Guest Blogger, Quarantine Quilts

Quarantine Quilt Project: Life in the Time of Coronavirus, Part I (Guest Blog Post)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am so excited! My tremendously talented friend Wendy Hill has agreed to do a series of guest blog posts about a wonderful quilt project she’s been working on with children in her neighborhood during the quarantine/”COVID-times”. Over the past several months, she’s shared with me updates on this amazing project and I invited her to share with my tierneycreates blog readers. I hope the story of this project makes you smile as much as it made me smile.

Wendy Hill is a fiber artist and teacher who has written several art quilting books to include most recently Creative Quilt Challenges, cowritten with Pat Pease.   She has a website Wendy Hill Quilt Artist and you can follow her current work and musings on Instagram @wendyquilter.

Quarantine Quilt Project: Life in the Time of Coronavirus

Part I: Once Upon A Time

This is the story of two neighbors who banded together when the state government ordered a lock down because of the first Global Pandemic in over 100 years.

The big wide world was suddenly narrowed down to one house each for the four young boys next door and for us, a retired couple.

We live on a quiet cul-de-sac of a street, in a woodsy area, and now our respective worlds are turned upside down. 

#1 Yards#2 Yards#3 Yard SM“The Boys”, ages 2-8 years, explored the area around their house after finishing ‘school’.

With no fences and the houses close together, “The Boys” inevitably spilled over into our yard.

One day, it seemed, to them, a good idea to fill our birdbaths with dirt and make mud. “The Boys” cleaned up the mess and later dropped off an apology.

“Can you ever forgive us?” the note read. 

#4 BirdbathThere was nothing to forgive! “The Boys” were going stir crazy.

I sent an invitation to participate in “An Exchange”. I started with a drawing of a mouse, which looked a lot like a rat, and invited “The Boys” to add to the drawing. This drawing, plus two others, went back & forth until we had finished artworks. 

#5, first drawing#6, first drawing#7, collage#8, 3rd drawingLife during the pandemic meant one day blending into to the next, without much definition. But now, we waited to hear the patter of footsteps followed by the chime of the doorbell.

Likewise, I could hear “The Boys” squeal with delight when I rang their doorbell. It was exciting to open the door and see what The Boys left on the porch. 

One day, I sent over a note which read “I have a bit of a crazy idea….”. I sent over a Big Bag of Fabric Scraps with instructions to fill up blank 8 1/2” by 11” pages with fabric pieces. Overlaps of fabric were okay but no gaps. I explained I’d sew the fabrics together to make “quilt blocks”.

If “The Boys” had fun, we could keep it up until we had enough to make something.

#9, Bag of ScrapsThe mom replied “This sounds like a great idea!” and we were off.

The Boys had fun playing with color & texture, and they enjoyed seeing their fabric arrangements get transformed into blocks. As the number of blocks grew, they played with layouts on their floor. We agreed to make enough blocks for a quilt.

We were all building new pandemic memories and they would have a cuddly family quilt. Win-Win-Win! 

#10, The Boys#11, making arrangements#12, more arrangements#13, trial layouts

Wendy’s Next Guest Blog Post: The Boys Make 61 Blocks!

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

52 thoughts on “Quarantine Quilt Project: Life in the Time of Coronavirus, Part I (Guest Blog Post)”

    2. The Boys parents were really happy with our Exchange. I like to say my “inner teacher” came out (as a retired public school teacher).

      Liked by 1 person

    2. That’s the beauty of this project. My husband and I are separated from our family members too. So we got to connect with our neighbors and The Boys had something fun to do. And they will carry these memories into their adult lives and hopefully the quilt goes with him for many years to come.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. Why do scraps seem to multiply overnight? It’s the bottomless scrap bag, as the more we used, the level of scraps never seemed to go down!

      Liked by 2 people

    2. The blocks are amazing! This is what “improv” piecing really is– with no preconceived ideas and no way to go “wrong”.

      Liked by 1 person

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