Quilts of Love began when a group of Kosovar refugees came to stay in Tasmania. After an initial meeting of like-minded quilters, and a working bee in the sewing room at the St. Helens District Highschool, a total of 13 quilts were completed. These quilts were put on display at the local market on a Saturday morning, and attracted a lot of attention with their bright colours and dynamic designs. Some quilts were machine pieced and quilted; some were machine pieced and hand quilted; and some were machine pieced and then hand tied. It was a great experience, and we had some fun as well! I would especially like to thank Karen Fidler, who was the dynamic organiser of our working bee. Three of us (Maureen Cardwell, Karen and I) met to sew the special Quilts of Love labels on the backs of the quilts before sending them off to the Red Cross for distribution. Everyone who worked on the quilts in any way added their signatures to the labels before they were attached.
The photo above shows 3 of the quilts on display at the market. These quilts were made by (l to r): Rita Summers, Karen Fidler, and Angela Ileff with Jacinta Watson. Others also helped to tie and bind Karen's quilt. The quilts attracted so much attention at the market that more donations came in from members of the public on the day, with one lady even donating some money she had saved to buy herself a pair of slippers! She said that the needs of the refugees made her own seem insignificant.
The whole project was a very heartwarming experience.
I made this quilt by machine, and then hand quilted it in naive style with perle cotton. Buttons were used for embellishment, as well as exposed knots. The hearts were included in the border to express my love and concern for the recipient, who probably had endured much pain and hardship before arriving in Tasmania. The stars represent hope for the future. A secondary pattern made by the hour glass patchwork design also displays a star image.
Some time later, I tutored a small class for the purpose of making Quilts of Love for the Salvation Army, to distribute to people in need of both love and warmth. Carole Newman and Mary Burr made the quilts shown using the "quilt as you go" method. The completed quilts were presented to St. Marys captains Reg and Eve Tolputt, seen in the photograph with the quilts' makers.
During 1999, many people also donated fabrics for the Quilts of Love project. Many of these were used in the various quilts, but some fabrics which were not suitable were sold to raise money to buy batting (wadding) and backing fabric. There is still some money and fabric left over, which will be used in the future for new Quilts of Love projects. Due to my commitments (I work as a teacher 4 days a week) this has been put on hold for a while, but I hope that a new project can be started in the not too distant future!
I would like to thank the many generous people who donated time, money, fabric and expertise for the projects described here. Without them, the whole process would have been much more arduous!
Please note: patterns are not available for Quilts of Love, as many of them were original or adapted designs.
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