Tree Blocks for a Cause

A few months ago the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild in New South Wales, Australia had reached out to the world of quilters through their website and social media groups, requesting tree blocks in their effort to make quilts for the affected families of the #bushfires in their communities.  You can read their original post here: Australia is Burning. 

I love the meaning/purpose behind the Wollongong Modern Quilt Guild's request for tree blocks, and think it would be an excellent paragraph of symbolism to add to a quilt label:
"...The tree is a symbol of growth and nourishment. A tree symbolizes the generations of a family; a tree sprouts from a seed, the roots provide strength and stability, and whilst the new sapling is young and vulnerable they are protected by the other trees until they grow and flourish. In time the branches spread and then create new fruit that gives life to the next generation."

So in light of the above, I started collecting tree patterns.  I now have a pretty big stack of them.  But due to the limited time I had available for working on them, I was never able to finish and send more than 5 blocks. 😩  I did have a 6th block under the sewing needle, but couldn't get it done on time.  (Deadline to ship was February 29th). 

Due to the fact that I have accumulated so many tree patterns, I still hope and plan to make each one of them at some point in the near future.  And since there is a worthy cause and need for donated quilts and quilt tops here in the United States, I will make and donate a quilt/quilt top to my favorite charity, Quilts of Compassion.  They travel the states, hand delivering quilts to victims of natural disasters.  I've donated quilts and quilt tops to them in the past, but it's been a couple of years since I've had any to send their way.  This will be an excellent way to use those tree block patterns for another very good cause!

Well anyway...  below are photos of the 5 blocks I sent over to WMQG... hoping they will make whomever gets the quilt(s) they will end up being sewn into, happy.  That's all that matters to me!
Pattern credits are on each photo.

2018 Finishes

I was diagnosed with cancer in April of 2017, and spent the rest of the year having chemo and radiation.  I lost most of my hair, which as a woman, found it very devastating.  Especially since I'd had long hair for over 10 years.  I had to quit my job due to being too sick to work, and finally after all the cancer treatment was done, I got really sick with a viral infection when my immune system was at its lowest.  I landed in the emergency room where they gave me an antibiotic that in turn started shutting my kidneys down.  I spent almost a month in the hospital fighting for my life.  My kidneys were only working at 20% and I was facing dialysis if things didn't turn around quickly.  After all was said and done, I ended 2017 with the news that I had beat cancer.  2017 was one of the worst years of my life.  It came in with bad news but thankfully went out with good news.  I obviously didn't sew much in 2017.  So in 2018 I made it my goal to finish as many projects as I possibly could.  I am proud to say I feel accomplished in all that I was able to do last year.  Now I'm hoping 2019 will be even better.
And in light of all this, it explains why I haven't been very active here on Blogger in the last couple of years, but here's a recap of some of my 2018 finishes that aren't already part of their own post. 

 

Wingless Wyrm is a paper-pieced quilt block I made
using a pattern design by Jennifer Ofenstein of Sewhooked.com