Friday, January 20, 2017

The 70273 Project






The low point of this year's campaign had to be watching Trump mock the handicapped reporter.  Or maybe it went even lower when we realized that even that was not enough to end his candidacy.  When I heard about Jeanne Hewell's 70273 project, I knew it was just the compassionate antidote I needed for a while.  

Started before Trump's performance, Jeanne wanted to commemorate the 70,273 mentally and physically disabled people who were murdered by the Nazis.  After reading their charts, not even seeing them in person, a doctor would mark a red X on the chart if he judged that the patient should be murdered. Two doctor's red X's on the page determined the patient's fate.

Jeanne is collecting 70,273 white blocks that have two red X's on each one.  She will turn them into quilts that will be displayed at various venues when they are done, in memory of those who lost their lives.

I set the goal of making 60 blocks before my big, significant birthday this Feb.  I was a little speedier than I thought and got 60 done just in time for inauguration day.







I challenged myself to make each block different and was amazed at how much variety you can get with a few different pieces of red fabric and a few different weights of red thread.


Jeanne still needs many more blocks, so check out her site http://thebarefootheart.com/70273-2/ if you would like to participate.

2 comments:

Suzanne Reynolds said...

Beautiful blocks, Robin. Great tribute!

Robin Olsen said...

Thanks Suzanne. It's a very touching project and I was happy to contribute.