Happy Zombie

With a feeling of helplessness, sadness and horror over what happened at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, I went straight to where I find my comfort and happiness and that is to my sewing room.   I think every quilter can relate to that do-something-mentality of needing to make a quilt, to give love through cotton and thread, to hug someone with a quilt.  The Modern Quilt Guild has a great blog post about #QuiltsforPulse Charity Drive with the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild.  There are lots of great ideas and info on quilt blocks.   For my own personal needs and desire, I wanted to create my own and I thought I’d share it.  I made a pattern that could be used by guilds, clubs, or individuals. Individuals/groups making blocks or individuals/groups making entire quilts.

There are 49 heart blocks in the Love Quilt, one for each person who lost their life.  One heart for each person who left behind a grieving spouse, partner, parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins, and friends.  One very important heart of forty-nine very important hearts.

The Love Quilt can also be used to just show love, and maybe it wants to be made for other loving purposes.  Please use this pattern for all kinds of love that need to be celebrated!  I ask please that no profits from this free pattern be made.  Unless of course a finished quilt is used for a charity auction/raffle to raise money for such organizations like Equality Florida/Support Victims of Pulse Shooting,  your local LGBTQ center, It Gets Better - any charitable organize that promotes love, kindness, safety, help, shelter, equality and support would be awesome.

This Love Quilt pattern is very basic and for quilters who know how to make quilt tops.  Not included are finishing measurement and instructions (sandwiching, batting, backing, quilting, and binding), and is intended for individuals as well as guilds, groups, and clubs.  Please feel free to download the PDF version and share with your friends, or group, or you can give your friends or group the link of thehappyzombie.com/love and they can go download and/or print it themselves.

Click here to my Instagram for comments/to comment.

When it feels like the world is falling apart - at the ready are quilters who lovingly want to piece it all back together. It’s what we do. Piecing love and comfort into one scrap of fabric at a time.

The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild and the Boston Modern Quilt Guild jumped into action and gave us all an opportunity to Do Something. I encourage anyone reading this to hop over and read their blog posts and get involved. Get involved fast, because the deadlines are soon approaching. If you’re a member of a Modern Quilt Guild, check with your guild’s blog if there’s going to be a collection at your May meeting.  To my fellow Portland Modern Quilt Guild members - there will be a collection at our May 16th meeting.

To Boston With Love RESOURCES:

Vancouver MQG: To Boston With Love
VMQG POC: Berene of Happy Sew Lucky
Portland MQG: Bring your flags to May 16th meeting
VMQG: To Boston With Love – tutorials and inspiration
VMQG: To Boston With Love – shipping info
To Boston With Love: Flickr Group

Quilts for Boston RESOURCES:

Boston MQG: Quilts for Boston
BMQG POC: bostonmqg@gmail.com
Quilts for Boston: Flickr Group

Here is my contribution for To Boston With Love:

I followed the beautiful color palette provided by the VMQG, and because my flag was love from Oregon to Boston - the fabrics I include were from my friends and fellow Oregonians Mo Bedell, Violet Craft, Valori Wells and a few of my own fabrics as well.

I chose the FurtuaBlack BT font because that’s the font used by the Boston Police.

I used my favorite easy appliqué method and the color crayon + embroidery method for my lettering.


Color 2

I made the long unit version (all the instructions and measurements are on the VMQG blog), stitched up the sides into a pocket, pressed, trimmed off the excess (I made mine longer so I could trim and square it up), and added the binding tie.

I’ve made a little recipe for it in case anyone else wants to make one like ish or like mine.

Make one long unit

Printable heart and BOS template (be sure to set your printer to scale at 100%)

Measurements and amounts

To Boston from PDX with love

Thank you Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, Boston Modern Quilt Guild, Berene Campbell, Amy Friend and everyone involved in giving us the gift to be able to give!

When American Patchwork & Quilting asked me to participate in the One Million Pillowcase Challenge Blog Hop I jumped at the honor!

The American Patchwork & Quilting 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge is a really cool and fun way to Do Something for your community in your community. It’s so simple and so fun. Make a pillowcase and donate it locally! Well, that’s the nutshell version. APQ will explain it much better than I, but what I love so much about this is that it’s so community based. No fuss, no muss, no paperwork, nothing to mail - just making, having fun and giving.

What’s really cool is that APQ has gobs of pillowcase patterns, and even a video on how to make a really slick pillowcase. The APQ pattern I used was the Prairie Point Pillowcase one with my new Winterkist line.

I love Prairie points! When going to the pattern page, be sure to scroll down to see the entire archive of patterns.

APQ’s blog hop is hopping for the entire month of September with some of their favorite designers and 2012 sponsors. Be sure to visit every day to see the pillowcases and see how they’re helping the communities they’re in.

September 1: Welcome from American Patchwork & Quilting
September 2: Rashida Coleman-Hale
September 3: Olivia and Alayna’s Pillowcase Project
September 4: Morgan’s Smile Factory
September 5: Pat Sloan
September 6: Northcott
September 7: Betsy Chutchian
September 8: Vanessa Christenson
September 9: Andover Fabrics
September 10: Laurie Simpson
September 11: Oak Hill, Ohio
September 12: Robert Kaufman Fabrics
September 13: Pam Buda
September 14: Indygo Junction
September 15: 4-H
September 16: Katie Hennagir
September 17: Anni Downs
September 18: FreeSpirit Fabrics
September 19: American Patchwork & Quilting Staff
September 20: Patty Young
September 21: Moda Fabrics
September 22: Monica Solorio-Snow
September 23: Moda Bake Shop
September 24: Andover Fabrics
September 25: Roseann Kermes
September 26: Ann Kelle
September 27: Therm O Web
September 28: Edyta Sitar
September 29: Fabri-Quilt
September 30: Cherri House

Gather some friends and make pillowcases! I gathered up my friends Traci and Gabrien and we had a blast.

Packing up sucks when you have to wait for your iron to cool. If only someone would design an iron cozy for a hot iron…

Bam - iron cozy. I’m sure I’ll be hearing any day now from AP&Q begging me to write up my instructions. Yup, totally sure.

Happy Zombie Iron Cozy (patent pending)

When bad things happen to good people: Amy & Anabel.

When good people do things for good people: Katy & Sarah. Comfort, kindness and goodness prevails. Click here if you’d like to do something - give hugs with blocks.

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Shortly after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, Daniela and Susan sprung into action and established Quilts for Quake Survivors. Not only was QFQ to be providing love, warmth and comfort - it in turn gave many an opportunity to do something.  I know this to be the norm amongst all quilters - in times of tragedy our immediate instinct is to MAKE A QUILT.  Now.  Pronto.  To comfort someone else - and the by-product of that is it comforts ourselves.  Thank you to Daniela and Susan for the do-something-good double whammy.

The third by-product of QFQ is the community esprit de corps it fostered.  The feeling of an old fashioned quilting bee - or a barn raising. On one QFQ occasion, Cherri opened her doors to her beautiful Sew On Studio for a night of QFQ sewing. Most of us there that night were from the Portland Modern Quilt Guild along with some new friends we got to meet and sew with!

Clockwise:  Finished quilts and works in progress.  Jen holds up a quilt made by Alicia (no one could stop ooohing and ahhing).  Alicia has two posts about her quilt here and here.  Marsha points to a Kaufman solid we’re all in love with on Paula’s quilt top.  Awesome spiral quilt!  Paula showing her gorgeous quilt - her FIRST QUILT SHE EVER MADE, and not only that… but PAULA DONATED HER FIRST QUILT SHE EVER MADE!

Cherri’s design wall saw a lot of action that night.

Sweet, sweet, sweet Susan gave me two of her books that had just been released.  TWO.  Yes, TWO.  Susan has TWO books out at the same time.  The same time!  Sorry, am I shouting?  Just that Susan gets me all excited and happy.  I just L-O-V-E Lhhhhhhove Modern Log Cabin Quilting and World of Geekcraft (and BTW… best book title ever).  Susan’s such a crafty goddess, I think this makes 5 books for her?  But these two are my fave and kick serious book ass.

Daniela, Suzanne and Michelle admiring a beautiful quilt (and Patty’s beautiful fabric used).

At a prior QFQ/Susan’s Modern Log Cabin book signing event at Modern Domestic, I started  some log cabin-ishy blocks out of Bari’s County Lane fabrics - I then finished the blocks this night at Sew On.  Jen plays with setting them on the design wall.  The blocks then went in the pile and on to some other loving hands to finish the next stage.

The wonderful thing about QFQ, it wasn’t about making a quilt, it was about participating in the making of a quilt. To do what we could. Some of us pieced blocks. Some of us pieced quilt tops. Some of us quilted. Some of us bound. Some of us made an entire quilt start to finish. We all did something different, and we all contributed with our hands together in a common goal. I had made the blocks above and off they went to another person.  As well, I had donated a top - and Kimberly beautifuly sandwiched, quilted and bound it (her photos here and here).  At our July guild night-park picnic, Susan had a huge IKEA bag full of QFQ quilts and tops that needed finishing.  There was this one super pretty quilt that was calling me - not only made in Lecien’s Flower Sugar line… but it kind looked like my blog.  Hello Monica, this is Destiny calling - please pick up line two.

The Flower-Sugar-looked-like-my-blog quilt was pretty much done, only a little bit of quilting I had to do plus I bound it.  I didn’t know who made the quilt… that is until I posted it on flickr and Amy kindly left me the answer.  I had a triple OMG moment when I discovered it was my friend Kristyne who had made it!  I had the best It-Takes-a-Village-moment ever!  And so global too, as Kristyne is in Canada.  Remembering Hands Across America - this was kind of a Hands Across North America to Japan.  I feel so blessed to have had this quilt+love+barn+raising+goodness moment with Kristyne even though we didn’t know it.  Is there a saying when you give one thing, you get a hundred things back?  Yeah, I feel like that.  Awesomeness bathing in a pool of awesomesauce while sipping an awesomegarita.

THANK YOU Daniela and Susan for giving us all the opportunity to participate in the awesomeness that is Quilt for Quake Survivors, my husband for indulging me in a The Walking Quilted with Kristyne’s quilt, and to Kaci for nourishing us with rosemary fries from Burgerville!

In a time of need, in a time of happiness, in a time of tragedy - the first response by a quilter is to make a quilt. Loving and nurturing others through bits and pieces of beautiful cotton that have been pieced together with loving hands. Quilts allow us to wrap our arms around others and let them know we care. To warm someone who’s cold.  To reach across the world and be a loving neighbor.

As much as my heart was ready to jump in and make quilts and send them off to Japan, my head knew that what we need to send to Japan right now is money through relief organizations like the Red Cross and MercyCorps. There are a lot of great quilty and crafty fundraisers in Internetlandia right now (Susan and Alicia each have a great list here and here), but I couldn’t put my needles down. I wanted to help raise money as well as I had to make a quilt. I had to do something, and do it now - so Love Pockets for Japan was born. A little 8″ x 12″ quilt with a pocket for collecting money.

So I’m thinking… what if we all make two - one for yourself/your family and one for you to sell/fundraise.  If you do make one to sell, please give 100% of your sales to go to Japan’s earthquake and tsunami recovery and relief efforts.  Sell on you blog, your etsy, to your family, neighbors and co-workers. Make four. Make eight. Sell, sell, sell… donate, donate, donate, donate, donate!

I’m treating my Love Pocket like a swear jar, and I should have it consistently filled and refilled. Every time I reach $10.00 - I’ll alternate donating here and here.

I have a PDF template here. To make the pocket I traced a 5″ circle for the stitch line.  I folded my template into quarters to find my center.

After I traced and stitched on the line, I trimmed my pocket to a ¼” from the seam, snipped my curved edges and cut a small slice in the pocket’s liner (at the bottom of the pocket) for turning.

I pressed the pocket and embroidered with a blanket stitch (can be top-stitched, fielder’s choice) to the quilt top from stop and start markings on the PDF.

So my hope is that a quilter will get their fix to make something and also to be able to sell something to generate funds for their donation(s). I hope this is a way to be able to encourage your kids to share their allowance, family members and co-workers to skip the latte and drop some cash into the Pocket of Love (that’s strategically pinned at the entrance of your cubicle/office) instead.
My Love Pocket is made entirely of fabrics from Japan. Another way to support the people of Japan is through purchases of goods that come from Japan. My favorite places to shop for Japanese fabrics is at Sew, Mama, Sew! and SuperBuzzy - and both shops are currently supporting Japan earthquake and tsunami relief organizations.

Practicing what I preach, I’m going to sell the Love Pocket that I made, and I will donate that entire sale to the Red Cross. Starting at $10.00, who ever leaves me the highest offer for it (mention it in your comment if you’re interested) by 5pm PST on Friday, March 25, 2011 - that’s who I’ll sell it to.

Edited in:
Highest offering has now ended. Congratulations to Diane P! This is such a thrill for me to send her this Love Pocket! Thank you to everyone for your generous offers. I wish I could show what my inbox looks like and show off all the kindness and generosity of others who have privately pledged donations. Look to the left. Look to the right. There’s a really, really, really good chance you’re looking at someone generous, giving and kind. When awful things happen… the stronger that goodness shines!

Opportunities to serve my country comes in many ways, and last week I discovered that my friends Lissa Alexander, Polly Minick & Laurie Simpson and the good folks at Moda have started the Just One Star program.  An opertunity just perfect for quilters!  I’m a veteran and a quilter, so Just One Star touched me all the more deeply.  And because I love Polly, Laurie and Lissa so much… well that was gravy on top of gravy on top of a pot of gravy.  You can read all about Just One Star on Polly and Laurie’s blog here and here, and on Lissa’s blog here.

I am sooooooo crushing on Just One Star.  But like a potato chip, one is just impossible.

So I thought I’d make two… one in red and one in blue.

And it just snowballed from there.

I don’t even know how many I’m still working on at this point… but I’m loving every second of it.

I’m thinking of making the entire Minick and Simpson Flag of Valor quilt…

maybe two… and maybe one of them in a Happy Zombiesque red, white and aqua-blue twist (I figure I’m a veteran… I love red, white and aqua - surely I can’t be the only one), and then donating it to the Quilts of Valor Foundation.

For even MORE inspiration, visit Pam and Sherri - they’re Just One Star’n it too.  How ’bout you?!

Click on the FQ button and see what the good peeps at Fat Quarterly are doing if you donate to the Queensland Government Flood Relief Appeal. Every $5 can make a difference.  Check out Toni’s blog and see what needs to be done… and what can be done if we all give a little.  We all can make a difference. Oi. Oi. Oi.

There’s soooo much goodness out there that you can donate via and possibly win something - you’ll find it all on Toni’s blog.  I do want to shout out to my sisterfriends Sarah and Natalie and their donations.  Sarah is donating this quilt to support the Queensland Government Flood Relief Appeal …

… and Natalie is donating this quilt to support the Queensland Government Flood Relief Appeal…
These and soooooooooo much more CAN BE YOURS!

A personal appeal to anyone reading this to spend a little. I know times are tough - my own family is a victim of this bad economy.  My husband is on unemployment and we’re dipping into my dwindling savings to just buy groceries. Not to get too personal or too sob story-ish… but I DO KNOW how tough a spare $5 or $10 can be.  I also know what it’s like to live in a disaster and have help come from far and wide.  A little over 3 years ago we had a huge storm (20+ hours of hurricane winds and rain) - we lost part of our roof and dozens of trees; no heat, water and power for a week; no roads because they were under fallen trees; no phone, radio or tv; we were cut off from the world.  My little city was a sea of blue tarp’d roofs and roadways of fallen evergreens.

By no means were we a Katrina or Queensland flooding… but it was a disaster and we needed help.  And we got it.  There is no feeling like it in the world to see people from lands far and away come and give you aid and love. Strangers who’ve left behind their families to come help yours.  Our little Oregon community was flooded with emergency crews and utility crews from all over Oregon as well as California, Montana and Idaho.  Washington was kinda busy with The Storm themselves - and yet we still had crews come from Washington.  Amazing.

The kindness of strangers, no matter how big or small… makes a difference.

No matter how tough times are for me, and no matter how little or big I can give… I always want to be someone’s Mountain Power of Idaho and hope you can too.

It’s been a few years since I made my Four Bean Salad with fabric from Allspice Tapestry by Fig Tree… and it’s traveled from Oregon to Iowa for star treatment at Better Homes & Gardens for the 2008 Summer issue of Quilts & More.  Such a star… that Four Bean Salad has a celebrity name… Bay Breeze.  After years of being lovingly stored in my quilt cupboard… it finally has a loving home to go to.  Will it be yours?  Read more about it AND how it can be yours AND how you can help Haiti - here at Helping Haiti from the angels at the Fat Quarter Shop.

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Doing Something could never be easier.  Or more fun.