News

CCQ gave 140 student-made quilts to six community organizations in 2019. The quilts were crafted by women in our prison quilting program in classes we teach in the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility dining room. Recipients of the quilts include:

• Meridian Park Hospital, a medical center in Tualatin
• Community Warehouse, a furniture bank for neighbors in need
• Good Samaritan Hospital, a medical center in NW Portland
• Emanuel Hospital, a medical center in NE Portland
• Kinship House, a nonprofit serving foster kids
• Cottingham Place SAFE, A domestic violence shelter for women and children

Each student in our program makes three quilts. The first two are for donation and they keep the third quilt. We poll our students periodically to ask them what types of organizations they would like to support. They’ve told us they want to give quilts to organizations that support foster kids, hospice programs, and families in need.

CCQ needs an additional instructor to join the team teaching our Tuesday evening class. Instructors teach the basics of quilting: reading a pattern, operating a sewing machine, sewing a quarter inch seam, and all of the skills needed to complete three quilts. The open position is a “rover” who will help a variety of students at different stages of their progress or fill in where extra help is needed. Instructors must have at least advanced-beginner quilting skills, and a willingness to work with a wide variety of student learning styles. Prior teaching experience is not required, but patience, good listening skills, and compassion are essential. Instructors must be able to make a long-term commitment. We hold bimonthly meetings for Instructors from all four classes to talk about common issues that come up in teaching classes to this special population of quilters. We don’t currently have openings in our other three classes. However, if you’re interested in teaching but unavailable for Tuesday evening, please contact us anyway. We might have other openings later this year. Please contact us if you’d like to learn more.

Quite a few CCQ instructors own KAI scissors and love them. So, when the scissors used in our prison quilting classes for the past 15 years started to wear out, we decided to give them a call. After hearing about our program, KAI donated 20 pairs of their 6 1/4″ sewing scissors. They also offered that we could purchase four pairs of their 8 1/2″ dressmaker shears at their wholesale price. We are so grateful to KAI for their generous donation. According to their website, “KAI sewing scissors and shears are hand polished and balanced allowing for fatigue-free cutting on all types of fabrics. Soft ergonomic handle grips and hardened stainless steel blades offer superior cutting action for quilting, crafting or dressmaking.” KAI scissors are generally sold in quilt shops and are also available directly from kaiscissors.com.

KGW News aired a series of three stories about Coffee Creek Correctional Facility on February 3-5. It tells the stories of three women and their participation in the Mercy Corp Northwest LIFE entrepreneurship program. You can watch all three videos on the KGW website.

The CCQ Fabric Sale Committee is hard at work preparing for our annual sale/fundraiser on May 30. Here’s a list of the types of things we offer at the sale:

• 100% cotton quilting weight fabric, minimum 1/2 yard lengths (no poly blends, please)
• 100% cotton pre-cut fabric such as fat quarters, jelly rolls, layer cakes, etc.
• Quilt kits, panels, and patterns
• Quilting books less than ten years old
• Cotton or 80/20 cotton/polyester batting, minimum size 60 by 80 inches
• Rotary cutters; cutting mats; thread, scissors, pins, needles and other quilting notions

Please contact us if you would like to make a donation for our sale.

We received this thank-you note from the Providence Camp Erin Team for quilts we gave them last summer. Camp Erin is a fun, high-energy overnight camp that provides emotional support and grief education for children and teens ages 6 to 17 who have experienced the death of a loved one. Each participant receives a quilt. Camp Erin is a national program funded by the Eluna Foundation. Camps are held in 46 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada. The camp is free for kids; funding comes from Eluna and local groups. Oregon’s Camp Erin is administered by the Providence Foundation and takes place at Camp Kuratli in Boring, OR.