Tag: 70273 blocks (Page 3 of 3)

Let’s say you want to make blocks for The 70273 Project but your arthritic fingers don’t want to cooperate. What to do?

You glue.

Six days after launching,  my mother (Mother), my other mother (Mama Helen), my brother (Jerry or, as I call him, J3) and my sister-in-love (Robin) had ourselves a block party. Now here’s the thing, though they were enthusiastically eager to make a block, arthritis made it awfully hard and quite painful for Mother and Mama Helen. So what to do? Again I say, glue.

I got to work  and auditioned several glues, and found this glue and this glue and this glue work swell. (I’m not done auditioning glues, so keep an eye on the sidebar for additions) – the fabric remains flexible and it holds like nobody’s business. Which it will need to do seeing as how these quilts will be rolled, unrolled, shipped, hung, taken down, and, well, you get the picture. The two red X’s have to stay put.

The first important note: Mother and Mama Helen found the glue bottle hard to mash, so if that’s a problem for you and yours, you might want to pour some out on a piece of waxed paper and use a toothpick or popsicle stick to smear the glue to the back of the red fabric.

The second important note: If you click from the sidebar and purchase the item, The 70273 Project gets a few pennies in the coffer to help cover our costs. Thank you.

The third important note: I will be adding other items to our little Amazon shop, so check back. And hey, if you know of something we should add to our little storefront, please do let me know.

Back to making blocks . . .

Mother has decided that she’s gonna’ make 31 blocks in March, and she wants them all to be the small blocks to represent children who didn’t have a chance to grow up.

When she went to lay down the two red X’s, Robin, my sister-in-love, went quiet and said how good it felt to be a part of something bigger than herself.

This block party, by the way, is how we celebrated my birthday – a week late and there was a meal (cubed steak and mashed potatoes and a birthday cake with pink boiled icing just like my grandmother used to make me) that followed the block making activity.

Mother’s kitties, Lewis and Clark (warning: be real careful what you name baby kitties) joined in, too. And a good time was had by all.

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I am absolutely thrilled to be a guest blogger over at my friend Lori East’s e-nest today. Please do go by and wave at her, and take a few minutes while you’re there to enjoy her beautiful work and words. She’s a treasure, that one.

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The blocks are rolling in, and I’m cataloging them in my shiny new (well, 2 days old, but that’s new, right?) system. I’ll be posting them here, so subscribe (see below) cause you don’t want to miss a thing.

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Now remember to:
like our facebook page
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and subscribe for free home delivery
and please, please, please keep making those blocks.

For her first block for The 70273 Project, Margaret Williams cut a rectangle from an old damask tablecloth then embellished it with the two red X’s.

For her next block, she attached the red fabric down with a little blanket stitch to make the two red X’s.

Then it was time to play with a little paint. Margaret used freezer paper (you can buy it in rolls at the grocery store or in 8.5×11 sheets at the craft store.) to make stencils for a couple of x’s. She’s not going to trim the blocks until she finishes the embellishing because that might draw them up.

Margaret used regular brush and foam brush edge for the other two blocks. Must be sure to put waxed paper or oil cloth tablecloth or poster board – something underneath to protect the surface you’re working on.

And just like that, in the snap of a couple of nights, Margaret has created four blocks. She’s joining me in making a block a day for the 31-day challenge for March. The daily repetition is sure to stretch our creativity and pleasantly delight us with what falls out of our hands as we generate blocks that are as different and unique as the people we commemorate. Won’t you join us and invite others to join us, too? Details coming soon, so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the boat.

MORE BLOCKS ARE BEING MADE . . .

Kitty Sorgen is stitching up a blue streak, and I love it! Yesterday you saw the blocks she stitched on her ferry commute, and today she sends snaps of her latest stitchings and writes:

“I’ve purposely pieced the white fabric on this one to represent the perceived ‘flaws’ of the murdered innocents. This one is also machine pieced….hope that’s ok. Lots of prayers being stitched into these blocks…….”

As for her question if it’s okay that she’s piecing the white fabric together, yes, it’s absolutely okay. I like that each block will be different . . . just like each of the 70273 people were individuals. That’s just the way it should be. And I love the mindfulness and love Kitty infuses into each of the blocks she makes.

Margaret Williams‘ first block is made from an old damask tablecloth. You don’t have to buy new materials to make a block (unless you just want to. Far be it from me to keep anybody out of a fabric store.). Just poke around and see what you already have on hand.

And when I posed this morning’s facebook question: “What’s gonna’ make this (or has made this, depending on where you are in the world) a day to circle on the calendar and draw stars around?”, Susan Howell Graham (we grew up together, though she – like a whole lotta other people – is younger than me) answered thusly:

I can’t wait to see Susan’s blocks. She’s been wanting to learn to quilt, you know.

Do you have blocks in the making? I’d love to see them – you can send them via email, post on my facebook timeline, or post on your facebook timeline. (Be sure to tag me so I don’t miss anything.)

TONGUES ARE WAGGING . . .

“One square or 1,000, we can help make the invisible visible. We are all less able when there is hatred instead of love.” ~ Sarah Meredith

“I may even try to sew, which is an idea I never imagined I’d entertain. I don’t know much about fabric drawing either, but this is a good cause to learn on.” ~ J. Clement Wall

“Yes, yes yes! I would love to be involved and I will see who else I can get involved in this over the pond … I am also thinking about Fine Cell Work too and maybe they would get involved … Now all this is something I didn’t expect to wake up to and start buzzing about!!” ~ Lucy Iles Horner on Facebook or luxyloo11 on Instagram

CURIOUS MINDS ARE WONDERING . . .

Linda-Marie Davinroy Smith asked another good question on Facebook: You’ve listed 3 different sizes of blocks, do you need equal amounts of each size? Will all 3 sizes be incorporated into one quilt, or is each size being used for different sized quilts?

The answer: While we may make some quilts using blocks that are all the same size, we’ll mostly mix it up and make quilt tops using blocks of all the 3 different sizes.  “So feel free to throw us a challenge,” I told Linda-Marie, “and make some vertical blocks.”

Keep those blocks going and questions coming, y’all – keep spreading the word – and subscribe so you’ll stay in the loop. We’re not even a week out, and already there are things in the works that you don’t want to miss.

On behalf of my fingers, the 70273 souls, and the disabled folks we hold dear, thank y’all.