Charity Projects – Indy Modern Quilt Guild

2022-07-012022-07-31

Donate to an animal rescue organization for a chance to win this quilt!

close up of IMQG's 2022 QuiltCon Community Outreach Challenge quilt

UPDATE: Alex Miller Reusze won the quilt with a donation to The Humane Society of the United States. There were 180 total entries, which means we raised $900 for various animal rescue organizations. Strong work, everyone!

Each year Indy MQG participates in the QuiltCon Community Outreach Quilt Challenge. For 2022 the theme was angles with a color palette of white, boysenberry, geranium, orange, yellow, and olive. Members of our guild designed, constructed, quilted, and finished this quilt for the challenge.

full show of IMQG's 2022 QuiltCon Community Outreach Challenge quilt, outdoors

The goal of the challenge is to raise funds for nonprofit organizations. Indy MQG has chosen animal rescue as this year’s fundraising focus. For every $5 you donate to an animal rescue of your choice, IMQG will give you one chance to win this quilt in a random drawing. Here’s how that will work:

Step #1 — Choose your animal rescue charity!
You can donate to any nonprofit animal rescue organization, whether based in Indiana or not.

Step #2 — Make a donation July 1–29!
Each $5 donation you make during Exhibition 2022: A Modern Quilt Show will earn you a chance to win the IMQG community outreach quilt while also helping an animal rescue organization of your choice! You can make a donation in any amount you choose but chances to win are issued in $5 increments (e.g., $10 donation = 2 chances, $100 donation = 20 chances, etc.). Any processing fees added to the donation do not count toward the total (e.g., $50 donation + $5 fee = 10 chances).

Step #3 — Show us proof of your donation by July 31!
Complete ~~this form~~ with your information, including uploading a photo of your donation receipt. We will register your chance(s) to win in our list of entries.

The random drawing will take place on August 1 and the winner will be notified immediately. Anyone who follows steps #1–3 is eligible to win! IMQG will cover shipping within the United States if local delivery isn’t feasible.

2021-02-042022-01-06

“Practicing an Art” at The Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library

Each year the MQG challenges it’s member organizations to create a quilt for charity based around a theme and color palette. These quilts are displayed at QuiltCon each year. In 2020, the theme for the annual charity quilt challenge was text in quilts with a grayscale color scheme. With that in mind, the IMQG board contacted the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library as the first choice for the recipient of our charity project for the year. What better fit for the year than one of the most well known Hoosier authors ever and a native of Indianapolis. Members of the guild worked together to create a design, source fabric, and plan the quilt before the entire guild worked together at one of our monthly meetings to sew the text portions of the design.

Vonnegut quilt sew day

IMQG sew day for the Vonnegut quilt

Individual members worked on additional half square triangle units to fill in the background of the design. A smaller group of guild members then met at a member’s home to assemble the top.

Collage of photos of members working on the Vonnegut quilt top.

Members met to assemble the top.

Individual members finished the assembly of the top and back before it was quilted by one of our member’s with a longarm machine. The relay was complete when she handed off the quilt to another member to complete the binding. These last two steps had to be handled in a bit of a rush because MQG had been following the quilt’s progress on Instagram. We were asked if we could ship the quilt early so it could be photographed for inclusion in the QuiltCon program. Even though we were in the middle of the holiday season, the quilt got done just in time to be included in the program. We were all so thrilled to be noticed by the our mothership organization!

Then before we even got the quilt back from QuiltCon, the pandemic hit, and we had to cancel our planned quilt exhibit at Garfield Park Observatory where Practicing an Art would have held pride of place.

This also waylaid plans at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library for their grand opening this past fall. Never fear though, Practicing an Art has made it to it’s forever home at KVML.

Final images of Practicing an Art

2019-09-262022-01-15

2020 QuiltCon Charity Challenge!

The theme for the 2020 MQG charity challenge is “text” with a grayscale color scheme. This year IMQG decided to go about the challenge a little differently. In the past we made the quilt, and then decided after the fact on a charity to donate to. The results of this approach have been hit or miss. So this year, we decided to start with a destination in mind. Several members who attended QuiltCon in Nashville last year also noted the many quilts that reflected the guild’s locale. Combining these two thoughts, the board approached a number of local charities looking for an appropriate place for our 2020 charity quilt to land. We got an enthusiastic ‘Yes!’ from the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library here in Indianapolis. The quilt will become a permanent exhibit at the museum at it’s new home at 543 Indiana Avenue.

IMQG had our first sew day working on the project at our September general meeting. Members know the plan for the quilt, but for now we’ll leave the rest of you guessing…

Collage of pictures from the Vonnegut Sew Day