Project Quilting 17.1 A Clean Slate

The first challenge for this year‘s project quilting challenge was 'A Clean Slate'. Trisha always includes within the first prompt the Pantone colour of the year, which is not even a colour: white aka Cloud Dancer. We were in Cuba up until late Thursday, so, because many American sites are blocked due to the American embargo on Cuba, I did not know what the prompt was until I got back. That left me two days to figure something out. I knew it would have to be a smaller project so I chose to make a couple of placemats.

I’ve made many placemats over the years using this stitch and flip, quilt as you go method that I first saw on Janine‘s blog, Quilts From the Little House. It’s a great way to use up those proverbial ever present strings, batting scraps, and make a useful item.

You can see the various sizes and shapes of batting scraps; usually I lay out strips across the backing in the opposite direction to the fabric strips. However, I had a bunch of oddly shaped batting pieces, so in the 'clear it out' mentality of this prompt and a new year, I decided to use them here.

As for the ‘clean slate’ part of the prompt, as I said, I went with the clearing out, get rid of the old idea. I did not manage to clear out all of the white, cream and low volume strings (they just never end!) but I did make a fairly decent dent. As for the other components of the placemats, I did make a better dent in the batting scraps, I used up a vintage 25+ year old piece of fabric for the back of the placemats, and the binding was from another of the same vintage age, wise piece of white with silver scallops embossed in it.

These will most likely go to Meals on Wheels, thus fulfilling the 'it must be a useful item' caveat that I set myself for all of my PQ makes.

As for Cuba, it did not disappoint. Humans, well the tourist humans, did however. The behaviour of some Canadians, many Russians, and many Spanish-speaking, perhaps Argeninian or Cuban, was despicable. However, the staff at this resort in Varadero were the best we've had in seven visits to Cuba. The resort itself I would say is at the bottom end of resorts as far as rooms, food and shortages go. Now shortages are not the fault of the resort, especially this particular time with the kidnapping of the president of Venezuela, and the aggressive rhetoric of the president of the US making an already precarious supply chain that much more so.

Pristine, crystal-clear waters as always. Perfect weather the entire week as well. These photos are not filtered, just so you know. Yes, the water is all those shades and more of incredible turquoise, aquamarine, and cobalt.

I fear for Cuba. I fear for this world with the instability that madman and his sycophants have unleashed and continue to unleash.

And yet. 

Despite the words in Friday's podcast, The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge, of Bruce Anderson, former chairman of Abacus Data, a polling and market research firm, something to the effect of, "We waffle between despair versus hope, and I fear that despair is winning," regarding the past ten days of escalating tensions... despite his words, I found renewed hope, as I often do, in a project dreamed up by Tod Maffin. I cannot praise this man enough for all the good he is doing here in Canada and also within the US. He is on Instagram and also on YouTube, which, I learned, is a better place to follow people because they get paid there whereas they do not on Instagram. But I digress.

Tod has set up a project he calls Project 2026, yep, purposely flipping the other project on its head, with the intent of extending kindness. It is too easy to label all Americans as trumpers, too easy to dismiss, or worse, hate them all. That attitude only stokes the fires already created by further pitching an us against them mentality. Project 2026 rises above that hate, and I love it, because I know many of my longtime readers and all of my friends who are Americans do NOT support this bully mentality, (even though it has been going on since shortly after WWII, no matter who's been in power, though it has now worsened exponentially). Tod has a newsletter he sends out each Saturday, and yesterday's had the link to Project 2026, where we Canadians are going to choose (well, Tod will end up choosing from our nominations) a small town, under 10k in population, that is struggling. He'll do the logistics, but then we are going to find ways to flood the little town with kindness: send money to their food bank, being just one suggestion of his. Then, his American followers are going to nominate a little Canadian town, and from their nominations he'll choose one for Americans to return the kindness. This builds relationships between people, helping to break down that unhelpful attitude that ALL Americans are horrid. I love it.

If you live in a little struggling town, or know of one, either here or in America, or you want to be involved in extending kindness when one is announced, follow Tod, sign up for his newsletter, and nominate one in the comments under his Project 2026 YouTube video.

Tod also dreamed up Healthcare Infusions, which have really taken off all across Canada. These are volunteer-led groups who facilitate US healthcare workers looking to move to Canada to work in our healthcare system. That link will take you to the site where you can check if there is one set up in your area, and, if not, it will take you to a page that tells you everything you need to do to set up an infusion in your area. Brilliant.