Tag: 70273 Q & A

From the Mail Bag: Ask Jeanne Anything

December 18, 2016 / jeanne / 0 Comments

Beautiful blocks made by Caroline Rohner-Preston

The Engineer and I have been out of town (and out of internet access) for almost two weeks while helping our daughter move, and we got in late last night – way after the post office had closed – so as soon as we get by there to fetch the mail, I’ll sift through it, take stock, and we’ll review week #44. For today, let’s take a few items from the Mail Bag . . .

Dear Jeanne:
Why do you only allow two red X’s on each block?
Love,
Someone Who Can’t Make Just Two Red X’s

Dear Someone Who Can’t Make Just Two Red X’s:
You can make more than two red X’s . . . you just have to make each pair of red X’s their own block to call home. Assessing physicians of Aktion T4 based their evaluations not on the person in question and how they presented, but on their medical records. Yes, that’s right: assessing physicians only read words on a page, and the white base represents that piece of paper. Once two of the three assessing physicians placed a red X on the bottom of the form, the person was sentence to die, so the two (not one, not 50, not 9, not 12, but 2) red X’s represent the death sentence. Each block with its white base and pair of red X’s represents a life that is commemorated. Feel free to commemorate as many lives as you will by making one block (white base, two red X’s) for each life.

And only pairs of red X’s are allowed because text (letters, initials, words, numbers, names, etc.) distracts from the emotional impact. The brain focuses on letters, words, and numbers, and this is a heart-based project.

Thanks for your question. I look forward to receiving a lot of blocks from you!
Jeanne

Dear Jeanne:
What will happen to the quilts once they’re all made?
Love,
Safari Girl

Dear Safari Girl:
Another good question! Quilts of The 70273 Project will spend the rest of their lives traveling the world, commemorating the 70273 disabled people who were murdered; celebrating the countless number of people with special needs who live among us today; and educating others about not just tolerating differences but embracing them. This is a big project with a three-fold purpose, and I want quilts of all sizes so we’ll have something to fit in any venue/exhibit space that will have us, be they traditional exhibit spaces or no. If you think of places we might inquire about exhibiting The 70273 Project quilts, please let me know.
Thanks for your question and for scouting out places!
Jeanne

Dear Jeanne:
How can I help?
Love,
Someone Who Believes in The 70273 Project

Dear Someone Who Believes in The 70273 Project:
This is my favorite question! Here are some ideas of ways you can help with The 70273 Project. If these ideas spark other ideas, please contact me, and let’s talk.
~ Make blocks.
~ Tell others about The 70273 Project and encourage them to make blocks.
~ Make a Family Quilt or a Group Quilt.
~ Volunteer to piece tops.
~ Volunteer to quilt quilts.
~ Make a financial donation and/or encourage others to do the same.
~ Let me know of upcoming exhibits to which I might submit a quilt.
~ Let me know of places I might submit an article or make myself available for an interview. Think magazines (print and online), organizational newsletters, newspapers, guest blog posts, podcasts, etc.
~ Mention The 70273 Project in your blog posts, and send me a link so I can add you to the Clarions page.
~ Post photos on Instagram and tweet about the project, using #the70273project.
~ Let me know about places, events, organizations that might be interested in having me do some storytelling for The 70273 Project or make a presentation about The 70273 Project or even talk about creativity and how The 70273 Project came into being.
~ Send me an email or Facebook message as other ideas for how you can help come to you.
~ And hey, remember to subscribe to the blog ’cause I have some things coming up after the first of the year you won’t want to miss!
Let me know if there are other ways you’d be willing to help, and thank you for your commitment to The 70273 Project.
Jeanne

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What happens to the quilts once they’re made?

September 26, 2016 / jeanne / 0 Comments

Quilt 1: Pieced by Kitty Sorgen (l), Quilted by MJ Kinman (r)

I am frequently asked, “What will happen to the quilts when they’re all finished?”

Quilt 1 is already going out into the world, and once they get their labels, Quilts 3 and 5 will find their way out of The Dissenter’s Chapel & Snug (my studio), too. And as they are completed and sent back to me, other quilts will be packed up and find their way out into the world. And so on and so on and so on.

Quilt 3: Pieced and Quilted by Margaret Williams

I created The 70273 Project, Inc. (a 501(c)3 organization) as a vessel to hold every quilt that’s part of The 70273 Project. I don’t own the quilts, the organization owns them . . . though I must admit that it’s hard to think of them as being owned at all. The 70273 Project, Inc. is more of a caretaker, a guardian for The 70273 Project quilts.

The plan is that these quilts – all 1100-1200 of them – will travel the world, sometimes going solo, sometimes in small groups, and occasionally – whenever possible – all traveling together. They’ll rack up frequent flyer miles, finding their way into any exhibit space that will invite them in to hang out for a spell. And everywhere they go, they will commemorate the 70,273 disabled people who died, celebrate the countless numbers of people with special needs who live among us today, and educate everybody who will pause long enough to read about Aktion T4 and take it all in.

Quilt 18: Created by Loretta Forest and Friends at a Recent Retreat

Yes, we will make sure the 70,273 people are not forgotten.
Yes, we will raise awareness of special needs and move us forward to a time when we talk not of disabled people, but simply of people.
Yes, we will do everything we can to make sure that an atrocity like T4 never, ever, ever happens again.

Quilt 11: Pieced and Quilted by Janet Hartje

The quilts will do that. They are up to the task. And they will do it as far as the calendar can see.

Oh yes, you know they will.

~~~~~~~

How can you help get The Quilts out into the world?
~ Let me know if you’re willing to consider becoming The 70273 Project Travel Agent (a.k.a. Exhibit Coordinator).
~ Donate to the needs of the quilts: storage, shipping, mending and tending, etc.
~ Let me know whenever you think of a place that might be willing to put a quilt or two up on exhibit.

~~~~~~~

Other hangouts for The 70273 Project (be sure to tell your friends and family, y’all):
Subscribe to the blog (where all information is shared).
Join the English-speaking Facebook group- our e-campfire – where you can talk to other members of The 70273 Project Tribe.
Join the French-speaking Facebook group – our other e-campfire – where you can chat with other members of The 70273 Project Tribe.
Like the Facebook page where you can check in for frequent updates.
Follow the pinterest board for visual information.
Post using #the70273project on Instagram. (Please tag me, too, @whollyjeanne, so I don’t miss anything.)
And if you haven’t yet made some blocks, perhaps you’d like to put some cloth in your hands and join us.
Or maybe you’d like to gather friends and family together and make a group quilt.

Why I Catalogue Every Single Block

August 26, 2016 / jeanne / 3 Comments

Block 1600
made by a student who attends the day program
with Nancy

You mean to tell me that you’re cataloguing every? single? block? you ask.

Yep, that’s right. I catalogue every single block that is created for The 70273 Project. Everything you put on the Provenance Form and lots, lots more goes into the catalogue entry for each and every block. Even though it would be easier if I didn’t. Even though I would have more time if I didn’t. Even though my dropbox wouldn’t be bulging and costing me extra money if I didn’t. To do all the things I’m about to tell you about (and more that I’ll tell you about as we go along), I need the information on the Provenance Form along with the dimensions and a photo or scanned image of each and every block. With other countries stepping forward with blocks (Bonjour, France! Hello, New Zealand! Welcome, Morocco and Belgium! Greetings, Canada! Glad you’re here, Columbia! G’day, Australia. How do, United Kingdom! Welcome, y’all. We’re all glad you’re here.) it gets more and more costly to mail blocks to me then to Piecers then to Quilters and back to me. So we’re busy setting up Gatherers in these continents and countries and asking that Makers and/or Gatherers (whichever they decide or whoever might happen along and volunteer) help me out by emailing scanned images of photos of each block along with the dimensions, so I can add them to our block count and assign them block numbers, which the Gatherers will attach to each block just like I do here. From there, blocks will go to Piecers and Quilters per usual and the Provenance Forms will come back to me with the finished quilts.

So why bother?, you ask. Why can’t you just count them then send them on to be pieced into tops and made into quilts? I’m glad you asked. I’ll tell you . . .

NOW
In terms of “right now”, cataloguing each block individually gives me a current block count, which I share with you, dear readers, every Sunday in the Week in Review post. We always know where we stand and are assured that we’re moving forward. (There hasn’t been a single week in the past 6 months that I haven’t received new blocks for The 70273 Project. Thank y’all for that.)

If I didn’t catalogue the blocks, how could I tell you, for example, that Debra Baker Steinmann made these evocative blocks from her mother’s old linens. Writes Debra, “She fought depression for much of her life and would be pleased where these are headed.”

Yes, I keep more than just contact information and block numbers, I keep stories, too. I promise to tell you about my collecting and filing system one day cause I know there are other systems lovers out there, and besides that, you might very well know something I don’t know that could make my cataloguing life easier.

I also refer back to the information – especially the scanned image and sizing information – when checking, double checking, triple checking information before bundles of blocks head out to our Piecers. (Hold that thought. I’ll tell you more about the bundling process soon.) (Maybe tomorrow, depending on what Calder Ray wants to do.) (He’s my 3 month old grandson. Wait. I forgot to say “adorable.” He’s my adorable 3-month old grandson. I’m babysitting him this week and next, and as you might imagine, he’s clearly the director of this show, and he may not want to write another blog post tomorrow. We’ll see.)

Soon enough, I’m gonna’ get around to penning some technique posts showing you how different people are making those two red X’s. Photos of and information about the blocks will come in mighty handy for that (and mean that I don’t have to re-create them all by myself.)

It’s also handy to keep track of how many different people have participated in The 70273 Project, how many countries and continents are represented, how many families, schools, organizations are taking part. Information like that is not only interesting and inspiring for us, but sponsors find it interesting, too, and MJ Kinman and I are working on applying for some grants and sponsorships to defray the costs of The 70273 Project. Stay tuned (not tomorrow or next week, even, but soon) for a list of expenses. Postage, you know about, but there are many other expenses you may not have thought of. So if you can think of anybody who might like to be a sponsor or where we might apply for a grant, please let me know.

And the label for each quilt is a sketch of the quilt top showing the block placement and each block’s number, along with a legend giving the name of the Piecer, the Quilter, and each Maker with the identifying block number.

But that’s not all . . .

THEN
Down the road, this information is gonna’ come in mighty handy to do the things that are on My List, things I think you’re gonna’ really enjoy and be proud of – things I can’t tell you about right now because I need to lay a little bit more foundation for them and besides, I don’t want to tell you everything at once. I like to surprise you every now and then. I can, however, tell you this: part of my vision is to have an online database where y’all, as members of The 70273 Project Tribe (and even folks who aren’t part of The 70273 Project Tribe, but we’re talking about y’all right now) can come to find your name, your block numbers, which quilts your blocks are in, and from there, where in the world those quilts are on any given day.

Why on earth do such a tedious, time-consuming thing, you ask? (My goodness, you’re just full of questions today!)

Because it is my deepest, most fervent hope that The 70273 Project is important enough to you, Dear Makers, Piecers, Quilters, Donors, and Sponsors, that years – maybe even decades – from now, you’ll want to take your children or grandchildren or great grandchildren or nieces and nephews to see these quilts. With my whole body, I imagine you standing there, looking, looking, looking to find the block you made with your own two hands and how proud you feel and how proud your family feels knowing that you had a part in commemorating these 70,273 people, in making sure they aren’t forgotten, of doing your part to make sure such an atrocity as the T4 program never, ever happens again. To the deepest part of my bones, I imagine your quiet satisfaction knowing that you, with a piece of cloth and your own two hands, stand shoulder to shoulder with people from all around the world to take a stand against discrimination against disabilities and those who are different.

~~~~~~~

And those, my friends, are just a few of the reasons I ask for all sorts of information, photos, sizes and catalogue each and every block. Have more questions? Just holler . . .
Subscribe to the blog (where all information is shared).
Join the Facebook group, our e-campfire, where you can talk to other members of The 70273 Project Tribe.
Like the Facebook page where you can check in for frequent updates.
Follow the pinterest board for visual information.
Post using #the70273project on Instagram.
And if you haven’t yet made some blocks, perhaps you’d like to put some cloth in your hands and join us.

~~~~~~~

More:
Part 1, Take Readers to Work
Part 2, Take Readers to Work
Part 3, Take Readers to Work
Part 4, Take Readers to Work

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