Ukraine Quilt and Pysanky Raffle
Trace Creek Quilting is teaming up with Katherine Alexander Art to host a raffle to raise money for Direct Relief, an organization that is working directly with the Ukrainian Ministry of Heath to get medical supplies into the country. Katherine and I are family and Ukraine is near and dear to both of our hearts. We are very excited to bring our creative partnership to you as we raise money for a country in crisis.
First, I’m going to tell you a bit about how this raffle works because for me, that’s the most important part. However, I invite you to read more below as I chat a bit about Katherine, her work, and our connections to Ukraine.
How to Participate!
Friday, April 8 - Sunday, April 17th you can enter to win my Adventureland Quilt and Katherine’s Pysanka pendants by donating to Direct Relief through the KatherineAlexanderArt TikTok page. You will need a TikTok account to participate. Every $10 donation counts for one raffle entry. We have 5 prizes; the first 4 will get Pysanka pendants, the big prize is the quilt and matching Pysanka pendant and chain! On Wednesday, April 20th we will draw our winners. Full details and the fine print can be found on Katherine’s TikTok page here.
Thanks so much for your interest, I hope one of these creations ends up in your home!
Who is Katherine Alexander?
Katherine and I both married into the same family and it’s clear we are spirit sisters. As we’ve grown through the different stages of our lives together, we’ve both found satisfying success in our creative endeavors. An art form passed down through her family, Katherine’s particular talent is making eggs. That’s right, eggs! Pysanky is the act of creating pysanka, a traditional Ukrainian Easter egg. Using hot wax Katherine writes her designs on the eggs, and then dips it into dye one color layer at a time to create some truly mind blowing works of art. Sometimes she stops there. And sometimes she SMASHES these amazing eggs to make gorgeous jewelry like the necklaces in our raffle. While much of her work sells out as soon as she posts it, her Etsy shop is totally worth checking into regularly, and you can always follow her on TikTok and Instagram to see what she’s up to!
Why is Ukraine special to me? My husband is a total election nerd, in the sexiest of ways mind you, and he spent several weeks in Ukraine during their 2010 presidential election, both visiting east Ukraine’s Donbas and the southwestern areas near the Romanian border. He was so impressed with the country and it’s people that in 2018 he and I went back to visit. We spent several days in Chernivsi taking jeep rides in the Carpathians and visiting old castles. We then spent a long weekend in the capital, Kyiv, staying on the Maidan, visiting some incredible institutions and monuments, and most memorably, a day trip to Chernobyl. But none of that compares to the people we met, especially Yula and Sergei, a couple that hosted us in Chernivsi in a way that spoiled us on traveling abroad forever.
Every place I’ve visited has been wonderful and special in its own way. There is always something to appreciate and fall in love with. In some ways, Ukraine is no different. There are horrible conflicts in many parts of the world as we speak. I’m just a white, middle class person living my comfortable, sheltered life about as far away as anyone can be from the trouble in the world. While I feel deeply about much of it, my day to day is totally unaffected by any of it. However, having been to Ukraine, having walked the very streets that now have tanks and bombs upon them, messaging regularly with a family that has been physically separated because one needs to flee to safety with her child and the other cannot leave the country, has been moving in a way that’s impossible to describe. Making a quilt is basically nothing, yet my hope is that it is something. A little bit. A tiny fraction that with millions of other tiny fractions can actually help. Maybe just one person, but as I think about that one person being Yula, or Sergei, or their young daughter, it’s something.
Thank you for contributing, for reading and for keeping this country in your thoughts. Good luck on the raffle and be well!
Thank You.
Katherine, my dear. Thank you. I love how our journeys have intertwined over the years and this is just one more extra meaningful step along the way. I can’t wait to see what comes next!
PS: Do you like how in our favorite photo I’m wearing my Ukrainian soccer jersey!!
