News

Thanks for the support!

Ellen, Marlys, and Diane accepting donations On October 11th, Coffee Creek Quilters held a fabric sale fundraiser for our prison quilting program. While most of the fabric for student quilts is donated, we do raise funds to purchase quilting supplies such as batting, thread, and needles for our classes and to pay for the maintenance of sewing machines. Our sale was a huge success; we are so grateful for the support! CCQ volunteers work throughout the year, sorting fabric donations. Much of it goes into our stash for students’ use in the prison quilting program. The excess is set aside for our fabric sale. We gratefully accept donations on two days every month at Wisdom House, the small white building at the rear of St Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Wilsonville, Oregon. If you would like to donate fabric, please visit our Fabric Donations page for details and the guidelines for what we can and cannot accept. To make a cash donation, please visit our Donate Dollars page.

CCQ volunteers make quilts for kids

Coffee Creek Quilters volunteers made 40 quilts this year for donation to Camp Erin Portland. We made it a "challenge" and this year's rule was to use at least one jelly roll or layer cake of fabric. We gathered on June 7th for a showing of the quilts and the opportunity to vote for our favorites. Ellen Freedman, shown at the far left with her colorful crayon quilt, placed first. Treda McCaw placed second and Marlys Carter received a prize for making the most quilts (6!!). Camp Erin is a free, weekend-long bereavement camp for youth grieving the death of a significant person in their lives. Children and teens ages 6 to 17 attend an overnight camp experience that combines grief education and emotional support with fun, traditional camp activities. Sponsored by Providence Health Services and led by bereavement professionals and caring volunteers, campers are provided a safe environment to explore their grief, learn essential coping skills, and make friends with peers who are also grieving. Each participant receives a quilt.

Pillowcases by Coffee Creek Quilters

If you follow the Coffee Creek Quilters program, you are probably aware that we teach quilting classes at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. Our students make quilts for distribution to foster kids, hospice programs, and others in need of the comfort that quilts provide. Did you know we distribute pillowcases too? Since 2013, we've distributed more than 1800 handmade pillowcases to organizations like Embrace Oregon, CASA, and Community Warehouse. When we say pillowcases, we're not talking about the plain vanilla pillowcases you can buy at big-box stores. Our pillowcases are made with quilters cotton in a wide variety of colors and designs -- along with an added dollop of love and care. The pillowcases are sewn by both students and volunteers. Students can make pillowcases in class while waiting for their third quilts to come back from the longarm quilters. These projects provide more practice in pattern reading and sewing techniques. Most of our volunteers are skilled quilters and sewists who just love to sew. According to CCQ President Gwen White, "Everyone appreciates the opportunity to spread a little joy."