Category: 70273 (Page 17 of 28)

Blocks Were Made in Thomaston, Georgia Today

January 10, 2017 / jeanne / 1 Comment

Months ago, my cousin Mary invited me
to tell her women’s group about The 70273 Project
and help them make blocks,
and today, that’s just what I did.

70,273.
A huge number to be sure.
A huge number that causes eyes to glaze over
as people struggle to find something . . .
anything . . .
relatable and understandable.

70,273 perfectly imperfect people
murdered, sight unseen.
It’s sobering, unfathomable, incomprehensible. . . .
especially when someone mentions a friend, then a grandson
who would’ve definitely received two red X’s
were we living in another time.

There is the teensiest bit of nervousness
as is inevitable for people who don’t make things every day.
But quick as a snap,
stories are flying,
memories are bubbling up,
plans are being made to gather and make more blocks
. . . maybe even an entire quilt.

Twenty-four more people are commemorated.

It is a good day.

Fayette Woman Magazine

January 7, 2017 / jeanne / 3 Comments

Fayette Woman magazine, December 2016 issue, Page 20

It’s a beautiful article – the layout is award-winning calibre – and I am ever so grateful to Joyce Beverly, publisher of Fayette Woman magazine, for giving me the opportunity to let others in my hometown know about The 70273 Project.

Fayette Woman magazine, December 2016, page 21

Many of you have asked for a copy, so I’ve included several ways to find the article . . .

Fayette Woman magazine, December 2016, page 22

For a limited time, you can find us on the home page of the Fayette Woman website. Or you can read about us on the blog.

Fayette Woman magazine, December 2016, page 23

Maybe you want to read the entire December 2016 issue. (We’re on pages 20-25, and you simply tap the lower righthand corner to turn the pages.)

Fayette Woman magazine, December 2016, page 24

And if you want just the article, you can download the .pdf version.

Fayette Woman magazine, December 2016, page 25

Feel free to share it on your Facebook timeline, post it on your biog, or print as many copies as you need to give to friends and family and people who might want to make blocks or piece or quilt of The 70273 Project. Oh, and remember to print a copy for your scrapbook because Joyce has given us permission to use it as we will to benefit The 70273 Project. A request from me . . . please be sure to give Joyce Beverly and Fayette Woman magazine credit and include a link to the web site (www.FayetteWoman.com). And while you’re at it, maybe you want to give Fayette Woman a little love on Facebook.

Week 45 in Review (December 19-25, 2016)

December 31, 2016 / jeanne / 4 Comments

Week 45 was a week of whacking off my hair, bidding the baseball cap adieu, and letting my roots shine through (which may or may not be a metaphor)
while saying, in the words of The Immortal Popeye,
I yam what I yam.

It was a week of family . . .

Calder Ray and his Great Grandmother, YeaYea

Calder Ray and his Aunt Floozie

Calder Ray and The Engineer

The Famdamily at Winter Lights at the NC Arboretum

The famdamily bags a tree. Story to follow separately.

a week of food . . .

Making cookies

He likes toys

and he likes ribbons

but sweet potatoes off his mama’s plate? Not so much.

It was a week of appreciating,
of laughing,
of singing, dancing,
and taking long walks . . .

and sometimes of sleeping . . .

Aaaannnnndddddd . . .
for all of you in the Facebook 70273 Group Campfire . . .
THERE WERE S/MORES!!!!!

It was also a week of receiving blocks and cards from:

Karla Nitz (WI, USA)
Barbara Winfield (MD, USA)
Caroline Rudisill (TX, USA)
Jill Hagemeier (IN, USA)
Susan Molina (IN, USA)
Paul Koby (IN, USA)
Pam Patterson (TX, USA)
enough to bring our block count total to . . . 6699!

Just look at that number, y’all: 6699.
You can turn it upside down and have the same number!
That’s gotta’ be a sign, right?

It was also a week of pondering and percolating
as I plan for 2017.
And oh what goodness is in store,
so be sure you subscribe or join or follow, follow, follow
so you don’t miss out.

Monthly Mixer January 2017

December 31, 2016 / jeanne / 1 Comment

The 70273 Project Monthly Mixer for January 2017

You’ve seen those challenges for instagram and blog posts, right, where there’s a prompt for every day of the month and you snap and post a photo or pen a post accordingly? Well, thanks to my 3 a.m. self, we now have one to call our own, and I’m calling it our Monthly Mixer, and here it is. Nobody’s taking roll, so play along as and if you will.

Feel free to share throughout social media land and post on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and your blogs using #The70273ProjectMonthlyMixer and #The70273Project. It’d be muchly appreciated if you’d tag me, too, so I don’t miss it. I’m @whollyjeanne on twitter and instagram, and Jeanne Hewell-Chambers on facebook. It’s a fun way to acquaint others with The 70273 Project, and to get acquainted with other folks ourselves. (Me, I can’t wait till 1/20 cause I’ve got a thing for pincushions.)

It’s the first time I’ve created something like this, so here’s the text in case the graphic is unreadable:

JANUARY 2017
1: Something imperfect
2: Something edible that’s red and white
3: Something small, white, and round
4: Something rectangular
5: The block you’re working on
6: Where you’re stitching today
7: A finished block
8: Something that makes you smile
9: A naturally occurring X
10: The tiniest x’s you can make
11: Your sewing kit and what’s inside it
12: A word to describe what you feel as you stitch blocks
13: Somewhere you’d like to sit and stitch blocks
14: Something you find in a s’more
15: The arm to the chair you sit in to stitch
16: Your favorite beverage
17: Photograph a block outside
18: Two fat X’s
19: Your ironing board
20: Your pincushion
21: The sky
22: A white button
23: A finished block
24: A surprise – something you didn’t expect to see
25: Favorite sewing notion, tool
26: Your hands
27: Your scissors
28: Something in the shape of a teardrop
29: What’s to your right
30: Your favorite mug
31: Two x’s made of something besides fabric

A Family That Stitches Together, Makes Memories Together

December 21, 2016 / jeanne / 2 Comments

You’ve binge watched every season of Downton Abbey.
You’ve served the turkey and cleaned up while everybody else napped.
You’ve lost the dog, the cat, one child, and your mother-in-law in the apocalypse that inevitably follows the opening of gifts.
Now what?

Hey, I have an idea: Why don’t you make a Family Quilt for The 70273 Project? It’s our December Adventure, you know, and get this: you define who’s family and any age can participate.

Laurie Dunn’s family is making a quilt, for example, as is Suzanne McCarthy’s family, Chloe Grice and her sister, and Kitty Sorgen’s family.

L to R: Sandy Urbach, Dan Sorgen, and Lucy Urbach

Kitty’s family gathered on the deck to stitch last summer. Let’s look in on the Sorgens and Urbachs as Kitty introduces them to us . . .

Block #3716 made by Andy Ubach. 6.5″ x 9.5″

Andy is our son-in-law, and an absolute prince. We’re so blessed. He works as a corrections officer, and is also an entrepreneur, chef, and inventor.

Block #3713 made by Sandy Ubach, 6.5″ x 9.5″

Sandy is Andy’s mom, and she’s visiting us at just the right time.

Block #3697 made by Jillian Ubach, 3.5″ x 6.5″

Jillian wanted to reflect the “defective” DNA that made someone be “of no value”.

Block #3706 made by Lucy Ubach, 6.5″ x 9.5″

Lucy is our artist and loved being able to draw her blocks.

Block #3709 made by Jill Ubach, 6.5″ x 9.5″

Jill is my actress/singer/teacher, etc. daughter. She’s amazing . . . and always multi-tasking.

Block #3714 made by Dan Sorgen, 6.5″ x 9.5″

Dan is my true love and an engineer (physicist). He wanted his block to show that the evil stemmed from an ideology.

Block #3720 made by Kitty Sorgen, 6.5″ x 9.5″

And last, but certainly not least, there’s Kitty, the woman we’ve quickly grown to adore for her talent, her commitment, her kindness, and her smile that shines through in her words shared digitally.

A little annoyed that she wasn’t invited to the table and given some cloth, Missy takes matters into her own hands – um, paws – and finds a way to be part of the Sorgen/Urbach Family Quilt for The 70273 Project.

Thank you Sorgens and Urbachs, one and all. Y’all are such a vibrant part of The 70273 Project Tribe, and I just can’t wait to see your quilt!

So how ’bout it – are you inspired to cut up some blocks and put needle and thread in everyone’s hand? I sure hope so, and I hope you’ll snap some photos and share bits of your story with us. If you have any questions, just holler.

Week 44 in Review (December 12-18, 2016)

December 21, 2016 / jeanne / 1 Comment

This week, I received noticed that Quilt 1 of The 70273 Project has been juried into QuiltCon 2017 in Savannah, GA, so congratulations to us!

Thank you to this week’s Angels for sending financial donations:
Anonymous
Anonymous
Francis Holliday Alford.
Please keep The 70273 Project in mind if you do any end-of-the-year giving. The 70273 Project, Inc. is a 501(c)3, and you will receive a receipt for tax purposes. (I’m sending those out the week after Christmas, and hereby promising faithfully to be more prompt in 2017.) Your donations are greatly appreciated as we gear-up for finishing the blocks in 2017.

And thanks to these people for stitching and sending blocks:
Maïté (France)
Kay Portness (VA/USA)
Donna Berman (USA)
Nadia Berman (USA)
Shelly Burge (NE/USA)
Linda Kemp (Lower Hutt, New Zealand)
Margaret Williams (GA/USA)
Sandy Martin (Soda Springs, ID)
Kathi Davis Thompson (Soda Springs, ID)
Sharon Berg (Soda Springs ID)
Becky Smith (Montplier, ID)
Gail George (Soda Springs, ID)
Joan Dobbs (Soda Springs, ID)
3 Anonymous

With the blocks I received in week 44, we now have 6639 blocks, which means we’ve commemorated 6639 people. Give yourselves a hand, y’all!

Thanks for all the drop-dead gorgeous cards, too. You’ve really brightened my daze.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled holiday chaos!

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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Quilt #29 of The 70273 Project

December 14, 2016 / jeanne / 5 Comments

Today, another letter from my talented and indefatigable friend, Katell who lives in France. Y’all are gonna’ like this a lot . . .

Dear Jeanne,

Maïté (actually Marie-Thérèse, but everyone says Maïté) is one of my dear friends. When we met 11 years ago, she already knew a lot about patchwork and quilting, and she made numerous beautiful artworks. Some are modern, others are country style or traditional but each one if perfectly sewn and has a French flair. She is the one in my group who enjoys appliqué the most, surely because she is gifted for drawing, too! She can also sing beautifully, too, but that is another story.

She already made Quilt #23 by herself, as you know. Then at the Patchwork Club of Colomiers a few weeks ago, we were gifted a parcel full of very old baby clothes. They seem to be at least 60 years old, maybe even from World War II. Maïté carefully soaked them, unstained them, pressed them, and finally . . . cut them. Yes, they were too worn to be kept. They probably came from an attic, supposedly from a wet nurse.

Because of this special origin, Maïté decided to piece them in the form of a heart. She asked for the help of Kristine, our ever-gifted friend, and here is the result . . .

This is Quilt #29 with 101 blocks to be added to the block count, dear Jeanne! Maïté has already begun quilting it.

XOXO,
Katell

Thank you Maïté, for using your talent to help commemorate over 300 people so far. You pay tribute to them with beauty, the way they deserve to be remembered. Thank you, too, Kristine, members of the Patchwork Club of Colomiers, and generous donor of these precious baby garments for helping to commemorate in such varied and generous ways. And thank you, Katell, for all you are doing in France and for still finding the time to send us this story, so beautifully written! This post was especially helpful this week when we fill our days to the brim with moving our daughter from one place to another.

Inquiring minds may wonder what I think about the heart shape and using blocks as border. I LOVE IT! The blocks are made according to the guidelines, and that’s the main thing. Here in The 70273 Project, we embrace differences of all kinds, and I think this quilt and the others that will surely follow are another way of saying that.

Now if seeing this quilt stirs up your creative juices and makes you want to raise your hand with an offer to Piece and Quilt in 2017, do let me know, and let me know pronto because the first or second week in January I’ll be sending a lot of bundles out into the world.

And hey, things are gonna’ really rev up come January. Trust me when I tell you that you won’t want to miss some of The 70273 Project Adventures I have planned, so take a minute to subscribe cause everything starts here on the blog.

Week 43 in Review (Dec. 5-11, 2016)

December 12, 2016 / jeanne / 0 Comments

We’ve been down in Georgia helping our daughter move, but I’ve still managed to find time to get some chores ticked off the long to do list for The 70273 Project, and I left plenty for later.

Deena Sanders and The Tree City Quilters invited The 70273 Project to display a quilt in their 2017 quilt show to be held in Gainesville, Florida on May 6 and 7 of next year. I’ll be sharing more information closer to time, but if you’re in the vicinity, go ahead and put it on your calendar.

Encouraged by Janine Morrell, I submitted a quilt to QuiltCon East to be held in Savannah, GA in February 2017. I’ll keep you posted.

With the help of The Engineer, Chloe Grice, Ada Hewell, Deirdre McConathy, Patti Nies, and Peggy Franke, I finished creating Holiday Cards to go in The 70273 Project Card Shop. It was a tedious, time-consuming, challenging, detail-oriented endeavor . . . and I loved every minute of it because it afforded me opportunities to exercise my graphic design, coding, linking, and organizing, skills. It whisked me right back to years gone by when I did these kinds of creative endeavors and presentations regularly. It requires intense concentration and focus, which often feels like a vacation for my brain that is usually being tugged in a myriad of directions. So if you haven’t yet sent out your holiday cards and even if you have, drop by and help yourself to printable and digital postcards and printable notecards.

Quilters in France continue to be busy commemorating, and I couldn’t be more excited or grateful for their participation.

Six more Angels got their wings this week when they made financial donations to The 70273 Project:
Suzanne McCarthy
and five who prefer to remain Anonymous.
Thank you all for your generosity. Remember that The 70273 Project, Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization, so all donors will receive a thank you note and a receipt to use when preparing tax forms. Please keep us in mind when preparing any year-end giving. We’ll sure put it to good use, I promise!

And last but not least, thanks to the generous creativity of:
Kim Monins’ son, Daniel Monins ( Channel Islands, UK)
Jenny Marshall (Channel Islands, UK)
Faye Cook (AUS)
our new official block count stands at . . . 6464! Give yourselves a hand, y’all!

Stitch on, y’all, and have a good week.

The 70273 Card Shop Is Now Open for Business

December 9, 2016 / jeanne / 0 Comments

I know, I know. I’ve been promising holiday cards, and here they are – at last. With the help of The Engineer and Chloe Grice, I’ve created an assortment of digital and print cards. And every block in the Christmas tree design was created by our own Deirdre McConathy. And the words came from y-o-u. Over in Facebook land, I asked you to share some of your favorite greetings, and I’ve used words from Ada Hewell (wave to the nice readers, Mom), Peggy Franke, and Patty Nies to craft an assortment of holiday greeting cards. So once again: collaboration gets the job done!

The cards come in all denominations: some are ready to attach to an email; some are postcards to print for those who have just enough time to sign their name; and some are notecards for those who want to include a little note. All can be printed from your home computer and are free to use.

Donations not required (but they are appreciated and can be made using the Donate button in the sidebar on the home page.)

Help yourself to any or all of these specially-designed-and-ready-to-go birthday and Christmas cards and feel free to send others over here to help themselves, too.

Click here for digital postcards.
Click here for printable postcards.
Click here for printable notecards.
Click here for digital and here for here for printable birthday cards.
Note: Cards may appear blurry because I enlarged them for a better viewing experience. They’ll print clearly, though.

More cards coming for other holidays and special days, so check back often by clicking the link to The 70273 Card Shop in the sidebar 70273 Project Directory or using the pull-down menu at the top of your screen. And hey, thanks for helping get the word out about The 70273 Project.

~~~~~~~