Charity Quilts
 

Curious as to how many charity quilts you donate each year... and, how many of those are "birthed" instead of a formal binding.

I birth almost all of mine. I did 26 donation quilts last year and all were birthed except 3 cause my sil quilted them for me so I used regular binding. :)

I longarm and bind for a local group. I only quilted 10 throws this year, but hope to do more next year. None of the quilts from this charity are birthed, they do over 300.

I might add that when I birth I also topstitch close to the edge for added strength as many of these quilts get washed in commercial machine that are hard on quilts.

I make at least 21 a month for Linus. Lately more and more of them are fleece edged with crocheting. The fabric ones I always birth and then machine quilt about very four inches with a decorative stitch and thread. I finish them by sewing around the outside edge about 1/4 to a 1/3 inch in with the same stitch and thread. Our chapter produces at least 600 quilts a month.

Wow, I am impressed with the generosity of all of you. I made five charity quilts this year and felt like I was doing pretty good. :) I put binding on each of mine.

Dina

this is the way i do it as well. and when stitched closely, it sometimes looks like a binding

I don't make any distinction how I make charity quilts from the quilts I keep. They are all machine quilted with binding. The exception is the quilts given for pet rescue of course. I'm not a fan of birthing anything bigger then a placemat. I donated 8 twin size quilts I made to a foster group this year. I furnished fabric and batting for 12 quilts for my guild's donation quilt group. I made two king size quilts and two crib quilts for my family this last year.

I do log my charity quilt and blanket donations on a calendar, but never add them up. That is because some of them I only have a hand in instead of making them from start to finish. And many of them are fleece with crochet edging.

I donated 2 of my best quilts to the Bible Camp quilt auction and another one to campus ministry. Those had traditional bindings. For Project Linus I usually use a fold over of the backing to the front and stitch down binding. The only quilts that I "birth" are those made by our quilt guild for a children's charity.

One older lady volunteers to hand stitch bindings for charity, so when Linus gets unfinished quilts, I do the machine sewing of the binding in preparation for her work.

There seems to be no set formula for me -- each charity quilt has its own situation.

It depends on the quilt really. If it is a printed child's quilt, the birthing method is a down and dirty fast way to finish them off. I pin and do some machine quilting in the center and a stitch around the edge to stabilized the quilt for lots of washings.

If it is a pieced top with lots of details it deserves a hand finished binding in my opinion. I did buy a binding tool for the bernina and hope to take the time to learn it this coming year. I get intimidated with new things... LOL!

I make many donated quilts and purses and sometimes finish other people's donations to the diabetic children's silent auction. I also have helped the animal shelter. I want to make bibs and wheelchair pockets for a local county live in senior center. I bought the patterns, so maybe this year?

Each year I do some for our soldiers and try to do some for Project Linus.. I like to put binding on my quilts.

I agree Dina, I have done that many tops so far. I birth a table runner and am having problems with getting the closed section position correctly. Binding looks so much nicer but that is just my opinion.

I bind all my charity quilts, sometimes hand sewn down, other times machine sewn, I've never birthed a quilt. It seems easier to put on a binding for me, have been doing it that way for many years.

I'm not really familiar with the term "birthed" as pertains to a quilt (though I can make some guesses without doing any searching on the web). I bind all charity quilts the same way as I do my own or gift quilts.

I typically donate one quilt per year... that gets used in a raffle. I bind all my quilts. I did birth a few but found it more troublesome than doing a regular binding.

I help make quilts for charity at our church. I do the sewing and others tie the quilts. So far, we are making the backings larger than the tops and double folding the backing edges over to the front and zigzagging. I like that method. So far, I have not birthed a quilt.

since i have the long arm in the group ....i quilted about 75 and the rest of the group also does some straight line quilting so between the 7 of us we did over 100...all quilted and then binding .......we have a few ladies that can no longer quilt to help with sewing the binding down .....they are happy to help ..we are glad they do

I have become addicted to charity baby quilts. I have a practical bent and can only make quilts that someone wants or needs.

When I was trying to learn FMQ I read that charity quilts were a great way to practice. I took it to heart and have done 47 in the last year. Our guild goal for this guild year is 250 for a camp for teenage mothers and their babies. I am determined to do my best to ensure we make this goal. Baby quilts are so much fun. You can try new patterns and quilt patterns without a huge investment in material or time. Now that I am fairly comfident about FMQ, I alternate between churning out simple quilts to make our numbers and working on improving my novice piecing skills.

I generally make about 30-40 donated quilts each year---none of which are 'birthed' instead of bound. I always quilt and bind my quilts. of the 30-40 quilts about 25 of them are children sized (twin or smaller) the other 5-15 are full to queen sized. ( I send kids quilts to Downy quilts for Kids, Saint Jude Childrens hospital and the local women's resource center emergency shelter) adult quilts are generally more as the need comes up- home fire, medical situation, circumstances in life have created a need. some years I wind up doing more- but most years I do at least that many.

You gals have inspired me. All your good work is to be commended. I was part of group that made quilts for a children's charity some years ago. I quit going because some of the group leaders talked politics and made bigoted comments. I should have spoken-up and complained but I didn't. I know where and when another group meets and I need
to get myself over there and participate!

I couldn't tell you how many quilts I have donated this year....I do know the last one was just donated a couple of weeks ago. It was supposed to be a twin...but due to a miscalculation....lol...it became a queen. But the receipient
was so pleased....she was in tears and couldn't talk...just cry and hug.

I birth all of my donation quilts....I top stitch near the edge for some extra strength.

I personally make 4-6 charity quilts a year for Project Linus. I also go to the annual work day and help either with tying or sewing on labels. I prefer adding a binding when I make my charity quilts.

It's just 2 of us that make and donate quilts, but we've donated over 30 quilts this year, but I don't think that any of them were birthed. Personally, I don't like birthing and would rather take more time and do a traditional binding. The important thing is though, is which YOU prefer and which is easiest for YOU.

I made probably 25 rag quilts --personal sized. All went to ailing members of my church.

I've never "birthed" a quilt, so all of mine are FMQ and binding. I only did 3 Charity quilts this year, but hope to do more in 2014.

I donated 9 quilts this year. 1 super sized throw for a local Autism Fundraiser auction, 6 for the nursing home my mother works at, and 2 for Quilts 4 Kids. All were machine quilted and I did machine bind them all to make sure they would hold up to alot of laundering.

I feel the same. I tried birthing a few and really do not like the look of it. So I bind.

I did 11 last year and I bound them all, I do jot seem to have much luck with the birthing method.

I agree with Annie, binding is easier for me. I did about 3 dozen Linus quilts, one QOV and helped with 3 other QOV's

I donate quilts to Linus and our local store here where you drop them off gives you free fabric for everyone you donate.....I probably donate 25 to 30 quilts a year.....

This year I made 100 little dresses for Africa instead of charity quilts. Each one of them was cute enough to gift to a DGD. Usually I make and donate quilts, but this was a nice change for me and the sewing group I am part of.

My friend and I only did 47 this year. We concentrated on pillow cases and jackets instead this year. Made 14 sweatshirt jackets and lost count of the pillow cases. My friend also added near 100 knit hats. (we tell her she never goes to bed, just sits in her chair with eyes closed and hands still moving) By the way she is 86 yr old. She has already done 30 some receiving blankets and almost as many hats for next year. Me I am not in mood to start sewing just yet. Have several quilts and jackets in the works but taking a break from a hectic last year. She starts the quilts and I finish them so far with binding and machine quilting. I may look into birthing this time.

I see no one else has answered this, so here goes. Birthing is the name applied to the process of turning a quilt right side out after top and back have been sewn right sides together with the backing on the outside. You need to leave an opening when you sew around the outside so that you can turn the quilt. (Birth it.) After the quilt is "birthed", the opening is sewn together, usually whipstitched by hand, but some use a zig-zag on the edge.

Birthing is a very easy and fast choice for baby, children's, and charity quilts. I've done some full sized quilts like that, but I enjoy binding too much, so I usually bind most of my quilts, no matter what size.

many, many...don't have a count.........most are birthed. Used to do Project Linus and others but now making tops for Quilts Beyond Borders.

I make 3a month all birthed.

My charity group makes 300-400 quilts per year. They are given to those receiving medical services and include babies, oldsters and everyone in between. We also support a children's summer camp for the bereaved. Almost all of our quilts are machine quilted and bound, but some are tied with the backing folded over to make the binding.
I also make quilts for various scholarship and auction fund raisers as well as for veterans. I always machine quilt and bind my quilts.

I make just one charity quilt per year, but it always goes up for auction for our local care group. In the beginning (about 6 years ago) the quilt only went for $200 - which was really discouraging. But every year the winning bid has gone up, and this last year it was won at $1650. I don't know if my quilts are really worth that much more, as much as the folks are a little looser (wine) and they are more in the fund raising spirit!

I've lost count but ours are done with a church group, all donated fabric, and we usually tie them. I find this a great way to try new blocks and enjoy it very much.

I too have trouble with 'birthing'. I prefer to bring backing to the front for binding but most of the time I don't have enough backing to come to the front so I bind the traditional way and hand stitch it down on the back.

WOW!!! That's one every two weeks of the year. Congratulations. I'm lucky to get 2 to 4 a year; and one of them is made as a quilt group. All were machine stitched bindings.