If you sew / quilt,  make blocks, or quilt tops or a finished quilt.   We use many blocks for "sampler" quilt tops.  

Donate Fabric... 100 % cotton fabric. 

If you wish to purchase just ask the shop owner or staff to be sure it's the right type of fabric.

You can help this project to comfort young cancer patients.

A diagnosis of cancer is always devastating, but as thousands of parents across the country can attest, when a child is targeted by this life-threatening disease it is almost too much to bear. Just ask Barb and Jim Johnson, founders of Quilts 4 Cancer, a 501 c3 non-profit organization run from their home in Pahrump, Nevada. Not only have they both survived this fearsome disease, thirty-five members of their combined families have battled cancer. Tragically, not all have survived.

According to Candelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation, approximately 13,000 children are diagnosed with cancer in the USA each year. And although improved treatments have increased survival, childhood cancer remains the number one disease killer of our nation's children. Fully 35% of children with cancer die.

On behalf of the youngest cancer victims in the Southwestern United States, Quilts 4 Cancer teams up with Candelighters to bring homemade comfort - in the form of quilts - to children from infancy through age 20.

"Being treated with chemotherapy makes you feel cold all the time," Barb explains. "That's why we want to provide a bit of warmth for kids going through treatments. Radiation and other procedures can be hard to endure. When you're going in for a treatment, taking your quilt from home into the medical facility does more than just protect you from being cold - it comforts you and gives you something familiar to hold on to."

Among the parents enthusiastically endorsing Quilt 4 Cancer's program of gathering quilts for distribution by Candlelighters are Chris and Brian Gadberry. The couple lives in Las Vegas with their two sons, Keith and Ryan. Ryan, now age five and doing well, was only three years old when he was invited to a Candlelighters holiday party to select a quilt. "Ryan has leukemia and he was way too sick to attend the party," recalls Chris. Since Ryan was in the hospital, his big brother, Keith, who was five years old at the time, went to the party with his dad and selected a quilt to bring to the hospital.

Soon after Ryan's hospital discharge he suffered a stroke and headed back into intensive care. It was then that Ryan and his quilt - his nye-night - became inseparable. "We brought his nye-night to the hospital and whenever he went for any kind of procedure he always carried it with him," his mom explains. After Ryan recovered enough to go home, Chris says his nye-night served yet another purpose. "The quilt's colorful design is distinctive and that helped the nurses and technicians recognize him when we took him in for treatments. Ryan went through a lot of physical changes; sometimes he had hair, other times he didn't.

"He cuddled with his nye-night and hid under it to play peek-a-boo. Until he started walking, we couldn't leave home without it. His nye-night made it a lot easier for Ryan to go down for CAT Scans because it was comfortable and familiar. It seemed to give him a feeling of security."

"Candlelighters helped us in so many ways," says the boys' dad. "I would do anything for them and the quilters."

How you can help kids like Ryan? Quilts 4 Cancer is a small organization with big goals. For the past several years, they have donated thousands of quilts to Candlelighters by holding quilt workdays in their local community as well as from contacting quilters and friends throughout the country.

"Quilters are generous people and I'm confident we'll make this goal," says Barb. "We need simple basic quilts, measuring about forty inches wide by five feet in length for kids up to the age of 21. Volunteers here in Pahrump are making quilts and we're getting the word out to other quilters in the Southwest so we'll have enough for the Candlelighters chapters in Southern Nevada, Tucson and Salt Lake City"

Fortunately, you don't have to know how to quilt - or even sew - in order to help. Quilts 4 Cancer needs money for supplies. The Johnstons are able to stretch every dollar donated. "We buy in bulk from major fabric manufacturers for $1.00 per yard and we purchase cotton fabric by the bolt, which means we cut exactly what we need instead of spending time piecing smaller donated scraps together," explains Barb. "We also buy batting in volume for one-half the wholesale price.

$30 purchases supplies for a child's quilt "People think quilts cost hundreds of dollars to make - and they do if you are making an heirloom with top quality fabrics and batting. But that's not what we are doing," continues Barb. "We are making nice, serviceable quilts. Volunteers do the sewing, so the total cost for a quilt that is forty inches wide by five feet in length is just $30. The IRS allows us to issue receipts for donations of money or for fabric donated if a recent receipt is given to us. For convenience, we now have a link on our website allowing us to accept donations online.

"Of course, we also appreciate receiving finished quilts! Kids like big squares of bold colors. This past year, the children loved the quilts made with Sponge Bob fabric as well as patterns with dogs, cats or horses. The girls really went for purple quilts and it seems like we always need more 'guy colors' for teenagers," says Barb. "When you make a quilt for a child, you can really let your imagination run wild. We've received flannel quilts with space alien patterns, cowboy and cowgirl quilts - and I know one volunteer in Pahrump is working on blocks featuring colorful lizards. She's having fun and it's for a great purpose."

Send your quilts or donations to Quilts 4 Cancer at P.O. Box 4702, Pahrump, NV 89041.

For more information, access www.quilts4cancer.org or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . You can also reach Barb and Jim at (775) 751-5356.

To learn more about all the services provided to families of children with cancer, access www.candlelighters.org. The toll free number for the national office in Kensington, MD is 800-3666-2223.