Shelter Animal Quilts

Hello Everyone,
I guess, I'm the homeless dog and cat quilt maker. I have given nearly
300 "snuggle" quilts to our local Humane Society this year and hope to
continue to provide these blankets to them and other rescues for the
animals to enjoy. I guess this is also a recycling project. I use old
jeans, clothes and sheets as well as fabric scraps and unwanted fabrics
that would otherwise have been disguarded.
If you'd like to look at a couple of these quilts, go to
http://community.webtv.net/chopsgoodstuff/quilts
It all started last fall. I had nearly 20 years of scraps from craft
projects, (I make my family's Christmas gifts each year) and needed to
do something with them. I was on the internet and ran across the
"Snuggles Project" on the Hugs for Homeless Animals site, www.h4ha.org.
It listed shelters and rescues that are in need of quilts and blankets
for their animals waiting to be adopted to sleep on in the cages. I
thought that would be perfect for me. Although I enjoy sewing, I'm not
very good at it and I have loved animals all my life. I certainly don't
consider myself a quilter, that takes a certain talent which I don't
believe I have.
So I decided to do what I could to help these wonderful places that
help these animals. For medical reasons I only work outside my home for
about 12 hours each week, so I have plenty of time to spend making these
small quilts, which range in size from 14x14 to 35x40.
My goal at some point is to be able to have the shelters and rescues
to send each dog and cat to their new home with one of these quilts. I
live outside of Detroit where the need is huge. We have 4 large shelters
which help nearly 85,000 animals each year and many, many rescues which
house even more. I know this will be impossible but I can dream can't I?
I have stopped by this forum for a little while and sometime back
someone offered their scraps, so I thought that people might have scraps
or unwanted fabrics that I could use for this project. I have had many
kind and thoughtful people share their fabric with me and it's fun each
time a box arrives.
When I receive a box, I start sorting it by color, then size. I use
all washable fabrics like cottons, knits, fleece, flannels, old sheets
and etc. As far as size, I use any size from small scraps which get sewn
together into larger blocks, medium pieces get cut into squares and
larger pieces 14x14 and up are used for backing.
We try to drop them off about once each month and the volunteers are
always very excited to recieve them. They tell me that not only do they
add color to the cages but seem to make the animals feel a little more
secure in what is a scary place for many of them. We, my husband and I
also try to drop off supplies along with the quilts.
Many of you have wanted to know more about this project. If anyone has
any questions, please post it here or email me. Thanks for your interest
and support.

Jill,

Thanks for posting the website and information...turns out that there
are several participating organizations in my area.....guess what I'll
be doing...

Larisa

Hello Jill,

Now I have seen your quilts and I am here to tell you that you do
wonderful quilting! For some reason you do not consider your ability to
make these lovely little quilts as quilting. What you showed me were
absolutely beautiful!!!! What you do with fabric scraps of different
kinds of fabrics is wonderful. BTW I do have some other fabrics for
you. Hope you still have the phone number. Or just e-mail me. With you
living so close by it makes it easy to get things to you. I have some
shirting and other non cotton fabrics that would be perfect for your
projects.

And you ARE a quilter, do doubt about it!!!!
juliasb

Tim & Jill Pochik wrote:
Hello Everyone,
I guess, I'm the homeless dog and cat quilt maker. I have given nearly
300 "snuggle" quilts to our local Humane Society this year and hope to
continue to provide these blankets to them and other rescues for the
animals to enjoy. I guess this is also a recycling project. I use old
jeans, clothes and sheets as well as fabric scraps and unwanted fabrics
that would otherwise have been disguarded.
If you'd like to look at a couple of these quilts, go to
http://community.webtv.net/chopsgoodstuff/quilts
It all started last fall. I had nearly 20 years of scraps from craft
projects, (I make my family's Christmas gifts each year) and needed to
do something with them. I was on the internet and ran across the
"Snuggles Project" on the Hugs for Homeless Animals site, www.h4ha.org.
It listed shelters and rescues that are in need of quilts and blankets
for their animals waiting to be adopted to sleep on in the cages. I
thought that would be perfect for me. Although I enjoy sewing, I'm not
very good at it and I have loved animals all my life. I certainly don't
consider myself a quilter, that takes a certain talent which I don't
believe I have.
So I decided to do what I could to help these wonderful places that
help these animals. For medical reasons I only work outside my home for
about 12 hours each week, so I have plenty of time to spend making these
small quilts, which range in size from 14x14 to 35x40.
My goal at some point is to be able to have the shelters and rescues
to send each dog and cat to their new home with one of these quilts. I
live outside of Detroit where the need is huge. We have 4 large shelters
which help nearly 85,000 animals each year and many, many rescues which
house even more. I know this will be impossible but I can dream can't I?
I have stopped by this forum for a little while and sometime back
someone offered their scraps, so I thought that people might have scraps
or unwanted fabrics that I could use for this project. I have had many
kind and thoughtful people share their fabric with me and it's fun each
time a box arrives.
When I receive a box, I start sorting it by color, then size. I use
all washable fabrics like cottons, knits, fleece, flannels, old sheets
and etc. As far as size, I use any size from small scraps which get sewn
together into larger blocks, medium pieces get cut into squares and
larger pieces 14x14 and up are used for backing.
We try to drop them off about once each month and the volunteers are
always very excited to recieve them. They tell me that not only do they
add color to the cages but seem to make the animals feel a little more
secure in what is a scary place for many of them. We, my husband and I
also try to drop off supplies along with the quilts.
Many of you have wanted to know more about this project. If anyone has
any questions, please post it here or email me. Thanks for your interest
and support.



--

Remove (nospam) from address.

now...
come and journey with me from darkness....
.... into New Life http://www.nwlife.com

Larisa,
Glad to hear that you too will be making these quilts for the animals
in need. The wonderful thing is that the animals love them no matter the
color, design or fabric.
Have fun!
Jill

Well, I generally work poly batting, but will use whatever has the best
price. I use my Joann's 50% off coupon each time it comes.
Unfortunately, that's generally only 2 per month.
On the jean quilts, I use a inexpensive blanket for backing and no
batting because it's heavy enough. Also I don't use batting when I use
polar fleece for backing either.
Most the shelters want the quilts to be able to dry fairly fast.
Thanks for the interest.

Those look like perfectly wonderful quilts to me!! What do you mean
you're not a quilter!!!

Question: would knits work? I'm going to go through my mom's stash
(she died recently, I'm not raiding her) and I can quite imagine finding
some of the poly double knit that was popular in the 70's.

Tim & Jill Pochik wrote:

Hello Everyone,
I guess, I'm the homeless dog and cat quilt maker. I have given nearly
300 "snuggle" quilts to our local Humane Society this year and hope to
continue to provide these blankets to them and other rescues for the
animals to enjoy. I guess this is also a recycling project. I use old
jeans, clothes and sheets as well as fabric scraps and unwanted fabrics
that would otherwise have been disguarded.
If you'd like to look at a couple of these quilts, go to
http://community.webtv.net/chopsgoodstuff/quilts
It all started last fall. I had nearly 20 years of scraps from craft
projects, (I make my family's Christmas gifts each year) and needed to
do something with them. I was on the internet and ran across the
"Snuggles Project" on the Hugs for Homeless Animals site, www.h4ha.org.
It listed shelters and rescues that are in need of quilts and blankets
for their animals waiting to be adopted to sleep on in the cages. I
thought that would be perfect for me. Although I enjoy sewing, I'm not
very good at it and I have loved animals all my life. I certainly don't
consider myself a quilter, that takes a certain talent which I don't
believe I have.
So I decided to do what I could to help these wonderful places that
help these animals. For medical reasons I only work outside my home for
about 12 hours each week, so I have plenty of time to spend making these
small quilts, which range in size from 14x14 to 35x40.
My goal at some point is to be able to have the shelters and rescues
to send each dog and cat to their new home with one of these quilts. I
live outside of Detroit where the need is huge. We have 4 large shelters
which help nearly 85,000 animals each year and many, many rescues which
house even more. I know this will be impossible but I can dream can't I?
I have stopped by this forum for a little while and sometime back
someone offered their scraps, so I thought that people might have scraps
or unwanted fabrics that I could use for this project. I have had many
kind and thoughtful people share their fabric with me and it's fun each
time a box arrives.
When I receive a box, I start sorting it by color, then size. I use
all washable fabrics like cottons, knits, fleece, flannels, old sheets
and etc. As far as size, I use any size from small scraps which get sewn
together into larger blocks, medium pieces get cut into squares and
larger pieces 14x14 and up are used for backing.
We try to drop them off about once each month and the volunteers are
always very excited to recieve them. They tell me that not only do they
add color to the cages but seem to make the animals feel a little more
secure in what is a scary place for many of them. We, my husband and I
also try to drop off supplies along with the quilts.
Many of you have wanted to know more about this project. If anyone has
any questions, please post it here or email me. Thanks for your interest
and support.

--
TerriLee Bishop
(opinions are wholly owned by the author and don't represent anything)
;-)
my real email is tlbishop at earthlink dot net

Hullo Jill
It is so good to meet you. Thank you for coming back to let us say
hullo properly.
Unfortunately, being so very far away would make it rather impractical
to join in your project. However, there are plenty of shelters and
rescue homes over here. I will get hold of a few, ask them what they
want, and put the dogs and cats with the Project Linus ones (not that I
make many; but every little helps I guess).
Thanks for pointing out the need.
..
In article ,
Tim & Jill Pochik writes
Hello Everyone,
I guess, I'm the homeless dog and cat quilt maker. I have given nearly
300 "snuggle" quilts to our local Humane Society this year and hope to
continue to provide these blankets to them and other rescues for the
animals to enjoy. I guess this is also a recycling project. I use old
jeans, clothes and sheets as well as fabric scraps and unwanted fabrics
that would otherwise have been disguarded.
If you'd like to look at a couple of these quilts, go to
http://community.webtv.net/chopsgoodstuff/quilts
It all started last fall. I had nearly 20 years of scraps from craft
projects, (I make my family's Christmas gifts each year) and needed to
do something with them. I was on the internet and ran across the
"Snuggles Project" on the Hugs for Homeless Animals site, www.h4ha.org.
It listed shelters and rescues that are in need of quilts and blankets
for their animals waiting to be adopted to sleep on in the cages. I
thought that would be perfect for me. Although I enjoy sewing, I'm not
very good at it and I have loved animals all my life. I certainly don't
consider myself a quilter, that takes a certain talent which I don't
believe I have.
So I decided to do what I could to help these wonderful places that
help these animals. For medical reasons I only work outside my home for
about 12 hours each week, so I have plenty of time to spend making these
small quilts, which range in size from 14x14 to 35x40.
My goal at some point is to be able to have the shelters and rescues
to send each dog and cat to their new home with one of these quilts. I
live outside of Detroit where the need is huge. We have 4 large shelters
which help nearly 85,000 animals each year and many, many rescues which
house even more. I know this will be impossible but I can dream can't I?
I have stopped by this forum for a little while and sometime back
someone offered their scraps, so I thought that people might have scraps
or unwanted fabrics that I could use for this project. I have had many
kind and thoughtful people share their fabric with me and it's fun each
time a box arrives.
When I receive a box, I start sorting it by color, then size. I use
all washable fabrics like cottons, knits, fleece, flannels, old sheets
and etc. As far as size, I use any size from small scraps which get sewn
together into larger blocks, medium pieces get cut into squares and
larger pieces 14x14 and up are used for backing.
We try to drop them off about once each month and the volunteers are
always very excited to recieve them. They tell me that not only do they
add color to the cages but seem to make the animals feel a little more
secure in what is a scary place for many of them. We, my husband and I
also try to drop off supplies along with the quilts.
Many of you have wanted to know more about this project. If anyone has
any questions, please post it here or email me. Thanks for your interest
and support.


--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

Hi Terri Lee,
Thanks for wanting to help. Yes, knits work great especially for
backing. It wears well and washes up great. I'll be sending you an
email.
Thanks,
Jill