It takes a village. And some fabric. And thread. And batting…
August 17th, 2011
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!
Posted in I Heart Oregon, Do Something |

Miss Monica, you just made me cry … a real honest to goodness happy (zombie) tears of joy cry! :)
August 17th, 2011OOhmygosh..you always have so much fun. Extra fun is when its for a good cause. And omg don’t you just love Kristyne’s work? So pretty.. anyway xo
August 17th, 2011OMG!!! I can’t believe this story! You and your friend Kristyne working on the SAME quilt without knowing. Unbelievable!
August 17th, 2011OMG! I actually own the World Of Geekcraft book! I *LOVE* it!
Your posts so make me want to get into quilting, but it looks so hard to make them so pretty!
August 17th, 2011A wonderful story and a fabulous cause!
August 17th, 2011This post is everything I love about all the amazing, generous, talented people I’ve met since getting bit by the quilting bug. And that includes YOU!
August 17th, 2011Such a beautiful quilt, Monica, and great story behind it!
August 17th, 2011It was so fun meeting you at the quilting bee–and happy I got an introduction to the PMQG.
Congratulations ladies on your kind hearts and wonderful spirit to help the quake victims!! That was so great that you got together in friendship to do such beautiful gifts.
Wish I lived closer to I could help too. At least I could participate in the Quilters Newsletter project to send a quilt to Japan to help someone keep warm. The image of that little man huddled over a fire heating water for his tea broke my heart.
August 17th, 2011“Awesomeness bathing in a pool of awesomesauce while sipping an awesomegarita” Sometimes it’s hard to put things in words but I think you got it!! Daniela and Susan are so amazing for bringing so many people together and getting all these quilts completed!
August 17th, 2011Looks like a fab time — and all for a worthy cause. I’m thinkin’ Ms. Krystyne should be considered for SW4 status. We could perform some ceremony at market. (Speakin’ of which … where IS that hubby???)
August 18th, 2011Fantastic!
August 18th, 2011Thanks for sharing this great charity event! Our foremothers knew the great joy in doing for others and sharing the burden. Great to hear that we are continuing that tradition. I will be sending my next ‘random’ quilt to QFQ. Keep up the great work.
August 18th, 2011well, you all looked like you had a great time for a great cause.
August 18th, 2011I love that spiral quilt and wonder where the pattern might be located. I think I see one in my future. Thanks!
Boy do I wish I was living in portland to be a part of such a cool thing….wrapping up my own piece for Japan but it is more collage and less quilt. Boy that made sense lol….I am dream traveling to Oregon where I hear water falls from the sky and green thing grow from the ground…so if you are ever traveling through Albuquerque you need to stop by and see the scrub desert mesa lol
August 18th, 2011I’m gonna be honest, these are the most beautiful quilt donations I’ve ever seen! Usually when I see quilts made for charity, I feel sorry for the recipients because it didn’t look like they were made with the kind of love and care that these were made from, they look like they were made with some one else’s discarded fabric, no thought to the design, no sense of how can to make the gifted quilt very uplifting for the recipient. These are all gorgeous and I know that they will send a feeling of love and connection in a way that words cannot say!
August 19th, 2011Great post and wonderful that you have all come together to create for such an important cause…!!!! Wish I was there…
August 22nd, 2011I live in Japan and can’t tell you how much your thoughtfulness and generosity mean to everyone here! Thank you!
August 22nd, 2011How wonderful and inspiring! So wonderful what friends can accomplish together :)
August 22nd, 2011