Lemonade: Day 3 - Making Quilt Square(s) for Quilts of Valor

We're making Community Lemonade in Long Beach, CA.  Come and make lemonade with us!

!  I'm on a 100 day odyssey for community and creativity in Long Beach, CA.  We've got such an amazing city, and I'm a huge fan!  I want to share it with you!  I'm seeking out the creatives and the facilitators of creativity.  The art and the locations that inspire art.  Bringing them to you, here in this blog, and to others, on the streets of Long Beach.

I call it .

Today was Day 3 of Making Lemonade.  I'd planned on making Patriotic Quilt Squares with Quilts of Valor

Quilts of Valor is a group of quilters who sew tirelessly to make quilts for wounded soldiers.  The QOV contact, Barbara Winkler informed me that the club at the ready to go anywhere in Long Beach that I desired.  It was incredible to me that, as one or the other location turned out unsuitable, the group continued to ready to drop their personal plans. 

My grand idea?  To have an interactive sewing opportunity... WITH sewing machine AND an Eagle Scout who loves to sew... with the public at some pre-planned public gathering.  The need for electricity and the spontaneity of this search for creativity provided some obstacles to my grand plan, especially on this busy day, the Fourth of July.

Luckily for me, a mom in Pack 25 was looking for some support for sales of Scout O Rama booklets at Smart & Final on Atlantic and Anaheim.  The boys are selling the booklets so that they can go to Will J Reid scout camp.  There was good synergy, and I knew from previous discussions with store manager Jesus that the boys, and I, would always be welcome!

So, the shoppers at Smart & Final, Anaheim and Atlantic, were the creators today.

I learned a few things today:

• If you are feeling cold but you start to draw, you may not feel the cold after all.
• If you don't think you can draw but you try anyway, you can usually draw something and have fun doing it, too!
• Kids usually won't stand and watch others draw.  They want to draw too!
• Lots of folks like Lemonade! (I asked)

Now, I must go and work on making a quilt square from one of the images.  I also have a banner to work on, since I haven't yet made even an M.  Still, we're ahead on the amount of Community Lemonade being made, so I think we're doing ok.

Summer is good when you're young and in Long Beach.

Thanks to Smart & Final, Atlantic and Anaheim for their support of today's activity AND of the Pack 25 Scout O Rama coupon booklet sales.  If you are a business and shop at Smart & Final, here's .

And Tomorrow...

Day 4: A Visit with "Chowder's David" who Creates & A Make Up Visit with Quilts of Valor

Tomorrow I have planned a visit with "Chowder's David" (Chowder is our dog).  David of Uberdog got a little lemon of his own at the end of June.

I will also visit with the club, Quilts of Valor which meets at Sew Vac on Thursdays.  Hopefully I will have a quilt piece to deliver!

Items Needed

Nothing!

Are you a creative in Long Beach?  There's 93 days left to go!  Email me at: info@handmadepenguin.com

Trish Tsoiasue writes as herself about creative and maker topics for the Belmont Shore Patch and as Handmade Penguin for the Handmade Penguin Blog.