Our Quilting Angel

​

 

Since early 2018 Blue Mountains Quilters (BMQ) has been running a Community Quilting Program to support the clients of DV West Blue Mountains refuge located in Katoomba NSW. 

 

Our dedicated members come along every month to put together beautiful quilt tops. Some time ago, after the departure of one of our quilters, and a clean out of our extensive stash cupboard, it became apparent that we had a huge number of quilt tops needing to be turned into actual quilts. In fact, we were shocked to find almost 100 quilt tops waiting on quilting!

​

A call out was put to our wider membership resulting in many quilts being completed which was greatly appreciated. And then, in May 2024, along came our quilting angel in the form of a new member, Patty Shine.

​

Patty lives in America near Boston, Massachusetts. She comes to Australia three times a year for about five weeks at a time. Patty decided it was time to get involved in Blue Mountains Quilters and joined our Community Quilting Group. She quickly became aware of our predicament and set in progress a course of action which has been nothing short of miraculous. 

​

Patty offered to take a bunch of quilts back to the US to quilt on her longarm quilting machine and then return them to us on her next visit. She assured us she could accommodate the quilts within her generous baggage allowance. We were astonished that this would be possible but excited at the prospect.

Patty packed up a bag of quilt tops and backings and took them home with her to return a few months later with completed quilts. This routine has been repeated many times!

Since joining our group, Patty has completed over 200 quilts for us and has co-opted her sister Mary to help her. She has also mastered a binding attachment on her sewing machine so that the quilts are already bound when they are returned to us. All they need is a label! 

​

Patty's American quilting group, the Dragonfly Quilters, has also become involved, making generous donations of backing fabrics. BMQ has provided funding the purchase of wadding for the quilts.

Patty's amazing effort has made a huge difference to our group. Our stockpile of quilt tops has finally been depleted and the quilts passed on to DV West for their clients.  Now we can enjoy making new quilt tops from our extensive stash of beautiful fabrics, all generously donated by BMQ members and others from the broader community.

 

We cannot thank Patty enough for her extraordinary contribution to our Community Quilts Program. 

 

Bronwyn English

Community Quilts Co-ordinator

Blue Mountains Quilters Inc.

11 June 2026

 

Photograph - Patty with some of our quilts.

​

​