Friday, February 1, 2019

Gnadenhutten Quilt Project:January Quilts



Simple Labels: Gnadenhutten
Quilt Project

Allow me to catch you up to speed on why I've been an infrequent blogger these past weeks. I've been buried in quilts, and isn't that the most glorious thing you could imagine? Ah...yes, it is!


K.I.S.S.

This past Thanksgiving I questioned myself what I was grateful for, and being a thankful person the list grew long. You might imagine it was full of the abstract things like being loved, a sense of security, a close family, tight community, and so on. There were also worldly things I listed: a dependable car, heat, the Doxie girls, my studio, quilts and fabric, and so on. There were so many things I definitely needed more than a single sheet of paper. It's an interesting exercise to make a list of thanks all at once, but I've turned it into thinking of just one thing a day now, and focusing on that for the year. Thanksgiving isn't the only day we need consider giving thanks.

November turned into December.

Winter's approach traps all of us northerners indoors for months on end, and invariably we start looking around at all the stuff that's accumulated over the year. In this large extended family, the tidying bug starts in one home, and spreads to the next like a bad cold. The texts and pictures are flying. "I have this. Does anyone want any of it before I take it to Hospice, Goodwill, etc.?" (Mind you, you are wise to carefully scan the picture to make sure it's not something that actually belongs to you, and you've lent.)

Methods of tidying are compared. "Did you see Marie Kondo's show is on Netflix now?" or "I'm doing FlyLady this year" or just get out there and google decluttering challenge for pages of hits. I think it's become an American past time, and is très chic to post your junk pictures. Not here, thank you. My own house is currently in piles of Save, Toss, and Donate, but the studio was the first space I considered in late fall.

I had stared at bins of scraps for weeks when I decided to sit down and sort them--in the middle of a sewing day on the studio floor. I was looking for inspiration, and a clean slate to start the year. It was daunting. There was so much. How in the world would I organize it, and where would I put it? Later that evening it hit me. It needed to go. I couldn't keep it all. Could I make quilts to donate locally with all the bigger pieces of fabric I was sorting? What about the stuff lingering in my stash? Was that off limits? Did I or anyone need a stash that size? Is a huge stash like having too many clothes? The ember was starting to glow. Can you feel the heat?

December turned into January.



"Why not?" turned into, "Heck, yeah!", and that's the short story of how the Gnadenhutten Quilt Project started. A local shelter was thrilled to have quilts for all their residents, and I started sewing. Within a short few weeks, I shared my vision with some friends. They had no idea what they were in for. Our monthly meet up turned into every Monday all day. 



My mom converted from Little Dresses for Africa to strips and 9 patches.



My dad needed some encouragement to try laying out quilts. Now I'm sewing fast to keep up with his designs!





And the quilts are flowing!



Without digging through my binders at 3 a.m. to check my records, I believe we delivered around 15 quilts mid-January. 



Getting pictures of each one was not as well planned as I'd liked, but you will get a feel of the cheery quilts created with our loving hands.



Fabric seems to still be in plentiful supply



One local quilter donated 2 full size bed quilts entirely ready to go! 
Thank you, thank you, Amy!


Aren't the pocket points on the starts a cute touch?


















The stack for February is growing. Keeping everything fairly simple helps. 

"We are focused on happy, colorful quilts that are easy to care for. We want to share something handmade of warmth and comfort as well as a bright spot in someone's life when it's most needed."




We're using up what we have. Would you believe we've used most of the fabric on this table already? 



Our attitude is we are all eager to learn how to help with all aspects, meaning our worker bee skills are all improving. Machine binding? It's catching. Longarming? Between fits and giggles, it's happening. Many hands make light work.





January suddenly turned into February.

Visit Facebook where I've created a page for Gnadenhutten Quilt Project . I will post all the pictures of the quilts created for the project as well as other pertinent information. Like, Follow, and Share our page there, too, as it comes together this week. Getting the word out locally is a big help to us. And if you are local, and would like to help, please contact me through email at julie@pinkdoxies.com

Thank you!


Come on, Doxie girls.


9 comments:

  1. OMG that's a lot of quilting! Isn't it amazing what many hands can accomplish! Blessing to all of you! I'm off to look up the word: Gnadenhutten

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulatiions on putting thread to work. All of the quilts are beautiful and know they will be treasured. What a terrific way to spend a Monday. Wish I lived close, I would enjoy working with you all. I proud of you that you put feet to something instead of just thinking about it like most do! Bravo to all of you!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You all are doing such good work!! Your quilts are wonderful and will be so loved...

    ReplyDelete
  4. You will all be blessed for your corporal work of Mercy.
    Blessings,

    ReplyDelete
  5. I’m so proud of you and your fellow sewists for all of your efforts!

    ReplyDelete
  6. It's the Snowball Effect! Wonderful! Keep up your good works.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Amazing that you made so many quilts. I agree, we need to be thankful more often and not just at Thanksgiving (which is in October here in Canada). I need to purge my house, but I'm not there yet. Baby steps. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  8. I can tell you're enjoying yourself immensely. Good for you and all your helpers!

    ReplyDelete


Thoughtful comments are Honey to My Heart! Thank you for taking time to leave such words. Feel free to email me directly with any specific questions at julie@pinkdoxies.com
Julie
Pink Doxie Mama