Hi Everyone –
As I have written, California has been under siege with fires up and down the state. One of the really awful ones, the Butte Fire, is burning in Amador County. At this point, we are thankful that it is 75% contained. However, it’s damage has been horrible. Over 75,000 acres have burned with a current loss of 535 residences. (Information obtained at Yubanet.com.) Everyone’s worst nightmare, right? The loss of your home and all of your precious belongings and then having to rebuild. It must be an overwhelming situation for these people.
In comes Kerri of “Kerri’s Quilting” in Lakeport, CA. She is putting together a few quilts for some of the quilter’s that lost not only their homes, but their quilting supplies and fabric. I think this is such a sweet thing to do. Providing something handmade as an expression of love and concern will hopefully bring comfort to some of our fellow quilters.
Would you like to help? Here is what Kerri wants:
“If you would like to help turn ashes to beauty please make a quilt block – applique a heart in the center of a CUT 10” square using pastel colors, sign your name and town and mail to Kerrie’s Quilting 1853 N. High St. Lakeport, CA 95453.
The blocks will be set together to make quilts for at least 5 ladies that I know of who lost all their sewing/quilting things in the fire.
The deadline for mailing is October 8th.”
Here are two blocks that I made the other day. Just a simple heart appliqued in the middle of a ten inch block.
I hope you will create a block, sign it and mail it to Kerri. How wonderful for people from across the country to show their concern for these Amador County quilters! Let me know if you have any questions. Also, for a quick tutorial on making an appiqued heart block, see this post at Quilting Jetgirl.
For those of you who saw my messy, messy sewing room the other day, here is an updated picture. As I was told by Deb at Frugal Little Bungalow, it was time to ‘Redd Up’ that room, which is apparently Pittsgburgh-speak for cleaning up a mess. 😉 Success!
Much easier to work in!
Of course it didn’t last long because I was sewing this weekend. But it is still, it’s much better than it was.
Remember the post about the elephant baby quilt I made for my friends that are having a baby via surrogate mom in Mumbai, India? Their daughter, Emerson, arrived today via planned C-section!! I can’t even imagine how exciting this is for TJ and Margot after so many years spent working, hoping and praying to become parents. I am so happy for them and hope their transition from India back home is safe and uneventful.
Finally, this is why I love giving a quilt. Look at this text that I received out of the blue the other day. Lil is my niece and I made her a t-shirt quilt about a year ago. (Story is here.) Warms my heart!
Linking to Connie over at Freemotion by the River.
Thanks so much for letting me know about a way to help, I’ll be working on some heart blocks shortly. 🙂
Congratulations to your friends, and I bet the elephant quilt will be getting a lot of use soon. And aren’t messages out of the blue like that the best?
Thank you Yvonne… what is the best way to sign the block? I haven’t done that before?
Pingback: Applique Heart Block Tutorial | Quilting Jetgirl
Thank you for sharing this. I have left over supplies from a small applique project and this would be a wonderful way to use them. Having your sewing space reclaimed and tidied up must feel wonderful…maybe I should give it a try. Thanks for the inspiration.
Thank you Tish. That is awesome!
It’s good to feel useful when I’m so far away from this. I’ll try and make a few blocks later this week.
Thank you Diana. It will be really special for them to receive a quilt made with blocks from across the country. 🙂
LOL your room looks very nice once it was ‘redd up” 🙂
I will most certainly make a heart and send it in! 🙂
Congrats on that new baby…I remember that post and quilt and I went back to take a look at your beautiful niece 🙂
Alas, the room is a mess again. I suppose it is inevitable. If I am going to be sewing, it is going to get messy. There are worse problems to have though! Thanks for contributing a heart Deb. So sweet of you. Also, thanks for posting it on FB. I had a large number of hits via Facebook this morning and now I know why!!
B.
me again….I put the word out ( your post ) on a few FB applique / quillting groups as well. I remember last year a blogger’s mom in Washington State lost everything and quilters from around the world sent in fabrics, books, supplies etc to rebuild her stash. Quilters are a generous bunch 🙂
Thanks for the link for quilts. Glad you got some rain.
Yay on the baby!!
Your sewing room looks lovely. 🙂
What a nice thing this is to do for the quilters affected by the fires. Congrats to your friends and their new baby!
Hi Heather:
Yes, I am pleased with all the positive response on this heart applique block project. It has spread around a bit so it looks like there will be a decent number of blocks contributed!
I will try my first appliqué block this week! What a sweet note from your niece! The best part of quilting is the giving, I think. Especially when you get surprise thanks!
Sounds good Cassandra! Applique can be very simple. Give it a try.
Take care,
Bernie
AWW! Love that text. Love your two heart blocks too! And your sewing space looks good…but not really…I like the looks of creativity, if you know what I mean. Reality! (so that’s what I tell myself when I see my creative mess!)
Well, my clean room didn’t last but a few days. It isn’t quite the disaster it was but I can’t get too worried about it! It’s my favorite place to be. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this way of giving a little cheer to people who could really use a hug. My fabric drawers are uncovered for the moment, so I’ll be sure to go through and look for some pastel fabric. I will need to think of a way to applique the hearts as I only have straight stitch on my machine. Maybe a little hand work is in order. Such wonderful reasons for joy: a new baby, a bit of rain, a text. Wow.
Hi Janine,
Thanks for taking the time to make a heart block. I am thrilled that they will be receiving quote with blocks from all over the place. How cool is that?
Enjoy your weekend!
Bernie