DONE!

Parkinson’s Law -

“Work expands to fill the time allotted.”

This is one of those sayings I was first exposed to while in college. I’ve never forgotten it.

I think it’s the reason I didn’t allow myself to even start working on those two quilts I was going to make for our local “sick kids” charity until a few days ago. I figured if I started early, I’d just goof off and take all my time on them and still not have all that I wanted to get done, done. So, instead, I spent some time getting ready for the rest of “Checkered” and another UP Greens I’ve started. THEN, I started on these very special charity quilts.

But I did finish.

I actually finished them on Sunday afternoon.

I made the labels today (Monday) - and the labels took me longer than the quilting did, I think. Or maybe about the same amount of time!

But, at that point, it’s not about money - it’s about pride - MY pride. My personal level of “what I wanted to do”.

Let me show you the labels first.

Wait. Let me back up.

Some of you have no idea what I’m talking about.

About 10 days ago - maybe less - I was at someone’s house picking up a donation of fabric, and this lady asked me if I would donate a quilt or two to the annual fundraising event our town has which raises money for sick kids in our town.

She had asked for one, and then said something about a second one to put up on a display. I was thinking that the display was sort of like a museum and would also be for sale. The first one would be for the auction which they have.

I donated one last year and while it did fine - the person who bought it was an American and I shipped it to her.

I figure it won’t really make the money it should, but I know it does provide interest to the auction to have people make different really NICE things.

So, I said, “Yes.” She had said something about the 25th - so I just put it out of my mind for a few days and told myself I would “get to it” in time to finish up two quilts. I had decided that I would make smaller quilts this time - not large ones. I also thought that however long I give myself to do it, that’s how long it would take.

So, I made two.

I since have found out that the idea was that the one for display would be for the artist themselves to have money. However, when asked about it, I told my acquaintance, “No, both are for the kids”. Some of these kids have things like cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and other serious disabling diseases and need physical therapy. While Poland has a socialized medical system, and will generally keep people alive, the parents seem to have to pay privately for needed physical therapy and other ‘extras’ as they deem them. I am not sure why physical therapy isn’t covered under their system, but apparently it isn’t.

This ‘event’ is called Gwiazdobranie i Dawanie and they hold this event at Christmas time. I participated in a couple of the first ones they held by setting up a booth and trying to sell some quilts. None sold and I didn’t keep it up after two years - though I did GO to the activity and ended up supporting the action in various ways.

Last year, because of COVID -19, they did it all on line with a running auction - which I really preferred. I’m at the age now where I don’t really get into the madness of a loud, very busy place. I prefer a bit more ‘quiet’. So, I participated a lot last year on the on-line only auction.

That’s the back story.

The first one I made was Sweetness and Light. Here are two photos - the front and the back. The pattern for this one is up on the site (free).

I had decided on this one because a lady down the street had given me a bag of her shirts. In it were 6 shirts and a jacket. I used all 6 of the shirts because I simply loved the colors. At first I picked out 5 of them - excluding the darker purple one. I thought maybe the darker would be a downer on the coloration. However, after looking at what I had, I thought maybe I had too much pink (Is that even possible?) since I had 3 of the 5 shirts that had a lot pink or dark pink them. The other two had blues in them. Then, the sixth one I decided to add was purple. But in the end, the colors turned out delicious.

For the backing - I used a pink sheet which wasn’t all that big. Because I needed to add more to it, I found some white - and then added strips from one of the shirts to each side of the white strip. In the end, the backing that I made was just barely big enough - but big enough it was.

When it was hung up as today it was sunny, you can see the strips that I put on each side of the white strip as they look dark through the white background fabric. All the white in the quilt was from second-hand sources - also from a local guy who was getting rid of his grandmother’s linens.

The quilt roll:

 

The second one I made was what I am calling Bento Box. Here are the two photos - the front and the back. I used Fractured Squares but changed it up a bit. I shrunk the blocks and added a fun border. In the future, I hope to actually write up this pattern for you.

I used a light blue sheet for the backing.

Once again, I needed to add more fabric to make it big enough. I cut strips from the extra leftover blue shirt pieces that were 6.5” wide and cut them into smaller pieces which I then sewed together to make a nice wide strip up and down. I didn’t put it right in the center because I wanted it to be off centered.

You can also see the purple strip. That wasn’t there at first, but as I was pressing the newly made backing and getting ready to sandwich, I noticed a stain about 1” wide right in that spot. I took the opportunity to tear the sheet right in that spot and added that purple strip and made that spot disappear. In the end, the new look that ensued with the purple strip down the side - I really like!

The quilt roll:

 

Both of them are made from all upcycleds made from fabrics received from local people in our freecycle group which was started by our very own town.

I ended up taking them to the building Monday afternoon and left them for them. I will find out later what actually happens with them and how they deal with the quilts. I did leave them in the hands of the lady who organizes this charitable outreach. At this point, I’m on to other things and trust that they will take care of my gifts.

I truly loved how both of these quilts turned out and hope that they do raise some money for the children.

So…I’m breathing a sigh of relief. That was a big push and I’m feeling great that I finished. I did wait a little too long to work on these two quilts, though. Next time, I’ll work a bit farther ahead!

And so ends this little short story of two quilts! Neither one of these is very big - The purple bigger one is 60”x80” and the pink one is about 57”x70”.

The push for this charity starts in November and ends towards the end of December. Each year they raise thousands of dollars for these kids and I can’t think of a better cause. I’ll let you know what happens with these quilts later. Don’t wait for it - though. I will let you know more when I know more.

Have a great day wherever you are reading this! Thanks for coming along with me on my quilting/sewing journey!

Becky Petersen13 Comments