In Their Eyes

Bone marrow tired. A smell tattooed to the membrane of your memory. Smiles from gracious and suffering homeowners. Overwhelming pride of community. Kindness and giggles. 

I took the kids down to a flood zone yesterday. We walked the streets handing out fruit and cookies and a welcome ear to clean up crews and homeowners. The girls were wildly entertained by toilets on the street and friendly with the firefighters. They gagged at the smell of each pile filling someone's lawn. Each pile filled with drywall and insulation, not to mention the childrens' toys and books, the clothes, the treasures, the furniture, the lives of people lived. They giggled as their boots got stuck in the muck. They happily gave away their favourite cookies and told people they wanted to help because we were lucky. And they took these pictures (except the last few, those were mine).

(This is the girls' favourite restaurant, Wurst. The lower floor and kitchen were horribly flooded and we were entertained by the restoration company who told us about the complete pig they had to haul out that day.)

(Cable for a suspension bridge that was ripped down and almost washed away.)

Thank you so much for the response, already to the Just One Slab drive and the quilt donations.

Just One Slab

Just a slab. One slab. Grab some scraps of fabric and sew them together.

I'm putting out a call to all my quilty friends out there. Maybe you can't spare the fabric or time or postage to send a whole quilt as we try to recover in Calgary and Southern Alberta. That's okay. But I bet you can make just one block. And the more of you that can make and send just one block, the more quilts we'll be able to donate. I will put all the blocks I get together into quilts. With an army of local long armers lined up to donate their time we will get some beds and hearts covered in no time.

Here are the basics:

Make a slab 15.5'' square. You can insert the white bit or not, that's your choice. Just aim to make your block in a single colour. Make as many as you like.

Our inspiration for these quilts is The Missing U quilt from Sunday Morning Quilts.

How do you make a slab? If you have the book, refer to the directions on pages 48-49. If you don't have the book let me summarize how to make a slab:

Take two pieces of fabric and sew them together. Do that a few more times. Then start sewing more pieces to those first pairs. Sew groups together. Add additional pieces of fabric as necessary to get up to your finished size. Start with small bits or big ones, it doesn't matter. Raid your scrap bins and go with what you've got.

Feel free to grab that top image and share it on your blogs/web-sites. Tell the world about how you made your slab. Link back to this post if you do.

When your block is done and you're ready to post it, send me a note and I will gladly send you my snail mail.

Thank-you so much for continuing to think of us here in Southern Alberta. Now that the emergency situation is behind us it is time to think about recovery. Quilts go a long way towards that.

*If you are interested in donating complete quilts or tops, make sure you check out this information.*

100 Quilts for Kids - The Donation

The wonderful Katie at Swim, Bike, Quilt is hosting the 100 Quilts for Kids blog hop and quilt drive, along with the DC Modern Quilt Guild. Have you heard about it?

A series of posts from a tonne of bloggers highlighting great, and easy quilts. Perfect for easy construction or group work. In other words, perfect for quick, gorgeous quilts. Perfect for donation. Rather than a central quilt drive and delivery, however, she encourages us to make and donate a quilt locally. (After having done the work for Quilts Recover, I completely get this!)

Today, rather than highlight a specific quilt, I want to highlight the giving portion of this project.

Recently, my husband and his crew had the muddy pleasure of working on the new buildings at Camp Kindle. Camp Kindle is the summer camp built and run by the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta. Nestled in the foothills, surrounded by aspen and spruce forests, the camp is a refuge for kids and families living with and surviving cancer.

We look at our own kids and know that we are tremendously lucky. We also know that should we face the challenges of cancer so directly that a place like Camp Kindle would be a lifesaver for all of us. As one family shared with us, camp is where you can go and not have cancer.

The camp ran all summer, even as the finishing touches remain. As Hubby and his crew grumbled about the mud and hour long drive to get to work each day the first campers started to arrive. And when they saw the first kids, some with IVs and chemo treatments, they immediately shut up. That's when Hubby came home and informed me that I needed to donate some quilts to the camp. He well knows the comfort of a quilt, of something handmade wrapped around you.

Today we were able to visit the camp. We gathered the kids, the rest of Hubby's employees and their families, and journeyed to the gorgeous fall vistas provided at Camp Kindle. The camp, Foundation, and many volunteers were hosting the trades that worked on the camp for a BBQ. It was merely wonderful to finally see the place and more importantly, speak to families and counsellors who truly make the camp what it is. Hubby and his colleagues may have used their tools to put the buildings up, but it is the campers and counsellors who make the camp what it is.

And I took a quilt with me. The camp staff decided that it would be best used in the Rekindle Clinic - the on-site medical facility. Luckily for the camp they do have 4 quilts for the 4 hospital beds - donated by the wives of a local fiddle group! But when they have to change over beds the quilts aren't available.  And having extras to cuddle are always welcome.

It is such a small thing, really, to make a donate a quilt. Early on in my quilt career I gave everything away - baby quilts, wedding gifts... Then I started hoarding the quilts because I couldn't pick a favourite. But now is the time to pass on some creations. And to keep doing so. Such a small thing.

The quilt I donated is the bold and rather easy To a T quilt. 

Made from a pattern I drafted for the Modern Blocks book.

Quilts Recover Update

The sun is shining! I can ride my bike again! And I may have actually sewn too much!

Okay, no exclamation point on that last one. My foot is bothering me and my physio thinks working the foot pedal may be to blame. Yikes! Can't stop me though, it's manageable and I'm on a roll.

Besides, I've also got Quilts Recover to keep me busy. The quilts are starting to come in now that the postal lock-out is over. Good timing too as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned the spotlight to the rebuilding of Slave Lake this week.

If you are planning on donating to Quilts Recover there is still time to do so. We are accepting finished, unused quilts in a functional size (baby to full/queen) until the beginning of August. All quilts will be labelled and delivered to families rebuilding in the wake of devastating wildfires in the town of Slave Lake, Alberta.

Many overseas readers have also expressed a desire to donate quilt tops, as the postage for quilts is quite a bit. I can share now that I've lined up a long armer and a few volunteers to help us finish these quilts. I'm still looking for batting and backing donations. If a finished quilt isn't something you can do, maybe you can consider donating some supplies. Or, if you are local, maybe some time to help get the quilts bound and labelled. I will be announcing a sew day for late July/early August to finish all that.

Again, thank-you for all your support for Quilts Recover.