Sewing for Oso

The lady who owns The Quiltmaker's Shoppe in downtown Arlington, Deb by name, has started a project to make quilts for the victims of the Oso mud slide.  I was very happy to be a part of embroidering a square for an alphabet quilt.

This is the Gardener's Alphabet quilt.  The pattern is one from Crabapple Hill and I actually have started to make this quilt for myself previously.  (And in my usual fashion, I have not made much progress on my quilt!)  When I saw that Deb needed some more help with embroidering the squares for this heirloom quilt for the Oso Heirloom Quilt Project, I was thrilled to help.  I am not a quilter!  I have a terrible time even cutting out a piece of fabric to the correct dimensions in simple little pillow projects.....cutting and patching and appliqué are not my talents.

But I can do simple embroidery and I can color with crayons.  (Some parts of this quilt are shaded lightly with crayons.  Now that is something I can do!)

I spent a week of evenings working on my square and I am happy with the finished block.  I have turned it in to Deb for someone who can sew a straight line to add it to the Gardener's Alphabet quilt.
I feel, finally, in a very small, tiny way that I have done something concrete to help the victims of the horrific disaster at Oso.  (Besides making contributions to several different assistance organizations.)

I hope that the finished quilt will bring some family a little tangible knowledge of how many of us ache for them, for their loss of family and friends and for the loss of all their physical possessions.  I wish for them to know how very many people care about them and wish them well.  

And Deb?  You have a wonderful, giving spirit and a heart full of love.  You are practical, sensible and a most wise lady.  Thank you for letting me be a part of your project.

Magic Feather Project

There is an amazing blog, Spirit Cloth, that I have been reading for a while.  The woman who writes it, Jude Hill, is an needle worker of great talent.  She does things with fabric that I find beautiful and very comforting.  Jude's design aesthetic is simple and very personal, and I love seeing what she has achieved with dye, needle and thread.  I wish I had the skill to do some of the things she does, but alas, yet another area where my abilities are lacking.

Jude has an on-going project, called the Magic Feather Project and I decided to take part.  Feathers have always been a personal symbol for Jude and they have also been for me.  Since she will be using the hand sewn feathers that she and others contribute in a way that will benefit children, I think it is well worth passing on the information.  I claim no great skill, but I did a little tea dyed 5-inch square of cotton with my attempt at a feather in just a few hours hours time.  What really surprised me was how much I enjoyed the project and how relaxing it turned out to be!

Jude even has a very informative video on her blog that shows exactly how she goes about embroidering one of her feathers.  If you are interested, take a look.  Maybe you, too, Dear Reader, will try your hand at making a little feather for Jude's project.