i don't think wearing a mask is a good solution, because you would still be bringing all that pet hair into your home. At some point you would have to take off the mask, and then some of the hair would still be there to cause you problems.

I am not allergic to dogs, but I would not want to bring a quilt top with their hair into my quilt room either. I certainly wouldn't want it on my longarm. I think it's up to the piecer to give clean, pressed tops to the longarmer, especially when you're donating your time.

I don't think washing a top is a good idea, and it would then need pressing before quilting. Even then I'm not sure the pet hair would be gone, just moved around.

I have severe allergies to cats. So much so that even giving someone a hug after they have played with or have a cat in their home can cause a severe reaction. I totally understand your issue and my suggestion would be to only take quilts from those who do not own a pet. Those who have allergies understand the need to stay away from things that will cause a reaction.

Easy. Tell the QOV quilters that you cannot take quilt tops that were made with a pet in the house. No exceptions as it is your health and expense to deal with.

Pet hair is amazingly tenacious. I think you might be best off just biting the bullet and telling people you can only do quilts that come from pet-free homes. That fur is GOING to end up in your house if you bring it in, there's just no two ways about it. Kindness and charity are very good things, but not at the expense of your own health.

My sewing room is a pet-free zone, and yet there's fur all over stuff in there. It comes in on my clothes, and it just drifts in through the air. I lint-roll constantly, but there's always more fur. I made a quilt for my aunt (who is very allergic to cats and currently going through chemo) and I washed it FOUR times in a row and then put it into a vacuum-sealed plastic bag straight out of the dryer...it still had some fur on it by the time I gave it to her! Fortunately it was very CLEAN fur by that point and didn't trigger her allergy, but still...couldn't believe I was still finding fuzz!

My suggestion is to contact a Project Linus chapter near you and visit with them about quilting the tops that they have from pet free homes. That group has dealt with the animal problem, because the national requirements are for no pet hair/dander to be on quilts. That is not to say that there never is any, but at least the local leaders are very aware of the problem. I don't think they would find it difficult to limit the quilts tops that they would bring to you to be ones that came from pet free homes.

[QUOTE=Daylesewblessed;7815083]My suggestion is to contact a Project Linus chapter near you and visit with them about quilting the tops that they have from pet free homes. That group has dealt with the animal problem, because the national requirements are for no pet hair/dander to be on quilts. That is not to say that there never is any, but at least the local leaders are very aware of the problem. I don't think they would find it difficult to limit the quilts tops that they would bring to you to be ones that came from pet free homes.[/QUOTE

]That is an excellent idea. Thank you so much for the information. That would really suit me. I will definitely do that.

Do QOV not take the allergy issues just as seriously?

It's kind of sad if QOV do not,
as one would think this would be a concern for many of the recipients.

Perhaps it's a discussion that should be had with QOV??

The local group I am involved with doesn't seem to. We had a sew day last week and I took some yardage to the ironing board to ready it for cutting. It was covered in cat hair. I backed away and asked another lady to iron it. I told her why. She seemed to understand. But it seems so many have pets all up in their fabrics that it just doesn't seem to be a concern. Plus, sometimes more than one person works on a quilt. Might get complicated following the trail to make sure it doesn't end up in a pet home.
I'm just not sure if the finished quilts are getting washed before being awarded. I will explain again my situation to the group coordinator. If they still want to use me, fine. If not, I'll move on.

Sadly, these sew days are not good for your health either!
Having someone else press the fabric for you ...
... they are only pressing the cat hair into/onto it and must surely affect you.

If your local group are not concerned ...
... it may be something to take up with higher up in the organization.
Perhaps they will have a need and be interested to accept your volunteer LAQing!

Good Luck!

Why not make life simpler for yourself and only work on quilts that you have made yourself?

That way, you will know what is in them and what the fabrics have been exposed to.

You have mentioned being allergic to many things - so it just does not seem feasible to get yourself sick working on "who knows what"?

I do think the allergy factor of the final recipients should also be a concern.