THE WALWORTH COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR CHILDREN

There has been a very dedicated group of citizens in Walworth County who have been working since 2008 to fulfill a dream of opening a building where sexually and physically abused and neglected children and their families could come to be counseled, receive medical exams, tell their stories without fear, and helped to heal from their tragic experiences.

That dream became a reality in April of this year when the building was completed and opened to those in the community needing these services.  They named the building the Treehouse.

A friend of mine, Evelyn Schulz, is on the board of this alliance.  I had asked what artwork they would be using in the building and if she would like me to do a quilt.  She said she would ask the board.  The board asked her to approach me about doing a tree because of the building's name.  For those of you who know me, you know that this is not the kind of quilting I normally do.  But, I told them I would try to see what I could come up with.

It has been a challenging but rewarding project.  You know the saying, "You can always get by with a little help from your friends".  Chris Daly of Dye Candy Fabrics (www.dyecandy.blogspot.com), painted the background fabric with dyes.  I have had numerous comments on how beautiful the background is.  Nora Rader graciously invited me to her studio to help me fuse the rather large trunk and also supplied the fabric with the butterflies so that I could just cut those, fuse them and then reinforce them with stitching. There are 135 leaves which were turned and invisibly appliqued.  The squirrel, flowers, petals, cardinal and bugs were thread painted and then satin stitched onto the top. 

The quilt was just finished this last weekend and hung on Monday.  There are a couple of areas that could be a little better but overall I am pretty happy with the result.  The public open house is tonight and I am hoping to see some of my local friends there.

THE TREE HOUSE QUILT
JULY 29, 2013