens. Sheryll had prepared each pillowcase with the cuff fabric folded inside the body fabric. This is the makings of 9 pillowcases.

I watched the Jenny Doan video from Missouri Star Quilt Company on how to make a pillowcase. I've done it before, but I needed to refresh my memory. The video helped and it is a super-simple method. I went to work in assembly line fashion.

Five of the nine ready for stitching.

 All 9 sewn and ready to be turned inside-out.

When I sewed the sides, I pinned to match seams, and worked through them all by chain-piecing.

I could have cut them apart, but I wanted to see what 9 pillowcases would look like smooshed up behind my machine. It was quite a pile!

After I sewed the sides, I trimmed the seams a tad, and then I zigzagged the seams to finish them. After a thorough pressing, they looked pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Next time I see Sheryll, I can hand these off to her. She told us the charity she would be donating these to, but I forget what it is. I know some of the other girls already had theirs done, and I don't know how many more are left to do. I would love to know the total when all is said and done. I think Sheryll's mom would be quite proud of how her fabric is being put to good use.

Have you sewn or quilted for charity? As a part of the Frankfort Girls, I have done a few. We each made quilt tops that we donated to the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State. Then, we made three patriotic quilts for a local family who lost a loved one in Afghanistan. Now we can add these pillowcases to our list of efforts toward giving to others.

Hope you are having a great Saturday! We are leaving in the morning for a week in Florida! I need to finish packing!

Happy Quilting, Friends!