Women Life Freedom - 2022
A block designed to show support for women protesting in Iran. On consulting with Iranian quilters as well as one in Iran, I was informed that it is illegal to fundraise for the protesters. They requested that the pattern be made easily accessible in order to keep the conversation about the protest going on social media. For this reason the pattern was listed at low cost as well as provided for free to those in Iran who are not permitted to have Paypal or other international methods of payment.
Lunar Zodiac Quilt - 2022
A few initial blocks from this quilt were designed as individual fundraisers - the zodiac animal as each year went by. It then evolved into a large collaboration with Wendy Chow (designer of the center "New Year Blessings" block) and Kathy Looi who acted as a cheer leader and cultural consultant. The combined pattern was then sold as a fundraiser over a few months over 2022/2023 with the funds going to the Yarrow Society, an organisation that provides support for seniors in Vancouver's China Town.
Total amount raised incl initial block fundraisers: $2,532
We Women Quilt Swap - 2022
An International Women's Day project, this was a quilt swap / fundraiser organized with help from Jaydeen Williams. Quilters from around the world swapped blocks with each other to make friends and create their own women's empowerment quilts. Funds raised were donated to the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre in Vancouver, BC.
Funds raised: $8,052
Peace for Ukraine - 2022
This block was designed while watching Russia's initial invasion against Ukraine on the news. It was offered as a free download pattern designed to provide support to the people of Ukraine. In exchange for the download, quilters were asked to make a donation to any organization supporting Ukranians around the globe.
Total pattern downloads: over 19,000
Asian Love Banners - 2021
Designed in response to the rise in anti-Asian hate, this was a collaboration between Berene Campbell and Amy Newbold of Sewtopia in Utah, USA. Initially a single block of the "Finger Heart Love" icon, it evolved into a series of patterns each with the word "LOVE" in different Asian and Pacific Island languages and scripts.
The project was a fundraiser for the first nine months, with the funds being donated to a selection of organizations supporting a variety of Asian diaspora. These included: Nikkei Museum (Vancouver, BC), South Asian Women's Center (Toronto, ON), Chinatown Foundation (Vancouver, BC), Korean Cultural Association (Vancouver, BC), Swan Vancouver, Filipino Seniors Club of BC, London Muslim Mosque (Ontario), and the "Support the AAPI Community Fund" in the USA. It has also funded multiple years of ongoing sponsoring the Asian Sewists Collective.
Funds raised: $6,726
Lynn Valley Love Project - Giant Cross Stitch - 2021
This project was designed in response to a tragic event that occurred in the Spring of 2021 at the Lynn Valley Library in North Vancouver, in which six people were stabbed and one young woman lost her life. It happened on a Saturday morning during a library book sale with many young children witnessing what happened. The goal of this project was to create beauty in this space to replace the ugliness seen on that day. In addition to the quilted Love banners made by quilters that were hung inside the library, this giant cross stitch was created as an opportunity for members of the local community - both young and old that were not expert sewists - to be able to participate to an installation to bring positivity back to their library. Kits were provided for each participant to stitch a single felt "X" onto a square of white fabric. These were then stitched into quilted banners by a fabulous team of volunteers.
Over 1,200 stitched X's were contributed to this project.
Lynn Valley Love Project - Library Banners - 2021
This project was in response to a tragic event that occurred in the Spring of 2023, at the Lynn Valley Library in North Vancouver, in which six people were stabbed and one young woman lost her life. Quilters from across Canada sent in banners with messages of LOVE and HOPE to provide healing for the community.
Mini Mod Swap - 2021
Originally designed as a swap for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild as a way to stay in touch during the pandemic, the pattern was then offered to other guilds. Berene helped set up the swaps and in exchange for the pattern fees were donated directly to the Handmade Collective Awards, a bursary fund at Toronto Metropolitan University.
This project is still available. If you would like your guild to host this swap please get in touch with Berene.
Funds raised: The specific $ amount raised is unknown due to privacy laws regarding donations made directly, however this project help bump the bursary fund to well past the $15,000 target originally set.
Black Lives Matter quilt pattern - 2020
We are born into a beautiful world that consists of exquisite variety. Embracing this diversity offers us greater knowledge and understanding about life, and challenges our stagnant thinking. It enriches our life experiences and enables us to be a better, stronger human race.
The purpose of this project is to counter hate and prejudice and to action change to give power back to those that have had it taken away from them. This quilt design was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. The design uses the fist from the BLM logo, combing four to create a circle of strength. The banners wrapped around the arms suggest historical architecture as the Black Lives Matter movement has been an important part of our history. Each banner holds a word to represent the change needed. Small pink flowers were added to represent both the beauty of Black lives in our world, as well as the vulnerability of this moment in time.
This pattern is sold as a fundraiser with 100% of the profit from sales going to the Handmade Collective Awards, a series of bursaries that will be awarded to Black, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQ+ students.
Funds raised: over $2,984.
Social Justice Sewing Academy Fundraiser - 2020
SJSA is an amazing non-profit organization that runs group workshops for youth to involving social justice activism through the medium of textile arts. "Sew Like a Boss" is a quilt block I designed to go on a bag pattern. The story behind the block is about taking on challenges that you are afraid of. Stickers of this design were sold through participating stores as a fundraiser with 100% of the profit going to SJSA. The funds will be used to cover the costs of their Quilts of Remembrance programme - a project to make textile memorials for families who have lost a loved one to violence. They are intended to reflect the life of the person by creating a quilt using textiles donated by their families.
Funds raised: over $5,230.
Hello Friend Pillow Pattern - 2020
Designed during the Covid-19 pandemic to help people feel a little less alone, whether they wake up to this sweet friend every morning, or make one and send it to a friend that is feeling isolated, the pillow offers a cheery greeting to lift people up. In addition, during the first few months after release, 100% of proceeds are being donated to quilt shops to help keep them in business at a time when many small businesses were struggling to survive. The goal is to keep help to these shops afloat and their employees employed. #hellofriendpattern
UPDATE: So far over $6,000.00 has been raised from this project to support small independent businesses.
Sisterhood Quilt Swap - 2019
Designed for International Women's Day, this design was inspired by the way women stand together to support each other, their families and their communities. I wanted to celebrate women for their unique strengths, and also to contemplate women’s struggles, and fight for kind and equal treatment for women around the globe. I came up with an idea to bring women together in two ways: By organizing a swap to create collective quilt blocks made by circles of women for each other, by each other, and in doing so, collecting funds for a charity that supports women that are living in poverty or at risk situations. Aptly named the "Sisterhood Swap”, when first launched it was sold as a "Pay to Play" swap and pattern with 100% of the proceeds going to @BeautifulWorldCanada – a non-profit organization that provides comprehensive scholarships to girls living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Girls from Grade 6 and up who don’t have the means to continue their education, and who otherwise would be forced to work in the fields, or be married off. Beautiful World provides tuition, housing, transportation, grad prep, personal supplies, mentorship, medical care and employment training. Whatever it is they need to make graduating possible. It is an amazing organization run out of Toronto, that helps empower young women living in poverty to change their destinies.
The Sisterhood Quilt Swap was a huge success. 284 people participated, and many more quilters bought patterns to support the fundraiser. We raised $4,000 in three weeks, which funded the post-secondary education for two young women in Uganda. In addition participants made new friends around the globe.
Toronto Love Project - 2018
On April 23, 2018, we were in the process of packing up our home as our family was moving back to Vancouver. We had not wanted to move to Toronto four years prior, but I had really grown to love the city and it’s community. We turned on the radio that day to learn that a deranged man had driven a van down Yonge Street in Toronto, intentionally killing 10 and injuring 16 people. Saddened by the hate that had been brought to our city by this event, I knew that she had to give a parting gift to Toronto to thank them for being good to me, and to help them heal from this awful event. I reached out to North York Arts, a local arts organization, and asked for their help in planning a project similar to “To Boston with Love”. Together we decided on North York Centre as the location for the installation, as it was located centrally in the area where the tragedy occurred, and had lots of natural light. I designed the graphics and banner concept to suit the space, and posted a tutorial online. Quilters from across Canada, the USA and one from Australia, sent in their contributions. It was a beautiful show of love and healing hanging in a community that was feeling like their home had been shaken with fear. Thank you in particular to Lila Karim of North York Arts, Gabor Szabo, property manager of North York Centre and the quilters who contributed for all your help and support.
Badass Quilt - 2017
2017 was a historical year for women’s rights with the #metoo movement, and the number of women finally taken seriously by employers and the courts. I wanted too design a quilt to celebrate this fact, as well as to celebrate women for their positive attributes. My friend Daryl Aitken of Fabric Spark Quilt Shop and I collaborated to create a kit with a third of the profit going to Woodgreen Foundation’s Homeward Bound programme: a women’s shelter in Toronto that provides and amazing 4-year programme to help single mothers in at-risk situations. They provide housing, counselling, child care, education and job mentorship and have astounding results. This project results in $2,228 being donated to this cause. Thank you to everyone who bought a kit to support this cause.
Quilts for Refugees - 2016
After unexpectedly having to move to Toronto in 2014, I felt sad and displaced after the loss of my community and friends. However one day while listening to CBC's The Current, I realized that my loss was nothing like that suffered by the tens of thousands of refugees arriving in Canada from Syria. Since these people had lost most of their household goods, including their bedding, and since quilts offer healing as well as warmth, I decided to coordinate a sew-in for quilters to make quilts for these families. We rented a church hall and quilters came and sewed for the day. More quilts were also donated by mail, including some from the USA where people were feeling unhappy with the lack of support Syrians were getting there. I contacted local refugee organizations Culture Link and Romero House in Toronto to hand over the quilts. They were very well received as bedding was one of the top requests from the refugee communities coming in. In addition, Culture Link hosted an event for International Women's Day and we gave every woman who attended that day a quilt to take home. One of the ladies there was a quilter back in Syria. Big tears ran down her face and she explained that she knew what it meant to have had a quilt made just for her.
To Boston with Love - 2013
The morning after the 2013 Boston Bombings, I had an idea to initiate a project making peace & love flags to help the people of Boston heal. (Read more on my inspiration for this project here.) I reached out to Amy Friend, a quilter who lived near Boston, who helped me find a location to hang them and she also kindly agreed to help coordinate the project. Along with the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild we rallied quilters worldwide. I made the first flag, wrote a tutorial with the parameters of the project, and posted it online for might be interested. Within 24 hours a quilter in Melbourne, Australia, posted on Instagram that she had already made and mailed her flag, and in the next few days the project went viral across the USA and beyond. Many guilds signed up and got their members to participate. Amazingly within six weeks we received around 1,800 beautifully pieced flags. Amy had contacted the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts)and they agreed to hang them for us in the Shapiro Courtyard – a gorgeous 4-story glass atrium filled with natural light, an exquisite space for the project. The MFA are now the caretakers of the flags, which were hung again for the one year anniversary of the bombings. Thanks to Amy Friend, for joining in this undertaking, and to Dawn Griffin, of the MFA for taking a chance on us.