Going once…going twice… SOLD!
I’ve donated a number of quilts over the years, mostly to fundraising auctions for organizations that mean something to me. I’m always trying to find a way to get my quilts in front of more people who might see them and think they’d like one for themselves or someone they know, while helping a cause I believe in. It’s a win-win!
The first quilt I donated was for the Parkettes Gym Parents Association fundraising auction. Parkettes is an elite gymnastics training center in Allentown, PA. A friend of my oldest daughter trained at and competed for Parkettes. The winners were the parents of a young woman who had spent most of her childhood in gyms throughout the East Coast, and who was heading off to the West Coast to begin a competitive college career at Utah State. The quilt presented a chronological history of her competitive life.
I created several quilts using the leftover fabric from a batik class that was offered at the school my children attended. (See my BATIK blog) These quilts were then auctioned off at the Home and School Association auction each year.
I sat on the Board of United Friends School for a couple of years. UFS is an independent pre-k through 8th grade Quaker school in, ironically, Quakertown, PA. I always enjoyed attending the UFS PTA auction, and one year I donated a quilt. The Head of School was the winning bidder. She gave me leftover t shirts from school events over the years. I used the school colors in the fabric that framed each shirt. It always made me smile when I would walk into the school to attend a Board meeting or other school event to see it hanging in the lobby.
I currently work for a public school system in Maryland. Every fall, they sponsor a food collection drive in October, Harvest for the Hungry, and each day in the central office when someone donates non-perishable foods, they can also enter their name to win some nifty gifts in a silent auction throughout the month. There are 12 high schools in the system, and I asked business managers and athletic directors to send me a tshirt from each high school, which I framed with some patriotic fabric.
I work out of a satellite office and we also held an auction to benefit Harvest for the Hungry. I gathered Orioles t-shirts and made a quilt from them.
