Tag: 70273

Happy Fourth Birthday to Us!

Pairs of red X’s cover a white cloth

Quilt 31

Pairs of red X’s on a white quilt

Quilt 652

Pairs of red X’s on backgrounds of white

72 Blocks made by Alida Palmisano

Four years ago today, I gave myself the best birthday present ever when I mashed the “publish” button and launched The 70273 Project. What an incredible, amazing, astonishing four years it has been.

Looking Back

Our first blocks came from Kitty Sorgen less than 2 weeks of that first post. News of the project spread like wildfire, confirming that the kind, compassionate people in the world outnumber the bad folks, something I’d long suspected. Three days later, Margaret Williams did some experimenting and tutorials. And we were off! Throughout the four years, we received blocks from quilt guilds, schools, churches, families, and communities around the world.

Our first major European exhibit – in Lacaze, France, curated by Katell Renon and Cecile Milhau – was a mere 16 months after launch.  We’ve had exhibits literally around the world –  in Munich, Celle, and Dachau Germany, Durham Cathedral (U.K.); Rochester Cathedral (U.K.); the Channel Islands, throughout America, in Canada, Scotland, at the International Quilt Festival, in Charleville, France (I can’t wait to tell you more about this one!) curated by Annie Labruyere, and many more I’ve not yet written about. But I will.

Our quilts have been on exhibit – which means our stories have been told –  literally around the world. Working together with hundreds of thousands of people, we’ve made the world smaller and become friends – often dear friends – with people on the other side of the globe from us. We’ve made the world a kinder, more compassionate place.

Now and When

I would like to be able to tell you exactly how many block and quilts we have today, but the truth of the matter is that I’m behind on the record keeping side of the project. As y’all may know, The Engineer and I were home only 4 non-consecutive weeks in 2018 while traveling for The 70273 Project (a big bouquet of gratitude to everyone who made it such an amazing, memorable year). Then in 2019 I was diagnosed with wet macular degeneration, and took what amounts to an unscheduled sabbatical as I surrendered to the depression that followed.

I am delighted to tell you that we are learning to live together, my new vision and I, and though I still have my low vision/low spirit days, I now feel ready to push up my sleeves and lead us to the finish line. And just like in the very beginning when I asked for help because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I could not commemorate these 70,273 precious souls without assistance, I am going to need help to get us to the Finish Line.

When I put out the call on 14 February 2016, y’all responded immediately with great enthusiasm and dedication. In the coming weeks, I will once again be posting Help Needed opportunities. I thank you in advance for stepping up and stepping in to help complete our commemorations in ways that will allow these important stories to continue to be told throughout the land and to ensure that those we commemorate and those we celebrate are never forgotten or overlooked again.

One Thing You Can Do Today

Yesterday I opened registration for the online life story writing gathering I’m offering called Keepsake Writers. We’ll gather weekly beginning 09 March 2020 to capture and preserve our life stories. I hope you’ll join in and create something  you and future generations will treasure. If you can’t participate right now, perhaps you’d be willing to share the link with your friends and family in case they are interested. All proceeds go directly into The 70273 Project to help fund the things I’ll be telling you about soon.

Keep Your Ears on  the Track for What’s Coming

the blog

the monthly newsletter

our Facebook page

our Facebook Campfire (a.k.a. Group)

From the Archives: U.K. Quilts and Exhibits

A quilt with a white background covered in pairs of red X’s hanging high in an ancient cathedral

Durham Cathedral

White quilts covered with pairs of red X’s draped over church pews and chairs

Durham Cathedral

White quilts covered with pairs of red X’s draped over church pews and chairs and on the floor

Durham Cathedral

Two white banners covered with pairs of red X’s hang in the front of an ancient cathedral

Rochester Cathedral

White quilts covered with pairs of red X’s hang in an ancient cathedral

Rochester Cathedral

White quilts covered with pairs of red X’s on display in an ancient cathedral

Rochester Cathedral

White quilts covered with pairs of red X’s

Jersey Heritage Center and Museum, Channel Islands U.K.

White quilts covered with pairs of red X’s on display in a museum

Jersey Heritage Center and Museum, Channel Islands, U.K.

White quilts covered with pairs of red X’s on display in a museum

Jersey Heritage Center and Museum, Channel Islands, U.K.

 

Every year Europeans mark Holocaust Remembrance Day at the end of January. The Engineer, Tari Vickery, and I are honored to be in attendance and participate in January 2018. Quilts of The 70273 Project were on display in Durham Cathedral, Rochester Cathedral, and the Jersey Heritage Center and Museum in the Channel Islands. It’s been two years, and I still can’t adequately express my feelings or tell you about the people, the quilts, the stories, the connections, the tears of laughter, sorrow, and of Knowing, the immense hospitality and warm welcome. I’m still processing . . . And smiling . . . And chortling . . . And whispering gratitude. What an honor it was to meet people I knew only in social media, to bear witness to their stories, to feel the power of the quilts they made.

A big, huge, ginormous bouquet of gratitude to The 70273 Project Ambassadors – Margaret Jackson, Mary Turner, and Christine FitzGerald in Durham; Lucy Horner in Rochester; and Kim Monins and Gisele Therezien in the Channel Islands – who spent countless hours scheduling, coordinating, and staging Block Drives and these massive exhibits. And more bouquets of gratitude to the patient, supportive spouses, siblings, children, pets, grandchildren, and friends like Sharon Howell, Bev Bunn, Wendy Dawes, Edina Geering, Beryl Connelly, Annie Labruyere, Sue Harris, and countless – and I do mean countless – others in the U.K. who went above and beyond to commemorate tens of thousands of those we memorialize and create exhibits and events that will not soon be forgotten by those of us in attendance.

In case you’re wondering, The Engineer, Tari, and I paid our own way to these exhibits – as we always do – and we’re very grateful to those who gave us a bed to sleep on, fed  us, and ferried us hither and yon while we were there. Whenever we travel to an exhibit, each of us pays to take an extra large suitcase so we can bring home as many quilts as possible. We still have a few quilts in need of a ride home from Durham, however, so if you’d like to give them wings, please donate what you can and help us get them home to 70273 Project Heartquarters. When you donate through the Pay Pal Giving Fund, it only takes a few minutes to register and designate The 70273 Project – a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation – as the charity to receive your donation. There are no fees deducted when donating through The Pay Pal Giving Fund, which means The 70273 Project keeps your entire donation. Thank you in advance.

Be watching this space for what’s ahead for The 70273 Project. Subscribe to the blog, to the newsletter..

Meme: Be Your Own Kind Of . . .

I’ve added an entire page of The 70273 Project memes, so go help yourself.
Just download and use in your social media outlets as you will.

SaveSave

Making Minis

 

A Mini Made by Cindy Cavallo

A Mini made by Kim Monins, Jersey, Channel Islands U.K.

Just in time for #GlobalBlockDay and Blockapalooza, a new way to make quilts: fabric postcards which will be called Mini Quilts or Minis for short. The spark for this idea goes to Jennifer Lario Moya who tucked the cutest mug rug into a batch of blocks, and one thing led to another, and here we are talking about how to make Minis.

A Mini made by Pam Patterson

To keep things creative to make and visually interesting to look at, there are some familiar guidelines/rules and some new guidelines/rules:

  • Minis must be made of fabric.
  • Minis are 6″ x 4″ / 15cm x 19cm – that is 6″/15cm wide x 4″/10cm tall. Think landscape or horizontal orientation.
  • Minis must have 3 layers: a top, stiff middle; backing. Top and backing must be fabric.
  • The top must be of white or slightly off white background, just like the quilts.
  • Backing fabric can be whatever you choose, though many of the samples made by veteran postcard makers feature a light colored backing fabric so it can be made to look like a postcard.
  • Include as many pairs of red X’s as you like on the front of the Mini, but they must be presented in pairs, just like in Middlings, and each pair of red X’s will be considered a commemoration.
  • You must tell me on the Provenance Form how many pairs are in each Mini (so I don’t have to count!). You may send one Provenance Form with a batch of as many Mini Quilts as you want to create, and each Mini Quilt must have a note attached telling me the number of commemorations (pairs of red X’s) on that particular Mini.
  • Please no words, numbers, names, drawings, or symbols, etc. on the front – only pairs of red X’s.
  • Feel free to write a note or a favorite quote or make a drawing on the back, but say it with me: not on the front.
  • Embellishments (beads, lace, ribbons, textured fabrics etc.) are welcomed.
  • Edges must be finished in red or white.
  • If mailing them as postcards, check with your local post office for mailing regulations. (See notes below for more info.)
  • Even if you mail them in envelopes, please get the Minis hand canceled so that when they’re displayed, viewers can see how far they traveled.
  • Remember that the backs will often be displayed, so don’t write anything (like your address) you don’t want the world to see.

Another Mini made by Pam Patterson

Minis Made by Jennifer Lario Moya

PLANNING COMMITTEE
Thank you and thank you big to these people for teaching me about fabric postcards, making samples, and helping me figure out how to turn them in to Minis for The 70273 Project:
Betty Hedrick
Carolyn Katzoff
Chantal Baquin
Janet Hartje
Jennifer Lario Moya
Kim Monins
LindaMarie Davinroy Smith
Margaret Andrews
Marjorie Holme
Pam Patterson
Suzanne McCarthy

From Pam Patterson

From Pam Patterson

From Kim Monins

From Cindy Cavallo

MAILING

  • Just mailed my postcards. Because they are fabric, the postal service was going to treat them as a parcel and put one of those ugly stickers all across it, even after I specified “hand cancellation”. After I said WAIT! the post lady did not apply the sticker. I explained to her I needed it to really be handcancelled (stamped with a stamper.) Since the post office rules did not allow that, we came up with a plan for her to handcancel the fabric and then mail all three postcards in a mailer. It cost $3 and something cents to mail all three that way. Mission accomplished. ~ Pam Patterson
  • The US post office will mail postcards without envelopes only if they’re thinner than 1/4″. ~ Marjorie Holme
  • I don’t know a lot about the French Post Office, I probably wouldn’t send it  except inside an envelope. ~ Chantal Baquin
  • Fabric postcards are an art form in themselves. postal art. That has gone thru the post in a normal way, with a PO cancelled stamp. ~ Kim Monins
  • If I put my fabric postcards in a clear envelope, my local post office made me put the stamp on the envelop and wouldn’t take time for hand cancelling. ~ Janet Hartje
  • Clear envelopes protect any embellishments like beads etc. I have occasionally mailed in a clear envelope but get thE PO to hand cancel the stamp before sealing it. So it’s ‘legal’ AND looks like it’s made its journey! ~ Kim Monins

A Mini Made by Kitty Sorgen

TECHNIQUE

  • I’ve made a bunch of fabric postcards. As long as it’s less than 1/4″ thick, it mails with regular first class letter postage. I usually use the thick double fusible pellon, like is used for fabric bowls. I fuse plain muslin to the back and draw a traditional postcard back design with half for message and half for address. On the other side I fused my collaged/embroidered/stamped fabric piece. I prefer hand stitching so I usually buttonhole stitched the edges…most people use a machine stitch zigzag over the edge. It’s best to secure any embellishments, like buttons, well. Smaller things can be trapped under a layer of netting or tulle. ~ Marjorie Holme
  • Minis need a tiff middle which can be interfacing, buckram, Pellon or the like. ~ Kim Monins
  • Just as on blocks, red X’s can be painted, embroidered, hand stitched, appliquéd – apply them any way you choose.

I think these Minis will add much visual interest to exhibits, and they will fit into spaces where big quilts won’t. We welcome experienced fabric postcard makers, those who’ve been meaning to make fabric postcards, and those who never thought about it before, but adopt a why-not attitude and dive right in. We welcome Minis and look forward to seeing many of them on social media as you post on 14 October 2017, Global Block Day! If you have anything to add, please leave a comment or email me. And hey, thanks for telling all your friends ’cause I know you’re popular.

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Where in the world is The 70273 Project? Please add a pin to show us where you are in the world. (1) Click the + sign in upper righthand corner of map. (2) Enter your first name only. (3) Enter your city/state. (4) Using the pins at the bottom of the map, select a marker based on how you are involved. (5) Select preview to see before posting. (6) Select submit to post. Please add a marker for each role you serve in The 70273 Project.

Support The 70273 Project

Allow me to introduce myself . . .

Hey, Sugar! I'm Jeanne Hewell-Chambers: writer ~ stitcher ~ storyteller ~ one-woman performer ~ creator & founder of The 70273 Project, and I'm mighty glad you're here. Make yourself at home, and if you have any questions, just holler.

special delivery: get blog posts hot off the press

categories

© 2024 Jeanne Hewell-Chambers’ Barefoot Heart

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑