Won't You join me?

I spent my free sewing time today on a different endeavor. Making Maverick stars ranks quite lowly on my list of desires, as I am really not a fan of the improvisational quilting. I much prefer my stars to be more symmetrical and orderly. But yesterday I came across the Bushfire Quilt Project (see link on sidebar), and knew I wanted to help out. You can too, if you have some scraps (oh, come on, we all know that quilters have scraps!!). The 12.5" quilt squares being made for this project are being made into quilts for those Australians that have lost homes and loved ones in the recent brush fires.
Mine aren't nearly as artistic as some that are shown on the flickr site, nor are they from great designer fabrics. But they all have a story to tell, and some child or individual will love the quilt that they are made into.

Here's my story (and you may have to double click on the 2nd picture for a better look)... Two years ago when I started making the Project Linus quilts, my sister-in-law donated some blue fabric with red bows to me. I told her I thought it was about the ugliest thing I had seen, but probably could use it anyways. She went on to tell me that it was bequeathed to her from her sister-in-law, some years after this woman had stopped trying to have babies. She lost a couple babies inutero on account of a birth defect, and also lost at least two babies after they were born to the same diaphraghm defect. The ugly blue fabric (as well as others she gave me then) were selected by this ever-hopeful mother when she was planning the 3rd or 4th baby's nursery. Because she had already lost two previously, she was apprehensive, and was waiting to decorate the nursery after the baby was born safely. This sadly never happened. So, you might think, this is a horrible reason to use a particular fabric. The first Linus quilt I made using it, made my sister-in-law cry. Each that I have done since, and there have been 3 or 4, have made me think how tremendously lucky I am to have wonderful living (though occasionally bratty), but loving kids. I had a few scraps of this fabric left and decided to use them as the centers of these blocks. The red bows symbolize hope, which these people desperately need now.

The very busy background was also donated to me, and seemed so apprioriate of this project. It reads "Earth Team" and "having a ball". This project is most definitely a worldwide effort. Besides, it looks fun and youthful. I think it is really an Arbor day fabric, but who needs material for Arbor day??? I made 6 of these in case Tia thinks it too busy or inappropriate to put just one block into a quilt. It shouldn't look so out of place if there are a number of blocks.