Northern Arizona

Northern Arizona

29'' x 22''

My Northern Arizona quilt is done and shipped. This beauty will be auctioned off for the Quilts of Valor Foundation as part of America Quilts EXPO at the Iowa Events Center May 26–28 in Des Moines, Iowa. 100% of funds raised via the auction benefits Quilts of Valor Foundation.

The inspiration for this quilt came from our trip through northern Arizona last summer. I think I did a pretty good job of capturing my inspiration.

To quilt this mini I used 4 different colours of Aurifil thread. Shockingly, I had them all in my thread stash! I went from orange to a barely there cream, with coral and peach in between. Just matchstick quilting. On this little piece that still took almost 2 hours to do! Kudos to those of you who do this on large pieces. 

The binding is more of the solids in the quilt. I coordinated it, roughly, with the gradation in colour and value. A label and a hanging sleeve to finish it off.

You have to be in Des Moines, or know someone going, to bid on my quilt or any of the others up for auction. I've seen a few on Instagram in the last few weeks - amazing! Heather Jones, May Chappell, Amy Ellis, Cristy Fincher, Mark Lipinski, Latifah Safir, Alex Anderson, Victoria Findley Wolfe and so many more have donated quilts for the auction. I really wish I could see them all in person. 

All proceeds from the auction go to the Quilts of Valor Foundation. Quilts of Valor provides quilts to returning service men and women. We all know the value of the gift of a quilt. 

Northern Arizona

When Marianne Fons - the Marianne Fons - asks you to make a quilt for a charity auction it is pretty much impossible to say no. I almost did though because the theme was 'America the Beautiful'. Remember, I'm Canadian! Then the memories of our epic road trip last summer came back and I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Northern Arizona was, by far, my favourite part of the trip. I couldn't stop staring out the car window and was thrilled with our 4 days spent there exploring canyons, back roads, and lazy creeks. This little quilt top captures my memories of it so well. 

These were my inspiration images.

Got it pretty close, didn't I?

Now to finish this up and send it off. All quilts donated will be auctioned off as part of America Quilts EXPO at the Iowa Events Center May 26–28 in Des Moines, Iowa. 100% of funds raised via the auction benefits Quilts of Valor Foundation.

Quilts of Valour Donation

Yesterday was Remembrance Day here in Canada and a few other countries, Veteran's Day in the US. As in every other year we hear stories of veterans and the sacrifices made. For so long the stories were consumed with the vets of the World Wars. Here is Canada you would here more about the Korean War as well. Now, however, there is so much said about Afghanistan and more recent peacekeeping missions. Being a soldier did not end in the 50s. And every year we are reminded that being a soldier does not end when your tour of duty ends.

Quilts of Valour provides quilts to service personnel dealing with injuries - those we see and those we don't, like post traumatic stress disorder. We all know that a quilt is such a comfort and a real hug when we need it most. It isn't about warmth, it is the spreading of love.

$1 from the sale of each of my Oh Canada! patterns is being donated to Quilts of Valour. This is from all sales - wholesale, printed, and downloaded. If you haven't purchased the pattern yet, this is the perfect reason to do so.

I'm also proud to know that many people have purchased the pattern to make quilts of Quilts of Valour recipients. To be honest, I never thought of that when making the quilt in the first place or in producing the pattern, but it makes me quite proud to know that this is part of its life.

Buy Oh Canada! here.