Saturday, April 21, 2018

Use It Up and Help Shelter Pets!


I am so excited to be part of the Island Batik Ambassador Alumni Group and even more thrilled that we get to talk about what we do with our leftover scraps! You have been reading posts all week long and there have been some fabulous projects that so many of our talented designers have shared. The links will be found at the bottom of this post.

My project is pretty simple and not real big! 12" x 18" and it is called a Kennel Quilt. Now many of you know that I am very much an animal lover and I use to be a disaster responder for The Humane Society of the United States. While working floods in North Carolina one year, I noticed that all the rescued kitties were sitting in their litter boxes in their kennels. Not a good thing for them. An interior designer contacted us and asked if we could use her carpet samples as she wanted to help! They were the "purrfect" size and as soon as the carpet samples went into the kennels, the kitties got out of there litter boxes. A light bulb moment for me!

Time passed and I soon found myself as the Marketing Director of The Quilt Pattern Magazine (TQPM) - an online only magazine (we are in our seventh year). The staff are all animal lovers and we wanted to help animals in some way. We made a Kennel Quilt pattern and offered it FREE on our website, so our readers could make one for their pets. I made one for the carriers when I took my kitties to the vet. Then everything changed!

Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast in the fall on 2012 and the devastation was unbelieveable. I remembered working the floods earlier and I knew many shelters had been affected. We contacted the Petfinder Foundation and they supplied us with names of shelters that needed help! We put out a call to our readers and over 100 Kennel Quilts were made. The Petfinder Foundation and TQPM decided to make this an ongoing project. 


There are over 1500 volunteers in the US and Canada that have responded when we put out a call for Kennel Quilts for shelters in disaster zones! I am so happy to say that to date over 20,000 Kennel Quilts have been made!  So many shelter pets helped.

And I might add that Island Batik is a proud partner of the TQPM Kennel Quilt Team.

So having said that, I use my Island Batik Scraps to make Kennel Quilts. Here are just a few of the ones I have made.  As you can tell they are great for orphan blocks. 














Here are more and there is a FREE tutorial on these Kennel Quilts.














Plus a kitty enjoying the Kennel Quilts from one of the shelters that received Kennel Quilts during the Colorado Fires. I am happy to report that "Penny" got adopted right after this picture was taken. 







More















 
and still more featuring leftovers from my Signature Collection, Northern Woods by Kathy Engle for Island Batik.














To me this is just a great way to use up scraps and so many shelter pets reap the benefit of my leftovers. They don't care if the seams don't match or if the colors don't match (although with Island Batik - everything blends together beautifully). They just want a soft spot to nap and make biscuits. These are a wonderful size for cats, kittens, puppies and small dogs. Usually they are the ones in the shelters that are sometimes forgotten as the larger dogs get towels and blankets that are more readily available.

So what are you waiting for? Please join me, Use It Up and help a shelter pet. You can find all the information at Kennel Quilts. And when you do sign up, please let me know. I look forward to working with you in helping shelter pets.

Please be sure to check out all the fabulous projects that have been presented this week by my fellow Island Batik Ambassador Alumni. Here is the list:


Monday, April 16, 2018

Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Mary Macks Blog (Thanks for visiting!)

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Thursday, April 19, 2018 

Friday, April 20, 2018
Saturday, April 21, 2018 


Sunday, April 22, 2018 


Thank you for stopping by and remember Adopt, dont' shop!

Until next time,
Nan

3 comments:

  1. What a great way to bring awareness....

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  2. Nan, one of the most rewarding things I do as a quilter is make kennel quilts. I'm so thankful to TPQM--and you--for connecting quilters with the people and pets who need quilted love. I can't help but think that kennel quilts warm the hearts of the volunteers at the same time they are comforting the pets in the kennels.

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  3. Beth, we appreciate all the Kennel Quilts you make. The Kennel Quilts do warm not only the pets but the hearts of the volunteers as well. I have had so many people tell me how much they love making Kennel Quilts. It is a win/win situation for all concerned. Thank you for your kind comments.

    ReplyDelete