During the Live Auctions, the quilt will be raised for viewing and accepting of donation bids to be used for various MCC charitable causes, similar to the previous Water, Peace andBasket/Hunger Quilts.
Picture of Quilt Artists (from left to right)
Picture of Quilt Artists (from left to right)
- Sally Mortenson, St. Paul, MN -- Artist for the center logo
- Marlys Wiens, Edina, MN who was commissioned for the entire project by the North American Relief Sale Board and Piecer of Shoofly, Log Cabin and Basket Blocks
- Rebecca Ruth Anderson of Rebecca Ruth Designs, Bloomington, MN -- People Boarder Designer
- Dawn Weaver, Quilted Traditions LLC, Eau Claire, WI -- Long Arm Quilter
Upon the completion of the quilt I sit back and reflect on the project and respond with ... "The difference of one - one block, one artist, one quilt! Together we make a difference in this world!"
So how did the 100 Year Anniversary Quilt occur? It started with conversations between me and my cousins in Washington State, my past Co-Quilt Liaison for the North American Relief Sale Board from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and quilt friends here in Minnesota.
Thanks to Bev Patkau of Mountain Rose Quilt Company who had experience with Anniversary quilts, who explained you start with the logo in the center of the q quilt and work out with various boarders.
So how big should this quilt be? A quick decision was made that the quilt needed to be approximately 100 inches by 100 inches as the math would not allow 100 baskets.
With MCC providing the Logo for the event, the Logo would need to be blown up some 20 inches.
Based on Bev's sketch, I wanted the Log Cabin block representing a home from the Underground Railroad in the United States, the Reverse Shoofly block, which is the Love Joy Piece Logo with the meaning that clothing would be provided to the person. And, from Africa, the Shoofly, which is a symbol of the tailor, weaver, and maker of textiles or clothes.
The blue solid fabric is from Cherrywood Fabrics, Baxter, MN. Cherrywood Fabrics is a business owned and operated by women who celebrate and remind us of the importance of women's influence and work globally. The fabric is hand dyed in gradations of blue.
I purchased the blue and white batik fabrics on a Mennonite Central Committee Learning Tour to India several years ago. I wanted the fabric with no idea that at the time I was purchasing it for this project.
For the next steps, based on the draft, I would need four Log Cabin blocks for the corners and in addition eight Reverse Shoofly blocks.
Then on to the basest for the outside boarder which would assist in the calculation for the size of the quilt. Once again I used the variety of blue Cherrywood Fabrics.
For the basket blocks, my mind went to the Basket Traveling Quilt, which Relief Sales still has available for use for Live Auctions. The Batik dyed fabrics received from Art and Lois Kennel from their work in the Congo for MCC, were just what I needed. The unique basket outside boarder is made from these fabrics.
I made basket blocks over a period of days when suddenly, I became uneasy as I had no idea how many basket blocks I made or needed to make. The atmosphere of love was all around me as I continued to work with the fabrics. Sometime later I went on to county how many Basket Blocks I had made. It was exactly 40 blocks -- the exact number I needed for the approximate 100 inch quilt.
I was not short and I had no extra blocks! God works in interesting and mysterious ways!!
So back to the center logo block, I had worked diligently to find the best method to make the logo on peach colored fabric and after visits to the store. I chose to use ink and paint the logo.
However, after a conversation with Sally Mortenson, a Modern Quilter and donor to MCC Relief Sales of Traditional Quilts, she suggested instead to use the Mennonite and Amish's traditional hand stitching appliquéing off quilts. During that conversation I chose to celebrate Sally's offer to make the Center Logo Block. Sally quick learned that MCC has a certain "Aqua Blue" color once again found at Cherrywood Fabrics.
Rebecca Anderson created the the "People Boarder" to include the people that MCC partners with around the world using the colorful clothing and skin of many people celebrating together as they circled the MCC Logo.
Rebecca felt comfortable making 12 people, but how they would fit around the traditional Log Cabin and Reverse Shoofly blocks was a challenge?
Once the blocks were on the Design Wall, we knew why Rebecca had felt a peace with 12 blocks. The first and second boarders of the q quilt needed to be reversed, putting three people on four sides of the quilts Rebecca's talent embraced and took inspiration from the Bible using design and color reflecting the 12 tribes in the Old Testament and 12 disciples with Jesus at the Last Supper.
In December of 2019, friends and family of MCC were invited to share in the Blessing and Commissioning Event.
It was decided a multi-colored pillowcase Marlys had made for a different event would become the container for the 100 Year MCC Anniversary Quilt to travel in as it already had her name and address stitched into the fabric. An additional Love Joy Piece Logo was included on the Quilt Label attached to the back of the quilt.
Thanks to Bev Patkau of Mountain Rose Quilt Company who had experience with Anniversary quilts, who explained you start with the logo in the center of the q quilt and work out with various boarders.So how big should this quilt be? A quick decision was made that the quilt needed to be approximately 100 inches by 100 inches as the math would not allow 100 baskets.
With MCC providing the Logo for the event, the Logo would need to be blown up some 20 inches.
Based on Bev's sketch, I wanted the Log Cabin block representing a home from the Underground Railroad in the United States, the Reverse Shoofly block, which is the Love Joy Piece Logo with the meaning that clothing would be provided to the person. And, from Africa, the Shoofly, which is a symbol of the tailor, weaver, and maker of textiles or clothes.
The blue solid fabric is from Cherrywood Fabrics, Baxter, MN. Cherrywood Fabrics is a business owned and operated by women who celebrate and remind us of the importance of women's influence and work globally. The fabric is hand dyed in gradations of blue.
I purchased the blue and white batik fabrics on a Mennonite Central Committee Learning Tour to India several years ago. I wanted the fabric with no idea that at the time I was purchasing it for this project.
For the next steps, based on the draft, I would need four Log Cabin blocks for the corners and in addition eight Reverse Shoofly blocks.
Then on to the basest for the outside boarder which would assist in the calculation for the size of the quilt. Once again I used the variety of blue Cherrywood Fabrics.
For the basket blocks, my mind went to the Basket Traveling Quilt, which Relief Sales still has available for use for Live Auctions. The Batik dyed fabrics received from Art and Lois Kennel from their work in the Congo for MCC, were just what I needed. The unique basket outside boarder is made from these fabrics.
I was not short and I had no extra blocks! God works in interesting and mysterious ways!!
So back to the center logo block, I had worked diligently to find the best method to make the logo on peach colored fabric and after visits to the store. I chose to use ink and paint the logo.
However, after a conversation with Sally Mortenson, a Modern Quilter and donor to MCC Relief Sales of Traditional Quilts, she suggested instead to use the Mennonite and Amish's traditional hand stitching appliquéing off quilts. During that conversation I chose to celebrate Sally's offer to make the Center Logo Block. Sally quick learned that MCC has a certain "Aqua Blue" color once again found at Cherrywood Fabrics.
Rebecca Anderson created the the "People Boarder" to include the people that MCC partners with around the world using the colorful clothing and skin of many people celebrating together as they circled the MCC Logo.
Rebecca felt comfortable making 12 people, but how they would fit around the traditional Log Cabin and Reverse Shoofly blocks was a challenge?
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| Rebecca Anderson |
In December of 2019, friends and family of MCC were invited to share in the Blessing and Commissioning Event.
It was decided a multi-colored pillowcase Marlys had made for a different event would become the container for the 100 Year MCC Anniversary Quilt to travel in as it already had her name and address stitched into the fabric. An additional Love Joy Piece Logo was included on the Quilt Label attached to the back of the quilt.
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| Dawn Weaver and Marlys Wiens |
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| Rebecca Anderson and Dawn Weaver |
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| Quilt Label |
For more information, please see: www.mcc.org and on Facebook: Love Joy Piece. You can also visit: www. lovejoypiece.blogspot.com to share in the conversation.
@ Copyright: Marlys Wiens -- February 2020
