Crossroads Charity Quilt Along

…the Crossroads Quilt

Every day I feel like I have a few more things that I would like to share with all of you that just can't manage to get to the top of the ever growing "to do list". I don't know if you are at all like me, but I live by "to do lists". In fact, I have been known to add something to a "to do list" here and there just so that I can cross it off and feel better about the possibility that the rest of the list might actually get accomplished. Anyone with me? No? Really?

But I digress. Kind of.

As most of you who follow along on this crazy fabric adventure already know, September and October are part of what we all like to refer to as the "the crazy months". I might be keeping sane during those months. I might have showered sometime in the last couple of days. I might have fed my children some kind of nutritious meal at least once each day. Its just as likely that I have not done any of those things.

Working in this industry has made me like this. I used to be a lot more normal and lived by a much more normal calendar. Really. My best friend Jen and husband Eric might disagree, but if they disagree too vehemently, there will be consequences later :-).  

But then one day I heard the siren call to quilt. And the rest… well, the rest is peppered with things like "the crazy months". Deciding to quilt was not something that I set out to do. It was kind of something that compelled me. Those of you who remember why you started to quilt might remember the same kind of pull but regardless of how you started, there is definitely something about that need to quilt that is really, really hard to resist.

That day, or that decision, was definitely a CROSSROADS kind of day for me. I'm not sure what exactly I would be doing now or what my life would look like if I had not listened to that "call" but it would most certainly be very, very different. 

CROSSROADS CHARITY QUILT ALONG

Well that was a really long way of introducing the theme of this upcoming project. I am very excited to be a part of the next Charity Quilt Along with Kimberly and the Fat Quarter Shop gals [… and Kevin too. I don't ever want to forget about Kevin. But don't you think its about time that we taught Kevin how to quilt something… anything! It could be golf cover or a beer cozy… it doesn't really matter].

Each year the Fat Quarter Shop team chooses a special fabric collection, creates a one-of-a-kind quilt project and selects a cause near and dear to their hearts to support. This year that collection is STRAWBERRY FIELDS REVISITED. The quilt is our CROSSROADS quilt sampler. And the charity is the MARCH OF DIMES.

  … the backing!

I had a wonderful time designing the CROSSROADS project and was so happy to see the vintage sampler that Kimberly had unearthed somewhere on her travels as the inspiration to our design. It was a perfect mix of vintage and soft and homey. The kind of quilt that you would treasure as a part of your collection for years to come. It was a perfect place from which to start designing. The resulting quilt is something that I hope you will want to make along with us!

So I hope that you might consider joining us. Here is some more info you might want to know about:

– Its an 8-month long adventure starting in February. At the end you will have a wonderful heirloom quilt and a lot of reflections about the Crossroads in your own life! I promise!

– Kimberly is offering the Strawberry Fields Revisited kit for the quilt along. More info HERE. You just might want to grab a reservation now so that you are ready to start as soon as we are!

– Mark your calendar and join us next year in February as we work on these blocks month by month and as Kimberly and I both share stories of Crossroads in our lives. Let's just say that you will know both of us a lot better when we are all done… oh yeah, and you will have a wonderful quilt with one of my all time favorite collections ever. I know, very biased I am!

 - Did you know the the MARCH OF DIMES works tirelessly to help families with premature babies in the hospital? And that they spend a lot of their time on educating pregnant mothers and helping to prevent premature births as well as helping the families if their babies are born prematurely? "A fighting chance for every baby" is their tag line and I for one can totally get behind a cause like that!

– Would you donate at least $5.00 for every pattern you download throughout the months of the quilt along to the March of Dimes and join us in supporting them? I think you will agree that it is definitely a cause worth giving to. I can't wait to share some of my baby stores with you… some of them spent in the NICU [Neonatal Intensive Care Unit]!

Can't wait to see you at our first CROSSROADS! Click HERE and HERE for more info from Kimberly.

Joanna