April 11, 2019

First Responder Quilts Delivered!

For anyone who doesn't know the story behind these quilts, they're the result of the generosity of hundreds of quilters who answered my call for blocks two years ago after a senior's home across the road from me burned down. All of the residents got out safely, but they lost everything, so I asked for help to make them quilts. Here's the original call for blocks, plus the quilts for the residents and the employees. And pictures of some of the residents with their quilts are here and here.

I am so excited to finally be able to say these quilts have all been delivered! On April 2 I took the first responder quilts to the fire hall to meet with the firefighters, paramedics and RCMP who could be there and give them their quilts. Here's the group shot with all three groups. I think I should have had a stool, lol! At 5'2" I've never thought of myself as tall, but I look ridiculously short in this picture 😏
One person didn't want his face shared publicly, which is why he's covered.
And here are the individual groups. First, the RCMP. One member has moved away since the fire, so his quilt will be mailed to him.
The paramedics. The two on the ends were working and arrived just in time to receive their quilts and be part of this picture, but they weren't in the big group picture above.
And here are the firefighters. Quite a few weren't able to make it that night, but I left their quilts with the fire chief and he'll give them out. Also, you might notice that two of the guys in the paramedics picture are also here in the firefighters picture. Our firefighters are all volunteers, with regular jobs as well and two of them serve the community as both firefighters and paramedics.
And now on to the quilts! There are 31, so be prepared for quilt overload, lol. Just a couple of notes first - I would have loved beautiful, outdoor pictures of these, but the weather and work schedules wouldn't cooperate, plus with 31 quilts it was pretty much just a matter of Zach and Michelle holding them up and me snapping the pictures quickly. And second, any quilts that look different or that are perfectly coordinated rather than scrappy were donated as either whole tops or even as finished quilts.

I'd love to know if you spot a block you made!
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Quilts for first responders | DevotedQuilter.com
Two years ago, I wanted to make 21 quilts for the residents. Because of the incredible generosity and support of this amazing community, we made 21 for the residents, 10 for the employees, 31 for the first responders and we sent another 21 quilt tops to help make quilts for people affected by hurricane Harvey. That's a total of 83 quilts/quilt tops! I've said it before, but it bears repeating - quilters are wonderful people!

I still have some backing fabric and binding left over, plus a small bag of blocks. All of that will be passed on to another quilter here in town who does a lot of charity sewing, especially for our province's children's hospital. I feel like that's the best way to honour the intent with which it was given to me.

I can never thank you enough for jumping in with such enthusiasm and helping me to bless so many people in my community 😊

I'm linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday, TGIFF, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and Beauties Pageant

12 comments:

  1. This is wonderful! Congrats on a load of quilts finished and delivered!

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  2. What an accomplishment! Those quilts tell such a story of caring.

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  3. What a boatload of quilts! They're all beautiful. Congrats!

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  4. This is awesome, Leanne. How wonderful of you to coordinate such a big effort. <3

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  5. Leanne, thank you for coordinating this whole effort and sharing it with us. I think I spotted a few of the blocks I made and I'm so happy to know they went to help all those affected know the world cares :-)

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  6. Excellent! It is so heartening to read about kindness and generosity alongside the goodness of people who provide our front line services.

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  7. Well, this makes me tear up Leanne, how absolutely awesome. We ARE truly a wonderfully generous, quick-to-respond community, one I'm proud to be a part of. Thank YOU for doing this.

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  8. WOW! I can only imagine how touched these first responders were to receive such gifts of appreciation.

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  9. Fantastic! This was an amazing effort that you organized, constructed and completed! Thank goodness you had some help! Congrats on a fabulous community support loving thing you did,

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  10. What an incredible gift from your heart and the hearts and hands of so many others!

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  11. Congrats for undertaking this huge project. It's amazing that you were able to make so many quilts. Well done.

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Thanks for taking the time to leave me a message. I love hearing from you.