Wrap A Smile Quilts

Shortly before our daily lives turned upside down, Wrap-A-Smile hosted a collaborative day of sewing together at the Boothbay Harbor Rotary clubhouse.  It's a large room so there was plenty of space to spread out with our machines, ironing stations and various projects. Quilts were started, some were finished, and a good time was had by all.  I want to personally thank everyone who made it such a special day. We probably did not totally appreciate at the time how special it can be to share a group experience.  I suspect all of us who participated are still sewing at home, but I for one am missing the in-person camaraderie.  Thank you all for your generosity in continuing to create quilts for the children and others helped by the medical missions. And thank you for the friendships created through this joint effort. Welcome new friend Beth Marie and Karen from Kwiltz4Kids artists Ann H and daughter Liz  Bankers who sew: Charlotte and Jean Jeri and Jac

As the story goes, when Terry (Hodskins) Fullam saw those Rotaplast babies wrapped in paper drapes after their cleft surgeries, she famously said "We can do better!"  And Wrap-A-Smile was formed. She immediately took her idea to her guild, Evergreen Quilters of Kennebunk, Maine, and by their next meeting she had 121 quilts ready to comfort the little people whose lives were being changed by the volunteer surgeries of Rotaplast International. These are women of action! Current tally records 26,569 quilts that have now been shared around the world, thanks to Terry's original inspiration. Quite a legacy!!  And those are just the quilts of which we are aware. As the history of this program has spread, the mission volunteers themselves frequently take quilts contributed by their friends and family. Terry recently gave me another 13 quilts from the Evergreen Guild.  These loyal quilters were also Terry's "label ladies" when she ran Wrap-A-Smile from her hom

Wrap-A-Smile quilts come from so many different sources.  Some quilters create from the peace and quiet of their own homes.  Some join guilds to learn from each other and share new techniques.  And some guilds develop subgroups who have a particular interest in charity quilting. Last week I had the pleasure of having lunch with President Linda and VP Jan of the Monadnock NH Guild.  My "dessert" came in the form of four bulging bags of quilts contributed by the "cozy cover" group within their guild.  This group of 8-10 meets monthly, often with a block of the month  theme.  They put together the tops which are then turned into finished quilts by another 3-4 volunteer quilters. When a quilt is created by this group effort it receives this special label, framed in fabric.   Special indeed! I continue to find group collaboration to be one of the most rewarding aspects of charity quilting.  Thank you Monadnock for sharing your joy and generosity with others

Lest you think I was just lounging on white sand beaches and enjoying Florida's golden rays, let me reassure you that I was talking up Wrap-A-Smile everywhere we went these past 2 weeks.  Friends, relatives, fabric stores, markets, quilters and Rotarians all heard about what we do.  By planting seeds of interest we have hopefully opened doors to new quilters who will continue to keep this project viable. Annually we share nearly 1500 quilts to the medical mission teams so it is a constant river of quilts flowing in and flowing out.  We have to keep that river flowing! Two highlights of our trip were meeting Sunshine Guild member and longtime WAS supporter Kathy T in Tampa, followed by a stop at The Villages of central Florida.  If you haven't heard of The Villages, it is a 55+ planned community with over 100,000 residents in multiple neighborhoods.  There is non-stop activity including 21 (!) chapters of a quilting guild, and 4 separate Rotary clubs. Rotarian friends Bob and