Twin bed quilts needed for Chambliss Center

The Children's Home/Chambliss Shelter is in need of twin bed size quilts for longer-term teenage residents and is seeking support from the quilting community. The Center is asking for quilts made with fabrics and colors appropriate for teenage boys. The Choo Choo Quilters are championing this effort and would like to drop off completed quilts in November before the cold winds blow through Chattanooga. (Twin size quilts are approximately 65" x 90".)

For anyone who has a twin-size quilt completed, please bring it to the next guild meeting, November 15. If you have a quilt in progress or quilt blocks that can be assembled into tops and quilts, please contact Ginny via e-mail at artminninger@msn.com for assistance.

Due to circumstances beyond their control, these teenagers are brought to the Chambliss Center to distance and protect them from unfortunate circumstances. They arrive at the Center with very little, and "... having a quilt of their own would mean so much to each boy," said the Center's Director.

Quilters have big hearts. Please help the Choo Choo Quilters with this endeavor!

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Here's food for thought if you have not yet committed to helping. It comes from a feature in the October 2010 issue of "American Patchwork and Quilting" magazine.

Interior designer Terry Grahl was asked to volunteer her services to furnish a local women's shelter. Hesitantly, she got involved and was overwhelmed by the need and greatly impacted by the response of residents/guests at the shelter. "I hear women say that knowing a person took the time to make them something reinforces that they do matter and that someone does care about them," Terry says. "A lot of these women and girls haven't had that in their lives."

Upon completion of the project, Terry closed her interior decorating business and started Enchanted Makeovers, a nonprofit organization that makes over shelters and sponsors uplifting events for at-risk women and children. "Our mission is to transform shelters into places that really inspire and ignite spirit," said Terry. At the very least, hand-made pillowcases are given along with a card and token gift. "When you go to bed at night, you lay your head down on a pillowcase and that's when you start dreaming," Terry said. While the pillowcases provide comfort and hope during the residents' stays, they also may function as suitcases when the residents leave.