If you are looking for ways to focus your creative and quilting energy around the Black Lives Matter movement, here are a few opportunities that I am aware of and participating in. If you know of others, please share them in the comments.
Starting Monday and running through Friday, there will be an auction where all proceeds will be donated to anti-racist organizations being hosted by Mathew @mrdomestic and Amber @alderwoodstudio. I am donating my Blue Transparent Ribbons quilt and there are many more items to choose from. To bid, visit the Mister Domestic Auction House Instagram page for more details.
The creative forces behind the yearly Summer Sampler quilts (Lee @lee.a.heinrich, Faith @freshlemonsquilts, and Katie@swimbikequilt) are having lots of conversations with family, friends, and colleagues about how we can be more explicitly anti-racist, including listening, reading, watching, and listening again. We abhor violence and affirm that Black Lives Matter.
We will continue to do this, and realize that while small, personal actions are important, they alone will not dismantle centuries old, systemic racism. We would like to do something more than listen and talk.
We will donate the proceeds of sales of all 6 of our Summer Sampler patterns purchased on Saturday, June 6, and Sunday, June 7 to two organizations who are doing the work. We will split the proceeds evenly between the Social Justice Sewing Academy and Black Mama’s Bail Outs (National Bail Out).
Mission Beach – 2019 Summer Sampler Block
As a Summer Sampler designer alumni, I am joining Katie, Faith, Lee, and others remaking Summer Sampler blocks in black and white fabric. These blocks will eventually be made into quilts, which we will either donate or raffle off, and donate the proceeds. I made a block from the 2019 Summer Sampler designed by Katie called Mission Beach, and I will be putting it in the mail on Monday morning.
I was connected with Gerilyn Hayes yesterday, a freelance Front-End Web Developer and Copywriter in Austin, TX. She is currently offering landing pages, WordPress blog management, and copywriting services while she works on ramping up her web development skills. I know the quilting community tends to be on the lookout for the skills that Gerilyn offers, so I thought I’d see if she might be the right connection for you or anyone you know.
Thank you Yvonne for all these sources. I heard of the Summer Sampler one, but the others are new, so thank you. I’ll post the URL of your post within a small group I’m in where I had asked about activities in support of black victims of police shootings, so this is a start.
What an excellent and worthy cause. All of the Summer Sampler blocks are pretty.
Thanks for the resources…
The auction is a very good idea, thanks for sharing the other ressources.
Thank you – for the auction, your donations, your thoughtful posts, and the resources you are sharing. Already big changes are coming, but it will take a long time, with lots of hard work and discussions, patience, perseverance and understanding.
I really like your black and white block, it looks great with the prints.
Lovely block. I hope to make some black and white blocks to contribute to a donation or auction quilt.