It’s July which can only mean 1 thing…ok it can mean a lot of things…but here at Simple Simon and Company it means that it is time for Skirting the Issue!
Skirting the Issue is an annual event that is near and dear to our hearts. It started from a desire to harness the goodness of the sewing community and help those that we knew needed some love….namely girls in foster care.
(You can read more about our why’s and the stories behind Skirting the Issue HERE and HERE.)
Over the years we have added other projects as life experiences have prompted us. Projects such as bereavement gowns and pillow cases…and this year life has presented us another option.
Of course we will still be making, counting, and accepting skirts for girls in foster care…we will always be making skirts for girls in foster care…after all this event is called Skirting the Issue. 🙂
However, this year our primary focus will be on quilts and blankets!
We came to this decision through a series of events that started about a year ago…5 to be exact. Today I will tell you the first story and will share the rest as the month progresses.
About a year ago I was involved in a car accident. I was hit from behind at a high rate of speed by a distracted driver while I was stopped in a turn lane. My daughter, who was 6 at the time, was in the backseat. And while neither of us seriously injured (thank heaven!) my daughter was soaking wet and very scared. (The sodas we had just purchased at the store flew out of the cup holders and into the back seat covering her at impact with a shower of ice, Dr. Pepper, and Sprite.)
As we stood on the side of the road talking to police my daughter clung to my leg and cried and cried. Soon an officer came up to us from behind and wrapped my daughter in a clean, warm, fluffy, blanket.
My daughter stopped shaking and crying. She was still drenched and standing on the side of the road next to our wrecked car but that one thing…that blanket wrapped around her shoulders…made her feel safe.
She sleeps with that blanket on her bed now. She drags it around the house. She is wrapped up in it watching a movie even as I am writing this. It is her police blanket and she loves it. When she has it she feels safe.
I don’t know who donated that blanket to the police…but I am thankful that they did. It was delivered in a moment of need and helped calm the fears of one very scared little girl.
A few months after this happened Elizabeth and I had the opportunity to present a trunk show to a quilt guild a few counties over. It was a lovely group of ladies and we were excited to share our work with them. But before we began they had a few items of business…including tallying up the number of quilts that they had completed to donate to their local police station.
As they talked I thought about the quilt my Ruth was given that day cold, and scared and felt such gratitude for groups like this quilt guild who give of their time and services to help people they will never meet…like my daughter and I…and when it was our turn to speak I couldn’t thank them enough for their work.
The whole idea of Skirting the Issue is to use the talents, skills, tools, and fabric we have been blessed with to help others within our community and donating quilts is a wonderful way to do this.
As always we will have a list of ideas of where to donate your quilts to and of course there will be prizes…we always have prizes!
Over the next few days we will have a list of all the “rules” and prizes for Skirting the Issue 2019 but today we just wanted to get you excited and get you thinking about how you could participate with us this year.
We hope to have you join us!
I have been quilting quilts for a local guild that provides them to the Police Department, so enjoyed knowing the small bit that I do does provide comfort when needed!
It does provide comfort!!! Thank you for making and donating quilts!