Dreaming Big Dreams
a big-time dream for the quilt, plus a project update and quilt sticker fundraiser
Big news! We have officially received 50 blocks for the Euphoria Quilt! I am so happy about the progress of this project, but am still hoping to get more before the submission deadline on 10/31. If you follow the project on Instagram, you saw last week that I posted some maps of places we have received submissions from. You can see those same photos below - each blue dot represents a location from which someone sent in a block for the Euphoria Quilt. We’ve received blocks from fourteen states and six countries! If you live in any of the places either not pictured or without a blue dot, please consider sending a block for quilt — we would love to have as many places represented as possible. And if the place you live already has a blue dot, you are still very much encouraged to send a block as well.
I’ve seen a few Euphoria Quilt block-making parties and classes pop up the last month or so, and it’s so exciting to see you all organize that kind of thing! If you would like to do the same but can’t foresee holding something until after the 10/31 deadline, you can definitely have some deadline wiggle room. Just get in touch via email (euphoriaquilt@gmail.com) if you want to discuss. Depending on your plans/goals, I may be able to give you some project funds for materials and such as well!
Next: that big dream I mentioned…
I’ve been daydreaming a lot the last couple months, a vision of me and the Euphoria-Quilt-to-be, and probably my dog Goose, driving around the country and holding Euphoria Quilt quilting bees along our route. If you’re unfamiliar, a “quilting bee” is what quilters call events where community or friends come together to do the quilting part of the quiltmaking process together. I have been planning to hand quilt the Euphoria Quilt from the beginning, and have hoped to do it with community support, but could only ever imagined holding quilting bees here in Albuquerque. But what if I could travel across the country and get help from everyone who wants to give it?
If the Euphoria Quilt is about community, and quilting bees are where the community spirit of quilting is so alive, shouldn’t it follow that there should be Euphoria Quilt quilting bees? I’m sure I’ve cited quilting bees as an example of quilting as the ultimate community oriented art form, yet I’ve never participated in one. So recently I got to thinking, maybe I just need to host some.
As we probably all know too well, this country is becoming increasingly hostile toward trans and queer existence, and increasingly dangerous for us — in some places more than others. I worry about trans people, kids especially, all the time, and I think a lot about how I wish I could tell every trans kid that joy on their own terms is possible. Wanting to travel with the quilt is also in a way an attempt at that, even if it’s small.
It’s a faraway dream at this point in terms of time (fellow quilters know it will take a while before we even get to the quilting stage), but that also means I have more time to fundraise, so I am asking for support to help make it happen. The priority with any Euphoria Quilt related fundraising is to first raise funds for costs like paying to extend the P.O. box, as well as for materials to complete the quilt. Any fundraising for traveling with the quilt will come next.
The first way to support the project is by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. A monthly subscription is $7 - that ends up being a bit over $5 that makes it to the quilt. If you are already a subscriber or become one in the next couple of days, I would love to send you two stickers of your choice, so read on if you’re interested in that!
For the arguably much more fun way to support the project: if you follow the account on Instagram you’ve already seen this, but I’m selling stickers of traditional quilt block patterns that happen to have names or designs that feel queer. The patterns for the stickers are Contrary Wife, Swamp Angel, Gentleman’s Fancy, and a Flying Geese variation. The Flying Geese, as
suggested and put it to me is “for Mary Oliver,” and I picked a spiral layout because a friend recently told me that this flying geese variation “feels like change and freedom.” My personal favorite sticker is Swamp Angel — huge gold star to whoever named that one. My Subaru now has a Swamp Angel sticker on the back, which feels fitting.
The stickers (above) are 3” and vinyl, the kind that are sturdy enough to put on your car or go through the dishwasher. You can place an order here.
Those are all my updates for now. Thank you so much for supporting this project, and if you like the idea of the Euphoria Quilt rolling through where you live so you can help quilt it, let me know!
with love,
Eliot