BMQ Community Quilts
Our Community Quilts Program has been running since early 2018 and continues to
be supported by a band of enthusiastic participants resulting in more than 400 quilts
being delivered to the DV West Blue Mountains refuge in Katoomba.
Blue Mountains Quilters has a great relationship with the Manager and staff at the
refuge and we are delighted to be able to continue to support their clients. Each
woman and child who comes to the refuge is given a quilt, made with love and care,
to take with them to begin their new lives when they leave. Quilts are also donated to
clients supported by DV West in the community.
Some BMQ members like to assist Community Quilts working at home planning,
cutting out, organising kits for sewing by others and assembling quilt tops. These
contributions are very welcome and allow members to contribute in the way that suits
them best. We are also supported by members of BMQ who assist with the quilting
of our quilts. Their willingness to donate their time creating finished quilts is greatly
appreciated.
In recent times, our member Patty, who lives in the US, has assisted us enormously
by quilting over 200 quilts on her long arm machine at her home near Boston. Patty
visits Australia regularly and picks up quilt tops and delivers them back as finished
quilts three times a year. You can read more about Patty in the article ‘Our Quilting
Angel’.
Our facilities are well suited to our needs providing storage space as well as plenty
of room for sewing and cutting out. We have a significant stash of fabric stored
conveniently where we sew. Unfortunately, at this time (October 2026) we are unable
to accept any more donations due to space restrictions.
Should you have fabric that you wish to donate to a worthy cause please consider The Sewing Basket op shops, run by Achieve Australia. You can find out details about their shops here.
They sell all kinds of donated fabric, threads, patterns, haberdashery, yarn, knitting and
crochet accessories and more while providing assistance to people with a disability.
BMQ is also most appreciative of monetary support received from Katoomba RSL
which covers the cost of hiring the hall for the Community Quilts group use.
The Community Quilts group meets on the 3rd Friday of each month at the Central
Villages Anglican Church Hall, Honour Avenue, Lawson from 10 am to 3pm. Tea and
coffee are available. Bring your own mug and lunch.
Please contact our Community Quilts Co-ordinator, Bronwyn English on 0412412083 or at
bluemountainsquilters@gmail.com. We are always keen to welcome new members.
Updated October 2026
OUR QUILTING ANGEL - Patty Shine
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.