Hands 2 Help 2020

Oh how I love this event! Each year Sarah from Confessions of a Fabric Addict hosts an event, Hands 2 Help, to encourage quilters to donate some of their work to various organizations. I have participated numerous times over the years. I have donated quilts to various places and have marveled at the number of quilts made and gifted each May. Last year and this year I am going to donate as well as coordinate the receiving of many beautiful quilts for Mercyful Quilts.

Over the past several weeks, the quilts have started to arrive. It is so fun to open the packages and see the color schemes, block patterns and quilting styles on each one. From simple to ornate, each one is beautiful and very much appreciated. I promise to share them with you – I still need to take pictures though.

As I thought about the event from the donor perspective this year, I knew I would donate one to Mercy Hospital – you all know how strongly I feel about their program. I will be giving them the blue and yellow star quilt I wrote about in my post two weeks ago. I also wanted to donate to our local Project Linus group. As I started to look at fabric, I decided it was silly to make a new quilt for them. I have a small stack of baby quilts in the closet that I made for the fun of it but never used or gave away. It seemed more practical to give one of those away than to make another one.

I chose to give them the Fireburst Quilt I made a while ago during a quilt along hosted by Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland. It is such a sweet quilt and should be used. Yesterday I washed and dried it since it had been in the closet for some time. It is all soft and crinkly now – ready for a child in need.

I love the colors used for this quilt – they are bright and cheerful. I remember when I started to spiral quilt this I worried it would be stiff so I decided to gradually widen the space between the spirals. It worked out well and I like how soft and puffy it is.

The fabric on the backing is Folk Fleur from the Meriwether line by Amy Gibson. It is sweet with tiny flowers floating across the fabric. (There is just a bit left in the sale section of the shop.) I used a zig zag stitch to quilt the border which added a bit of whimsy.

I am really happy to give this quilt to Project Linus. I love making them but it doesn’t make any sense to leave them unused in the closet. I know many people have stacks of their quilts throughout the house and that is what works for them. I feel like quilts are to be used. This one needs to belong to a child.

I am excited to see the numbers for this year. It seems with each year more and more quilts are donated as part of Hands 2 Help. With the quarantine in place this year, and many people unemployed, it might be a lesser number? This would be totally understandable too. Are you participating? If so, thank you for your generosity!! Thank you also to Sarah for spending so much time organizing this inspirational event each spring.

16 thoughts on “Hands 2 Help 2020

  1. Carol D Westover

    Lovely little quilt that will make some child a very happy camper! I ran into problems quilting my Hands2Help quilt so am having to remove all of the stitching. Once it’s all back to start, I’ll pass it to my long arm quilting friend who will do a marvelous job on it. My health is doing very good these days and I’m grateful for that.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Carol, I am happy to hear you are doing well. So much to be thankful for. Not happy to hear you are picking out the quilting. I have done that once or twice and it is not a fun task. Have a wonderful day. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Carole @ From My Carolina Home

    I made one quilt, and donated one that I made some time ago. Like you, I think quilts should be used, not sitting in a closet. I have plenty like that, but I have to keep them for my trunk show for speaking events. So, I rotate them around the beds and wall hangings. But most everything else I quilt is donated somewhere.

    Reply
  3. Wendy

    Fun to see this quilt again – I like the way you quilted it. I agree that it will be well-received by someone. I didn’t participate in H2H this year unfortunately; I didn’t get signed up in time. Next year, though, I think!

    Reply
  4. Kathleen McCormick

    I love this quilt and the circular quilting is perfect. I am so pleased to see the continuing success of Hands 2 Help. I am getting my quilts ready for blogging/photographing and shipping — so exciting.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Thank you. Nice to hear you are participating. It is inspiring to me seeing the generosity of so many quilters each year!!

      Reply
  5. Anja @ Anja Quilts

    Great idea to use a quilt already made. I need to get more quilts out of my house. I did make two quilts for this year’s drive. Sarah does an awesome job.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      She does amazing work, right? Your quilts are lovely Anja – they will be a delight for whomever receives them. Have a nice evening!

      Reply
  6. Kaholly

    It’s precious and any child would be delighted to call it their own. I belong in your camp, Bernie. I gift/give all the quilts I make, rather than collect them.

    Reply
    1. Bernie Post author

      Thank you Karen. How are things lately? Are you close by your daughter yet? Hope you are well and safe with all of the Corona crazies!!

      Reply
  7. Mari

    A tiny human will love the bright colors in this lovely little quilt. What a nice donation! I love donating quilts, but I always fieel a little bit of loss when I send them off. Hopefully they cause smiles at the other end of the route!

    Reply
  8. Danice

    Oh Bernie, the Fireburst quilt is a real beauty. I love the spiral quilting too. Whomever receives this quilt will surely love it.

    Reply
  9. JanineMarie

    I love how the sunshine shows off your quilting. Such a neat idea to widen the spiral as it goes around the quilt for all that yummy softness. It will be a treat for the little person who gets it. I missed out on signing up for Hands2Help this year and feel so bad about it. This year has just been out-of-whack for me from day 1. But I know there will always be a need for quilts, so eventually I’ll get back on track. I’m looking forward to seeing all the quilty goodness that comes your way.

    Reply
  10. Sarah Craig

    A beautiful quilt, Bernie, and sure to be loved! Thanks for being part of Hands2Help 2020!

    Reply

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