Quilt Block from New York State

Quilt block is of vintage fabric.  

Mother and Daughter Team Up

"My mother in Indiana is sending you a quilt block, so I thought I'd contribute one, too.  It was fun to make.

I hope you have many beautiful blocks to work with, with a gorgeous completed quilt!

Quilts are my passion!"

(The mother and daughter sent blocks on different days 

and arrived in Minnesota the same day.) 

Congolese Fabrics for MCC Traveling Basket Quilt

I returned from two years in Zaire 1972 with many meters of fabric which I learned to love for its beauty and practicality. We called it Java print. A few yearsago I realized that what I had not used for clothes or tablecloths would be welcomed by the TCMCC Sale quilters. Thanks to Marlys there are now two or three quilts.

Beautiful colorful textiles are produced from 100% cotton fabric, wax-dyed in brilliant colors and patterns unique to the Congo. Women wear long dresses with detail work and then cover the skirt of their dress with a pagne: a piece wrapped around and tucked in the band to anchor it around the waist. The pagne is a versatile piece which is part of the dress but removable and used as a shawl or worn over the head as a cover from the sun or rain. It can be wrapped around an infant and tied on the mother’s back, leaving her hands free. The pagne is worn as an honor by married women.

The fabric can be bought at the market where women are selling it in 6-yard lengths; I believe the cost was $6 in 1972.

I have found no fabric more comfortable in hot weather.

Lois

Akron, PA

"Thank you for initiating this project.  I hope we get to see the quilt somewhere.  Have fun putting it together."

"Scrap Basket" from Susquehanna, PA

Snowbirds from Minnesota in Florida Donate Blocks

From: Souderton, PA

Traveling Basket Quilt - Waiting to be hand quilted

In January 2009, the "top" of the  Traveling Basket Quilt for the United States has been completed and is being quilted at the Material Warehouse Quilt Room in Akron, Pennsylvania.

The Quilt Pattern is available through Love, Joy, Piece as the designer is Mountain Rose Quilt Company of Calgary, Alberta.  The quilt uses fabrics from Congo, Africa, donated by former MCC Workers, Art and Lois and the hand died blues and gold are donated by Cherrywood Fabrics of Brainerd, Minnesota.  The pattern was donated by Lorna of Farm Quilt Haus, Staples, Minnesota, and Marlys, MCC's Love, Joy, Piece editor did the piecing.

As Basket Blocks are received from around the world, blocks and/or quilts will be available for MCC Relief Sales around the United States and Canada.