El Camino Quilters

And I just threw out a batch of cookies because I misread the ingredients . Happy Holidays!

ECQ Members, have you joined our new private Facebook Group yet? It has a very fancy name, El Camino Quilters Guild Group, and has information that is exclusively open to current El Camino guild members. If you’re not currently a member, check our website for information on joining the guild. This page will remain available to everyone interested in quilting, and we are happy that you’re here!

A message from Gabriella Kranch, a recipient of one of our quilts: Hi I know this is random, but I was gifted a quilt at my husband unit’s baby shower back in November. I just wanted to reach out and say thank you my baby girl, Addison Rae, loves it! Thank you and your fellow quilters.

Woo-hoo! I'm going to a quilt show today! The Mancuso Show is going virtual today through June 29th, including an online vendor mall. Check it out --https://www.quiltfest.com/upcoming-s/online-quilt-festival/

I love sharing what some of our friendship groups are during. Patchwork Pals is doing a paper pieced sailboat exchange. How cool are these? Today’s weather is perfect to dream about being on any of these boats. I’m packed, snacks and sunscreen ready. Thanks to Sandy Buckley for sharing the group’s progress. Even if we can’t meet in person, we can still share. What have you been up to? New technique, finishing up a UFO, something for Cuddle or Kennel?

The Dream Stitchers friendship group recently had a challenge. Make a small quilt of a still life image using the mosaic technique. Here are some of the group’s quilts. They had a zoom reveal party and a slide show to share the completed quilts. Everyone’s quilt had something different, either in design or technique. Thanks to Lendia Kinnaman, Gloria Hazel, Bonnie Cornish, Marlene Charron, Tara Ritacco, Patti Gay, Jeanette Blackburn, Cheryl Leedom, Debby Siebert and Kathy Anglea. Hope you enjoy! What are you working on?

Sooo, are you finishing up any UFOs? Don’t forget and keep it up! Even if you can’t bring them to the guild meetings, we love to see and share them. Check out one by Elizabeth O’Toole’s latest, Pandemic Pearls.

Happy Sunday, quilters! Thanks to Debbie Cahill and Elizabeth O’Toole for sharing these cool quilts. You really are our sunshine, ECQ! Stay safe and happy quilting. And, share what you’re working on, please.

ECQ, you’ve been busy! In between masks and other PPE, you’ve been making and making. Here’s a handful of photos a few of you shared. And, if you haven’t, please include your photos of your quilts! Thanks to Sandy Buckley, Linda Stanton, Mary Smith, Shannon Kuder and Kathy Anglea for sharing. We will miss you May 14, and look forward to when we can get together again!

We recently requested that Guild members let us know what they've been sewing to help protect our community against the Corona virus. After just a few weeks, many of our members have been actively sewing to protect neighbors, family, local medical centers, hospitals, and to support community services. Can you believe that we've made over 3500 sewn items in less than 30 days? We have sewn over 2200 masks, 250 caps, and close to 1000 other items like headbands or extra filt...ers. Some people delivered to our community and others sent their items out of state to areas in need. Many of our guild are donating to support family members in the medical community or where their family members received care. Its definitely personal! To put that into perspective, that's close to 2,000 yards of fabric and 900 yards of elastic (if you could find that elastic). More important is the time it took you to make these. Thanks to all our Very Important Quilters. Pick up your VIQ sticker at our next guild meeting and wear it with pride.

El Camino Quilters, we’ve just received an urgent request from an Orange County group making masks for the sailors on the USS Teddy Roosevelt recently hit by Covid-19. They will accept any pattern you want, elastic or tied. They hope to ship over 5600 masks to the sailors who are currently using bandanas. Their Facebook group is Healthcare Mask Collaborative if you would like more information. It’s vey time sensitive, as the drop off for the Roosevelt mask drive is tomorr...ow morning between 9-11 at 949 volleyball Club, 32701 Calle Perfecto, San Juan Capistrano. They are also collecting and distributing for other Orange County needs on an ongoing basis. Thanks for all you’re doing!

Check out this photo! With less than 3 days, Ocean Waves and Dream Stitchers, two El Camino friendship groups, pulled together 141 scrub caps to accompany a nurse who volunteered to support efforts in New York City. Thanks, ladies, for sending the love to those who need it.

El Camino Quilters, this is you! You’ve been making and donating sew many masks thru Sewing Machines Plus and others. North County Lifeline was able to get masks for their volunteers and staff within a day! Sometimes it’s nice to know they’re being used. Look at that bag of masks! Thanks, ECQ members.

Thank you, El Camino! So many of you are sewing nonstop to help protect family, friends, neighbors, nurses, doctors and San Diegans. With things moving so quickly, we don’t always hear if our masks, caps, headbands, quilts, anything sewn have been received and can be used. Sometimes we share Thank You notes at our meetings. Until our next one, hope you know this could have been written about YOUR hard efforts. Hope you know how important you are to those helping protect ...us. Here is a note from a physician’s assistant helped by some guild members who responded to an urgent request. Here’s what was posted on Instagram for everyone else to see: Never in a million years did I think health care professionals would have to rely on homemade donations to keep us protected and yet, here we are! To everyone out there making masks, hats and face shields...THANK YOU! Every package and donation has brought me to tears. We will never be able to repay your generosity but I know wholeheartedly we will ALL continue to show up and fight this disease. ... As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest form of appreciation is not to utter words , but to live by them. .. John F. Kennedy Oh, it was followed by comments from her nurse and physician friends who all echoed thanks and gratitude. El Camino Quilters, you rock! If you need any place to send masks, reach out to Cuddle, check out our local quilting community collection efforts, or let us know here. Besides, if you empty a bin or drawer today, you can fill it with new fabric later, right?

It’s Friday, and we’ve really missed our quilting buddies, Guild activities and just being out and about. Are you making masks? If so, let us know if it’s for friends, family, groups, charity, or...live on an airplane, put your own mask on first. To help people just starting to make them, please share your favorite tip. What’s your favorite mask pattern source? Any great link or resource? Joann’s, Missouri Star, Quilt in a Day, Sewing Machines Plus are a few supporting th...e efforts in different ways. There are also groups looking to coordinate efforts. One example is Sew To Stop Covid-19 on Facebook or sewtostop.org. Joann’s reports more than 20 million out of a goal of 100,000,000 donations. Quilters are definitely givers. Thanks for your efforts in keeping our community safe. (Yes, this may not be my favorite picture of myself, but I’m getting used to wearing our masks.)