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What's New
& News in Quilting Around the World

By Lois Marilyn Verma

Make a Blanket Day Scores Major Success

Severe weather may have hit some parts of the U.S. on February 15, but inside each of the gatherings for Project Linus' National Make a Blanket Day, there was nothing but smiles and busy hands as volunteers created more than 21,000 blankets and quilts for kids in need.

Each year the
staff of Quiltmaker
invites local quilters to come to the Primedia offices in Golden, Colorado, for a day of sewing for Project Linus. This photo shows some of this year's volunteers who helped make quilts for the organization.
Photo by Erin Wilcoxon.

At the Primedia offices in Golden, Colorado, Caroline Reardon, editor of our sister publication Quiltmaker, and her staff played hostesses for the magazine's fourth all-day sew-in. About 90 people made their way through snow flurries to help assemble small quilts from more than 1,600 blocks sent in by readers. Husqvarna Viking loaned sewing machines for the volunteers to use, and Northcott/Monarch and P&B Textiles donated hundreds of yards of fabric. Thread was donated by Robison-Anton Textile Company, The Warm Company donated rolls of batting, and Dritz® gave supplies for basting and tying the quilts. More than $800 from a fabric sale and 150-plus quilts were turned over to the local chapter of Project Linus.

This was the first year Janome America, Inc., sponsored the event on a national level with 189 dealers in 40 states participating. Project Linus will distribute the quilts to children's hospitals, fire departments, and family service organizations. Eight quilts from Quilt 'n Sew in Katy, Texas, went to the children of the astronauts killed in the Columbia shuttle explosion.

For more information about Project Linus and its mission, visit the website www.projectlinus.org. The block design for next year's sew-in will be in the January/February 2004 issue of Quiltmaker.