In addition to posting the following message here, I am sending pm's of the same message to each of you.  Because of the length of the message, there will be two pm's not just one.  But before I send the pm's to each of you sisters, I will also copy and paste the poem so that you will have easy access to it because you will know it is always on page one of this thread.

 Good Afternoon Sisters of the Traveling Message Board, On Friday, I reposted a poem written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Robert Browning.  Robert Browning was already a well regarded poet when he read Elizabeth Barrett's poetry. She was not well known and she was not well.  He so fell in love with her poetry then he worked at getting to know her and at trumpeting her talent as a poet. From that beginning, love blossomed, and about a year later they were married against her father's wishes. I see that yesterday Annie posted famous lines of Robert's in honor of CEK's wedding anniversary.  

Jet contacted me Friday and asked for my opinion about and suggestions for  incorporating Elizabeth's poem into the quilts that she and Gunner are making for Meryl and for Maks.  Tango will be taking the quilts to them when she goes to SWAY in December.  It was a wonderful request because I had come very close to sending the poem directly to Jet and Gunner and ask them whether or not they felt lines from it could be incorporated into the two quilts.  We were twins and singing from the same page; I was thrilled.   

You see as I was typing the poem to my first post on Friday, several different photos and emotional moments involving MnM came to mind: Maks in the stairwell after the freestyle; Meryl's voice cracking as she talks (to Erin) after the Argentine Tango; both of them in the week six rehearsal and "the hold my hand moment." or in Maks saying "Nobody ever asked to hold my hand before." as he was talking to Erin after the Tango.; Maks asking and Meryl responding to "How many people have you asked to hold your hand."--a vulnerable question and a vulnerable answer. Based on what I have read during the past three months on this board, I know that a lot of you are aware of far more moments and pictures than I am.  Your input is invaluable.  

What I am suggesting  is that you consider making a list of two or three moments that you felt best captured what we saw happening in this relationship during season 18.  And that you, in turn, would attach a note to the photos with the lines from the poem that fit each of the pictures you have chosen.  I will repost the poem later today.  I am also suggesting that a couple of you be sounding boards for Jet as she and Gunner make decisions. And I am suggesting that two calligraphy copies  of the entire  poem be written on parchment paper, a copy to be included with each quilt.  Based on the discussion about hobbies and how often drawing and painting came up,  I am guessing that there are some calligraphers among us who might be willing to lend their calligraphy skills to this project that is separate from the quilt. 

My final idea, which is also separate from the quilt, is this.  I think it would be very meaningful for each of you/us to write a note in your/our own handwriting to describe what the MnM partnership has meant to you/us and how it may have changed you.  And in that note, everyone should feel free to include hopes, wishes, dreams for these two.  These can also be sent to Tango who has confirmed that she is willing to deliver whatever the message board members decide they would like for her to deliver.   

Jet has gotten to know me, so she already knows that while I am putting these ideas out there, I do so with the full knowledge that soliciting input from all the sisters on this board and mixing in everyone else's ideas together with whatever I propose here will lead to something more beautiful, more meaningful and more magical than anything Jet or I could do on our own.  In fact I couldn't do any of this on my own because I am not good at art, and I am not good at working with fabric. 

Love to you all.

KOS

Last edited by KeepOnSinging (10/19/2014 10:06 pm)

Thank you, KOS, for those wonderful suggestions!  Hoping perhaps someone has calligraphy skills and could write the poem to include.

We are hoping to get input from as many sisters as possible; remember, ladies, this is a project of and from the hearts of all of us.  No idea or contribution is too small.  We will do our best to incorporate everything we receive!  It is always an incredible experience to take whatever is offered and make something from it.

Thank you to everyone!

I will look for something to send.  I've been blank on coming up with an idea of what to do, so this is a good idea for me to be able to participate.  

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cache-ak0.pinimg.com%2F236x%2F9a%2F2f%2F7c%2F9a2f7c528cec84dbab45fd4d38f68c08.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fmonicaharrison2%2Fmaks-and-meryl%2F&h=177&w=236&tbnid=KfVLZ8Sg1SdyFM%3A&zoom=1&docid=4AmdDRNiR7Io1M&ei=NTZpVNXtGoeSyASVh4LIAw&tbm=isch&ved=0CDkQMygxMDE4yAE&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=1049&page=9&start=246&ndsp=30

This is the one!! 

Last edited by eastcoast (11/16/2014 6:45 pm)

Good evening, Sisters! 

At long last we are ready to post pictures of the quilts that were made for MnM.  Tangodancer hand carried the box with both quilts on the airplane to SWAY 3 in NYC last week.  She delivered it to the studio in Soho.  We have no idea when/if (?) the quilts made it to Maks and Meryl.  We are hopeful that they did!

Gunner made Maks' quilt and I made Meryl's.  I did the quilting on both of them ("quilting" is the process of sewing the 3 layers together) and created the labels.  Traditionally quilts made for someone should carry a label with essential information about who it was made for, the occasion, the name of the maker, the date or year, place it was made, etc.  This is to let others who see it or whoever may inherit it know something about its history and the person it belonged to..

Gunner chose the colors for the quilt she made.  She used reds, blacks, silvers, grays and whites.  We shopped together a couple of times.

Front:


Gunner pieced the entire backing using leftover 2-1/2" strips from the front!  I think it looks great!
Back:



For Meryl's quilt I chose fabrics in the Secrets and Shadows Collection by Windham Fabrics because I loved (and still love!) the colors and fabrics and I knew Meryl liked pinks and purples.  The Secrets and Shadows Collection was manufactured to tell the stories of various female spies during WWI and WWII.  Unfortunately to get the stories you had to sign up for an expensive "Block of the Month"--and I didn't REALLY love the quilt it made enough to spend that kind of money for 12 months!!  LOL 

Front:


I pieced the backing but because I wanted to include some hand embroidered pieces I'd done (without prior planning!), I had to figure out how to put the backing together without losing part of the outer embroidered blocks when trimming it after quilting!  THAT was a challenge!!!  I added some additional photo collages for grins, which had to be sewn on by hand as did the labels.

Back:


The photo blocks are set with Log Cabin blocks, which are very traditional.  Gunner and I used the same red fabric for the center square in both quilts.  The red symbolizes love for hearth and home.

Here is the label that was attached to each quilt; only the name was changed.


I also hand wrote a letter to MnM which was included with each quilt that kind've gave some basic information on how MnM brought the sisterhood together and how quilting has been a bond that has brought women together for centuries as they created quilts with their labor of love while weaving the past and present together as it links every generation to the future.

Hope you enjoy seeing the quilts from the Sisterhood!  It was a lot of fun making them...and the best part is that I got to meet gunner and gain a new friend!  She is awesome!!'

Thanks, gunner, for being my partner in crime!!!  Just remember 2-1/2"!!!  LOL

Last edited by JetmamaDiDi (6/13/2015 10:23 pm)