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Week 39 in Review (November 7-13, 2016)

November 18, 2016 / jeanne / 1 Comment

taken from our front deck

Fires in the area – all around us. Something like eight months without rain leaves us high and dry. Blue smoke fills the air, making my eyes burn, my nose itch, my throat scratchy. Our waterfall is down to a trickle. When fire trucks go to a designated water hole to fill the tanks, they arrive to find the water hole dry. It’s a mess. A big, scary, acrid mess. Roads are closed, emails advise us to be prepared to evacuate, but so far, no evacuation notice has been delivered. Regardless, I gather The 70273 Project blocks and quilts, bagging them up so they’ll be easier to grab and go, hoping that my preparations will ward off the need to leave – a strategy that seems to be working!

Janet Hartje raised a good question: Given the wildfires, is it okay to mail blocks to me? I asked the local postmistress, and she assures me it’s fine to send us mail, so stitch and send at your heart’s desire.

Betty Hedrick and a friend came to help last week. Though we worked in some sightseeing and shopping, they still managed to get a lot of blocks scanned. Not only did I enjoy their company and getting to know them in person, I am very appreciative for their help.

I met with Andy Offutt Irwin, a good friend, a funny man, and a talented performer who is going to help me get The 70273 Project story to the stage. Chloe Grice, a good friend, a vibrant member of The 70273 Project Tribe, and a talented woman who’s creative like you wouldn’t believe is also helping me prepare this for the stage. She’s sketching my wardrobe, suggesting props, dressing the set. This is all very exciting.

Then there’s the mail. This week brought envelopes from:
Betty Hedrick (WA, USA)
Dorothy Grout-Smith (Australia)
Margaret Williams (GA, USA)
Cathy Crecelius (KY, USA)
Maria Conway (Argentina)
Pauling Tagg (Channel Islands, UK)
Dianne Llewellyn (Savigne, France)
which brings our block count to . . . 5629!
Thank y’all for continuing to stitch, even as we enter what, for most, is the busiest time of the year. Perhaps stitching a block or two will provide you with a quiet, comforting time over the next few weeks.

Till next week, stitch and smile, y’all. Stitch and smile.

~~~~~~~

Other places to gather around The 70273 Project water cooler:
Shop with Amazon Smile and support The 70273 Project.
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.
Get folks to help celebrate your birthday by making blocks and/or donating bucks.
Follow the pinterest board for visual information.
Post using #the70273project on Instagram. (Please tag me, too, @whollyjeanne, so I don’t miss anything.)
Tell your friends what you want for your birthday.
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, colleagues or students, club or guild members, etc. together and make a group quilt.

Meet Serena Bross and Her Mom

November 7, 2016 / jeanne / 1 Comment

This is Serena. She’s a 9 year old who has multiple special needs and disabilities. She does, however, love to help her mom (Erin) and Mommom (her word for grandma) Wolfe work on crafty things. She physically can’t do most crafts, but she can help select fabrics, yarns, ribbons, etc. She especially loves to hold the extra pieces to make sure they don’t get lost or fall on the floor.

She found out about The 70273 Project when she overheard her mom and mommom talking about it. When she heard them asking each other if they would be making quilt blocks, Serena piped in with a bossy “Uhh, yes!”. So on we went.

Serena helped pick the red fabric, the other materials, and supervised the block making. She, like Mom and Mommom, are glad to show support for The 70273 Project, knowing how even in today’s world, people with disabilities can be poorly treated. At birth, doctors told Erin to “Just let her be. She won’t make it anyway.” Upon discharge from the NICU unit six weeks later, another doctor told Erin, “Pick which vegetable you want. She won’t ever know anything or be more than a vegetative state. Go home and look for her to die tomorrow.” After a 3-month hospital stay, Serena went home on hospice at the send of 2015 with a warning that she would be lucky to see 2016 roll in a week later. So we know how many red X’s we have now . . . and would have had if we’d been alive in 1940.

Blocks made by Erin, Serena, and Karen

And now meet Serena’s mom, Erin . . .

My name is Erin Bross, and I’ve been quilting by hand since I was 10 years old. My mom, Karen Wolfe, taught herself to quilt, and I picked i up. Mom learned of The 70273 Project through an online quilting group she belongs to, and she immediately shared it with Serena and me.

Seeing how Serena and I have been treated the last nine years ticks me off, and knowing what happened in the 1940s makes me madder still. So I choose to make as many blocks as possible with Serena, not only to honor and remember the lost individuals and support any living family, but also to honor Serena, my uncle, and others who are present day survivors fighting doctors and discrimination in today’s world.

When not quilting, I am a single, stay-at-home mom to Serena and run two craft shops on Etsy filled with items I’ve made and that Serena helped supervise and/or test out.

Thank you again for taking on this project!

Erin and Serena Bross

~~~~~~~

I thank you, Erin and Serena and Karen for becoming part of The 70273 Project. Please tell Serena “Hey” for me and deliver the kiss I”m blowing to her right now. We’d love it if you’d keep us updated, too. May Serena continue to shine beauty into the world as nobody but Serena can. xo, Jeanne

Here are other places you can find (and support) Erin and Serena:

Twitter
Facebook
OtherItemsFor11Q.etsy.com
SoapsForSerena.etsy.com

~~~~~~~

And here are other places you can find (and support) The 70273 Project:

Shop with Amazon Smile and support The 70273 Project.

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.

Get folks to help celebrate your birthday by making blocks and/or donating bucks.

Follow the pinterest board for visual information.

Post using #the70273project on Instagram. (Please tag me, too, @whollyjeanne, so I don’t miss anything.)

Tell your friends what you want for your birthday.

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, colleagues or students, club or guild members, etc. together and make a group quilt.

Week 38 in Review (Oct. 31 – Nov 6, 2016)

November 6, 2016 / jeanne / 0 Comments

What a week it’s been, y’all! There’s so much goodness going on in The 70273 Project. Here are the highlights . . .

There’s a new way to support The 70273 Project: shopping on smile.amazon.com. You can read all about it here.

There’s a new page here on the blog of news in French for people who speak French. Of course there’s a translate button in the sidebar here, but I thought it might be nice to give them the important and basic information in their own language.

Several new links have been added to the Clarion page . . . which means people are writing blog posts about The 70273 Project . . . which gets the word out even faster. Thank you.

Kim Monins and Gisele Therezien, have enjoyed quite a full week in the Channel Islands, UK! They were interviewed on the BBC radio there, held a drop-in-and-stitch-a-block day, and there was a newspaper article about the stitch event and The 70273 Project. If you know of radio or tv stations, newspapers, or magazines where we might submit info about The 70273 Project, please let me know and let’s make a plan.

Jersey Evening Post 04 Nov 16

The 70273 Project was featured in an article in the Jersey Evening Post.

I learned a new, marketable (or not) skill: making memes. (I understand I still need to tweak the French version just a little.)

We started a new Adventure: The Men of The 70273, so ask the men in your life (any age) to make a block (or several) for The 70273 Project. Be sure to note that these are for The Men of The 70273 Adventure so I’ll hold them in a special place so they can wind up in their special quilts.

And there’s still time to collaborate with your siblings – that Adventure runs through the end of November.

Elves came to call this week when Betty Hedrick brought a friend to help me with The 70273 Project things. Like scanning, for example. And other things. Thank you, Betty and Friend!

I’ve now heard from people in 100 different countries! Isn’t that marvelous?

And wait. There’s more marvelous . . .

Thanks to the generous creativity and deep compassion of:
Dominique Poulard (France)
Françoise Rouppert (France)
Marie Claude Planes (France)
Marie Ange Marchenay (France)
Nadine Meyssonnier (France)
Betty Hedrick (WA, USA)
Gerrie Congdon (OR, USA)
Pam Patterson (TX, USA)
Rosalie Roberts (ID, USA)
Anonymous Maker (FL, USA)
Joanne Anderson (Channel Islands, UK)
Kim Monins (Channel Islands, UK)
Gisele Therezien (Channel Islands, UK)
Charlie McArdle (Channel Islands, UK)
Lucy Baker (Channel Islands, UK)
Betty Bullock (Channel Islands, UK)
Cindy Mulliner (Channel Islands, UK)
Helen Miles (Channel Islands, UK)
Jo Mulliner (Channel Islands, UK)
Julie Long (Channel Islands, UK)
Laura Ferdinando (Channel Islands, UK)
Sarah Raper (Channel Islands, UK)
Sheila Sykes (Channel Islands, UK)
Doreen Drever (Channel Islands, UK)
Kerry Jane Warner (Channel Islands, UK)
Joyce Du Feu (Channel Islands, UK)
Anne Hill (Channel Islands, UK)
Janet Averty (Channel Islands, UK)
Lucy Baker (Channel Islands, UK)
Members of a Susan Kistler’s Family at their Family Dinner:
Susan Kistler (IN, USA)
Cylis and Liam Kistler (IN, USA)
Ashley Homburg (IN, USA)
Violet Montgomery (IN, USA)
Jessica Justice (IN, USA)
Betty Urick (IN, USA)
Patsy Kistler (IN, USA)
Eli Kistler (IN, USA)
Teresa Montgomery (IN, USA)
Olivia Fisher (IN, USA)
Faye Cooke (AUS)
Elizabeth (Libby) Cook (AUS)
Members of the Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association:
Gayle Visher (CA, USA)
Mel Beach (CA, USA)
Cheryl Thompson (CA, USA)
Jacque Christensen (CA, USA)
Susan Bianchi (CA, USA)
3 Anonymous Makers (CA, USA)

our block count now stands at . . . are you ready . . . 5568!

However you’re supporting The 70273 Project, I thank you for helping commemorate the 70273 souls who might otherwise be forgotten. Till next week . . .

A New Skill: Meme Making

November 4, 2016 / jeanne / 6 Comments

and, for my French friends . . .

Merci beaucoup to Katell Renon, Chloe Grice, and Cecile Denis for their patience and assistance in translating this.

The Channel Islands, UK Comes on Strong for The 70273 Project

November 3, 2016 / jeanne / 3 Comments

Gisele Therezien and Kim Monins at the BBC studio

“The Channel Islands,UK were occupied by the Nazis for 5 years during WWII, so we have many historical and emotional links to those dark times,” Kim tells me in her first email after hearing about The 70273 Project. Kim Monins and Gisele Therezien – both talented, creative, accomplished quilters – immediately begin stitching blocks with dedicated enthusiasm.

From Blocks to Quilts to Exhibits in Rapid Succession

After stitching a few blocks, the Dynamic Duo decide they want to collect blocks and make quilts there in the Channel Islands, so we work together to develop a system that gets me the information I need on each block for documentation and cataloguing purposes and allows them to keep moving forward without having to spend the time and money shipping blocks back and forth across The Pond.

Blocks made by Gisele Therezien

They’ll need blocks to make the quilts, so on Saturday 5th November between 10am-3pm at St Brelade’s Parish Hall in Jersey, Chanel islands, UK, Kim and Gisele are hosting a Drop In and Stitch Day. If you’re in the area, please do stop by, and if you’re reading this and know people who live in the area, won’t you please tell them about it? Let’s post it on Facebook, tweet it out, put it in blog posts – let’s get it out there any way we can cause you never know who’s gonna’ see your post and think of somebody they know who would love to attend. Let’s help them have a good turnout (and lots of blocks to document!).

And why make quilts if you have nowhere to exhibit them, right? Yesterday Gisele and Kim had a successful meting with authorities at Jersey Heritage who offered exhibition space for the month of January 2018 and the possibility of enough space for a small display in January 2017.

Getting the Word Out

Kim and Gisele never miss an opportunity to spread word of The 70273 Project. Gisele recently received an email from Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine UK asking permission to write an article and use photos of one of her quilts that’s currently on display at the Quilt Festival in Houston, TX.

They sent project flyers to each of the 12 elected parish constables and leaders of other groups, encouraging them to get involved and get others involved, and they’ve ben in touch with local newspapers who’ve promised to run articles about both The 70273 Project and the upcoming Drop In and Stitch Event.

Kim Monins stitches by the pool on a recent holiday

And as if all this isn’t enough, this morning Gisele and Kim were interviewed by Charlie McArdle on his BBC radio show. To give a listen, click here and move the bar to 2:13:24 to hear their interview.

Kudos and Gratitude to Kim and Gisele, The Dynamic Duo, whose good sense, keen quilting abilities, dazzling personalities, and indefatigable tenaciousness are moving The 70273 Project forward in great strides! ‘Twas a lucky day for us all when Kim and Gisele discovered The 70273 Project.

Do you know of a radio or tv station in your vicinity that might be as hospitable to The 70273 Project as Charlie is? Is there a magazine, newspaper, newsletter, or other periodical that we might submit a press release to? Do you want to gather blocks and make quilts in your area? Did anything Kim and Gisele are doing spark an idea of something you might do? If so, please contact me and let’s make a plan.

~~~~~~~

Other places to gather around The 70273 Project water cooler:

Shop with Amazon Smile and support The 70273 Project.

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.

Get folks to help celebrate your birthday by making blocks and/or donating bucks.

Follow the pinterest board for visual information.

Post using #the70273project on Instagram. (Please tag me, too, @whollyjeanne, so I don’t miss anything.)

Tell your friends what you want for your birthday.

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, colleagues or students, club or guild members, etc. together and make a group quilt.

Snowy Range Academy Students Doing A+++ Work

November 2, 2016 / jeanne / 1 Comment

After seeing a flyer in a Michigan fabric store, Catherine Symchych messages me to say that she wants to work with her students to make a quilt for The 70273 Project. “Seventh graders study the Holocaust,” she tells me, “and they’re the ones I’m thinking about.” We work out a plan, she gets permission from her principal, and they begin.

One group to students asked Catherine to read to them while they sew. She selects A Lucky Child, by Thomas Buergenthal who survived Auschwitz as a child. “They know we’re commemorating a different atrocity, but it brings home the impact of the project even more,” Catherine writes.

In their enthusiastic dedication, the students have decided that 80 blocks – enough to make a 60″x60″ quilt – simply isn’t enough, so they’ve now set their sites on a twin size quilt.

Please join me in giving a hearty Honor Roll-worthy round of applause and appreciation to the middle school students and their teacher, Catherine Symchych at Snowy Range Academy in Laramie, Wyoming who are hard at work! We look forward to more photos, y’all, and we thank you for helping us commemorate these people who might otherwise be forgotten. It’s good work you’re doing there. Real good work.

~~~~~~~

Other places to gather around The 70273 Project water cooler:

Shop with Amazon Smile and support The 70273 Project.

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.

Get folks to help celebrate your birthday by making blocks and/or donating bucks.

Follow the pinterest board for visual information.

Post using #the70273project on Instagram. (Please tag me, too, @whollyjeanne, so I don’t miss anything.)

Tell your friends what you want for your birthday.

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, colleagues or students, club or guild members, etc. together and make a group quilt.

A New Way to Support The 70273 Project

November 2, 2016 / jeanne / 1 Comment

Shopping just got more rewarding for you and for us . . .

SAME PRODUCTS, SAME PRICES, SAME SHOPPING EXPERIENCE but with an extra bonus–you can earn money for The 70273 Project every time you shop and at no extra cost to you.

IT’S AS EASY AS 1, 2, 3:

1. Go to smile.amazon.com.

2. Make sure that “The 70273 Project, Inc” is designated as the charity of your choice. (You only have to select us once, and it’s saved for future purchases). Double check by looking to see that our name appears after “Supporting” under the search box. If you don’t see it there, go to the upper righthand corner of the screen, three options to the left of the shopping cart and click on “Your Account”. Scroll down and click on Your AmazonSmile. To the right of the AmazonSmile impact screen, you’ll see Your Current Charity. If The 70273 Project, Inc. is already there, thank you. If it doesn’t appear there, click the Change Your Charity button and enter The 70273 Project, Inc. in the search box. (Important note: When you enter “The 70273 Project, Inc.”, the word “The” will not appear, just 70273 Project, Inc. That’s still us.) Agree that (The) 70273 Project, Inc. is your charity of choice, then, if you’re a mind to, avail yourself of the social media buttons to encourage others to support The 70273 Project, Inc., too.

3. With that done, you’re all set to shop to your heart’s content. Just remember to always go to smile.amazon.com instead of the usual amazon.com. (See that image at the top of this post? Tonight I’ll put it in the sidebar with a link to remind you.) You don’t have to create a new login, your existing id and password will work just fine. And remember: it doesn’t cost you a penny more to donate to The 70273 Project.

Now make your list and check it twice. Go on now, scoot.

November Adventure: Men of The 70273

November 1, 2016 / jeanne / 1 Comment

Laurie Dunn’s dad, a World War II veteran

And Laurie Dunn’s grandsons

It’s the first day of November, so you know what that means: time for a new Adventure for The 70273 Project. In September and October, we collaborated – you and me. October and November are devoted to Making Blocks with Your Siblings. What say we devote November and December to putting the men in our lives on the MENu to make blocks? And now seems a good time to MENtion that “men” can be any age males – sons, grandsons, uncles, spouses, partners, friends, dads, granddads, coworkers – you get the idea.

The Engineer

My son, Kipp, makes a block.

Shoot, I might even put blocks, red fabric, thread, and Provenance Forms in her hand and suggest that my daughter use this as a way to meet potential life mates (not that she needs further enchantMENts.) Can you imagine the allureMENts (a.k.a. pickup lines) . . .

“What sign (of block) are you?”
“Hey Good Looking, I bet we could make beautiful blocks together.”
“You knock my blocks off.”
“If you’ve got one X, I’ve got the other.”
“I’d like to get to first block with you.”

I mean, the possibilities are endless and who knows, this could ceMENt the deal.

Okay, I’ll MENd my ways and stop now (you’re welcome).

Thomas Eastin, one of my Other Sons

SteveJankousky who saw a tweet sent out by my son, Kipp, and made his blocks straight away.

MANy men have already made blocks . . . will they make more just to go in the Men of The 70273 quilts? I sure hope so.

Scott Griffin made an entire quilt from his blocks

Making blocks is no MENial thing, you know. Same measureMENts, same guidelines, same Provenance Form apply (just be sure to MENtion that these blocks are for The Men of the 70273 in the space set aside on the Provenance Form for “Adventure”.)

Danny Tate, my cousin who’s lucky in love. He married Mary, my cousin.

After docuMENting (a.k.a. cataloguing) these blocks per usual, I will set them aside so that we can make quilts (Yes, plural: quilts. Can I get a little aMENability for my optimism?)

My brother, Jerry (I call him J3)

So let’s stitch on into November, MENtoring the guys if needed, offering cajoleMENts and compliMENts, comMENting on the MENtal effort they put into the effort, and reminding them ’tis a comMENdable thing we’re doing here, comMENorating the 70273 people who were murdered, an effort seeped in awsoMENess. And hey, your assignMENt includes sending photos.

~~~~~~~

Other installMENts for The 70273 Project:

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.

Get folks to help celebrate your birthday by making blocks and/or donating bucks.

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, colleagues or students, club or guild members, etc. together and make a group quilt.

SaveSave

Week 37 in Review (10/24-30, 2016)

October 30, 2016 / jeanne / 0 Comments

This week . . .

I created birthday cards you can download, print, and send to others letting them know about The 70273 Project and encouraging them to get involved by giving you gifts you don’t have to dust: blocks and/or bucks and added a link to The 70273 Project Directory in the sidebar for easy reference.

The 70273 Project was profiled on page 11 in the Winter 2016/2017 issue of International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene magazine. If you want one for your scrapbook (and you know you do), you can purchase paper copies in magazine racks near you or online, and go here to purchase a digital copy. And, that’s not all: on the back cover is none other than our Frances Holliday Alford!

As of today, I’ve heard from folks in 98 countries.

While I was (still) tending to my daughter’s concussion, folks around the world were stitching. Thanks to the generous creativity of . . .
Ariette Dupin (France)
Chloe Grice (France)
Christine Guillemer (France)
Jacqueline Riviere (France)
Monique Bonnet (France)
Karen Minty (Channel Islands, UK)
Kim Monins (Channel Islands, UK)
Karen Scott (Channel Islands, UK)
Liz Webb (Channel Islands, UK)
Rosalie Hollis (Channel Islands, UK)
Elaine Ericsson (Canada)
Linda Dumanowski (CA, USA)
Trena Johnson (MN, USA)
Anonymous Maker (FL, USA)
Members of La Feville, D’Erable quilting group (France)
Martine Bronca
Catherine
Genevieve
Edith
Josiane
Yannick
Huguette
Beatrice
Kathleen Reck (Australia)
Patricia Gaska (WI, USA)
Susan Utech (WI, USA)
Karen Hereford and other staffers at Holy Spirit College (Australia)
Nancy Weinmeister (GA, USA)
Ada Hewell (GA, USA)
Helen Voyles (GA, USA)
and
Thomasina Miller (GA, USA)
. . . we now have 5294 blocks!

Please keep stitching, sending, and sharing, y’all.

~~~~~~~

Other places to gather around The 70273 Project water cooler:

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, colleagues or students, club or guild members, etc. together and make a group quilt.

Word’s Getting Out: International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene 2016 Magazine

October 25, 2016 / jeanne / 3 Comments

So this came in the mail today . . .

Thank you, assistant editor Katie Chicarello for including us in your International Quilt Festival Quilt Scene magazine! If you’re on facebook, maybe you want to click on the link to show them a little love and thank them for including us.

Do you know of a periodical that might print an article about The 70273 Project? If so, please send me an email or drop off a comment. (Bonus points if you send me specific information like who to contact and a link or an email address.)