Quilts for a Syrian Refugee Family and a Stash Report

Like many people, I have been moved by the plight of the thousands of Syrian refugees who have had to leave their country in search of a safe place to live and raise their children.  Several local Presbyterian churches, including my church, are sponsoring two families to come to Canada. A few weeks ago, I spoke to the representative of my church that is on the organizing committee and offered to arrange for quilts for the members of the two families.  I asked our London Friendship Quilters' Guild president what she thought of this idea and she jumped right in and made some quilts for the first family who should be arriving sometime in January. I had a quilt top in my stash that needed to be quilted and it will be given to the youngest child--a girl.

I am still in the process of quilting it and it should be done soon. Once this quilt is done, we will have 5 quilts ready for this family--2 parents and 4 young children. 

We do not know much about the second family yet but I decided to get started on a quilt for the parents using fabric from my stash.  My friend, Christine, found a pattern in a magazine that was simple and quick to make. 

I cut out the large squares a couple of weeks ago and found the sashing fabric in my stash.  I don't have quite enough of it but found a solid yellow colour that is very close to the sashing fabric to use as well. 

Christine and I made most of the star blocks last week when we got together to sew and I finished up the last few stars on Monday this week. 

I started sewing the blocks together on Monday as well.  It is coming together nicely and I hope to have the top completed soon so that it can be taken to the long arm quilter for quilting. 

Several members of the guild have offered to help make quilts for the second refugee family as well. We may do a sewing day to put a few more tops together once we find out more about the children's ages, etc.

I encourage others reading this post to make quilts for refugee families who may be making your community their new home. A quilt is a wonderful gift to welcome newcomers to our country.

I have not done a stash report for ages.  I am ending up in the red this year.  There has not been enough sewing time this year for many reasons and I hope to return to the black for 2016.

Fabric used since my last stash report: 42.3 yards
Total fabric used this year: 62.9 yards
Fabric added to the stash since my last report:  31.5 yards.
Total fabric added this year: 70.75 yards
Net fabric added this year:  7.85 yards