End of year 2014 Challenge update

First and foremost, we would like to thank EVERYONE who participated in the 2014 Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS! We are currently still in the process of wrapping up the 2014 challenge.

We received SO many quilts this year and hope you will be patience with us as we continue to log them in. Once that's complete, we will be able to post our "Sew Popular" contest on our Facebook page for you all to vote! We will also be announcing the category winners shortly after that. 

August 1st marked the 2015 challenge year and we have already been getting in tons of new quilts and prize donations from many new sponsors! We sincerely appreciate your time and efforts and hope you will continue to join us in raising awareness and much needed funds to help find a cure for this disease. Stay tuned...

Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS

 

Every day is Christmas here at Quilters Dream Batting because every day Fed Ex, UPS and our postal carriers bring in packages that pile up in the office, blocking doors, and creating a wonderful labyrinth of gifts!  It is so exciting – just imagine, Christmas every day, with gifts of quilts arriving from all over for ALS patients through Quilters Dream’s Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS.


We love Mark! He brings the best goodies!



 



What makes Neva smile? Bright & cheery florals.

We are in the fifth year of Hopes & Dreams, and, once again, we have been made aware that quilters are the most thoughtful, generous, and loving people around.  As Jennifer opens each box, it is a new surprise of colors and wonder.  Even though these quilts will not end up on our own beds, we rejoice in the unpacking, admiring, and coveting of these beautiful quilts that have been lovingly made for ALS patients and ALS research.  Although all the quilts are appreciated, each of us in the office is drawn toward a different style.   Kathy’s favorites are always the batiks and the hand-stitched lovelies.  Gina, our beachcomber, enjoys the peaches and teals of sea-themed quilts.  The pastels are Pat’s favorites, who feels the soft feminine teals, pinks, and blues are warm and calming.  Neva, an avid gardener, is immediately drawn to the bright and cheery florals.  Personally, I like the funky modern piecing designs and unique machine quilted patterns that accent them. 

 Jennifer, our photographer, is fortunate to be able to see each and every quilt unfolded, and enjoys posting the pictures on Facebook for an admiring audience of over 5,000 fans!

 

Look at all these jewels we get to open!!!!

 
 

Every day is Christmas at Quilters Dream because every day we are reminded of how blessed we are to be a part of the caring, generous community of quilters who have made Hopes & Dreams a success.

 

 

Check out all the quilts that have been donated by visiting http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quilters-Dream-Batting-sponsoring-Hopes-and-Dreams-Quilt-Challenge-for-ALS/150913912237?ref=ts&fref=ts

 

 

For more information about the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS, click the link below.

http://quiltersdreambatting.com/HD/ALS.htm

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team

 

 

Pennsylvania Quilting Friends Travel 300+ Miles

Pennsylvania Quilting Friends Travel 300+ Miles

Delivering 108 Quilts for ALS

When Virginia Beach resident Kathy Thompson decided to raise awareness and research funds to help find a cure for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, she knew quilters would embrace the challenge.  As the co-founder and owner of Quilter’s Dream BattingÒ, a Virginia Beach based business that manufactures high quality quilt batting; Kathy knows how generous and caring the quilt community is.  What she didn’t know was how much they would touch her life and the lives of thousands of individuals living with ALS, including her own son.

 In early 2007, Kathy’s 32-year old son Josh was diagnosed with ALS.  The disease has taken Josh from a strong, happy, athletic young husband and new father to being completely paralyzed – unable to eat, speak, or move.  He is on life support.

 “To say his diagnosis and this experience have been devastating is a true understatement,” Kathy says.  “It was shocking to learn that a disease that was discovered well over 100 years ago has absolutely no treatment or help available.”

 So Thompson and the staff at Quilter’s Dream BattingÒ created a unique way to raise awareness about ALS and raise much needed funds to support research.  The HOPES & DREAMSÔ Quilt Challenge for ALS was born.  The challenge encourages quilters to design, sew and donate lap or bed quilts that are given to individuals with ALS.  In addition, select quilts are sold to raise funds for ALS Research.  Each individual donating a quilt is eligible to win great prizes.

 “Each day is a mixed blessing of joy and sadness,” Thompson says. “I watch this most horrific disease take over my son Josh’s life, an then meet people like Pat, Diane and Debbie who drive here from Pennsylvania to hand-deliver over a hundred quilts.  It’s their willingness to serve others in this way that truly makes hopes and dreams come to life.”

For 46 years Pat Matthews has been quilting with the last six years focused on using her sewing machine as a way to help others.  Pat and her quilting buddies, Diane Wilson and Debbie Weaver, made the 314 mile journey from Dover, Pennsylvania to Virginia Beach just to deliver 108 quilts.

 “We just can’t stop quilting,” laughs Matthews.  “All of our children, families and friends have plenty of our quilts, so we now focus on sharing our passion with others who can use these quilts. Individuals with ALS often find their bodies get cold as they fight this disease and these quilts warm them and let them know they are loved.”

 Pat, Diane and Debbie are part of a quilting group called the “Sew Happy Together Quilters.”  The 13 women who make up this quilting group meet the second and fourth Wednesday of each month and sew together.  They meet at the “barn” and many in the Dover area know this is the place unused fabric turns into creations of love.

 
“This barn is fabulous,” cheers Debbie Weaver.  “Pat and her husband renovated an old barn into a two story place of beauty.  The bottom floor is fitted with 10 sewing machines and all the comforts of home.  Because we sew lots of quilts and walker bags for veterans and nursing homes, people in the community stop by the barn and drop off yard and yard of fabric knowing we will turn it into something good for someone else.”

 “This is a magic barn,” says Matthews. “Our friends and other quilters drop off their pieced quilt tops and they suddenly become quilts,” she adds through laughter.

It’s this laughter and the genuine love of quilting that contributed to these ladies winning first place in the “Sew Generous Guild” category of the 2011 HOPES & DREAMSÔ Quilt Challenge for ALS that and her team at Quilter’s Dream BattingÒ coordinate annually.



“The staff here is incredible,” says Thompson.  “They, along with each individual that makes and submits a quilt, embrace this challenge and the vision of supporting ALS research as if my son Josh were their own son, grandson or brother.  It makes the heartache of this excruciating disease a little less painful.”

The 2012 HOPES & DREAMSÔ Quilt Challenge accepts quilts through July 30. Quilts received after this date will be accepted for the 2013 challenge year.  All quilts are eligible for prizes with additional winners selected for the quilt best selecting the HOPES & DREAMSÔ theme, the quilt voted the “people chose,” and the individual, teacher and quilt group donating the most quilts.  To see the entry form and learn how to participate visit the Quilter’s Dream BattingÒ website at www.QuiltersDreamBatting.com. You can also view photos of the quilts submitted for the challenge on the “Quilter’s DreamÒ Batting sponsoring Hopes & DreamsÔ Quilt Challenge for ALS” page on Facebook.

The HOPES & DREAMSÔ Quilt Challenge for ALS has received more than 2,000 quilts and raised more than $50,000 for ALS research from the ongoing sale of these quilts.  If you are interested in purchasing a quilt for a family member, friend or even as a corporate gift, contact Kathy Thompson, Jane Kinzie or Jennifer Griffin at (757)-463-3264 or QuiltersDreamBatting@juno.com.

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team

I love when the mailman comes!

The mailman has come today and brought yet another box that I just know is for the 3rd annual “Hopes & Dreams” Quilt Challenge for ALS. Those packages, all small, medium and large are very exciting to receive! It’s like a birthday every day here at Quilters Dream!!

You should see us when the box is about to be opened. We all stand around it huddled anxiously waiting for the tape to be removed. You would think there was an unheard of species or a magical treasure inside!

Sometimes the quilts are inside a plastic bag or pillow case to ensure they are protected inside the box and when removed all you hear is………….

 “OOOOH!!”

“I love the colors on this one.”

“Feel how soft this quilt is.”

“That is all hand stitched? WOW!! What amazing talent.”

Every quilt we have received has its own personality and uniqueness to it. Not to mention how touching some of the stories that have been attached to these quilts are. That is just as much a treat as it is to see the quilt.

Some stories are about a connection that someone had with ALS patient and how happy they were to make a quilt to be donated. Sometimes they are personal reasons why they chose a specific pattern, color scheme or technique to be associated with the quilt. And sometimes it’s just a simple “I hope you enjoy this quilt as much as I did making it!”

I am personally touched that quilters have come together and worked so hard on their quilts to be donated. It feels good to know that people do care and don’t expect anything back and are willing to share out of the goodness of their hearts!!

So thanks to all that have already sent in their quilts to the “Hopes and Dreams” challenge. Speaking for all of us here….we are certainly looking forward to when the mailman comes tomorrow !

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team