Comfort packages continue to roll out

      Over the past months, I continue to receive referrals for quilt packages. It was good that I had them ready.

     This one, the strips from Quiltdiva Julie, went to a young man with 2 small children that has Stage 4 Pancreatic cancer.

     The Scrap Jar Stars went to a young woman battling nasty Stage 4 cancer.

     This Branches quilt went to a woman from my church with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. It went out so fast, I did not get to take a picture of the bag and contents. It is not as big as I like to give, but she is short. She started chemo last week.

Quilt Power!

      Two comfort quilt packages went out recently. I had not had any requests for a while, so I was glad to move these out! Pixel Chain and Wanda's Butterfly Quilt were bagged up and delivered to the people who had requested them for someone they knew. Both were for women with sudden stage 4 cancers.

    A year ago, I received an email request from an unknown woman stricken with multiple cancers and other horrible physical issues who somehow found my name online. I took a chance on sending her a quilt. I sent some photos to choose from, and she picked a denim one with hand dyes that had been overlooked by many. She was given 4 months to live. I did not hear from her for a long while and I feared she did not make it and prayed she had got the quilt and it gave her some comfort. After months, I heard from her and she was recovering from brain surgery and a hip replacement. After a long while, I heard a couple more times about treatments and sickness. A couple of weeks ago, I received an email about her miraculous progress. I am not sharing any name or identifying info, but I have to share her words because they keep me dedicated to quilting and praying in such times as these:

"Hi, hey, howdy, hello,  how ya doing? LoL....... Hi!

I'm feeling pretty good my doctor says I've beat the odds for my diagnosis of advanced stage metastatic cancer.......

I wanted to share with you

They did an mri of my brain and all the lesions are gone even the little tiny ones they weren't sure about are gone but the 2 large ones that they were concerned about because they were pushing inwards against the main artery in my brain are completely gone.......

I am able to be up and walking now sometimes I have to use my cane but I'll take a cane over my wheelchair any day they had told me 4 and a half months but they aren't putting a time on my life now I have responded better than they expected and faster than they expected to treatment they said if I can keep my attitude and energy like I am I have a chance of beating this they said treatment is not a cure but to prolong my life and give me better quality of life but sometimes there are people that can and do beat it and they don't want to give me false hope but I have a chance of being one of those people .......

If cancer had a face I'd punch it right in the face....... 

It's having support that is making it possible to beat this

Total strangers have shown me so much love and support ,

People like you that's what's made this possible people like you put the human in humanity"

     So a huge thank you to those who have helped me in accomplishing getting comfort quilts out there. Thank you to Wanda, Gwen, Quiltdiva Julie, Maureen, and others for supplies and quilts. Thank you to friends and strangers who provided funds for batting, books, bags, etc. Now, pass me the kleenexes.

Comfort times three

       Sort of a record- three comfort quilts went out the door in one week to three different people. The quilts were all quilted, but needed to be washed (I wait until I get a recipient before I wash, dry and immediately bag), sew pockets on the bags, make pocket quilts and complete labels. I had been praying for recipients for those quilts, but was surprised by so many requests at once. Unfortunately, all were cancer situations.
     I am very privileged to be a quilter and grateful to secure the resources to make comfort quilt kits. Every quilt is needed and does it job to provide comfort in a distressing situation.
     The first was a batik Upstairs, Downstairs that I had to mail. Postage is kind of crazy, but it got to SC pretty quick and safe.

      The next one went to a man who had surgery to remove a cancerous kidney. When I washed the quilt, the hand dyes all bled into the white and I was freaked. Fortunately, I keep Vicki Welsh's great guide on hand and Blue Dawn. After soaking in Dawn and hot water submerged in the tub, it rinsed out and the quilt was saved. Vicki, I owe you again!!

The bleeding came out!!

     The third quilt went to a young woman with very aggressive colon cancer. Doesn't it break your heart?

Special fabric delivery!

      One of the joys of life is receiving fabric in the mail. Knowing someone trusts you enough to make comfort quilts with it and sends it to you is an awesome humbling position that I have blessed with. Gwen has sent me fabric, especially backing fabric, before and it has so helped me to complete quilts to give away.
     Her latest box had all kinds of goodies in it. How exciting! I sorted by size and type, color. It got my brain thinking.

      An absolutely gorgeous group of batik colors were in the box also. However, they are flannel and I don't know how or what quilt to make with them. I have made lots of pillowcases in flannel, but never a quilt. I do not like rag quilts and will not make one. I will not tie a quilt either. So, please, if you have any ideas from your experience, please send them my way so I can transform them into an adorable quilt. They are about a half yard apiece. I washed it and it is a nice heavy flannel.

Unexpected Treasures Part 2

      In making comfort quilts, there are times that, I hate to say, I worry about having the resources to keep making them and the bags to give away. For a number of years, I repaired and gave spa days to vintage sewing machines people needed help with. I only asked for a donation so I could purchase what I needed for the quilts and it was totally up to the machine owner to give as they wanted. I was able to finance buying batting, fabric, thread, the bags and books, etc. to keep providing comfort quilts on referral. During the pandemic, that all dried up and has not returned. I don't mind buying it out of pocket, I just worry I won't be able to as prices climb. It is stupid to worry, I always have enough to keep going.
      A friend I met at a quilt class almost nine years ago, Gwen, has at times, sent me big boxes of fabric for backings. A number of times, Quiltdiva Julie has sent me tops, backings, and fabric to finish and distribute to recipients. These are an incredible blessing. In the last month, Julie asked me if I wanted some quilts she had cut out, but found her interest had dwindled in them as her other quilt work pulled her in. I said, YES! and she mailed me two huge boxes with 4 quilts cut out and backing fabric. Can you believe it? I am overjoyed.

     I sewed one together, Scrappy Color Bars (free pattern), and decided to add some leaves blowing across to move the quilt up a design notch. The leaves are pinned and I am sewing them on- no fusible. I sewed the leaves by pairing the fabric and feather weight interfacing, cutting a slit in the interfacing, turning and pressing the leaf flat. I am going to use my 70s Bernina 830 to applique them on with a blind stitch using invisible thread. Hope it works! It is quite large- 70 x 90. Can't wait to start the others!

All ready to sew the Burnt Orange kit on the speedy Juki
for chain piecing!

On the wall

I have added more leaves since this photo, most smaller, and am ready to start sewing them down. I pinned them with safety pins.

What was I thinking? Or how to overload your life...

      Sometimes, a great idea is only as good as how well thought out it is- how to accomplish it and what it will actually entail. I get great ideas, foreseeing how to make them work is where I get into trouble.
     My dear friend was diagnosed with ALS in August. Went to lunch in September, she drove. She is the one who chose the Blue Bargello. By October, she had to sell her car and had to be helped to her feet and supported walking. By November, she is in a wheelchair, unable to move or reposition herself sitting. And in a lot of wincing pain. She is one of the most creative people I have ever known. She can make anything- collage and jewelry her favorites. She was a fabulous elementary art teacher.
     My heart was just breaking seeing her unable to do anything creative. I had this bright idea that I could take my kid/novelty boxes of cut 5" and 2.5" squares to her house, with a fleece I drew a grid on and she could layout, with help, quilts for her grandchildren. My thought was we could layout one quilt a week, I could sew it, bring it back and we could decide borders, take it home, quilt it and start another. Apparently the idea took ahold of her. Everyone who visited her helped her layout quilts and tape the blocks together, putting them in columns for webbing. When I returned after sewing the body of the first quilt to work on borders, I was given bags of seven quilt layouts. I should have asked how many grandchildren at the beginning.
      After I started breathing again, I had to figure out how to get these sewn and quilted. Once the squares were sewn together as you can imagine, the quilts were a lot smaller. I figured out to add lattice to the column quilts and coping strips around the smaller squares to fit the 5" ones. I ordered Bills fabric (the only fabric I bought). I made a chart for the quilts and all the component steps and freaked out. I took some quilts to the November retreat and one dear friend, Carolyn, sewed one all squares one, and one columns components for the lattice strips one. I had all those backings to make also.
      No matter how fast I sewed and figured how to do the borders and backs, I was far behind. I got the Bills quilt on the longarm, but no time to quilt it. I had a flash of brilliance and asked some friends who own a longarm business, Chasen Dreams, for help. They are incredibly generous quilters who quilt tons of kids quilts for camps, vets, and other community needs. They said they would help me out. I dropped 5 quilts with them on Friday. Today, I finished sewing quilt 7 top and backing. Now onto the longarm for quilt 1 and then all that binding for 7 quilts- omigosh- get panicky thinking about it. They are about 55 x 68 roughly.

Quilt 1 in squares

Ready for the longarm, backing made

Quilt 2 needs lattice to separate columns. Instead of pins, they used tape to hold 4 patches together.

Quilt 2 all sewn with lattice and borders, gone to Chasen Dreams

     The other quilts will be in the next post as this one is way too long. Quilts 3-7 coming.

Comfort Quilt Seeds

      Wow, I received 2 quilts in the mail from Quiltdiva Julie to use for comfort quilts. The first was the Plaid HSTs. I knew I wanted to make it bigger to be a better comfort size. When I buy fabric I think I may want to use for borders, I buy a half yard. Not a good plan. If I need it wider, it is not enough. Note to self- buy a yard or more, it will get used.

As done by Julie

     I found the perfect light green with white dots design, but only had enough for a finished 2.5" border. I tried a bunch of other solids, but this green worked real well, but it was short. I found a hunk of green plaid with other colors from the quilt in it and made cornerstones. Still not enough. I added more squares on one side as a little aha spot. Now it is about 63 x 72 and will cover someone well who needs it. On to find backing. It is so fun to take a quilt and tweak it to the comfort level. Sorry for photo color discrepancies, you get the idea

Sometimes dreams take a long time

     Back in the 80s, I tried repeatedly to become a published children's book illustrator. Because there was a cheap airline, I flew twice a year to NYC to see publishers and attend the Society of Children's book writers and illustrators. Learned a lot, met a lot of great illustrators, but the endeavor went nowhere. I gave up, ran a graphic design business and went back to school at 41 to earn a teaching certification and masters in K-12 art. I taught for 13 years, retiring due to chronic migraines and middle school.
     I embraced quilting again just before I retired, having put it aside for the above. I love making all quilts, but especially comfort quilts. Almost all quilts I make are given away many, to people in need of them, mostly by referral. Included here is the most recent giveaway, an original design done as a mystery for my guild and Alycia Quilts. Some people asked me what I include in quilt package, so here is a photo of the bag, book, card, pocket quilt, and quilt.

All washed and fluffed.

Detail

All the pieces. Bags were donated, I sew a pocket on the front.

Recipient fighting brain cancer who I have not met. I don't meet most of them.

     I could not find a suitable childrens book to include for chidren referrals, and extensively searched along with my neighbor, Sandra, who is a professional writer. She wrote a suitable script and asked me to illustrate. I explained to her the above and she was not deterred. As I back out of my driveway, I pass her bedroom window. She kept taping signs in it, like "Do the Book", "You can do it", "It is waiting for you", etc. She wore me down. Using my grandson as a model, I posed him according to what I saw in the text, took tons of photos, did lots of sketches, painted all the 11 x 14" watercolors over a year.

    You guessed it, we could find no one willing to publish. We had some hard covers self published printed to try and find a publisher. Cold silence. For years. 
     Last summer, a small publisher, 50/50 press, contacted us. They had received one of our hardcovers through a convoluted trail. Almost a year later, Amazon printed it. Not thrilled with how the paintings printed, but thrilled for it to be there. Later, Barnes and Noble picked it up. Last week, our local paper, the Ken Ton Bee, interviewed us. 
     Finally, I have a book to include with the quilt package and a book for others to share.
     My grandson was five when I started. He is nine, going to be 10 in March. How is that for a long delayed dream?

Two more out the door

     The past week had a lot of demand for comfort  quilts. I had to really hustle to finish them. The Cats Lattice left Tuesday. The Disappearing 4 patch left today, and the Plus quilt is leaving Tuesday. The quilts were kitted up with a tote bag, book, pocket quilt, card and bagged in an XXL zip plastic. I pray that they deliver their comfort to the recipients who surely need it. Hope I get a little break before another request pops in. I have plenty of tops, but they need quilting and kitting up. And my quilting has a lot of problems with the longarm that I am not going into right now.

Blocks left from a bigger Dis 4 Patch, added lattice and bigger border.

The back

The Plus quilt with piano keys border

The back

Supporting Material

      For the three quilts shown in the post before this, I wanted to show what else is involved. After the quilts are labeled and washed, they are put into these bags. The bags were donated to me. The pockets are made from orphan blocks and cover up a logo (bags are new, but unused). The cards are made with fabric. The fronts use the Crafted Applique technique, but are sewn down randomly. The inside mini quilts are made from cut offs when snowballing. I handwrite the insides. The book inserted is 50 Days of Hope by Lynn Eib.   All of the bag goes inside a big clear plastic ziploc.

Some BIG miracle

     I make comfort quilts for people who are receiving treatments or are suffering with a chronic illness. Most of the times it is cancer. I make a lap quilt, complete with custom label, a carry bag, a handmade card and a book. I include a book by Lynn Eib, either When God and Cancer Meet or 50 Days of Hope in the bag pocket. When I clean vintage sewing machines for people, I ask for any donation towards this. Sometimes they give money, fabric, bags, or other needful items. 
    The hard part is when I get a request for a quilt for a child. I have never been able to find a book that speaks to the pain and emotions they are experiencing. I have searched and searched- asking professors and professional counselors. The ones I found were unrealistic, sing songy, happy ending or so abstract. My neighbor is a writer. We combed books together and found none. She wrote one and asked me to illustrate it. I am also a watercolor artist (or wannabe). 
     In the 80s, I spent four long years trying to break into children's book illustration, going to New York, schlepping my portfolio to publishers, with no crack of opportunity. I closed the door and went to get my art teaching certification.  I said no. She posted a sign in her bedroom window that faces my driveway so I would see it everyday backing out, pulling in. Things like, You can do! Get started!, you get the idea. She wore me down. It took a year to paint. I posed my grandson according to what I was looking for and he was terrific and I photographed him. Sometimes I was sweating when I painted, sometimes weeping. It was very emotional trying to infuse the pictures with those child emotions.
    So, I finished it in August and scanned it. My neighbor's company said they loved it and proceeded to try and find a grant so they could publish it and give the first printing away to hospitals. All the grant groups said no. I said, told you so. 
     Sandra's company paid for 50 copies to be printed so they could either convince someone to give a grant or another publisher to pick it up. On Tuesday, at 5:00, she arrived at my door with 10 books that I did not know were coming. Although it needs better scans, the book is exactly what I was looking for to give away. It is a miracle that it reached this far. 
     So now, I need a BIGGER miracle for someone to say yes, they will publish or grant it so it can get into the hands of those children who could benefit from it. 
     Here is the cover and one page. It is a miracle.

I have had some interest in quilt requests. If you reply as anonymous, I have no way to contact you. I need an email address to respond.
8/21/22

Clean 221 = More fabric!

     One thing I do, that I love to do, is clean old sewing machines. Someone referred a woman to me who was given a Featherweight, Singer 221. It was in fantastic shape, but dirty and unused with a very bad cord and connections. I ordered a new belt, new power cord, a LED light bulb (people burn themselves on the 221 bulb), some Tri-flow oil and used a lot of cotton rags, wooden picks, TR3 polish, etc and the machine looks awesome. Runs wonderfully. It had all the attachments and a case that just needed cleaning. Can you believe I was so enamored that I forgot to take a photo of the gleaming machine when I was done and now it is back to its owner? Errr!

Before cleaning 

Cord and plug issues- all replaced!

    One reason, besides loving to gawk and clean machines, I do this, is to help me continue to make comfort quilts for people undergoing treatments or serious medical issues. I use fabric, batting, thread, bags, books and blank cards to make them a reality. I make them lap size, labels printed by Spoonflower, put them in a tote bag with a book on hope and a hand made card. I rely a lot on donations. Someone recently gave me 25 awesome new totes that have a logo on from a company that no longer exists that I easily cover up with patchwork pockets. I was able to buy a humongous roll of batting at wholesale price, and receive fabric scraps and larger pieces from people who hear what I do. Vicki and Gwen sent me beautiful fat quarters.
   When I give the cleaned machine back, people sometimes give me a check so I can buy more books, thread, fabric (especially backings) or postage. Sometimes they give fabric. This has helped the process keep moving forward. 
     I am so grateful to all who have helped me!
     I continue to cut scraps into set sizes, look for patterns that are simple but beautiful, and try to master my longarm. I don't keep making the same quilt pattern as I am a nutcase artist and hate production work. I hope you enjoying seeing the quilts made on my blog. I amazed at the power a quilt makes in someone's life. I constantly see it happen. If for no reason than that, I quilt. But I also quilt because I have to or my head would blow off.
    Today's Featherweight owner gave me luscious big pieces of fabric, even a whole layer cake that I can use for a veteran quilt. Thanksgiving even earlier!

More fabric to make more!! 

Overwhelmed and grateful

     Every once in a while, I just am overwhelmed at the help and encouragement in making comfort quilts that I experience. Sewing them is kind of a lone job. People have given me fabric and money for tuning their vintage machines that have enabled me to keep going and making them. I had experienced some negative, nasty, untrue comments about some family members recently and was a bit down. 
    In the mail, upon returning from the retreat, I received 2 boxes chock full to the brim with wondrous, LQS fabric for the quilts. Not even a request to reimburse for postage. I am stunned. I spent some hours sorting, folding and trying to rearrange my fabric organizing system. Here are some photos, just out of the box and folded.

    What can I say? I am speechless. 
Ok, what I can say is how am I going to cut all this into blocks? The big pieces I am saving for backs. 
   Here is my question. Do any of you use an Accucut or Sizzix to cut quantities of blocks? What do you think, is it worth investing in one? I cut my fabric into 2, 3.5, 4, 5, 6.5, or even 7" blocks and store them by size and color in plastic bins for the comfort quilts. Would one of these cutters help, waste, or not make any difference? I have tried to test one, but can't find anyone who has one. I have looked for used ones and they are just as much as new ones.