News

It’s been a year since Coffee Creek Quilters once again welcomed quilting students and rolled out quilt kits, sewing machines, and other tools for the benefit of Adults in Custody at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. We started with 7 instructors, about 25 students, and a little uncertainty about how this new adventure was going to work out. Fortunately, it has been a fantastic success! Over the past year we have trained 14 new instructors; all are actively participating in our Monday or Wednesday classes as dedicated instructors or as floaters. Their tasks include checking tools out and back in, instructing students, evaluating their work (from “This stitching looks great!” to “You need to take this seam out and try again.”), and providing individual assistance when students are struggling with a technique or concept. It is great to have these willing instructors available each week to make our students’ quilting experiences even more enjoyable.

Most of the students who started the program in February 2024 are finishing their second quilt or working on their third quilt. You may recall that students complete three quilts over the course of the program. The first two quilts are given for donation and the student keeps the third quilt (or gives it to a loved one). We also have a cadre of volunteer longarm quilters who use their longarm machines to quilt the third quilts. We have had 4 students complete the program during our first year back. Two students will be released very soon and have requested a “release kit.” They will be leaving the prison with a sewing machine, quilting tools, fabric, and books containing patterns and strategies to continue their quilting journeys.

Thank you for your support and interest in Coffee Creek Quilters!

Coffee Creek Quilters is pleased to announce that, with the resumption of quilting classes at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, we are now also able to resume taking donations.

Donations can be brought to Wisdom House, the small white building at the rear of the property of St Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Wilsonville on the third Wednesday and Saturday of each month from 10 am to 11:30 am (8818 SW Miley Road) beginning September 18th. Volunteers will be present to accept donations during these hours. Donor receipts will also be available at that time.

Due to limited storage space, we will focus on the fabric and supplies needed for the classroom and release kits. Please review the suggestions below as you put together your donation.

• One yard or more 100% cotton quilting fabric. Think about what you would use for children’s quilts and comfort quilts in hospitals and nursing homes. Students also get to make a quilt for themselves or gift one. Particularly popular are bright colors, blacks and grays, and batiks.
• Backings are always needed.
• Cotton batting 45 by 65 or larger.
• Packaged precuts – layer cakes, fat quarters, jelly rolls, charm packs.
• Notions for release kits – quilting rulers, needles, rotary cutter blades, rotary cutters, cutting boards, universal sewing machine needles.
• Panels – students like nature scenes, bears, wolves, Indigenous themes.
• Thread.
• Quilting books for release kits – no more than five years old and no templates.
• Patterns – beginner to confident-beginner using squares, rectangles and half square triangles.
• Quilt kits – again, beginner to confident-beginner for release kits.

What to avoid

• Flannel, wool, cotton blends, anything polyester, minkie, fleece, homespun.
• Seasonal/holiday fabric or panels.
• Cotton pieces smaller than one yard.
• Quilt magazines.
• Polyester batting or smaller pieces of cotton batting.
• Sergers.
• Quilt frames.
• Sewing machines – at this time, we have enough for release kits for at least two years.

Don’t forget! The Coffee Creek Quilters Fabric Sale Fundraiser is coming soon: Saturday, June 15, 2024, 8 am to 2 pm. It will be held at St. Francis Church Parish Hall, 8818 SW Miley Rd, Wilsonville (right off I-5 at the Charbonneau exit).

Of course, there will be much more than fabric available:

• Patterns and books
• Boxes of thread
• Quilt kits
• Specialty rulers

For details about the sale, please download our flyer.

All proceeds from the sale will go to support the CCQ prison quilting program at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.

The Coffee Creek Quilters Fabric Sale will be Saturday, June 15, 2024, 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. It will be at St. Francis Church Parish Hall, 8818 SW Miley Rd, Wilsonville (right off I-5 at the Charbonneau exit). There will be a huge assortment of fabric, panels, patterns, quilt kits, books, tools, and notions — all at bargain prices. Our sale is an excellent opportunity for quilters, or anyone who sews, to pick up some wonderful fabric and sewing supplies at reasonable prices.

Please download our flyer for details.

All proceeds from the sale will go to support the CCQ prison quilting program.

At Coffee Creek Quilters we’re thrilled to announce that we are again teaching quilting classes at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. The life skills program shut down in the spring of 2020 when the pandemic started. Oregon correctional facilities were especially hard hit by COVID and have been cautious about allowing volunteers back in.

CCQ President Laura Spurrell said some CCQ volunteers aren’t able to return to the classroom, as might be expected in a four year hiatus. So the organization is actively recruiting new volunteers. “We need more classroom teachers so we can offer additional classes,” Laura said. “We also need volunteers to fill other roles such as fabric sorting, kit making, and organizational tasks.”

Laura invites all who might be interested in volunteering with Coffee Creek Quilters to an information session on Saturday, March 16th at 9:30 am. It will be held at St. Francis Church’s Wisdom House, 8818 SW Miley Rd, Wilsonville.

CCQ first started teaching quilting in 2002 at the Wilsonville facility to provide a positive, hands-on program that gives our students an opportunity to learn and practice many life-enhancing skills. Quilting teaches patience, perseverance, problem-solving and the importance of quality work. Our goal is to nurture students’ self-esteem, so they will be more successful living in the community after release from prison.

We are currently teaching two classes per week — Monday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Each student makes three quilts during 12 to 24 months in the program. The first two quilts are donated to a variety of organizations that serve hospital patients, terminally ill adults, and foster children. Students may keep the third quilt they make, or give it to a loved one.

Both students and volunteers are excited that the program is starting up again. “We start with practicing sewing a quarter inch seam, one of the basic skills in quilting,” Laura said. “One of our new students was so proud of her efforts that she showed it off to everyone in the class.”

Gwen White, a long-time CCQ teacher, said “It totally warmed my heart to listen to all the students’ exclamations of delight this past week in the Monday class: ‘I am so so glad to be here,’ ‘look at this pretty fabric,’ ‘I did it,’ ‘I did not think I could do anything like this,’ and ‘I never imagined I would be able to quilt in prison. I can’t wait to tell my family.’”

Coffee Creek Quilters will hold a fabric sale on June 15, 2024 to support the prison quilting program. Details will be posted on our website when plans for the sale are set. We are unable to accept donations of fabric, notions, or sewing machines at this time.

At a recent Coffee Creek Quilters membership meeting, we honored Martha Messa for her outstanding contributions to the organization. Martha served on our Board as Program Coordinator for 13 years until stepping down at the end of 2022. In that capacity she was our liaison with Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, making sure we were up-to-date with security badges, training, and prison procedures.

Martha also maintained vital information for and about our organization including class student lists, our membership roster, information about organizational roles and responsibilities, and much more. Martha served as a point of contact with people and organizations outside of CCQ as well, keeping track of donations and requests for speakers. She will continue to make herself available to the CCQ Board on a consulting basis.

Martha has been an instructor in the prison quilting program for 18 years and plans to return to the classroom when we resume teaching quilting classes at CCCF.

At our February meeting we presented Martha with a special thank-you gift created by CCQ member Sherri Culver: a stunning art quilt with a portrait of Martha appliqued against a colorful plaid background. We invite you to view the quilt in a larger format.