What do you think?
 

I'm at a point in my life where I have many quilts I have made. I've gifted many to family members-they all have enough. I donate to various fundraisers, etc. and still have about 25 quilts. I decorate my house with quilts, etc. so what do I do with them? In our small community there are not a lot of places that want the donations. Donating to nursing homes is not a good idea as everything is washed in hot water and quilts don't like hot water. Now it seems that so many would rather have fleece blankets. Even our church is making fleece blankets for their graduates. Same with hospitals, etc.

I may have to find another hobby but I am "trying" to use up fabric. May just start donating fabric to thrift stores, seems to fly off the shelves there.

What do you think?

Although there may not be any in your community, how about other communities around you? Are they're any homeless shelters? Before we moved here, there was a women's shelter, the shelter had classes on how to survive in the world on their own, along with job training classes, and when they graduated they all got a quilt, made by our little group. I donate two quilts a year to our local Humane Society as fund raisers in December, which is raffled off, the one in February is auctioned off. I'm sure you'll get more suggestions.

Talk to Department of Child Protection & see if they need quilts. Foster children might like a quilt and a bag to call their own.

Aside from what to do with quilts we have...making quilts being my passion, I make complicated quilts with lots of tiny pieces. I manage 2-4 a year, sometimes just one.
One quilt that came back to me because of a tragic and untimely death, I've cut up and used as shrouds for beloved pets. I have one piece left and am very comforted by my decision. I'd have never been able to see it on my bed without that grief being renewed.

One place I know appreciates quilts are the nursing homes. You have older adults who appreciate the work that goes into a quilt and love the beauty. Depending on the quilts and the facility they have different ways of distributing them. Lap quits go out the fastest to residents. They are always in demand. Larger quilts are often used as birthday gifts for a resident or prizes for different activities. They are always appreciated and loved.

Most of my projects are donation projects now. Just because they are for donation doesn't mean anything really in terms of my approach or workmanship, more than once someone I know has fallen in love with something that I was just working on to have something to work on. So when ever the question comes up about what to do, the answer is you do whatever you would do for the person you most love in the world!

The guild my friends belong to have a preemie project for one of the local hospitals, and a "children's corner" which is household things of need/clothing for all ages, but my preferred design size is roughly queen.

The guild I used to belong to did Ronald McDonald House as their pet project. I don't know about now, but back then any other children in the family could also get a quilt of their own and I rather like that. I usually concentrated on "small twins" as we had plenty of lap blanket sized projects.

Currently I'm looking at a transitional housing shelter in my neighborhood, I haven't contacted them yet because right now I still have more tops than quilts. It's mostly for people leaving abusive (often substance fueled) households. Often they leave in the middle of the night at a very bad time in their lives with very little support, emotional or financial, and usually about zero possessions. The "shelter" is about a 1-2 year stay and is a secure apartment complex where basic life skills are taught along with a roof over their head and assistance in the various areas they may need help.

Foster kids have been mentioned, many needs and desires both with kids in the system and those aging out. Red Cross is another organization.

Different states have different rules for raffles, but another option is to make a fundraiser quilt for a group with a particular interest. I have fabric stored out for a cat quilt for the Humane Society for example. In my area (Washington State) raffles are harder than in others, and it would be sold at a black-tie auction.

Give one to your mailman, trash collector, meter reader, bank teller, lawn service, Dr. and dentist staff...........the list is almost endless.

Start making face masks!

The police and fire departments can use them for kids removed from homes or families of tragedies. I have started donating to the hospice facility my husband was in. Until I have enough for a drop off they are on a spare bed. Same as Tartan’s

If you have a guild in your area, I would contact them to see if they'll accept your quilts. If they donate quilts, as many guilds do, they will have good information on where to donate.

How about making doll baby quilts for kids in homeless shelters or kids in foster care in the future? Our local quilt store also collects quilts to be delivered to a group who distributes them to people who have been affected by natural disasters.

As suggested by many, reach out to your Police & Fire Departments! As a former first responder who often carried a bag full of small stuffed animals with me while on patrol, I can’t express just how well received items like this are to those in a crisis. Often times kids are overlooked and forgotten when responding to a situation, a simple act of kindness goes along way to helping not just a child but also your fellow man. If the response to a stuffed animal is met with such happiness and enthusiasm, imagine what a quilt of their very own would mean to them! It’s easy to forget that so many have very little in life, and it’s these things we do and share with our community that can have such a impact. The same goes for kids in Foster Care, let me assure you that while most foster homes are fine, not every foster home is a loving and wonderful place to be! Imagine being in strange home with very few, if none of your personal belongings and really nothing to call your own and then being placed in different homes over a period of years. A quilt can provide a little bit of love to wrap themselves up in that is theirs to keep!
So please, don’t give up quilting but find a worthy cause in which to share the love!

I think it's good to get rid of them before they go on in an estate sale. I was going to give a high school friend one of my quilts when I saw her, I thought I would give one too her just before we said goodbye. During our catch up conversation, she said. "You're a quilter, what do I do with a bunch of quilts?" Her mother in law had passed away and had left a closet full. Her husband, didn't want them. I told her to donate them to the hospital or cancer ward. Thank goodness, I didn't offer her a quilt. Some people appreciate them and some don't. Donating them is a great thing to do.

I make lots of quilts for kids. There is a hospital that will take as many as my group can make for their NICU babies. Keeps me sewing and these are smaller qiults so they are not such big projects

I have also donated to local fire departments. The one fire chief has told me stories of how much the little ones really appreciate getting the quilts when they are so scared at the fires and vehicle accidents

I have worked in nursing homes and donated lots of quilts to them- the residents absolutely love them. The staff is careful to keep them ( used as a bedspread) clean so laundering doesn’t have to happen often and the laundry staff treat them well. I gave a special quilt to a dear friend who had a stroke and wound up In a local long term facility. He was their for ten years before he passed away- the quilt was passed on to someone else. About 5 years after he passed away my mom fell & broke- she wound up doing rehab in the same facility- was there about 5 months. One day I was visiting her at home and there was the quilt I had made for Bill 15 years earlier. I asked her where it came from she said one night - in that place- she was cold and the nurse took it into her- when she was ready to go home they asked her if she wanted to take it home and she said yes. I was So Surprised it was still in pretty good shape, very soft and well loved, I told her I had made it forBill After his stroke . After she passed away I held onto the quilt for a couple years- thinking about her and even more- Bill. then felt like it really belonged back at the facility- I gave it back , now it is on the bed of one of my mom’s childhood friends.

I also give quilts to the women’s resource center for the emergency shelters and the homeless shelter. I donate quilts every time there is a benefit/ fundraiser for a family or individual fighting a battle. Around here the groups who have raffled my quilts include the library, humane society, veterinary clinic, garden club, the art center, the elementary school, the senior class in a high school. The list goes on & on.

If you want to donate to a nursing home, make sure that when the resident dies, that they don't just toss the quilt out if the family doesn't want it. This is what our local nursing home does, so I won't donate to them.

every quilt i make gets washed in hot water and dried on the hottest setting before it leaves my house.
that way i know whether or not it will survive the most aggressive care.
all but a few have looked just fine. :)

I donate a quilt every year to a cancer walk fundraiser. They auction it at the end of the evening. One year, a bidding war raised $2600! Then another individual told the organization that they would donate $1000 if I would make them a quilt.
Long story short... I had two snuggle quilts that I made for my aunts (the fundraiser is sort of a family reunion)--I donated one of those to fulfill the individual's request. My aunt was very understanding!

Don't forget funeral homes. They can use quilts to cover the body of the deceased when being transported to the funeral home. These are called Passage quilts. I have donated for this purpose and the home I donated to said they would use 4 or 5 at each of their 3 sites. Goggle Passage Quilts and you will find a quiet community of quilters that donate with the intent of allowing some dignity for those who have died.

Consider hospice centers also.

Emergency shelters, domestic violence shelters, and transition housing are all good spots for quilts that don’t take too fussy of care. Good quality fabric and close enough quilting should make a quilt capable of going through an awful lot of laundry. I make quilts for the Quilts for Kids organization, and they tell you that your quilts may go through hospital laundries every day for weeks or months. No loose threads and no handwork are their approach, and it seems to work.

I donate to foster kids in my county. They will take and give out as many quilts as they can get.

I donate to our local fire department. When they go out to a fire, the displaced people are either cold, shocky, and just want to bundle up, especially the kids. Our local Christmas council is always in need of twin or double sized quilts. The woman's shelter uses lots of quilts. There is also a half-way home for woman leaving prison. If they follow the rules, when they leave they get to keep the quilts on their beds. Right now I'm making masks!

Shelter for Homeless Vets was very appreciative.

One of the very large guilds in my area, 300+ members, make quilts for university students who come from the foster care system. Every 2 to 3 years they make about 125 quilts. These students come to campus with very little of their own possessions to dress up a dorm room or to simply dress their bed. Most students have family who help supply sheets, pillow cases, blankets and so on. These young adults do not have family supplying these items. . Although I am not part of this quilting guild, I work on the campus where they donate.

Check with any campus online site and see if they have foster care grads and contact that office. Bet they would be pleased to take your excess quilts.

As you have said, you are in a small community. Have you thought of contacting the Chamber of Commerce for suggestions? They may know something you had not thought of. Also, local churches/pastors?

Ckcowl- I love your quilt story of how the quilt traveled from Bill to your mom, back to you and then back to the facility. We usually never know what happens to them but knowing they were made from a loving heart I feel most people appreciate and care for them.

Our group donates to CASA and Quilts of Valor. If we hear of a local fund raiser for instance, cancer patients or other medical expenses, we donate for their auctions. There is always a need. I would rather see them placed, than the quilts just sit unused and unloved.

I had a friend who her husband was a fire fighter, and her told her that his station
appreciated having quilts on hand to wrap someone is in when there is a house fire.

Check with your local Extension Office. Sometimes 4-H clubs need service projects and could use your fabric to make quilts for battered womens shelters, homeless shelters, childrens services. We were given tubs of quilt fabric a few years ago and had several open sews to make patchwork comforters for kids at the womens shelter. Some people cut squares, others sewed, others tied the quilts off.

this might be a crazy idea....one of our local yarn shops.....makes things like mittens, hats, scarfs,,,, and then once a year the "yarn" a neighborhood...mean they simple hang the knitted goods on fences, posts, lamp posts, etc....with a little note attached. stating something like...."I am not lost, if you need a hat, mittens, scarf, or whatever it is....take me!" I know a quilt is a lot of work...but ...maybe?

I donate a lot to Project Linus and our local hospice. They are both very appreciative.

One of our hospitals has a pastoral program where all hospice patients are given quilts (unless they don't want one). After they pass, the quilt is given to the family. They go through about 40 a month. You should read the thank-you cards from the families, they are so incredibly thankful for the quilts.

Maybe you could stitch up something similar, bags, organizers, pillows. I enjoy doing that.

Also, I am surprised that no one needs donations of quilts. Where I live the need for charity quilts greatly surpasses the supply, and grows every year. Hospitals, fire departments, family services, women's shelters etc where I live can always, unfortunately, use more. Possibly there is a church or government agency that could point you in the right direction. It's wonderful that you are so generous with your time and materials and hard working.

Try a Veterans Home, they do not have to be quilts of valor nor do they need to be red, white and blue.

Check with your local furniture store. We live where every Christmas a local store donates beds and mattresses to families in need. They provide new sets of sheets and blankets, and quilts if they have them. Every year when I hear their stories I am moved to tears by the gratitude of the recipients. Maybe there is such a program near where you live. My father spent his final weeks in the hospice unit at the local veteran's hospital, and on his arrival he was given a quilt to keep him warm. He always said that it was like getting a hug from a stranger. I can't think of any better way to honor those that have served our country.

Try the habitat for humanity group. Our guild makes a quilt for each member when they move in. They have put a lot of time into their own house and houses for others -- They have earned their new home,