70,273 long skinny finish

Another finish for 70,273 project commemorating 518 lives lost in the Nazi programme to get rid of disabled, elderly, and mentally ill. This one is 15”w x 46”l.

Top

Bottom 

I am sewing on the hanging sleeves as we speak.

70,273 project again

Another 18”x22” finish for 70,273 project commemorating 439 lives lost in the Nazi programme to get rid of disabled, elderly, and mentally ill.

70723 Middling

The Middling I was working on is finished! Even the binding.

Now onto the next one.

70,273

Remember when I was working on xx embroidery for the 70273 project? I had a few quilts to the point where they needed quilting. But physical issues became too much for all the projects I had set myself.
Fast forward and the project has reached the goal! So I thought I better finish these and get them sent off.

Enjoying my machine again now that I can see again! I am stitching ovals around these xpairs.

Apologies

Not getting much done. Debilitating Back Spasms.
Thank God for Doctors that straight away take you serious.

In the meanwhile...
getting back to stitching on one of the Long Skinny pieces for 70,273.

70,273 quilts at FOQ

This was one of the 70,273 Project quilts which the Coxhoe Quilters (near Durham) entered into Festival of Quilts.

This group has been very active in the project, stitching together blocks sent to them and making them into quilts.

And here is another attempt at my long skinny. Which is better than I have managed here at home, but not good.

It was in a rather awkward place, so hard to get a point of view that the camera also appreciated! Or do I need a better camera?
But anyway, those who managed to find it had a visual story even if they didn't get one of the show guides with the statement printed.

At FOQ!

Bags were packed, including this gift for my birthday from my sister-in-law Alice...

Who said it looked like a 'Sandy bag'.

And now I am in Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts. It will be wonderful to meet up with old friends and make new ones. I sort out the rota of volunteers for the SAQA gallery exhibition. This year I have a piece in that exhibit!

I also have a few pieces entered into the competition part of it. Including:

 
Willows by the Watercourses
In the Quilts Creation section

Ramshackle Villages
In the Art Quilts section

70,273 Project - My Contribution
In the Contemporary Quilts section

If you are coming to the show, look out for them! and maybe I will see you there.

The Thoughtful Man and Holly will be minding the house. A Certain Young Man is off to visit his cousin who works in Jersey.

The 70,273 Project - Middling 1 complete!

These titles are what I am giving them so I can keep track of what I am doing. Each quilt is given a number by Jeanne, who organises the project....so she can keep track!

This quilt commemorates 400 of the men, women and children who were killed by the Nazis because they weren't considered of value to society or were too much of a burden.

As I said before, I overlapped scrap pieces from having made blocks when I started taking part in the project. Then I stitched the scraps together with the raw edges exposed. For me this says something about pieces/people that would normally be considered of no use, by my taking 'useless' pieces and making them useful.

Anyway, I counted the pairs of x's and there was 392, so I stitched 8 more to make 400. (There were probably that many before, but I had to take some out because they were to near the edge for putting the binding on.)

You might like to get an idea of what the families of these people were told about their loved ones 'death'. Read some of the letters to family from officials.

The 70,273 Project - Long Skinny 1 finished!

and done - I must say it is Very Hard to photograph something nearly 2 metres long.

Commemorating 630 of those who were killed in the Akton T4 Programme.
It was a very terrible thing. The very least thing I can do is help to remember them.

And I have entered this piece into the Festival of Quilts so that more people can learn about what happened.

The 70,273 Project - Middling 2

In the meanwhile - watching TV project.
Whilst quilting and etc for the other pieces, I have been working on the stitching for another middling.

again, apologies for the blur. This is about holding your arm up over the piece
 and taking photos til you get one where the whole piece is in the frame!

This is a fabric which has a sort of ticking effect, so I have been using the  lines created to form the spacing for the x's.
I am thinking about quilting affirming words in the blank lines.

The 70,273 Project - Long skinny 1

Stitching down the binding on this:

38cm x 2 metres  click to enlarge

Details of the stitching and quilting
   
And the Middling 1 is ready for binding stitching, too.

70,273 Middling 1 - nearly done

Last week I showed you that I had to extend the middling because I had mixed the measurements up.

So, I have been working on it this week. It is extended, more X's added and all the quilting finished.
Next is to bind it.

oh, and still to count the pairs of x's. I want to check what it looks like when the binding is on first. I may have to remove a few x's at the edges and maybe add some in certain places.

Middling - oops

Oh dear.

When I put the extra strip along the side of these overlapping patches, I then trimmed it to near the size. Only ... I trimmed it to 15 in., which is the width for the long skinnies. Not the middling, which is 18in.
So, having got the machine quilting almost to the edge, I thought I would check the size... and found the problem.

Now, I have been making additions front, middle and back to get it up to size. And then adding more x's while watching tennis.

It sort of reminds me even more of the ones these red x's commemorate. They weren't considered 'normal', either. But still they didn't deserve to be done away with. 😢

So, my mis-measurements have given opportunity to remember even more of these precious people.

The 70,273 Project - middling quilting

Over the weekend I got the long skinny and the middling both sandwiched (top batting and backing).
I wasn't sure where to get started with the quilting on the long skinny, so I have started with the middling.

For this one, I knew I had to separate the close x's along the overlapping seams. So, I decided to circle them. And then from that idea, it seemed natural to go on and do 'pebble' quilting for the rest.

Middling 1 quilting

In the meanwhile, I am thinking about the long skinny quilting. I don't think I want pebble for that one. For a start, though 15in wide, it is 2 metres long! But also, I think something else will work better.
Still thinking about what, though.

The 70,273 Project - long skinny stitching finished

I've been stitching pretty steadily on this* and now I am happy with it.
(Click to see the photo larger.)

I need to count the pairs. I am trying to work out a plan for how to do this!

And a better way to photograph a piece 2 metres long.

Next up - pressing, layering and quilting.

*Good thing for Women's Cricket World Cup on the Radio! And now Wimbledon has started. Working on finishing off the Pleather Dragon gown.

The 70,273 Project - long skinny cont.

Red x's next size down

and then starting smaller ones for filling in.

The 70,273 Project - long skinny cont.

Making progress

Step 2 is large red x pairs.

The 70,273 Project

I have been working on a 'Long Skinny' for the 70,273 Project.

I saw some of the other work with shapes outlined...like a heart and a dove. I thought about the symbols for disability, some of which I have used in previous work. SO, once I got past how to mark it in order to outline with x's, I got on quite well.

I did a sort of dashed line with a fine pencil, which then was covered up. This is the figure at the top of the 2 metre piece.

The red x's still have to be in obvious pairs, so it was fun trying to work that out.

Listening to the cricket while I do this. Ladies Cricket World Cup

The 70,273 Project

I have been working on other projects, but now that most are no longer at their hardest stage, I have taken time to work on another item for the The 70,273 Project.

They have reached the 1/4 point of numbers of people commemorated. And now they have a couple other ways to reach the goal. 'Middlings' - which are fat quarter size 18"x 22", and some called 'Long Skinny' - 15" x as long as you like.

So, I thought I would take all my offcuts of white, that came from cutting the blocks, and try to fit them together to make up a Middling. You can add as many pairs of red x's as you like, as long as you can tell they are a pair.

And here is the finished top. Sorry for the fuzzy photo. It is too hot to retake now!
Now to sandwich it and quilt it on the machine.

I overlapped pieces and stitched them together with the raw edges exposed. For me this says something about pieces/people that would normally be considered of no use.
some of the stitches along the seams are pretty close together, but when I quilt them, I will do a circle round them to set each pair of x's apart.
I will get a good photo when I get it done.

And I realised I never put the last of the photos up for the ones I sent off to Jeanne! So, sometime this week...

Forms and Parcels

This week has been a filling forms week. Sometimes it takes all day to take photos and do an entry. Or to get things parcelled and off in the post.

However, though I can't show everything, I will show you a collection of work I sent off for the 70,273 Project. The TVCT group did 86 blocks! Over half were done in January at the meeting, but the rest were done by people and their friends at home during the months til May. Well done!

Margaret Jackson near Durham is going to piece them and quilt them with her group.
Jeanne sent this message:
TVCT: I know y'all won't meet for a while, but when you do, promise you'll tell the members how very grateful I am for their participation and for commemorating 86 people so beautifully and mindfully.

And now I have committed to making a 'Long Skinny' 15in wide x as long as I like (which should be about 2metres). I have sent on my entry forms for the Festival of Quilts. 2 entries already complete. And since I have time on my hands (not) I thought I better do something to spark the interest of all the quilters at the Festival of Quilts. Better get stitching then! (as well as beads on a dragon gown, beads on the Other Bead Project, and 3 pieces for possible entrance into a book which I have to keep mum about for now!)

Oh dear. Would someone tie my hands down when the next cool thing comes along?