illinois

I'm told that some church groups who ship covers overseas request uglies. The pretty quilts are prime targets for stealing or selling. Recently I offered bed pillows to a homeless shelter and they declined. Said they'd had a problem with bedbugs and only used new bedding.

AZ Jane

Do people, homeless ot not, steal from each other? Yes. Should that make your decision change? No.

rjwilder

People steal from each other, no doubt about it. The quilt I made for my mom in the nursing home got stolen. I made her another one and embroidered her first and last name on it in 5 inch letters, this one did not get stolen. After my mom passed away I gave it to a homeless person. In my opinion ugly or pretty is in the eye of the beholder. I've seen many quilts that I thought are ugly on this board but many think they are beautiful. As long as it's functional and you are giving it from your heart it doesn't matter. Give it to who you want and what happens, happens, once you gave it away it's no longer yours and you have no control over it.

EmiliasNana

A friend of mine sews with a large group that donates many, many different items for charities. The last time she was at retreat she showed me how they make quilts. They sew all kinds of 7" wide scraps into a long jelly type roll first. Then they use that to make reversible sew and flip quilts. They don't use batting on some because many are sent overseas where it is warm year round, but you could easily add batting.
Start with 2 - 7" x 18" strips and place wrong sides together (place batting in between if desired)
Add 2 more strips of the same size, only this time put one on the top and bottom, right sides together, (place batting on wrong side of one strip if desired), and sew the long seam. When you flip them to the right side your seam and the batting will be encased.
Add a second set of 2 - 7" x 18" strips to the opposite side of the strip set and you will have three sets.
Now start adding to the top and bottom in the same way.
Once the top and bottom are done, do each side again and keep building until it is the desired size.
If you don't have scraps that wide, you can use narrower strips, but it will take more rows.
It is fun and goes quickly and makes a scrappy reversible quilt. Just bind when completed and you're done.

selm

here's a link to directions on how to make an ugly guilt for the homeless. It is actually a sleeping bag. http://www.uglyquilts.org/ It is an ingenious idea to use anything handy to make the sleeping bag and very practical.

Here's a link to the group that started the ugly quilt/sleeping bag project:
http://www.thesleepingbagproject.org/

pocoellie

The group that I belonged to before we moved, also gave to the homeless shelters. If you have double knit polyester fabrics, the quilts will last forever, it washes well, it's warm and heavy, keeps color good, although the fabric isn't as easy to work with as cotton, I would also birth the quilts and tie, since it's less time consuming and you don't have to make a separate binding.

ckcowl

There is a Large ( national -- started in New York ) ( my brothers keeper) group, been around for a few years, that started the " Ugly Quilt Project" our sewing group has been making quilts for them for the past 3 years. They are Very warm, made with fabrics that are heavy, water resistant when possible and ( in the quilting world) would certainly be considered ugly. The homeless people who receive them don't think they are ugly -- they are warm and not something someone would be inclined to steal from them. There are people out there who will steal from a homeless person just because they think they have something too nice-- like they don't deserve to have it....there are all kinds of people out there. The main goal is warmth, we make them into sleeping bags. Kind of a * bag quillow* they can crawl into that rolls up, is easy to carry. & yup -- they are pretty ugly -- if you look at them like a 'quilter'.

nstitches4u

Project Linus is my favorite charity. Pretty, bright colored quilts are very appropriate for this charity.

slbram17

Sounds like the six hour quilt techique in Kaye Woods video and book. She recommends the method for charity quilts since they can work up fast. I think she says that in her video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOTV-YSF-48

Rose_P

No matter how cold a drug addict may be, selling the pretty quilt to get drug money is a real possibility. I vote for not ugly, exactly, but much more functional than beautiful. Also, keep in mind that if you take more time with this quilt, it's that much longer before it gets into the hands of the person who is cold.