Why?

In 1980 I had a baby boy. His name was Josh.  As a grown man Josh stood 6 ft 5 in tall.  He had the longest arms that he would wrap around you and let you know you were loved.

Although he never had any of his own, Josh loved children. He seemed to have a natural affinity with them and they loved him back.

In 2012, Josh fell to his death in a rock-climbing accident. I miss his hugs - they were so special.

What has this got to do with quilting? I need to go back to the early 2000s. 

A beautiful lady at the church I attended presented the opportunity to make 50 quilts for children in Cambodia. I knew very little about quilting. My exposure to quilting came through my grandmother who quilted by hand. You basically put two pieces of fabric on each side of batting. I also knew hand quilting was not for me - too slow and tedious. (I was informed I could sew the tops together by machine and someone else could quilt it.) I did have some basic sewing skill learned in high school home economics. My certainty was that I love color and I love to create beautiful things. I was greatly moved by the idea of providing blankets for children living in an orphanage. I joined this group of mostly novices and dove right in.

Without a single lesson, I started making quilt tops. Strip quilting sounded appealing as it produced the most quantity for the time I had available to sew. I used 2 inch strips or larger. Then I would cross cut them to create a grid. I even gave a talk to our group one time on how to pick fabrics. What a laugh. It was basically pick a multicolored focus fabric and match your other fabric colors.

We reached our goal and shipped those quilts, although it was very expensive. After that the group just seemed to dissolve. Life got busy and I did very little quilting, but I still had so much fabric. People had donated fabric and I had also purchased fabric at discounted prices and through thrift stores. It was all tucked away in plastic bags in a closet.

Last year I did some critical thinking about my life goals. As I said, I love to create and I enjoy working in many different mediums. For several years I did floral arrangements and other various folksy crafts. I dabbled in rockhounding, beaded jewelry and wind chimes, etc. I was what my dad called, "a jack of all trades and a master of none". I needed to focus on one creative outlet. I decided that outlet should be quilting.

Many parents who lose children start organizations to raise awareness or scholarships, a way to commemorate their child's life. I wanted to honor Josh and his hugs by creating quilts for children who may feel unwanted or unloved.

I've had several people suggest that I document my quilting endeavors, therefore this blog.