A Charity Quilt - From Idea to Delivery

Four years ago, Chris from the Fort Walton Beach office of the Emerald Coast Hospice contacted our guild with a plea for help. The annual Celebration of Life Ceremony was coming up and the previous organization/sewist(s) were not able to complete a quilt for the event. The presentation of a quilt with the names of the individuals hospice served the previous year is one of the highlights of the ceremony.
Say no more. The sewists at ECMQG took charge and have been creating colorful memorial quilts for the ceremony ever since. Here's the story of the 2018 Memorial Quilt for Emerald Coast Hospice from idea to delivery.

It started with a very large stack of solid charms that were left over from a hospice project from a previous year.

An online search of charm pack friendly quilts led us to this beauty and the group came up with an idea.

The block size and construction information was shared and members took home charms and white fabric to sew blocks together.

 Our ECMQG December 2018 Sit and Sew gave many the opportunity to work on blocks for the quilt. Most members stayed and sewed blocks together!

Laraine completed the top half of the quilt from the blocks that were sewn at the December meeting. Loree and Natalie worked to complete blocks and finish the bottom half.

The finished top!

Natalie in collaboration with Chris, formatted all the names and printed them on fabric iron on sheets. With some trepidation, Laraine started the tedious process of applying the sheets to the quilt with a hot iron, wooden cutting board, and timer. Natalie and Loree finished the process.

The finished top with all of the names added!

Time for a quilting plan and Natalie went to work on the longarm.

Lots of ruler work went into this one!

The quilting is complete and the top is ready for the next step.

Faye volunteered to add the binding and a hanging sleeve. The entire project lasted 5 months from conception until delivery.

The happy recipients, some of the hard working, compassionate team members from Emerald Coast Hospice.

The quilt will be officially presented at the Celebration of Life Ceremony on May 11.

Quilts from previous years hang at the office building of the Fort Walton Beach branch of Emerald Coast Hospice located on Beal Parkway. The public is welcome to stop by and view all the beautiful quilts on display.