View of fire from front yard

My first encounter with wildfire came years ago while working at a federal facility in South Carolina. They were performing prescribed burns — controlled fires designed to clear dead foliage and prevent something larger from igniting later. Only this one got a little out of control.

To get to work, we drove along a road right against the fire. It was hissing and spitting, close enough that I could feel the heat through the car window. I remember wondering how anyone thought this was safe. I was more than a little afraid. Two days later it was out, and the smoke lingered. As an East Coast girl, I had never truly understood the danger of wildfires until that moment.

This year, I got a second lesson.

View from the highway between Taos and Santa Fe

I traveled to New Mexico to visit my husband, who is working there. We stood on the front porch of our casita and watched the fire creeping closer across the mountain. It started with a lightning strike on August 4th. Two weeks later, more than 9,000 acres have burned. Over 600 firefighters are working to save homes and the national forest. It is only 9% contained.

We watched the mountainside every day — at least on the days we could see it. Some days the smoke was so thick the mountain disappeared entirely. We prayed for rain. We prayed for the families living closer to the fire than we were. And we prayed for the firefighters doing their best to hold the line.

On one of our drives from the casita into Santa Fe, I noticed the encampment where the firefighters rest and eat between shifts. Tents pitched everywhere. No comfortable beds waiting for them after a long, brutal, dangerous day of work. I had never thought about that before — that the people keeping us safe come home to canvas and cots. It stopped me cold.

Wildfire – With Tonga Ember Collection

About the Wildfire Quilt

After my first experience with wildfire in South Carolina, I designed this quilt. Wildfire features a large foundation-pieced center block — which I also call Wildfire — surrounded by traditional blocks representing states frequently in the path of wildfires: Washington, Oregon, and California. Three additional blocks carry meaning of their own: Red Cross, Broken Heart, and Fire.

It is a 30-page pattern, designed as a Block of the Month. The fabric collection is arriving in quilt shops now — or pull from your stash. This quilt loves batiks, hand-dyes, and anything with depth and warmth.

View from local church where firefighters are stationed

A Portion of Every Sale Goes to Those Who Need It Most

From now through Labor Day (September 7), $10 from every Wildfire pattern sale will go to the American Red Cross to support families displaced by wildfires, and $10 will go to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, which supports the families of fallen and injured wildland firefighters.

👉 American Red Cross — Wildfire Relief
👉 Wildland Firefighter Foundation

The pattern is available now in the shop. I will be sharing my progress here — videos, photos, and updates — as I make my own version alongside you. I hope you’ll join me.

👉 Purchase Wildfire here