Rose of Sharon

Rebekah Reinheimer

Rebekah Reinheimer
Jerusalem, Israel

Jo Moury

Jo Moury
Haymarket, VA, USA

Simonetta Marini

Simonetta Marini
Bologna, Italy

Judy Best
London, Ontario, Canada

Dianne Gronfors

Dianne Gronfors
Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada

Leslie Collins

Leslie Collins
El Granada, CA, USA

Rose of Sharon

In the spring of 2009, my business partner and friend, Elizabeth Phillips, and I went to Pittsburgh for the International Quilt Market - a huge trade show for quilting professionals - it's where your local quilt shop owner goes to buy all of the new stuff that keeps us quilters so happy. Our goal was to put together a group of companies who would help us realize a dream - and we came home with a list that exceeded our wildest hopes.

We wanted to organize a Rose of Sharon Block Challenge that would encourage quilters all over the world to participate and the best way to do that is via the internet so we talked to Penny McMorris at Electric Quilt and she was delighted to help us out. So, an invitation went out via EQ's website to design a Rose of Sharon block using specific shapes (the usual blossom, leaf, and circle) . But, you can't have a block challenge without a fabric palette to work with so when we asked Island Batik if they'd like to participate, Adam Dewar, the owner was quick to say yes.

So, now we had two partners but it didn't stop there. Next we went after some more 'toys' that would make the job easier and came up with the idea that designing a custom die for the wonderful AccuQuilt Go! cutter would make it ever so much easier to eventually make these blocks. Did they want to join us? Yes, they did. So, what about a sewing machine that would not only do the machine applique, but also an embroidery machine that would produce the most exquisite stitching - enter Bernina of America, and their partner company OESD who digitized 31 of the winning blocks, and how can you sew without beautiful thread? Add Aurifil Thread to our growing list of partners.

When you have a challenge you also have judges and we got the best - Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims of The Quilt Show agreed to take on the task and they chose the 12 winning blocks which are featured in the quilt you see below. Amazingly, the 12 winning designers are from 5 different countries - (in alphabetical order they are Canada, Israel, Italy, Taiwan, and the United States.)

What made it so appealing for all of these companies to participate in a Rose of Sharon Block Challenge? Our goal wasn't just to accumulate beautiful Rose of Sharon blocks (although we did do that - in spades - we received over 850 gorgeous blocks from designers in 11 countries) we also wanted to do what so many quilters do and that is give something back.

I have never met a more generous group of people than quilters - they make quilts to raffle off and then donate the money to a variety of charities, they make quilts and give them to senior's homes, children in need, and people recovering from illness. They make quilts for so many charities that it would be impossible to list them, and we wanted to do our bit - and it seems that our partners felt the same way.

My friend, Ami Simms lost her Mother to Alzheimer's a few years ago and she has been working tirelessly ever since to raise funds for Alzheimer's research. Her organization, The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative is a volunteer driven grassroots charity whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research, and we want to help her.

The reason so many wonderful companies said yes when we asked them if they wanted to participate in the Rose of Sharon project is that the need to find a cure for this dreadful disease is something they all want also.

To that end we have all become proud supporters of AAQI and we encourage you to join us. Please visit the AAQI website to see how you can help www.alzquilts.org or the Rose of Sharon partner sites listed below.

I am a very proud supporter of AAQI and honoured to have had the opportunity to make a quilt with the drop dead gorgeous blocks sent to us by 12 talented designers. I also got to sneak in one of my own blocks (although obviously I couldn't enter the challenge). Starting in the upper left corner and going across the top they are:

Simonetta Marini of Bologna, Italy, Judy Best from Ontario, Canada, Dianne Gronfors also from Ontario, Canada, my block, Leslie Collins from California, USA, Jo Moury of Virginia, USA, Rebekah Reinheimer from Jerusalem, Israel, Suzy Pricket of Florida, USA, Barb Vlack from Illinois, USA, Candace Door of Nebraska, USA, Pat Daniels, from Manitoba, Canada, Claudia Change of Taipei, Taiwan, and Kari Bauer from Illinois, USA.

I have been posting progress reports on my Blog about the Challenge and am in the process of introducing the 12 wonderful designers. Please come and have a look.

Also, please visit the sites of our wonderful partners and see what they are producing to make your Rose of Sharon experience a pleasant one.

Suzy Prickett