The 70273 Project Update

Have you been following the 70273 project? Remember this project started by Jeanne Hewell-Chambers?
I contributed by making some blocks for this project in 2017 (which you can see here) and was proud to be added to the list of Clarions.

70,273 Middling

And when the idea still had me by the throat so to speak, I made a Middling quilt to donate to this textile memorial. I finished the hand stitched XX's and put it in the mail in March 2019. My quilt commemorated 53 lives lost.
It was an emotional project to stitch, and many hours were spent thinking about this quilt, this project, this time (World War 2) in human history, and the intergenerational effects of trauma on families and societies.

Well, here is the project update...
this amazing and very ambitious goal of Jeanne's has been met! 
You can read all about it here.
Even through her personal struggle to keep her eyesight, her vision for the 70273 project materialized. 
Thank you to Jeanne for all her creativity, commitment, and hard work! This was an inspired and ambitious undertaking, it became an amazing story of effort worldwide, and I hope to be able to see these incredible quilts exhibited together some day. 

Happy July 4th to my American readers! 

And thank you to those around the world who are working to protect our freedoms and keep us safe!

Slow Sunday Stitching - A Finished Middling

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching link up!
Today I'm a little sleep deprived because Daylight Savings Time started last night and that means 1 hour less sleep in the night, and I'm looking forward to an afternoon nap today.

This week I finished up my 70273 project which has a lot of hand stitching in it, so I thought I'd share it in my Sunday blog post. 

pieced and embroidered X's

I was inspired to participate in this project 2 years ago (read about the inspiration here) and had sent in some blocks for the project (you can read more about it here). 
But I couldn't let it go after that. I made a little quilt that Jeanne calls a "Middling". More details about what a middling is can be found here.

hand quilted 1/4" around each pieced X

To create the quilt I pieced some improv X blocks and added sashing and borders until it came to the required size of 18" x 22". I hand quilted around each of the large X blocks and it was tough going because that "white on white" fabric was stiff and thick. I've never hand quilted that kind of fabric before... and won't again!

hand embroidered rows of XX

I didn't plan out where I would hand embroider the double X's, I just started stitching in the open areas and stitched wherever I felt inspired to do so.







Here is my finished Middling which has 5 large double XX blocks and 48 hand embroidered double XX's.
I'll be sending this away in the mail this week to become part of the 70273 Project. 

What are you hand stitching this week?  Link up your blog post and share your project with us.

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Red and Pink

My sewing room is full of red and pink scraps today.

The red scraps are for Blockapalooza day for the 70273 Project. To read my blog post from yesterday for more information, click here.
As project captain Jeanne says: "a big Thank You to y'all for helping us remind and/or convince the world that Every life has value. Every. Single. Life."
I'm turning my red scraps into a "Middling" for the 70,273 project. What's a "Middling" you ask? It's a miniature quilt measuring 18" x 22". I only have two blocks started so far.

The pink blocks are part of my Alamo Star collection that I have been working on for 5 years. Yoday I am sewing the pink stars together into 4 patch blocks.


To see what the other Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilters are up to today, hop over to SoScrappy.

Brainworm Quilt

There's something powerful that happens when you see your name on a list that is related to a project where 70,273 people were killed because their name was on a list. In Germany in 1940 each person on the list whose name had two red XX's beside it would be killed. (If you haven't heard about the 70273 project, click here to read more about it.)

my first 70273 block commemorating 2 lives

When I was reading the update about the project recently, I saw my name on this blog post list as being a block maker. It was surprising how many names are mentioned in the blog post. So many contributors taking the time to commemorate so many dead people. Sewers from the US, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, and Canada (me) all making blocks to remember people who are long forgotten.
But it was startling to see my name on a list. 
There were no red XX's beside my name on this list, but the experience of seeing my name on the list became like a brain worm. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Then I read a beautifully written post by Michelle Freedman about Quilt 219.  Michelle reminded me that the violence and deaths in Charlottesville in August again emphasize the importance of the 70273 project.
This is how new quilt projects emerge. 
Brainworms. 
Obsessions. 
And when you're trying to sleep, your creative brain is planning how to make a quilt block, and wondering what fabric you have in your stash to make the blocks, and before you know it, you're planning a quilt layout. 
And not getting any sleep!

Tomorrow is Blockapalooza day (#globalblockday) and I have big plans for making this brainworm quilt. It's going to be a middling quilt.
Maybe then I can get more sleep!

70273 Block in Remembrance

It's my birthday today!
I am celebrating by making a block for the 70273 Project. Have you heard about that already? 

It's a huge undertaking by Jeanne Hewell-Chambers to commemorate the lives of the physically and mentally disabled people murdered in 1940-41. You can read more about the project here. She is collecting blocks and quilts to create a display that will travel internationally.
I worked for many years with differently abled adults and wanted to contribute in my own small way to this project. 

My block is being made in memory of a little boy who was born in 1974 with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. It was thought that he would likely not survive after he was born, but remarkably he lived for 35 years.  He was one of the first babysitting jobs I had, and certainly my most challenging job due to his special needs. He taught me so much about the challenges that some people endure. He was my teacher, my "ring bearer", and my dear friend.  

I'm sending this block to be a small part of the 70273 Project in memory of my friend David, who was considered "disabled" by the world, and had he lived in Germany in 1940 he would most certainly have received the dreaded XX. But this fragile boy grew up to be an inspiring man who knew how to fully love others, how to be a true friend... and without fail, he remembered to call me every year on my birthday. I will miss that call again this year.
If you feel inclined to make a block for this project, perhaps in memory of someone who is/was not a perfect human specimen and suffered from physical or mental illness, the details are here. Thank you to Jeanne for undertaking this huge project which reminds us of the value of differently abled people, with the hope that we do not repeat the atrocities of generations past.