Community Quilts from Jazz

It’s always a good day when I get emails for Jazz.  She is a creative talent and I love to see what she comes up with.

Jazz writes:
“Hi, Jo! Your devoted fans have been keeping me busy! The first quilt I have to show you is made from another collection of hearts appliqued by Jeanne M, of Arizona. Remember the heart quilt I finished and showed in my most recent submission? Well, this is the second set. These are a little smaller, but just as sweet.

You may recognize the back; it’s the piece of pink heart Minky you sent me about a month ago. I think it is just perfect for these pastel hearts.

I used pink and white crochet twine to tie each corner after I stitched in the ditch and bound it all up with a soft white border. The piece is about 45” square and will go home with a new baby born at Ben Taub Hospital, in the Texas Medical Center in Houston.

The second quilt is…
also made from a top supplied by Jeanne. I knew when I saw it exactly how I wanted to finish it. I used pink/lavender/coral variegated thread on the parallel diagonal.

I wish it had shown up better in the pictures because I had to go to three stores to find the right thread! (“Supply chain issues,” everyone said.) It was so worth it, though; it made a beautiful, classy quilt. And look at the back! It’s a beautiful, soft floral from Karen.

She sent it in January, and I’ve been holding it for the right piece. I think I found it in this quilt. This is definitely an adult’s lap quilt, it’s just too cool for a baby! And lucky for them, Ben Taub and LBJ hospitals are now accepting lap/wheelchair quilts for grown-up patients.

The last one came to me recently from Susan V., from Indiana. She said she had been saving her 2 ½” x 5” scraps and sewing them into strips alternating with 5” cream-colored strips to make a twin-bed size quilt for the Children’s Bureau.

I can’t imagine making something that big on my geriatric Kenmore in my diminutive sewing room, but I know a great pattern when I hear of one – I did the same thing but made mine into about 45” square. I even took her example and sliced a strip lengthwise to make the binding. A new baby will be entertained by the variety of colorful solids and prints in this wrap, there are Christmas and Halloween motifs, several dogs, even an image of Elvis!
I sketched out several quilting designs before settling on diagonal lines again, going in opposite directions on the whites. The back is also plain white.

These three quilts are already boxed up to be delivered to Harris Health for the in-patients at the two county acute care hospitals. They will go home with the beneficiaries along with lots of love and support from the pandemic-weary staff, me, and our friends who keep sending me fabric and supplies to keep me stichin’. Thanks to all.

Thank you so much to the many who have been sending things Jazz’s way. The hospital she is working with serves low-income families without insurance.  There is much need there and I’m so happy Jazz is working hard to help the people in her area.  If anyone has goodies you want to send her way, you can find here information on the donation page HERE.  Jazz is #20.

If you are in the Houston area, Jazz is also looking for an upgrade sewing machine.  Does anyone have an extra that is in working order that you wouldn’t mind donating to her?  She is working with an old Kenmore…those of us who have sewn on them love them, but her machine is feeling its age and not quite what it used to be.  I figured there might be someone so I’d throw that need out there.