Wrap A Smile Quilts

I am fortunate to have a great network of friends helping me promote Wrap-A-Smile, and today I just have to brag about my friend (and WAS adviser) Ann H.  Ann is a true artist: she paints, she pots, and now she quilts (obsessively so, says her supportive husband). Just a few months ago Ann was giving me hand tied quilts with simple squares sewn together.  Then, at our last Quiltathon, she appeared with this work of art: The oversized “crumbs” are dramatic and will certainly light up the operating room as this quilt wraps a child on the day his or her life changes forever. Thank you, Ann, for sharing your creativity.

What a wonderful few days I had recently in New Hampshire, meeting new and old friends, and promoting Wrap-A-Smile. First stop was Seabrook, NH, where Friends and Stitches meets every Tuesday at the Seabrook Library to sew charity quilts.  They choose a different charity every year, and this year the lucky recipient is Wrap-A-Smile.  I expected to see fabric and whirring machines, but instead they put aside their projects for a day to host me and share a luncheon. My typical presentation starts with a brief introduction about Rotary International, then describes a Rotaplast mission (using my photos from the Togo mission in 2011 when my husband and I were part of the team), and then moves on to the story of the quilts.  Interestingly, three different ladies shared stories with me about family members or friends who had repaired clefts, a good reminder that it really does still occur here in the U.S. What really surprised me was the comment that in their many years o...

Here are some additional posts from Rotaplast in Egypt.  I hope some of our wonderful quilters will recognize their quilts: https://rotaplast.org/2019/03/our-team-part-one/ https://rotaplast.org/2019/04/__trashed-3/ https://rotaplast.org/2019/04/before-we-meet-the-rest-of-the-team/ photo courtesy of Rotaplast International We know our quilts embark on quite a Journey - from the loving hands of their quilter (or often multiple quilters) - to our shipping center here in Boothbay Harbor, Maine - to the warehouse of medical supplies at Rotaplast headquarters in San Francisco - and eventually to their Destiny, often half way around the world.   Thank you to all our quilters who have joined us on this journey of international goodwill.

It is with great pleasure that I introduce my friend Carol who directs Sunshine Online Quilt Guild .  Her guild is a storehouse of positive energy, creative collaboration and support of humanitarian causes.   Wrap-A-Smile is forever thankful to be a recipient of so much generosity from guild members. ~Ann Honoring My Dad – Discovering Wrap a Smile   by Carol Egan My dad died in January, 2002. He had been an active and well-loved Rotarian, and I wanted a way to honor his memory. At about that time I found out about Wrap a Smile (WAS). As it was affiliated with Rotary, it seemed like the perfect way to honor my dad. I asked my on-line guild, Sunshine Quilt Guild, to help. We got busy making quilts and ended up making 66 quilts for WAS in memory of my dad. I also asked for help from the Rotary Club of which my dad had been a member. They offered to help pay for shipping of quilts to Maine as long as they were made in honor of my dad. That was a big help. A few ...

A fun idea for an easy children's quilt was shared at our semi-annual Quiltathon last Saturday. Wrap-A-Smile adviser and friend Jackie M brought 2 quilts which she made by cutting up panels and rearranging with layers of stripes.  Easy peasy, and very colorful! Our second Quiltathon was a huge success.   With 13 quilters, new T-shirts designed by Colleen G's granddaughter, and plenty of homemade soups and cookies to keep us fortified, the pile of quilts grew and grew.  Counting finished quilts which were delivered to us, plus our day's efforts, we ended with a glorious pile of 76 more Wrap-A-Smile quilts to ship to the medical missions.  Good work everyone! Next step, vacuum packing. These will fit into two 20-cube boxes, with room to spare! Thank you to Molly for the cute design A very brief moment of rest!