Citrus Belt Quilt Guild located in Redlands, California, boasts a membership of 200 members, 12 years and older. The quilt guild meets the last Friday of the month during the day and also sponsor a Moonlighters evening group, which meets the third Thursday of the month.
The Citrus Belt Quilt Guild participates with 15 different charities including Santa Claus, Inc., The Ronald McDonald House in nearby Loma Linda, and The Painted Turtle Camp, a year-round, life-changing environment, started by Paul Newman, for children with life-threatening diseases and their families that allows children to participate in an authentic camp experience by supporting their medical needs and offers their families care, education, and respite.
The quilt guild regularly makes Turtle Pillows for the Painted Turtle Camp, as well as pillowcases, Alzheimer’s Fidget Quilts, Pet Beds, Tote Bags for walkers, and wheelchair quilts to support their charities.
The guild was on hand at Road to California 2018 to share their popular Quilt Guild Opportunity Quilt, Autumn Amour.
Member Robin Grube designed and organized the construction of the quilt along with two other guild members. One floral fabric was chosen to cut into 6 strips and many sets of equilateral triangles were cut from the layers. Fifty members created fifty kaliedocopic hexagons. The shapes were then placed on top of a panel depicting a Parisian scene. Free motion quilting was done in multi-color threads on a domestic swing machine. It took the guild 3 months to complete.
[caption id="attachment_6052" align="aligncenter" width="710"]
Autumn Amour[/caption]
Tickets for the quilt are still being sold for $1.00 each. The winning ticket will be drawn on October 26, 2018. To purchase tickets, please contact the guild.
Does your guild have an Opportunity Quilt you want to showcase at Road to California? Limited tables are available each day of the show. If interested, please contact Road at info@roadtocalifornia.com.]]>
Posts Tagged ‘Charity Quilts’
Meet The Citrus Belt Quilt Guild
Thursday, September 13th, 2018Charity Quilt Hand-Off
Friday, June 30th, 2017 At Road 2017, Road to California sponsored its first Roadies Give Back charity quilt project to benefit cancer patients at the Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Care Center at Pomona Valley Hospital .
Anita is pictured along with Matt Reese and Matt’s mom, Shellee Reese, an administrator at the Cancer Care Center.[/caption]
Then, on Saturday night of the show, quilters, some class teachers, and even a few vendors, got together in the Ontario Convention Center to sew the blocks together into lap size quilts as well as begin quilting the quilts.
After the show, unfinished quilts were given to the Nite Owl Quilt Guild to finish the quilting. In the end, 41 quilts were completed.
On June 29, 2017, Road to California owner, Matt Reese, along with his wife Jennifer, presented to the Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Care Center the Roadies Give Back quilts which will be given to cancer patients receiving chemotherapy at the center.
Each unique quilt was folded into a Road to California reusable bag, accompanied with a card explaining the significance of the quilt and its care instructions.
While they were there, Matt personally distributed quilts to five patients including:
Joseph Derowen has been a patient at the center since December, 2016. He said that he “really appreciated” the gesture because 99.9% of the time, he is cold when he receives his treatment. He was looking forward to trading his “funky jacket” for the quilt to keep him warm. Joseph’s wife, Elaine, thought receiving the quilt was “very thoughtful” and was grateful that now her husband will be “wrapped in love.” 
Joyce is battling Breast Cancer. She knew that the quilts were “a lot of work” and remarked how beautiful hers was. Joyce commented that it was “very generous for the quilters to donate their time and materials.”
Petra de Leon has been battling Lymphoma since April. Petra replied in Spanish, “I am very happy to get this quilt. It is very pretty.”
Ray Hardy told Matt, “No one has ever given me a quilt before. This is cool.”
Road to California wishes to thank everyone who participated in this special project. They look forward to offering Roadies Give Back again in the future.]]>
An Afternoon of Celebration
Wednesday, October 12th, 2016 Robert and Beverly Lewis Family Cancer Care Center located at Pomona Valley Hospital by purchasing a table for their annual fund raising fashion show and luncheon at the Sheraton Fairplex.
Because cancer has struck the Reese family in the past, both Matt and Carolyn Reese feel that it is an important cause to support. In addition, Matt’s mom and Carolyn’s daughter-in-law, Shellee Reese, has worked as the Administrative Director for the cancer center for the past 15 years.
Carolyn’s guests included members of her extended family
[caption id="attachment_4380" align="aligncenter" width="625"]
Back row (l-r) Jen Reese, Matt Reese, Shellee Reese. Front row (l-r) Lee Ann Akers, Debby Bennett[/caption]
As well as two friends who are both cancer survivors. Elainne Edwards is a 15 year thyroid cancer survivor who enjoys making charity quilts. Lavella Fitzgerald, also a quilter, is a 15 year breast cancer survivor.
[caption id="attachment_4378" align="aligncenter" width="625"]
Elainne, LaVella, and Carolyn[/caption]
Being at the luncheon brought back emotions for Lavella. ” It is wonderful to be with so many survivors today and to know that everyone is working for a cure.”
The day included a delicious Asian theme luncheon followed by a fashion show where the models were each cancer survivors in their own right. Men and women modeled three outfits: casual, business, and formal. They were joined on the runway during the business section with the health professionals who they credited with helping them overcome their cancer. Then, for the last segment, each model chose a family member who was especially supportive during their cancer journey to walk with them down the runway. Each model’s story of courage in their trials was very inspiring for all in attendance.
At the end of the event, Elainne remarked, “It encourages me to see the support of this community and know that you are not alone.”
Road’s support for this important community center will continue at Road to California 2017 when they will hold their first Roadies Give Back evening of service on Saturday, January 21st beginning at 7:00 p.m.
The goal for the evening is to make and quilt as many charity quilts as possible to donate to the Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Center. Sewing machines will be set up in several rooms and guests can choose to participate by helping to put together quilt tops, quilting the quilts, or finishing the quilts.
The Roadies Give Back quilt block design was specially created by Road 2017 faculty member, Anita Grossman Solomon. In order to speed things along that evening, Road is asking for the quilt blocks to be made ahead of the show and delivered to their office starting December 5th. Whether or not you plan on attending Road 17, anyone can participate by making as many quilt blocks as they would like, following the approved design.
Road to California is honored to give back to the Robert and Beverly Lewis Cancer Care Center, where there is found “A passion for healing. A love of giving.”
For more information regarding Roadies Give Back, please visit our website.
]]>
Quilting Friends
Friday, July 31st, 2015Friendship Day is August 2, 2015 – a wonderful reason to celebrate the friends in your life.
Road to California 2015 – 20th Anniversary Show was the perfect place for friends to come together and enjoy over 1,000 quilts on display, 18 special exhibits, and over 700 merchant booths.
Modern quilters Michelle Barbee and Megan Evans met at the LA Modern Quilt Guild. They encourage each other with their modern quilting projects. They all had “a fun time looking at all the quilts and shopping.”
Meet Cecilia, Joan, Carolyn, and Ann. These four friends quilt at Grace Lutheran Church in Upland, California. They have been going to Road together for the past 10 years because “we have fun.” They enjoy seeing Eleanor Burns, the quilts on display and buying batting for the quilts they make for their church group. Last year, their group donated 154 quilts to various organizations. They’ve started making dog beds out of the scraps from their quilts and are donating those to local animal shelters and to homeless people with pets. As Carolyn said, “We don’t waste anything!!”
Donna Nordstrom and Joanna Larmore started coming to Road 17 years ago as young moms looking for something to get out of the house and enjoy doing something together. Since then, Joanna moved out of state, so their annual trip to Road is a way for them to reconnect. “It’s our refuge every year to do,” said Donna. Added Joanna, “We get to see the future of quilting at Road.” This year, not only did they enjoy the show for three days, they also participated in the Marcus Brothers Textiles Challenge.
Patsy and Cherie live in the high desert north of Los Angeles. They met in a knitting group and belong to the Tehachapi Quilt Guild. They’ve been coming to Road together for the past 7 years. Last year, they took their first bus trip as part of their Road experience, led by the Traveling Quilters. Patsy said it was “an excellent tour” and another “nice” Road feature.
Terri and Ann came to Road from Northern California. Terri has been quilting for 20 years and Ann for 10. Terri remarked, “We come to Road to get inspired,” and “To see the quilting,” added Ann.
Every day is Friendship Day during Road to California. What could be better than sharing the “Best in the West” experience than with people who are just as passionate as you are with quilting? Bring a friend January 20 – 24, 2016 to the Ontario Convention Center for Road to California 2016.
]]>Modern Quilts for Charity
Tuesday, July 21st, 2015The Modern Quilt Guild will have a special exhibit, The Best of QuiltCon 2015, at Road 2016.
The Modern Quilt Guild is a thriving online community of modern quilters. The founding guild was formed in Los Angeles in 2009 and has grown to over 125 guilds around the world with members in 6 continents.
Last August, the MQG offered a challenge to its members: the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge. This challenge required participating Modern Quilt Guilds to work collaboratively to create quilts using a predetermined color palette and alternate grid work design. Quilts could utilize blocks of different sizes and additional negative space plus any other creative ideas. Finished quilts were then donated by the guilds to local charities benefitting children.
The official rules also included:
- Guilds had to complete a quilt using the predetermined color palette of white, light gray, chartreuse, burnt orange, sky blue, cerise and a deep turquoise.
- The quilt had to use alternate grid work.
- A pattern could be used provided the guilds got permission from the pattern designer.
- A guild’s members provided the blocks for their quilt as well as all the necessary batting, backing, binding and additional fabric to complete the quilt top.
- The finished quilts could be no smaller than 68”x 88” and not greater than 72” x 92”
- Quilting could be no farther apart than 2”
- Machine sewn binding was allowed.
Pictures of the finished guild quilts, along with their story on how they were created, began appearing on the MQG’s blog last spring. Some of the recent entries included:
Ann Arbor Modern Quilt Guild
A quilt inspired by ideas! Arrows swarming and circulating represent the coordination of thought fragments.
Chicago Modern Quilt Guild
Inspired by the pattern “Blue Ice” from Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen.
Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild
“Modern Bracelets” is a tribute to minimalism, bright colors, and modern piecing of every kind.
Boise Modern Quilt Guild
The idea of a block slowly building and getting bigger with additional elements being added to it. It has double batting so it really “pops.”
Congratulations to all the modern quilt guilds that participated in MQG’s QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge.
]]>
