Need advice regarding charity quilting group
I need some advice, or insight.
Just this year I've joined a group of women at my church who make quilts for world relief. They have boxes and boxes of donated textiles that they're using. Over the years they've accepted pretty much anything: old curtains, sheets, blankets, mattress pads, napkins, pillowcases, you name it, it's in the boxes.
The quilt tops are just 8" squares patched together. Maybe the squares match, maybe they don't. It's about warmth, not looks. We layer a bottom, two layers of assorted textiles in the middle, and then the top, and the layers are tied. One of the women serges the edges, and that's it. We're talking really basic stuff here.
Those of us who sew the tops, are given a bag of the proper number of squares. My problem is... sometimes those squares are faded or stained. (With all those boxes of fabric to draw from, do we really need to use flawed fabric?)
And then I have a problem with what we're using for the "middles". We're not using batting, we're using ... the donated textiles. And this week the leader of the group had us use, for layer 1 of the middle, a couple of pillowcases, a napkin, a strip of cloth 8" x the length of the quilt, a few other assorted scraps... and these were not sewn together, just spread out on top of the backing. Layer 2 of the middle was a blanket that had holes all over it. Most of the holes were 1" or so, but one hole in the middle was 3", one edge was all chewed up, and there literally was not an 18" square section of it that didn't have holes. I asked the leader for permission to throw it out, and was told "No. We're going to use it. Right now!"
!!
I'm not a fabric snob, and I understand that we're trying to use what we have on hand. Reduce-reuse-recycle is an admirable concept.
Still - even in Bible days there was a town dump. And even today... seriously, some things are only fit to be thrown out. (For instance a blanket that's full of holes.)
Gee!
How do I handle this? I have a real problem with using trash for charity quilts. I'm the new kid on the block, and I've only been a member of this church for three years. Some of the ladies have been doing the quilt project for three decades or more. (I'm also the youngest member of the group, and I'm already graying!)
I would really like to say something at the next meeting, but I really don't know how to bring it up or just what to say. I suppose I should also say, that my church denonimation is probably one of the best (if not THE best) at adhering to the motto "We've always done it this way. And there's no reason to change now.)
Any suggestions? I'd like for us to create a better product. I'd also like to stay out of trouble.