I bet you’ve been wondering where I have been. I’m not normally quiet for a whole week! I’ve been busy finishing up a six week collaborative project. You know how it’s so easy to get down in the dumps thinking of all the horrible things going on in the world and all the terrible people doing awful things? Every now and then it is nice to have an experience like this that reminds you how wonderful and loving and caring people can be.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jeannie nearly two years ago through blogging or Flickr. I am not even sure how we met, but am so grateful that we did. She is such a wonderful supporter of all my crafty efforts. She always has positive comments that she leaves here on my blog and on each and every picture I post to Flickr. She has tested my patterns on more than one occassion and always does it so quickly. Jeannie also has a huge heart. She is so upbeat and cheery that you would never know that she is often working on very little sleep. She helps her daughter care for her very sick granddaughter around the clock. They have numerous doctor’s appointments and treatments. Recently, she has really been stretched thin. Her granddaughter’s health has been failing and I thought it was high time someone take care of Jeannie. Since she is too far away for me to cook for her, I did what any quilter would. I decided to make a quilt.

I picked the Greek Cross block because it is simple, can be made by quilters of various skill levels and there is a tutorial available right here (thanks Faith). Since I wanted to invite others to make blocks for the quilt, this seemed the perfect choice. I started by inviting people that I knew Jeannie was friendly with and then I hunted around through her Flickr contacts and noticed who commented on the pictures she posted and invited some more people to the group. In turn, they recommended a few more people. Before I knew it, I had a group of 22 wonderful women happy to contribute to the quilt. 21 of us made blocks, someone paid for the batting, another made the binding, and many contributed to the costs of making and sending the quilt. I was overwhelmed by their support and actually started to worry that the quilt was going to get to be too big!

I asked that the blocks have scrappy grey corners and white background with brightly colored crosses. Jeannie loves color; the more the better.

I hope this quilt comforts Jeannie. Making it certainly brought joy to my heart. It was wonderful to see how many people so willingly stepped forward to help me. I’d like to thank each of the participants as listed here:

LilyClaire on Facebook
PattyAnnD
100billionstars
chriso10kids
{Leila} Where Orchids Grow
LBG Studio
Noodlehead
redthimble
ayumills
verykerryberry
dutchcomfort
Arbonnegirl
aaaandreaaaa
applekrisp
cindys0707
keykalou
chickenjulie
amydunn
lizh2
LethargicLass
love2quilt7