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The Cuddle Quilt programme was introduced in January 1998 to provide quilts for children who are residents of Muskoka Interval House (a shelter for battered women). Since the programme was introduced, a steady supply of quilts is donated on a regular basis and the programme will now include Chrysalis, the new shelter in the Town of Huntsville. Recently the Executive decided that because of the enthusiasm of the members in making the quilts, Cuddle Quilts could be provided to other outreach programmes serving the needs of children.

Kits are made up for members to take home and make tops. Twice a year a workshop is held to assemble the quilts and put the finishing touches to get them ready for distribution.

We are putting our cuddle quilt patterns on our website so they are available all year round. The following links will take you to a PDF file with full instructions and illustrations. If you are using your own fabrics to make cuddle quilts to donate, quilts should finish at a minimum of 39" x 42". Older children will need larger quilts so you are not restricted to this size. Kits available at guild meetings often contain 6" blocks. When sewing cuddle quilts, please use a generous seam allowance (3/8" - 1/2") as these quilts will be washed often.

Some photos from previous cuddle quilt workshops. Click on an image for a larger version.

2001
		2002
		2003				2004
	2006				2007 Prep Day

2007



There was a great turn out of 25 members at James St. Retirement Residence in Bracebridge on April 25, 2008. Due to the fire at Rowanwood in Port Sydney, the organizers obtained this great location on short notice and we had lots of space as you can see by the photos. It was a very productive day thanks to the efforts of many members. Starting with Joanne Kourtz who is cutting a lot of her fabric into 6" blocks and packaging them into 'kits' that are then being distributed at meetings to guild members who are 'volunteering' to take them home and piece the tops. This makes it much more productive at the workshop. Carrol Reid gets a work crew together in advance and they match flannel backs to the tops ready for the Cuddle Quilt workshop. At the workshop all the stations are set up from the 'sandwich' department, to the sewing machines (which are overheating by the end of the day), the 'birthing' area (pulling the quilts through a 3" opening), back to the 'sweatshop' area where they are topstitched. They then go to our 'hand stitchers' where they are tied and the labels (all made by Sylvia Bouchard since the beginning of this program, some 10 years ago) are sewn on. Needless to say this is a very friendly gathering with lots of laughter and good eats through the day. The final stage is checking that there are no pins hiding in the quilts and then some are brought to the next meeting for the Guild to see the great results. Isobel Milne and Leda Story then have the responsibility of storing and distributing between 30-40 cuddle quilts after each workshop.


Another very successful workshop was held on Thursday October 23 at James St. Place. Everyone worked diligently and we will have 27 new quilts to add to our inventory.
				Some of our completed quilts shown at our Nov. 13/08 meeting.
		Oct. 22/09 Workshop at James St. Place.
			Apr. 15/10 Workshop at James St. Place


					October 26/10 Workshop at James St. Place

		March 24/11 Workshop at James St. Place

	Oct. 27/11 Workshop at James St. Place