Richard J.
Daley Civic Center - Chicago
"Many people who viewed
the exhibit walked away with a better appreciation
for a very simple craft that has the power to transform
the well
being of
individuals, especially the children"
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Listen to our Podcast Interview
on 'The Innovise Guys' website
Click Here |
Featured in 'Bespoke
Soft Furnishings Magazine'
www.bespokesoftfurnishingsmag.com
 Sewing
since 2006, SEWonderful Quilts delivers one-of-a-kind
comfort quilts to children with life-threatening
illnesses through its clever and caring reuse of
designer fabric. All quilts are gifted free of charge to
children, from infants on up to 21-years-old, who are
dealing with unfortunate healthcare and sexual abuse
issues.Thanks to these
gifts of kindness, SEWonderful quilts greatly reduce the
anxiety surrounding traumatic healthcare experiences,
and have proven to be a prescription of love for these
brave children and their families! Recipients include
children at children's hospitals, hospices for children
and children who have been sexually abused.
Founded by Chicago Interior
Designer Francine Spacek, SEWonderful Quilts combines
her two passions, children and fabric, into a
sewonderful program. To date, the non-profit program has
delivered over 3,700 quilts, all created by volunteers
using fabrics that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
Volunteers include fabricators from quilt guilds,
churches, schools, girl and boy scout troops, senior
centers, co-workers and individuals. Anyone who can sew
a straight line is encouraged to get involved as a
one-time activity or on an ongoing basis.
Children are diagnosed daily so
the need is great. If you want to create a quilt, become
a donor, or know of a child who is eligible to receive a
SEWonderful quilt, contact Francine at sewonderfulquilts@hotmail.com.
Contributions of time, money, and 100% cotton fabrics
are appreciated to help grow our quilt gifting program
and increase our recycling activity. Thank you for your
friendship and support.
Francine Spacek, Founder
Linda Justmann, Program Development |
"MITY NICE AWARD"
In April 2012, SEWonderful Quilts.org
received the "MITY NICE AWARD",
(an award given by the Mity Nice
Restaurant in Water Tower Place, Chicago)
saluting Chicagoans who are making a difference in the
community.
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 Chicago
Native and Interior Designer, Francine Spacek has two
passions: Children & Fabric. She combined both and founded SEWonderful Quilts.org, a non-profit organization,
in 2006.
SEWonderful Quilts recycles designer fabric into
one-of-a-kind quilts which are gifted free of charge
to children (Infant-21yrs) suffering with life-threatening
illnesses, as well as children who have been sexually
abused.
After studying art and design in Florence, Italy,
Francine returned to Chicago and opened her design firm
in 1986, giving her limitless access to showrooms,
workrooms and fabric.
She began SWQ by gathering discontinued fabric, creating
quilt kits and distributing the quilt kits to volunteers and quilters.
Once completed, the crib-sized quilts are returned to
Francine for her to distribute. SWQ’s has currently
gifted over 2600 quilts to hospitals, hospices and
sexual abuse centers such as; Children’s Memorial, Rush
Children’s, Luthern General & St. Jude’s Cancer Center.
Spacek believes that SWQ may have been green before the
concept became popular, keeping tons of discontinued
fabric out of our landfills, and “turning trash into
treasures”, but the real reward is in knowing that these
“gifts of kindness help reduce the anxiety surrounding
healthcare experiences for children and their families”.
“Children are diagnosed on a DAILY basis”, so if you
would like to make a quilt or know a
child who is eligible to receive a SEWonderful quilt, contact Francine to get
involved. We think that would be MITY NICE of you! |
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