9 patch on it's way
 

This 9 patch for Rodney in Centralia is on the way. It was made from scraps on my 1950's Singer Spartan.

The other Rodney
Ponchatoula, La.

Thank you Rodney! I think Ashleah will love it!
Looks like the cat just escaped it's bag. :D
It might be a trait of people named Rodney that we can't keep a secret. :)

Miriam, we were going to surprise you with a quilt for Ashleah. I guess you're still surprised. :)

The plan was to tell Miriam when it was done and ready to ship. That's ok though, I wasn't 100% sure whether surprising Miriam was the best plan or not and decided to go with surprise.

Now that the secret is out I feel better about it. I only emailed around 50 people and have had a very good turnout but could use more. This way all the people who would have been left out otherwise have a chance to participate too.
If I get more than I need for the front, they'll go on the back too. I expect my mailbox to be stuffed here soon.

Anyway the plan is to gather around 40 9 1/2" unfinished 9 patch blocks from the members here and
make a quilt for Ashleah. We're doing it quick so we can ship it to her while she's still in rehab.
Here's a copy of the mail I've been sending out.

QUOTE:
Roserips and I were talking and thought it would be a good idea to do a comfort quilt for Ashleah. Ashleah is Miriam's daughter in law. She had a severe stroke last week and is now in rehab for the next 3 weeks or so while she learns to walk and take care of herself again. She has a long road to recovery ahead of her. If we hurry we can get it done and shipped to her while she's still in rehab.

What I'm asking for is a 9 1/2" unfinished block size 9patch with a signed light colored center square from each member who participates.
Roserips and I will handle the back and quilting.
My mailing address is:
Rodney Walker
3401 Travera Place
Centralia, WA 98531
Please let me know if you want to help and feel free to pass this on. We'll probably need 40 blocks or so total.
I'll have to tell Miriam at some point to get a mailing address but want to surprise her when it's done.

Thanks,
Rodney
END QUOTE

Anyway, if I missed anyone who should have been told I apologize for the oversight.

Thank you everyone for helping with this!
Rodney

Please wait for my pieces, Rodney. Miriam is a good friend of mine and I would really love to be a part of this generous and great project you're doing for Ashleah. I am not a quilter per se but been sewing since I am a kid. Hope to get into it this weekend as weekdays are just to hard for me to sew due to my schedule. I start my day 5:30am and will not be home till 9pm. thanks.

Since the secret is out I can post my blocks.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/attachm...d=492830&stc=1
I still have to sign and mail them.

Cari

Singerguy: Not a problem. It's going to take some time for everything to get here anyway.

Also if we get more than we need for the front and bag, there's always a matching totebag or something. Every block will be used.

Rodney

mine went out today Rodney. I'm working with shirtings right now, so shirting 9 patches is what you are getting.

I'm speechless......

I'm choosing fabrics and will probably press today. The sewing won't get done until this weekend because I still can't sew in a straight line and my mother won't have time until then. Should get sent out Monday.

Thank You!
Rodney

Miriam, I just hope you're not mad at me for not including you from the beginning.
Rodney

This just goes to show how much we care about our fellow members (our extended family) and their families. Great bunch of folks here at QB.

Rodney. I wish I could send one. but I can't barely even move right now. 4 days ago, I was moving my lathe, must have pulled every muscle i have, from just moving plywood. It feels like I was hit by a Mack truck. what I have on hand isn't even close to what you have plans for ( size and shape)

Very sorry to see that. I hope you're feeling better soon. You just touched on one of my other hobbies. What kind of lathe?
Rodney

Mine's in the mail.... didn't take a picture of it before sending but I'm sure you'll get photos once the quilt is put together.

Miriam, you may not know this but you have been an inspiration for me as I've learned how to clean up and sometimes fix up the machines I've found. Any question I have, you're lickety split with an answer. And your encouraging words helped me to take my first tension apart and put it back together again without a hitch. To be a part of this encouraging quilt for your DIL is an honor. My prayer is that she will have a speedy and 100% recovery and you and your son will be able to take a full breath (without worry) again soon. If I do get a chance to go visit my sister in Indy this year, I'll be sure to plan a quick visit to shake your hand (and maybe a hug) to thank you in person for all you do.

Nanna-up-North (Jean)

Thank you Nanna!
Rodney

PM coming your way.

Cari

Rodney mine went in the mail this am.
Skip

WOW! I'm amazed and VERY surprised! WOW! Everyone one on QB has been so supportive. She was thrilled with just getting cards. The head of hospitality went to her room the day she left to see who it was that had so many friends! She will be over the moon with a quilt! She has been sharing her cards in the re-hab. There are stories from people and lots of encouragement. Ashlea is learning things over by leaps and bounds. She has surprised everybody, including herself. She got up out of the chair today and walked by herself!!! Ssssssooooo... she may be out of there in less than 3 weeks at least that is her goal. She would go home today if they would let her and if she could manage... I do not know the extent of what she is dealing with. She still has to learn to use her left hand, some speech therapy and I don't know what else but at least she is walking again and earlier than expected. Today she had to cook as part of her therapy. My son wants to know why she had to have a stroke to learn to cook??? She baked cookies for the first time in her life today and loved it and gave some of them away. I guess I should go back and post her whole story so everybody knows what is going on.

Ashlea is a childhood cancer survivor. She lives each day to it's fullest she has a tumor on her pituitary gland. It is benign and she has medication for all of that. She is a picture of sunshine. She has been wonderful for my son. They have been married about 10 months now. He met her 10+ years ago when we were on vacation in Florida. The two of them emailed back and forth and spent time when ever we went on vacation over the next few years. Eventually she went her way and he went his. Two years ago he was very down on his luck plus his car was T-boned by a drunk driver so her dad suggested she contact him. She did. While he was healing up from all that pain, they emailed and talked on the phone caught up for all the years they had been out of contact. Then last October he moved to Florida and he married her on the beach in November.

About 2 or 3 weeks ago we got a call from our son. He said Ashlea was not feeling well. He took her to Urgent Care and they told him to take her somewhere else. He took her to her cancer doctor. He did a scan and sent her to the ER. They had a team waiting for her - she'd had a stroke. After another scan, they did some surgery at about 3pm. A couple days later they were going to move her to a room but did a scan to make sure things were ok and found that she may have had another stroke. So instead of moving out of intensive care she had more surgery. At theat point the doctor said she had lost about 20% of brain capacity. During the surgery things didn't look so good. The surgery team sent someone out to tell my son they had done all they could... Not what you want to hear about is it? Prayers went up and the doctor did something innovative that is now medical history and will help a lot more stroke patients. She has had some set backs and some things go forward. It took about an extra week to get out of the hospital and into re-hab. She is there now and like I mentioned above learning to do things over and learning some new things. I'm sure she is spreading her own brand of sunshine all over that re-hab center, too. She is a very special gal. She is 27 - young for a stroke but also young enough to get her health back. My son said he isn't going to baby her so she has pulled up her big girl panties and dug into the re-hab. Her job was working in the prison in admitting and nobody messes with Ashlea. She has a lot of friends on the police force in Naples. We don't know if she will be able to go back to that job but they will find something to keep her busy when she is ready. I'm betting she will over come all the odds. I can't thank you all on QB enough.

There's always pillowcases that can be made as well.

I have been oblivious - nope not mad. I did wonder why you wanted to know her favorite color. I don't really know what it would be. I would say though, that she loves color. When they were here in June I taught her to sew on a hand crank sewing machine and she made a crazy quilt block.

That's a wonderful love story. And I hope and pray for her to re-hab all over the place, and show those people what re-hab is. My prayers are with all of you. Barny

Looks like it's a race. Ashleah gets out of rehab before the quilt gets to her or the quilt reaches her first. Let's pray Ashleah recovers enough to get out early. She still gets the quilt. :)

Thanks for not being mad Miriam. Glenn made a block for you to sign next time you see Ashleah and Caleb. Looks like that might change now but the block is on it's way.
Also thanks for sharing Ashleah's story with all of us.
Rodney

Some of you might remember a year ago when I did in a Touch and Sew... That was the day after my son moved to Florida. We were a little worried how that would all go down and we knew we would miss having our son around... http://www.quiltingboard.com/vintage...y-t232536.html

If nothing else her birthday is October 5th and their anniversary is Nov 2.

Well, now I know where I stand. I thought I was Miriam's friend too, but I wasn't invited to make or send a square.

Guess I'm not in the right clique.


Joe

Joe you are invited please send a 91/2" 9patch block to Rodney. the center will be white so you can sign it. Yes you are in the clique. Rodney is doing his best to notify all.

I just checked, I sent to jmiller. Not J Miller. There's no way I would purposely not send one out to you.
The difference one little space can make.
Anyway, I'm deeply sorry. That does explain why I haven't heard back from you.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/attachm...d=492854&stc=1
It's not real easy to see but what I thought was your name is the 4th one down. Jmiller is probably very confused as to why I mailed them.
Sorry Joe,
Rodney

Well, Joe, don't feel bad or offended, I didn't know about it either... Feel free to send a 9 patch where ever the 9 patches go. The kids have had to move out of their second floor apartment into something with no stairs. A little redecorating won't hurt. Maybe they will get enough for pillows and curtains, too... who knows. I am happy to have all you QBers for friends! From what my son said he's had to do a LOT of cleaning on the new place. I'm sure a quilt will brighten the place up a lot.

Here is my block that will be in the mail tomorrow. I've enjoyed reading Miriam's posts for years now and wish Ashleah, her son, and all of their family the very best.

Thank you Judy!
Rodney

I am not home now but will plan on getting a block in the mail next week. Miriam - your daughter in law sounds "spunky" and that is a good thing which will serve her well. Will look forward to hearing about her continuing progress.

My blocks (two) went in the mail this a.m. I didn't take a photo of them. Thank's for sharing her story with all of us, Miriam. I wish her a full recovery.

My block will be in the mail within a couple of days. Miriam, I just sent up a prayer for your daughter in law--and son, too.

Thank you Sheri!
Rodney

Funny story....I went to an amazing "fabric emporium" last Monday after seeing my Specialist....am on the 2014 moratorium but I found this very cool piece of fabric with gum nuts and eucalyptus flowers on a pretty green background. Bought it and thought it may find it's way into something 'special'....then I get a note from Rodney and then link in to this thread.....how serendipitous....my little piece of aussie flora is destined for Ashlea via Airmail....just hope it gets there in time.

Like I told Rodney, I’ve never made a 9-patch quilt block in my life, but put me down for two of them for Miriam. I’m going to use our 1901 Singer 27K2 Combination Handcrank Treadle machine to make them. I have my print fabric strip ready to cut into blocks, and have loaded the machine with coordinating thread to play with the darning/embroidery foot for my muslin signature block. It’s the foot #86294 that I mentioned in another thread that didn’t work too well for FMQ, but may work better for embroidering text. What a great project to give it a whirl on!

I printed out a variety of fonts on printer paper, clamped the paper into a hoop, and practiced following the letters with no thread in the needle yesterday. It went better than I thought it might. I think maybe I can do it, so I’m ready to thread it up and give it a whirl on my muslin today. Did I mention that I’ve never done embroidery of any kind before?

If my experimenting with embroidery text doesn’t turn out, I’ll make the blocks, hand-write the center block, get them sent in, and quit fooling around with the darning foot for now.

CD in Oklahoma

CD that is a totally amazing thing to be trying out.....very creative. Love that machine and your sense of adventure.

Colour and instructions?
 

Hi Rodney and all,

I've not been on QB since Steve left (that whole thing left such a bad flavour for me, I just found I was not motivated to come by with my morning coffee anymore...). However, another QB-er just emailed me to let me know of this project, so I just logged in this morning.

Rodney, this is so thoughtful and kind of you, I am almost at a loss! I am in the middle of a huge deadline with work, and I have put a moratorium on all things sewing until later in the autumn... BUT, I would love to try to contribute to this project in time. It can't be -too- hard, can it? Or can it? Now is confession time, and I may get kicked off QB myself for saying this:

I have never cut or sewn a quilt square. (Sigh! Gasp! Shock all around!!!!) Yep. I have sewn other things, but never a quilt square. So, I have a few questions:

1) Is there any colour scheme that we are to stick to, other than a white square in the middle?
2) Can someone tell me what are the standard dimensions for each square? And then, do you sew a true 1/4 inch seam, or a scant 1/4 inch?
3) In what order does one sew the nine pieces; first make three rows of three, and then stitch those together? If so, then in stitching those rows of three together, in which direction do the seams get pressed before they are sewn into the next seam? Butterflied open?

Yup. I've never even sewn a wee square. Still e-friends?

-Cecilia.

Steve is back. Admins showed a lot of class and professionalism during a vociferous "bring back Steve" campaign. Although the thread has been removed, a good decision IMO, I personally came to see both sides and am thankful things worked out. So, you can get the bad taste out of your mouth, knowing it ended up being resolved and in a manner that shows the strengths of board members and admins.

Welcome back Cecilia! Steve is back now too.
A light colored square in the middle that you sign is all I ask. Miriam says Ashleah is bright and cheerful, I'm sure she'll like anything you do.

Yes 3 rows of 3. Cut each square 3 1/2" on each side. When you sew them together it will give you an unfinished square 9 1/2" across. 1/4" or scant quarter inch, either is close enough. When it's sewn into the quilt the finished size will be 9". There will be variations with everyone's measurements so don't worry about it if it's not perfect.

I usually press toward one side. That, too, isn't critical. Go with what's easy for you.

Still friends? Of course we're friends and thank you very much for signing back on for this. I hope you decide to stick around again.
Thank you!
Rodney