Journal Quilt - First Strip Complete

Can't believe it has been 23 days already! It takes 23 squares to complete a strip in my journal quilt.

My final entry was yesterday's. My sister, brother-in-law and I went down to Dorais Park early in the morning. Dorais Park is home to the Dorais Velodrome. Built in 1968, this track was home to neighborhood bike races and this hill was the site of many soapbox derby races. Eventually, as Detroit ran out of money, it went into disrepair (overgrown with weeds and the site of neighborhood trash dumping).

In addition to about 200 other volunteers, we worked with the Greening of Detroit and the Detroit Mower Gang to plant a total of 400 trees in this urban park. The Detroit Mower Gang are volunteers from all over Southeast Michigan who use their own lawn equipment to mow the public parks for the citizens of Detroit. They've spent the last several years "taking back" this park and making it a gem in this hurting community. Yesterday they worked alongside members of the Greening of Detroit to plant certain kinds of trees that will prevent flooding in this greenway.

This is my sister Lorna and her husband Corey:

And this is the three of us after we planted our first tree. After this, we completed eight more!

When I returned home from a later adventure (involving an incomplete land bridge, Gilligan's Island, and walking barefoot over pointy lake rocks in March - but that's another story), I wrote up my last block. Several things I've learned about this journal quilt:

• Do not stress over handwriting. I have the worst handwriting, but, if I stressed over each block, I would have to rewrite every one!
• It's OK to admit I've had a lazy day. That's reality.
• Don't write this to please others. This is a snapshot of my life right now. Besides, who is going to read it anyway?
• My cats appear an awful lot in my journal entries. Hmmm.....
• Write your block when you get the urge - whether it is midday or night. Best to log your adventures while you're still glowing in the excitement of it!

First thing this morning, I created my next strip. You can see I've incorporated my first embroidery block. SOMEONE special has a birthday on March 29th!

Wow! That's a lot of blank squares to fill. Off to complete one now!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Elisa

 

P.s. My sister just sent this pic of me before the planting :)