This diary is a follow up to last night's diary. Frank Cocozzelli is a well-known blogger -- a tireless and brave warrior for separation of Church and State and against right wing religious influences, particularly such influences within the Roman Catholic Church (of which he is a member). And he does all this despite considerable physical challenges. Frank has muscular dystrophy and is confined to a wheel chair. He is practically paralyzed, not even able to scratch his own head. Even so, he works full time as a lawyer and blogs, to boot -- all without complaint or an iota of bitterness. I admire him more than I can express and it is an honor to make a community quilt for him.
Grndrush’s quilt, “Blue Skies”
As with other quilts in this series, supportive messages from you, the community, will be collected in the comments below. I will write them out in archival ink on 4.5" muslin squares which will be sewn into a colorful quilt for Frank. It will be like a soft, group greeting card that will keep him warm or hang on his wall to be read again and again.
If you would like to contribute to the costs associated with the materials and a bit of the time necessary to make the quilt, please use this this PayPal link or email me for a snail mail address if you would prefer to send a check. Costs are gauged at $4/message for the simple checkerboard quilts (minimum of forty-four messages) and $5/message for the more complexly pieced ones – plus shipping. It is not necessary to contribute money to contribute a message, though -- and the mojo of this work is in the messages!
And now for some pictures! Grndrush's quilt was shipped this past Friday (see above).
The quilt was backed with blue sky fabric – of especial significance to an avid skydiver.
A handmade card, provided by BlueHeron, accompanied the quilt.
Tuesday, rserven’s quilt began its journey to her. It bears 86 messages and 4 quotes from her own poetry.
rserven’s quilt, “Round Robins for Robyn”
It is backed with dahlia fabric in shades of blue, purple and red:
The package is accompanied by a card made by BlueHeron:
Here is the list of quilts completed to date, updated with these last two:
othniel (cellulitis and ensuing complications)
exmearden (cancer of heart and lung)
MsSpentyouth (brain tumor)
Moe99 (lung cancer)
Michelle Caudle (ovarian cancer)
BFSkinner (lupus)
Kitsap River (waiting for kidney donor)
Frederick Clarkson (blood clots)
Dreaming of Better Days (lymphoma)
one bite at a time (lost house and belongings to fire)
Timroff (cellulitis)
Sol Fed Joe (multiple cancers and health problems)
Brubs (AIDS, immune reconstitution syndrome)
rserven (gall bladder infection with dangerous complications)
grndrush (brain tumor)
It looks like we will finish ImpeachKingBushII’s quilt tonight, to be shipped tomorrow. Here is the top without its border:
And here is his card, also made by BlueHeron:
We used a simple “Bear Paw” block for IKBII in a palette of red, blue, gold and brown. The fabrics were chosen to honor IKBII's patriotism and military service in the Navy. This quilt is all about courage and it bears sixty-eight messages from this community to a man who needs a liver transplant to heal.
I like this detail (I hope he will, too):
Work has begun on andsarahtoo’s quilt. She has seventy-two messages and her quilt will feature “Darting Birds” blocks in cheerful colors. Here is one incorporating the backing fabrics from both ImpeachKingBushII's quilt and rserven's quilts (I always use a bit of the backing of the immediately prior community quilt in each quilt we make as a symbolic link):
Future quilts are planned for:
FLRealist (recovering from a kidney transplant)
predictor (AIDS, recovering from stroke)
austex54 (caretaker to othniel)
Charles CurtisStanley (caretaker to Kitsap River)
MA Liberal (caretaker to her mother who has dementia)
dadanation (AIDS)
Louisiana1976 (fibromyalgia, severe arthritis, depression)
ramara (cancer survivor)
Namaste