This quilt made by Julianne Walther earned a 3rd place ribbon in the Machine-Quilted Wallhangings category at the 2008 NC State Fair. It’s about 64” square and is comprised of thousands of pieces of fabric. The quilt was created from a pattern called Sea Urchin by Judy Niemeyer. It will remain in the Walther family’s personal collection.

Tags: fair, ribbons

I just recently found what has already become my new favorite quilt charity. A medical team called Rotaplast, International provides free surgeries to children born with cleft lip and palate worldwide. The group travels all over the world repairing these birth defects and literally helping children smile. Associated with this group is a project called Wrap-A-Smile, which began in 2001. Quilters create quilts for every child that has this surgery, and the children are wrapped in their quilts during surgical recovery. The quilts, just like the surgeries, are given to the families free of charge. In sixteen years of existence, Rotaplast has performed surgeries on over 11,000 children worldwide, and Wrap-A-Smile has donated 1,500 quilts a year to these children.

You might be wondering why this is so important to me... our daughter Avery was born with cleft lip and palate. She is a beautiful and healthy child, due in large part to the wondrous surgeons available to us as Americans. I truly appreciate the doctors that travel to other countries to help children in need.

You can read Avery’s story here; she was the Cleft Palate Foundation’s child of the month for June 2005.

I plan to make several quilts for this wonderful cause. To learn more, or to help out, click here.

Julianne created this wall hanging quilt (on the left) for our guild’s first Quilt Auction. The pattern was published by Alex Anderson. My bee, the Piecemeal Quilters Bee, created the quilt on the right, designed by Sandy Fitzpatrick. The quilt auction is a joint venture between the Make a Wish Foundation and the Capital Quilters Guild (of Raleigh, NC). These, and over 50 other quilts, were auctioned off to the public in October of 2008. Half of the proceeds benefit our guild, while the other half went to the Make a Wish Foundation of Eastern NC. My wall hanging quilt won 3rd place in the individual quilter category of the Viewer’s Choice Awards. The bee’s quilt earned 2nd place in the group category of the same Viewer’s Choice competition.

Julianne and Tina enjoyed a weekend away with their quilting bee, an annual tradition for the group. This photo was taken on the beach at Ft. Fisher, NC. Although we could see the ocean from our windows, only a few of us walked on it again after this picture was made! The sewing machines were humming, the food was plentiful, and the laughing could be heard for miles.

From left to right: Carol Franks, Tina Schwager, Julianne Walther, Shirley Hendrix, Ann Young, Sandy Fitzpatrick, Lori Rice, and Kelly Hutchens.

One of Julianne’s favorite things to do in the sewing studio is making Halloween outfits for her children. Continuing the tradition from her own mother, she loves to create costumes once a year. This year, we had Rapunzel, two dragon slayers, and a dragon!

Costume patterns are by McCall’s, dragon costume was store-bought (after an old homemade dinosaur - costume - turned - dragon was called “Chicken Dragon” by the dragon-to-be!).

This quilt made by Julianne Walther earned a 5th place ribbon in the Machine-Quilted Wallhangings category at the 2007 NC State Fair. It’s about 60” square and includes dozens of glass beads and freshwater pearls in the center of the flower. The quilt was created from a pattern by Mattie Rhoades, and will remain in the Walther family’s personal collection.

Julianne is the proud recipient of the Women Business Owners Network business scholarship for 2007! After a lengthy application process and some great reference letters from Patchwork Memories clients, the WBON chose to award a scholarship to Julianne and Patchwork Memories. The $2000 award will be used for business education. (Photo above taken from Cary Magazine, Nov / Dec 2007).