Passing on the Comfort

Welcome to Treadlestitches!

It's a hazy shade of winter outside this morning, so indoor photos will have to do.  Here's my latest Rainbow Scrap Quilt finish, the first of the Uneven Nine Patch baby-sized quilts. 

Snicklefritz the cat is really getting the hang of posing on a quilt.  I think he likes this one.  Maybe because another name for this pattern is Puss in the Corner?

Here's a closeup.  The blocks alternate between light centers (like the Sneetches) and dark centers (like the stars and comets).  Each block is made from two light charm squares and two dark charm squares.  (Click HERE for some quick instructions.)  Of course there had to be a Green Bay Packers block!

This red block is my favorite: hands, and hearts, and love.

I'm sure you can't see from this photo, but the white fabric has a subtle butterfly print.  I bought several yards of this print for a different quilt, but changed my mind.  A strip of the blue butterfly print from the border makes the back wide enough.
 

Sometimes I wonder what happens to the quilts I donate.  I always hope they'll be loved and used, but you never know.   Just as I was thinking this, my friend Debbie C. sent me this photo.

It's a detail of a quilt found in Germany.  The tag on the back identifies it as being made by the Canadian Red Cross.  Hundreds (thousands?) of quilts were made in North America and shipped to Europe as World War II was ending, to help refugees and people recovering from the war.

This is the back, and the hand stitched label.

Here's what it looks like close up.  Great pattern, right?  And hand quilted.

The quilt was published in the Suture and Selvedge blog, which focuses on textiles and women's lives.  (Click HERE for the article). 

That started me thinking about a book I had read about similar quilts found in Europe, so I hunted it down on my quilt bookshelves.  It's called Passing on the Comfort:  The War, The Quilts, and the Women Who Made a Difference.  The authors are An Keuning-Tichelaar and Lynn Kaplanian-Buller.

Once I found it, I realized I had only skimmed it before, looked at the quilts, and moved on.  I am very disappointed in myself for doing that!  This week, I actually read it, and was very moved by An's narrative of living through the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.  As a nurse and a Mennonite pastor's wife, she took in people fleeing and/or hiding, including Jewish children and adults, and did very dangerous jobs for the Resistance.

The quilts in the book were made mostly in the U.S. and Canada, and shipped out through the Mennonite Central Committee.  Lynn Kaplanian came along in the 1980s, saw the remaining quilts in a house she stayed in, and arranged for them to be exhibited.  She encouraged An to write down her memories.  

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in World War II history.

In other news, the GSAFE Quilt and Fiber Art Auction to benefit LGBT youth finishes on this Monday, Dec. 4.  I donated three of my quilts, including the crayon quilt above (but not my dog!).  Originally I had planned to give these quilts to other places, but I am finding that they are doing okay in the auction, even though they are miles away from perfect.  It makes me wonder.  Will I do more good by auctioning/selling quilts than by donating them directly?  Maybe I should set aside a few "special" quilts for these occasions? Something to think about.

Have a wonderful week, and happy quilting!

Thanks for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap