Pediatric Burns Unit at the Sherman Oaks Hospital (a Grossman Burn Center) We have contacted this burns unit and they are delighted that the SMQG would like to make quilts to cover their beds and brighten up their environment. They have 30 beds and about one third are for children, so quilts with juvenile prints would be very welcome. Their beds are twin sized, and the quilts don't need any over hang. Therefore they would like quilts about the size of a twin mattress, ie. about 60"x80." They will be moving into new facilities in the summer so we would like to get at least 30 quilts ready for them to take with them. Please wash the finished quilts before giving them to the Philanthropy Committee.

Our philanthropic activities have been moving along very nicely over the past several months. SMQG members have made considerable contributions to the Westside Food Bank, 150 placemats and 18 X-long twin quilts to New Directions, 80 adult and children's cuddle quilts to Upward Bound, and yarn, knitting needles, and crochet hooks to the UCLA NICU. Here are some warm words of thanks from the recipients of the placemats and quilts we have recently donated. They emphasize how much appreciated your work and time are: "I would like to acknowledge and thank you for your donation of placemats (we sent close to 150!) to New Directions….this contribution will be much appreciated by the veterans who find peace, health and community at New Directions." "We are overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and generosity of the SMQG! Thank you so much for the beautiful and cozy quilts. At the heart of our services is a warm bed, and your donation will directly help and support the formerly homeless families with children that we serve." (From Upward Bound) "On behalf of every one at New Directions, it is my pleasure to extend our thanks to each and every member of the SMQG for your very generous-and beautiful-gift of 18 handmade quilts (these were the extra long twin quilts) for our veterans to enjoy

One Quilt a Month Club

Our president, Kennalee, has set a great example by committing to making one philanthropy quilt per month. Other members have accepted the challenge of joining this club. We will celebrate our achievements at the end of the year! Of course, if you don't want to commit to one quilt a month, all quilts you make will be greatly appreciated! February Sewing Frenzy! Over 100 quilts resulted from our sewing evening on Feb 3rd! Thirty nine were completely finished, 23 were sandwiched and taken home by members to be finished, and 12 quilt tops were sandwiched and finished by the Smashin' Stashers. After all donated quilt tops were completed 100 quilts resulted from this evening's work!

Yarn Donations for UCLA's NICU.

Laurie Reyen told us about the need of mothers waiting to see their new babies in the UCLA NICU. They spend a lot of time sitting around and have agreed that the time would be well spent knitting and crocheting items for their new arrivals, or other children and family members. SMQG members donated two large basketful of yarn and needles!

Post Herpetic Neuralgia (PHN) program

Recently, help was requested from the Guild by a public health group that disseminates information on post herpetic neuralgia (PHN), the pain that persists after a case of shingles. They were looking for quilters to sew blocks together and make a quilt. Blocks are made by attendees at meetings that disseminate information on PHN. Attendees use fabric markers to make blocks and resulting quilts hang at the Senior Center where the meetings are held. Stashers attended a local meeting, and collected over 50 blocks that are now being put together, a much more daunting task than it at first appeared!

I'm sure that many Guild members are carrying out individual philanthropic activities in their community. Please let us know what you are doing so that we can share them with our fellow members. We look forward to hearing from you!

Philanthopy Sewing Night - February, 2010
The Santa Monica Quilt Guild was all geared up for our Philanthropic Sewing Frenzy planned for the February Guild meeting! Members brought their machines and supplies to the Church Hall.	The goal was to finish 30 infant quilts and 70 lap quilts for older children for Upward Bound House and extra long twin quilts for New Directions’ residents.

November Update!!

Placemats
We collected 150 great placemats! Thanks so much to every one. We have included a picture of a small selection of them together with some of our Smashin' Stashers.

Barbara and Janet delivered the place mats to New Directions on Monday, November 23rd. Staff and residents were delighted with them. The place mats will really brighten their communal dining room, furnished with large, round, brown tables that seat about 150 residents.

The Guild was honored at a small lunch for benefactors of New Directions. New Directions staff, and some incredible alumni of New Directions programs also attended and explained the work of the facility and some remarkable stories of their alumni. These uplifting stories helped us realize the sad plight of too many of our veterans, and how institutions such as New Directions and their dedicated staff can help turn their lives around. We are glad we are able to do even a small part to support them in their work.

Please go to their website at http://newdirectionsinc.org/ to learn more about their programs. Food Drive Please remember to bring your contributions to our next meeting on December 2. See you there!

October Update!!

Holiday Food Drive
Our contributions to the Westside Food Bank http://www.westsidefoodbankca.org/ will be picked up after our December meeting. Check out the list of food items that are specifically needed by food banks and continue to pick up an item or two from this list each time you visit the market. Please bring all your items to the December Guild meeting.
Note: NO GLASS containers, please, EXCEPT BABY FOOD JARS

Placemats
New Directions http://newdirectionsinc.org/ has three facilities for homeless vets, both men (150) and women (30). They offer congregate meals and would love to have holiday placemats to make their place festive, especially on Holiday occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas/Hannukah. So we suggest we make placemats with a Holiday theme on one side, and Thanksgiving/Fall fabric on the reverse. They would also appreciate other decorations such as table runners, wall hangings etc. Our goal is to make 200 reversible mats by Thanksgiving so if we each make two that would be fantastic!

If you don't have time to make the mats yourselves, please donate festive fabric to the philanthropy table at the November meeting. Fabric or batting 14" by 20" works well; 20" strips and 5" squares also make delightful placemats

"Cuddle" Quilts
Upward Bound House www.upwardboundhouse.org would really appreciate 30 infant quilts and as many as 70 lap/cuddle quilts for older children. They will give these quilts to children when they move into the emergency shelter that they are opening up. So please continue to use up your stashes and donate your quilts as you make them!

New Directions has a more ambitious request for us to embark on! They have some very tattered X-long twin quilts they would love to have replaced-150 for the men and 12 for the women. X-long twin quilts are 60" by 100"-these will certainly use up your stash and scraps!

Thank you in advance for all you help. Please contact any of the Smashin' Stashers if you have any questions.

PROJECTS FOR 2009-20010

The Smashin' Stashers: Sandy Abramowitz, Aileen Cooke, Madhu Mondavia, Carol Purcell, Sandy Ray, Nancy Sharpe, Janet Thornber, and Barbara Whittenberg, are delighted to be coordinating the Guild's philanthropic activities for this coming year. You can reach any of us by phone or e-mail (you can find them in the Guild's roster) if you have any questions or information that would help us distribute our items to needy folk. You can talk to us at our Guild meetings where we will also have a table with information and handouts.

Activities
From September through December we would like to continue with philanthropic activities that have proved successful in the past. Then in the New Year, we will begin activities that we will develop with the help of fellow Guild members.

Holiday Food Drive

We have included a list of food items that are specifically needed by food banks to distribute to hungry residents. Let's all commit to picking up an item or two from this list each time we visit the market, then we should have a very nutritious selection of foods for the food bank to distribute at Holiday time. Please bring all your items to the December Guild meeting and we will arrange to have them picked up that week. Note: NO GLASS containers, please, EXCEPT BABY FOOD JARS Click here for a list of needed foods

Placemats

Placemats are great for using up our stashes while thinking of others! Please try to make at least one placemat and bring it to the Philanthropy Table at our Guild meetings between now and December. We will bring models and patterns to the meetings. The patterns are also available through the link below. We will be donating our collection of placemats to a church or other institution that offers congregate meals for the needy and who have laundry facilities so they can be re-used. If you know of such an institution in Santa Monica and the Westside that you would like the Guild to consider PLEASE let us know! Click here for Placemat instructions . Click her for Disappearing 9 Patch Block instructions

"Cuddle" Quilts

Although we have not yet identified who will be receiving completed philanthropy quilts this year, please continue to make them! We call them "Cuddle Quilts" so they can be any size. For example, quilts could be small enough for babies, even preemies; a little larger for toddlers for naps; lap quilts for wheel-chair bound children and adults; and larger quilts for adults just to curl up in! Again, if you known of any charitable organization in Santa Monica and the Westside that you are familiar with and who would appreciate receiving quilts, please let us know!

We look forward to a productive and enjoyable year working to help our neighbors. Have fun and keep on sewing!

PROJECTS FOR 2008-2009

The members of the Santa Monica Quilt Guild will be supporting a variety of worthwhile causes this year.

Our first project was a food drive for the Westside Foodbank. Members donated food items to fill two barrels and several cartons. We'll be having a second food drive in the Spring to support those in need in our community.

Members of the Guild brought items to our December meeting for care baskets being provided to clients of Military Women in Need, an organization that provides services to low-income female veterans. Guild members donated enough sweat shirts and socks for every basket and a wide assortment of other items. We will also be making lap quilts for this organization over the next few months.

In the early spring we will begin a project to make quilts for Painted Turtle Camp, a camp for seriously ill children. Members will be asked to make both lap quilts and quilts for bunks used by children at camp.

There will be additional opportunities to offer assistance to others throughout the year including donations of used eyeglasses for the Lion's Club and yarn for a men's prison knitting project.

We welcome suggestions for other projects and thank all our Members for their continuing support.

Left: A lap quilt made by Guild Member Sandra Lauterbach for Painted Turtle Camp

PROJECTS FOR 2007-2008 

 
SHOES THAT FIT

The members of the Santa Monica Quilt Guild recently sponsored Stoner Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles' "Shoes That Fit " program to buy new shoes for deserving children. In December 2007 the members were quick to purchase shoes for both boys and girls in need. Some of these children had never had new shoes of their own before. The children and faculty were so appreciative of the support and thanked every member who donated shoes along with a few pairs of socks to accompany them.

With the success of the holiday gift-giving, Guild member have decided to once again help Stoner
Avenue Elementary School with dress shoes for thr graduation class of 2008.
This spring Santa Monica Quilt Guild Members purchased 120 pairs of shoes and
144 pairs of socks for the graduating Class of 2008 from Stoner Avenue Elementary School.

Thanks from Stoner Avenue Elementary School!

Canceled Postage Stamps

Santa Monica Quilt Guild members have been collecting canceled postage stamps to help Sister Anita Torres at St. Elizabeth Convent in San Francisco raise money for the poor.
With the help of other nuns Sister Anita trims the stamps and makes collectors stamp books to sell. The proceeds are used to help the less fortunate.

Approximately 4 pounds of canceled postage stamps will be shipped this year to Sr. Anita Marie Torres of St. Elizaeth's Convent
in San Francsisco.

Lions Club Eyeglass Recycling Program

The Santa Monica chapter of Lions Club International collects used eyeglasses and sends them around the world. We will have a collection bucket available at the
Philanthropy table at each meeting.