Triumph and Tragedy Quilting Project Resumes!

Last January, what started off as a basic conversation on the Forums, turned into an idea about doing something special to commemorate the many historical Triumph’s and Tragedy’s that have affected a lot of us during this past decade. From there came the idea of assembling a quilt, which would involve many here on Etsy, by having each person who signed up, submit a quilt square that they felt either inspired or affected them personally. When I first opened up this idea to those on Etsy, I had a great many positive responses. I received quilt squares from Scotland, the UK, Alaska, and many states located right here in America; square’s ranging from Women’s Suffrage, The Oklahoma Bombing, Breast Cancer, Sept 11, 2001, Global Awareness, Adoption, Campus Shootings, and Pope John, just to name a few. As each person submitted their square which would become part of the quilt, I posted a picture of the block, as well as a write up of why that particular idea was chosen by the specific quilter. To view all of those submitted, or are unaware of the project, you can reference back through my many blogs which started last January 2008.
About two weeks ago, I received a convo from Gayle Williams, whatshername.etsy.com, whose beautiful contribution was called “American Has Heart”, asking what happened to the project. Sadly to say, that more than half of those who originally had signed up, had other commitments, and a few health problems. This left the dilemma of having too few quilt blocks to complete the Project. When I relayed this to Gayle, she immediately contacted her friend, Adriana, whose shop is, FabricCrazy.etsy.com, and asked her if she was interested in helping finalize our Project. Adriana immediately responded to me and asked if she could do a square on Katrina.
The picture above is of her finished square, which came out beautifully. The devastation of Katrina has a special meaning to Adriana, as both of her parents lived in Gulfport, MS, and survived the tragedy that befell many others. Coincidentally, Adriana was speaking to her parents on her cell phone when the storm hit their home. After that brief call, all lines were lost do to the storm and she could not get in touch with her family; not knowing whether or not they survived. After a week, when she finally heard from her parents who lived just blocks from the beach, they stated that what they saw in the aftermath was worse than anything they had seen during World War II while living in Holland at that time. Adriana and her family came to this country when she was just 5 years of age. So not only is this square by Adriana a beautiful tribute to those whose lives were lost due to Katrina, but also a tribute to her parents who managed to survive this great Tragedy.
Thanks to Adriana, I am now able to complete the project. With the help of Marion Lake, mademarion.etsy.com, we have already assembled the squares for the Triumph Quilt; and now can finish sewing together the many memorable squares received for the Tragedy Quilt. Once that is completed, Marion and I will begin the batting, backing, then quilting for each Project. What was once just a thought will now be the completed Triumph and Tragedy Quilting Project. Again, thank you to Adriana for that final bit of help, and to all those (not forgotten) women on Etsy for their beautiful contributions.