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Quilts Matter

I work on the Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing sick kiddos - precious ones with bald heads and tubes coming from their chests and noses, tethered to poles with pumps pushing toxic meds through their little bodies. It's a punch in the gut when you see them trying to carve out a childhood among the monotonous day-to-day routines of being a patient.

But remarkably, they still laugh and ride Big Wheels in the hallways and paint pictures and act silly. Just today one of our little guys got to walk outside for the first time in months. And it was like a party in the hallways seeing him off to the elevator so he could go "see the sky". Sigh.

A tidy stack of quilts on the linen cart.

I'm a quilter, so every time I see a quilt making a statement or holding a place of honor in someone's life or space, I notice it. On our unit, as many other units do, we get a linen cart everyday that's filled with sheets, blankets, gowns, bed pads and scrubs. It also carries a neatly folded, tidy little stack of handmade quilts.

Most of them are made with hideous Christmas and cheesy novelty prints, but some are sweet and simple and cute. They're not very big - just enough to cover a toddler - but big enough to snuggle for even the twentysomethings that frequent our unit. The quilts are donated to the hospital through the hospital's sewing room (yes - we have our own sewing room!) and are made by volunteers.

I gotta share this story with you because it's the perfect illustration for why quilts matter.

Awhile back, we had a patient named Hannah*. She was a fiesty, blond haired and blue eyed four year old little firecracker. She had a complicated family situation - she was born to a teen mom and was being raised by her grandparents. Hannah was diagnosed with a rare blood disease that literally makes the body attack itself, causing damage to large organs and the nervous system.

As Hannah's disease progressed and the longer she stayed in the BMT, she became increasingly more anxious about the everyday routines of being a patient. Vital signs (blood pressure, temperature, weight and oxygen saturation levels) and daily rounds of the medical team became a time of panic for her, a time that she became non-compliant and combative. Getting her vital signs was nearly impossible and physicians and nurses couldn't get an adequate assessment of her. Over the course of about 4 months, it got to the point where she would scream if anyone even knocked on the door.

One of the Patient Care Assistants, Tracey, was one of the only caregivers that could even get in the room with out Hannah having a meltdown. Tracey had managed to find out how to approach Hannah and even befriended her a little. One of the responsibilities of the PCAs is to change the patient's linens everyday, which includes bringing them a clean quilt from the cart. Everyday, Tracey would bring Hannah a quilt and Hannah would give her opinion of the quilt, telling Tracey it was either ugly or pretty. When Hannah became very ill and was in a lot of pain, Tracey changed her strategy to picking out the prettiest quilt in the pile for her, making sure Hannah knew that she got first pick on the entire unit. Hannah thought this was the best thing ever and it very quickly became their daily routine. Tracey started negotiating pretty quilts for good behavior when Hannah needed to get her vitals taken and get examined by the medical team. It was the only tactic that worked. A team of behavioral therapists couldn't get Hannah to comply like a pretty quilt and a clever PCA could.

Hannah's conditioned worsened and she was eventually transferred to the PICU. Problem - the PICU didn't have quilts on their linen cart and Tracey wasn't there to bring Hannah her daily dose of quilty goodness. So Tracey, everyday, would nab a quilt from the BMT cart and take it over to the PICU and lay it in Hannah's bed. And even when Tracey wasn't there to do it, someone else would take a quilt over there for her.

A quilt waiting for a new patient on the BMT.

Hannah passed away in the spring. She was a very sick little girl who suffered a long and painful death. Even though I have strong faith in God's plan for everyone, I sometimes question these outcomes. I question why that little girl was turned inside out and had to suffer. I just don't get it.

But what I do know is that a quilt, made with love and delivered daily with hands that care, was a bright spot in the life of a sick little girl. A quilt made a garbage dump of a situation not as stinky. A quilt got a frightened child to feel safe and warm and calm. A quilt mattered to her.

And that's only one of the quilt stories on our unit. 



*Not her real name.

Diner Love

I love diners, especially old-school joints with a classic feel and a simple concept. I went to visit my dad a few weeks ago and he took me to an awesome little gem called the Cove Diner in

Fallston, PA.

 

It's owned by a guy named Ron and he's turned this vintage truck stop into a 50s themed diner with a car repair center on the other side. According to my dad, this was THE truck stop in the 50s and 60s, complete with sleeping rooms upstairs and full-service truck repair/fueling station. My dad says he and his friends used to frequent the 24-hour diner as a teen after a night of mischief.

 

It's so stinkin cute, y'all. It's homey and vintagelicious and just plain fun. Who doesn't want to eat their scrambled eggs in retro booths and checkerboard floors?

 

 

The counter is original.

 

 

Oldies in the jukebox. Elvis, Frankie Valli, and Chubby Checker.

Cheap eats. The best.

 

 

This is hanging next to the jukebox.

The front of the Diner side.

The back patio.

If you find yourself in Beaver County, Pennsylvania anytime soon, be sure to drop in to the Cove Diner.
And tell Ron that Joe's daughter sent you.

Busy, but not

I'm still here, my lovlies. I've been busy/hiding for a little bit. I do that - I hide. Kind of ironic for a blogger, eh?

I have so much show and tell for you, kids.

First and foremost, my husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage yesterday. TWENTY! I can honestly say that very few people thought we'd last a year, but we're here, 20 years later and looking forward to growing old and incontinent together.

So you know I had a big birfday at the end of April and I got some delicious goodies from my friends and family:

 

From the husband. New iron to replace my hated piece o'dung Rowenta. I like this Black and Decker - heats up fast, holds lots of water, good steam and nice weight. My hubby did his research.

 

 

FQ bundle of Glimma from my friend Julie, who picked this out all by herself, even though she had no idea what a fat quarter was.

 

 

 

A FQ bundle from my sweet friend fiberchick of Rashida Coleman-Hale's exotic and lovely line. Love this.

 

 

 

And I've not been super-busy sewing lately as I've had a little trouble with my lady parts that resulted in a little minor surgery last week. But I'm feeling back up to speed today and almost pain free. The most I've been doing is pulling fabric for projects. I do that a lot.

 

 

I have no business starting another project right now, but I can't help but want to make the St. Louis 16 Patch I keep seeing on Instagram. I pulled a bunch of pinks, blues and purples to see if I can come up with 20 FQs to pull this off. This isn't going to get done immediately, but I might just cut the strips and put them aside for later.

 

 

My sister-in-law lives in the Southwest and she just moved into a new house. I want to make her a housewarming gift and her colors are very....southwest. Greens, browns, turquoise and terra cotta. I think I'm going to make a cute little pillow with a simple design.

 

This is a work in progress. I'm writing a few patterns right now and this happens to be made from the "scraps" of one of the projects. 4" half-square triangles set on point make me happy. And the colors against the black essex linen (which is really pewter colored) make me a wanna smack my momma.

 

 

 

And this was really exciting. I've been emailing quilting legend and sweet potatuh Darlene Zimmerman and we talked about Kelly and me using some of her templates for some of our upcoming projects. So she sent us some! Kelly and I both want to make a Joseph's Coat and the Pickle Dish and Darlene generously sent them along for us to try. I'm pretty excited to try these out, but I have to say they have A LOT of pieces. A LOT. The great thing about these templates is everything is figured out for you - the fabric requirements for baby thru king size quilts are on the back and complete instructions for cutting and piecing are included. Not sure how I want to tackle this one, but I've been looking at Pickle Dish and Joseph's Coat quilts on the interwebz for a few days.

Pickle Dish:

Tenneseequilts.com                                                                pinterest.com

Joseph's Coat:

quiltindex


Hyacinthquiltdesigns.blogspot.com



And it's prom season, so I'm making bow ties for my son and a few friends. I still have a few more to go, but these are done. Not sure why someone wanted a pink and white elephant bow tie, but I ordered this fabric from Hawthorne Threads. So cute.

Quilt Block for CCHMC

I work in the Bone and Marrow Transplant unit in the Cancer and Blood Disease Institute at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. It's a special place, y'all, and I feel very privileged to be providing care for patients and their families at a scary, stressful and sometimes very grim part of their lives. I don't always like my job, but I do feel like I'm supposed to be there.

So when the hospital announced that they were asking for quilt blocks from each unit for a quilt to be displayed in the main concourse, of course I had to volunteer to make the one from our unit.

My manager suggested that I include cells or blood elements in the design.

Um, no.

I wanted something cute and simple and to the point.

Transplant Awareness ribbons are green/bright green, so I wanted to use that element as the focal point.

I have Jenny Doak's paper piecing book, which is a great resource if you want basic designs.

This 6" block is in the book and I used the ribbon part of it and skipped the heart. I enlarged the ribbon to 8" and used a TOT green that had both green and bright green to cover my bases.

You can find this block on Carol Doak's website for download. You could use it for breast cancer, supporting the troops or any other awareness ribbon.

I. love. paper piecing!

Love it.

Sampler Pattern Winner!

 Nikki M.April 29, 2013 at 11:05 AM  Happy Birthday! I'd use Navy, Emerald, Aqua, and mint!

 

Nikki M - Congrats!

Email me at andiejohnsonsews @ gmail.com!

 



It'sMyBirthday Pattern Giveaway!

 

 

I'm forty years old today.

40.

It seems like just yesterday I was 17 and a size 4.

Sigh.

 

But I actually feel pretty good about this milestone. So let's have some fun, ok?

 

 

I'm giving away a copy of my new pattern!

 

 

Leave a comment telling me the color palette you'd use for this baby.

 

 

Winner chosen on Tuesday April 30.

 

 

 



New Pattern Available on Amazon

In November, I had the good fortune of this project kinda falling in my lap. This is a pattern released by David & Charles Publishers and is available on Amazon.

The 25 blocks are from three of Rosemary Youngs Civil War books (The Civil War Anniversary Quilts, The Civil War Love Letter Quilt, and The Civil War Diary Quilt). I made the cover quilt and wrote the quilt pattern instructions using the blocks from Rosemary's books.

Images for all of the blocks, plus complete instructions, are included. This pattern is for experienced quilters - probably not for beginners. I paper-pieced the blocks, but you could also trace each piece and cut each out individually and piece them.

I had so much fun putting the paper-pieced blocks together that I'm ready to make this quilt again! Love love love paper piecing. And the yummy DS Fabric that I used from Joann Fabrics make me seriously happy.

This is the finished quilt. I thought about selling it, but my daughter grabbed it and wrapped herself up in it the day I brought it home from the photo shoot and it's been wrapped around someone everyday since.

But I will make this quilt again. Oh yes. Maybe this time in some yummy Tilda or Liberty fabrics.

Yes.

Field Trip - Silk Road Textiles in Cincinnati

I had the pleasure of popping into Silk Road Textiles in the College Hill neighborhood a few weeks ago. I'm very familiar with this neighborhood as my childhood church where I was confirmed and where my babies were baptized, College Hill Presbyterian, is just down the street. Fond memories of this area for me. It was like coming home.

Let me tell you - you can't help but be inspired to sew/quilt/knit/eat chocolate and travel the world after visiting this shop!

Teresa, the owner, is a petite, well-spoken, passionate lady who has a very clear vision of the kind of business she wants to be running. She was in the Peace Corp and has traveled extensively.  Teresa wants to support women-owned businesses, especially ones that are operated by women in impoverished countries, and you can't help but admire her enthusiasm and vision.  Come along with me on this field trip and you'll see what I mean.

Ok, you all know how I feel about rainbow order, so of course this picture had to be first! This is Yara African Cotton Brocade and it comes with a waxy coating. Teresa says that after washing it it becomes very soft.

The store has a lot of light, which is so nice.

This is the lounge area in the front. So cozy.

I really love how the store is arranged - it's like a treasure hunt. Yarns are displayed with fabrics which are displayed with notions. To the far left are patterns and books moving down into hand-dyed yarns and Kona solid fabrics. There's also an amazing selection of handmade jewelry and bags - which of course are all women-made.

There are some pre-cut fabric bundles available as well as a few kits.

This is linen. And it's so delicious, you guys. It's so light it's almost sheer, but the colors are rich and it's incredibly soft. And it comes in metallics. Yes - metallic. Want that pink in the middle. Going back to get some.

This is a display at the back of the store, which is really the main entrance from the parking lot. The richness of this display made my tummy tickle. The saturated colors and the hand quilting of the pieces are beautiful.

Mmm hmm. That's some Liberty fabric on the left and some Kaffe Fassett Shot Cotton on the top right. And of course I had to get some of both. The fabric on the middle shelves under the shot cotton is fabric from Japanese quilter and designer Yoko Saito.

Some more Indian cotton. It's handprinted and dyed - and it's sooo rich and beautiful.

This is one of my favorite shelves in the store - it's Australian fabric from M&S Textiles. This fabric is amazing. Uh - may - zing. The colors, the prints - sigh.

Madeline Tosh yarn, which apparently in the knitting world is kind of a big deal. I don't knit, but I aspire to knit, mostly because I love to look at yarn.

This is an interesting little nugget of info. Teresa did a test with several of her quilting and sewing friends in order to help her decide which thread to stock. She gave each person 5 different threads to use and then report back which one they preferred. Hands down, they all preferred this Presencia Thread . Every tester said they liked the weight, the silkiness and the fact that there was virtually no lint left in their machines after they used it. I bought a spool and haven't used it yet, but I'll give a full report when I do.

Another little display of floss,  patterns, jewelry, and notions.

Uh, and how smart is this shop owner? She has these beautifully packaged fair-trade chocolate bars at the counter. She knows her demographic.

This was, by far, my favorite find in the store. It's a wide cotton printed with these wonderful little color blocks on both front and back. It's really beautiful and could truly, on it's own, be a piece of artwork stretched over a frame. I'm going back to get a few yards. I need it. And it also comes in a black background, too. I forgot to write down the maker, but I'll report back about this beauty.

More yarn deliciousness.

Look at these, people.  They're hand-fired glass knitting needles. I die.

This is hand-dyed fabric from Cincinnati-based fiber artist and quilter Barbara Grothaus. She runs fabric dyeing workshops out of her home just down the street from this shop, which my Kelly has taken and really loved.

There's also a good selection of Marcia Derse, Kaffe Fassett, Dan Bennett and Brandon Mably fabrics as well as some Riley Blake, Amy Butler and Valori Wells prints.

This shop is a great resource for modern and art quilters as well as knitters/crocheters. Friendly, bright and happy and a very interesting little gem to explore worldy textiles and handmade goods.

Even if you can't make it in to Silk Road, it's fun to learn about products and textiles you didn't even know about.  Maybe they're available in your neck of the woods!