Friday, October 16, 2015

Flowers for Eleni

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope."
~Lady Bird Johnson


#flowersforeleni


This quilt. It is just amazing. I've been so honored to work on group quilts before, but this one?  This one just means so much to me. 

In the spring, a very loved quilt blogger, Rachel Hauser at Stitched With Color, and founder of Do. Good Stitches had something happen to her that I could so relate to.  Something was wrong with her baby.  She was so beautiful and shared her fears and worry over her baby daughter after her delivery. She wasn't sure of she what was in store for her darling Eleni's future.  I remember saying out loud. "Please God. Please do not let her join the babyloss club I joined in 2009. None of us members are excited to see new members". 




Then. In a flash. Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth was doing a shout out for a bee blocks. Hashtag Flowers for Eleni. The irony was that I had just started making a mini charm pack of Simply Color by Vanessa Christensen that I had won in her Quiltcon class.



Within a day, I had six blocks for her to send to Australia.




As I packed them up, I had already noticed that she was receiving a huuuuge response for the flowers. And then I thought about how large it was going to be. And then I thought how expensive it would be to ship a quilt back to the states.  

Then, as if my darling Jamie Lynn had whispered in my ears "tell her you can quilt it" 


The back:  TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY QUILTERS NAMES!!!!

Fast forward to the finished top. It took Jodi a bit longer to send it to me than we had anticipated. Because she had received 
550 Flowers. 
From 240 quilters. 
From 4 continents. 


It took the efforts of my tallest son and husband to hold this mammoth quilt up!

Amazing, right?

Here's the ugh part. I had to take down Ole Betsy right before for our move to Utah within days of its arrival on my doorstep in Texas.  Bummer.  I reminded myself that I could get up and running pretty quickly. But then I ran into a big problem. We didn't realize someone had smoked in the house we bought, and most of it happened in what was to be and is my studio. 




Finally. Gloriously. The flooring was finally installed and I was able to load her up. 



And I might have had a bit of stage fright when I first started.




But I finally found my groove and decided on treating each hexie flower as an individual.  




I quilted leaves and swirls around each flower.




And tried to do individual designs on each flower center.  




Of course, there was repetition...but I really tried to be thoughtful for each flower.




And I would be lying if I didn't say I poured all my love and prayers into it.



Jodi sent along the great fabric for binding.




But it was a shy short, so there are two pieces of this V&Co orange added in.




Rachel should receive it soon.  But it was a crazy mail week with Columbus Day around these parts.  I sure hope she doesn't mind it came later than planned.  And I hope she knows how loved she is by her fellow quilters!  

And I love that they all Did.Good Stitches




14 comments:

  1. Yay, it's done! Thank you for quilting and finishing this field of flowers and love!
    I really hope it will be liked and get used a lot by Eleni and her family.

    hugs from Germany,
    Kat (the little yellow duckling flower)

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    Replies
    1. It was a true joy! I felt special that I got to quilt each flower and really enjoyed seeing what everyone sent! Those duckies....I almost did a duck inside, but I'm not that skilled!!! <3

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  2. What an excellent job you did with the quilting, love the idea of treating each flower as an individual. :-)

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  3. Wow, it looks wonderful! What an amazing quilt with an amazing story. Glad to have been able to add a very small part to it :)

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  4. This was such a phenomenal heartfelt idea ftom the start and im so glad I was able to send a hexie flower for Eleni. I wanted to make more, but I was very much a beginner at sewing hexies. You did a beautiful job on this!!!!

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  5. Amazing. I had tears stitching the flowers and tears every time I see them. Such love, prayers,and thoughtfulness of so many people together as one! Thank you for all your work. It is truly Amazing!

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  6. Amazing. I had tears stitching the flowers and tears every time I see them. Such love, prayers,and thoughtfulness of so many people together as one! Thank you for all your work. It is truly Amazing!

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  7. You have done such an amazing job on this quilt, it really has been a true labour of love from start to finish. It has been inspiring to see all the work that yourself and Jodi put into the flowers for Eleni quilts and there are no words to thank you enough for all you have done in making these flowers that so many of us made into something so magnificent!

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  8. Hello, the hexi quilt looks fabulous so congratulations to everyone! I have only just opened this email about the quilt and wondered what size the hexis each were and did everyone applique their flower to a square background and then you joined the blocks together and added the backing and batting? would love to know, thank you... I love hexis too! Best Wishes, Annie in South Wales, UK....

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  9. You did a beautiful job. I believe that some of the flowers I contributed ended up as part of this quilt's back. (I used a little V & Co. too!) It's so inspiring to think of them making their way from me, out to Jodi in Australia, to you, and on to Rachel, Eleni and their family!

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  10. That is amazing, Heidi!! Good on you and your fellow quilters in supporting your friend!

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  11. So beautiful. I love the detail in each flower - thanks for taking so much care and effort. It's a privilege to have contributed a small bit to this fabulous quilt!

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  12. Recently started my own clothing line consisting of originally designed, hand crafted, one of kind apparel for women. I specialize in dress making although I have given a try to making all types of clothes from men's jackets to women's separates to handbags. The process of taking a design on paper to a wearable piece is one that can get complicated this blog

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I cannot wait to hear what you have to say! Seriously! It makes my day!

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