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Oct
23
Hearts of Joy
Filed Under Growing Hearts to Appliqué | 9 Comments
Cynthia Wheeler just sent me the most amazing Show & Tell. In her words:
“You and I meet at various quilt shows. I’ve bought most of your books because I just love the simplicity that you offer without it being silly looking. I had asked you at the Delta Quilters quilt show (one of my guilds) if it was all right to use the patterns in the Growing Hearts book with my appliqué group in Fairfield to make a quilt for donation. You said it was all right as long as I put the name of the book and author on the label, which I did.
This quilt was made by the members of the D’Vine Applique Society in Fairfield, California. We chose the blocks from your Growing Hearts to Applique book and each member hand appliquéd their block during our monthly meeting. It took about a year to complete and we are really pleased with the finished product. We hope you are too.”
Are you kidding me Cynthia? Am I pleased with it, seriously? I’m over the moon! I can’t believe the fabulous job you did, and for such an important cause.
The quilt is named “Hearts of Joy.” It was made for The Breast Cancer Quilt Auction, a community-service project to raise funds for Sutter Cancer Center’s breast cancer research and patient treatment programs. The auction takes place Saturday, November 5, 2011, at Sutter Cancer Center, 2800 L Street, Sacramento, CA 95816.
“Hearts of Joy” is 70” x 70” and also can be seen as quilt # 537 on the Sutter Medical Center Foundation Philanthropy auction site.
Cynthia continues, “We all got together and selected the backgrounds and border fabrics. We followed the idea that was on the cover of the book with four different off-whites and different brown/tan colors for the sashing, etc. Sometimes it amazes me how so many women can actually agree on so many choices. But we did in short order. We also all agreed on having certain fabrics carried throughout the blocks. These were all scraps that were brought to the meeting and shared.
The real work actually began with the preparation, and then there was a lot of concentration as you can see from the photos. I think it is fun to see the progression of a project in photos.”
Cynthia quilted the quilt on her longarm. She says, “I tried to quilt each block in a non-traditional way, such as the swing in the tree, the planter became a sailboat, and the ribbons being dropped by the bird as it is flying.”
Here’s the beautiful quliting that Cynthia did on opposing corners of the border.
Amazing.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you another part of our story,” Cynthia continues. “We were so bent on completing the quilt so it could be quilted on time for submission that we decided to forgo our annual Christmas celebration and work right on through. Instead we promised ourselves that when we completed the quilt we would treat ourselves to chocolate sundaes. And that is just what we did, the completion of the quilt made those sundaes taste ever so sweet.
The D’Vine Appliqué Society meets from 6:30to 8:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at the Cornerstone Quilt Shoppe in Fairfield. We have a very special group. Thank you for letting us use your patterns. We are hoping that this quilt earns a lot of money for the auction.”
I sure hope so too, and I have a feeling it will. Thank you so much for choosing my designs for your efforts.
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Wonderful project from a group of wonderful ladies and for a good cause.
Debbie
What a lovely story. I love the photos and the progression of the quilt. Good work, and congratulations Kay – inspiring stuff. Janine in Perth, Western Australia.
Beautiful quilt and story. Loved seeing the photos of the women working on the blocks and their happy faces upon completion. Gorgeous block designs, Kay!
The non-traditional quilting is a happy surprise for the viewer. Best of luck in the auction! Thanks so much for sharing the story.
I LOVED THE HEART QUILT SURE WOULD LOVE THE PATTERN
This to me is what Applique and Quilting are all about!
This heartwarming story brought tears to my eyes after a difficult day. Thank you for your inspiration, ladies of Fairfield, and thanks to you, Kay, for sharing this with us.
OMG – How talented you all are! I learned that you can quilt anything that you think fits the pattern. Never thought of that. Thank you so much for sharing this quilt.
From a “removed” Californian.
I have a great passion for appligue and will love to know how to go about it.
Hi Gladys! Go check out my appliqué blog, allaboutapplique.net. There’s lots of information over there about all kids of appliqué.
http://www/allaboutapplique.net