8 Pointed Star

This quilt goes back to 2005.  I got the star fabrics from a fabric-of-the-month club, and immediately thought of my neighbor.  Made the little wall quilt, but then got embarrassed, assumed she would not like it because it was so small.

Fast forward.  Sharon has become an avid collector and maker of quilts. (I shared some instruction and she has been happily hooked ever since!) She was at my house and saw this little quilt and told me she LOVED the colors, and the design.  I pulled it down and confessed I had made it for HER many years ago, but thought she might now know what to do with a small quilt.

Needless to say, the quilt now has a new home, and is finally where it was always supposed to be.

Brown and Yellow 24-40 or fight

The history behind this quilt block is some political slogan from 1844 where President James Polk was lead to victory over the Oregon Territory. Or something like that.  I don't know, it doesn't make any sense to me but that's the name of this quilt block anyhow, and I like it in quilts for men.

A wall quilt, in browns and yellows, for my Father-In-Law.

Old is New Again

The block known as 54-40 or Fight has always been interesting to me.  Such an odd name!  Those triangle star points!  The corners can be HST's, or 4 patches, or even plain squares.  I got a triangle ruler a few months ago, and it has opened up blocks that before I used to cut with paper patterns, slowly accidentally slicing off bits and pieces of my template as I cut.

The slogan 54-40 or fight was from a mid 1850's dispute between  Britain and the US over territories in what is now Oregon.  One of the boundaries was the parallel on the map with the coordinates 54,40.  The slogan was also used by James  Polk, democrat, in his successful bid for the presidency.

At that time, women were denied the vote, but would often express their political views in their "Women's Work," such as quilting.  So to me, the thing I like about the block is it's association with women being politically active at a time they were denied that right.

The fabric collection I used to make my small quilt came from a reproduction set of 6 fabrics (and I added a few from the scrap box) named "Old is New Again," since we may tend to think pink and black is a modern color combination.  This collection was put together from reproduction fabrics of fabrics popular together in the 1840's. 

Though they appear to mirror one another, in reality all the blocks have a dark center.  There are also a few blocks where I had to piece some pinks together to finish the block since I accidentally made one too many black-pointed star when I really needed one more PINK pointed star!  Love it when I end up making these little mistakes.  Reminds me of myself! 

UPDATE: This quilt found a living home with Romana Uher in 2015.

Rock And Roll

I admire my young friend Jackie.  She was a healthy, hardworking, marathoner who was struck down hard with an autoimmune disorder that attacked her muscles (including her heart) but she fought hard to improver her health again.  She researched her disease, stayed on top of her treatment, and after a year began jogging again, and within months was back to running marathons.  Her first post-illness marathon was the San Diego Rock And Roll marathon.  I had these fabrics which included Beatles fabric and crazy 60's colors.  Jackie is too young to have lived the 60's, but she is such a classy young woman!