LeMoyne Star Quilt Finished

"The evil that is inside men is at the last a matter for men to control. 

The responsibility and the hope and the promise are in your hands - your hands and 

the hands of the children of all men on this earth.

 The future cannot blame the present, just as the present cannot blame the past.
The hope is always here, always alive,
but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world."

~Susan Cooper in Silver on the Tree

Quilting

LeMoyne String Stars quilt is finally finished. Hooray! Quilting started last week and now the rest is completed. It's bound, washed, dried, and ready to mail. 

LeMoyne Star string quilt

Last week's post showed the quilting on the LeMoyne Stars in the center. The flowers in the background are reprised in the centers of the Sawtooth Stars. Both stars have orange peels, too. 

Sawtooth Star detail

In fact, there are even more orange peels on the light HSTs in the border. After finishing those, the dark HSTs seemed to need some, too. At least it will help hold those patches securely in the wash. If you look carefully, you can see the difference in the quilting from the top to the bottom photo below.

HSTs before and after an extra row of quilting

Using red thread on red fabric means almost nothing shows. However, the FMQ is much more visible on the grey solid that makes part of the back. 

View of quilting on Sawtooth Stars
and HSTs from the back

There wasn't enough of the red calico for the entire back so I pulled all my solids until I found one that went with it. It's not that I'm deliberately trying to not purchase fabric, but I want to use what's on hand first. There's a feeling of peace to see the piles dwindle. Shopping soon.

Back of LeMoyne Star string quilt

Cadet blue, a medium greyed shade from QS, looks good with the red, white, and blue of the front so it became the binding.

LeMoyne Star string quilt folded

My youngest has requested this. How flattering. How fortunate I am that my family enjoys my quilts.

Quilt Specifics

Size: 63" x 83"

Design: Le Moyne Star string blocks

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose cotton

Thread: Red, white, and blue Superior 50/3 cotton thread

Quilting: SID and FMQ

Approximate yardage: 13 yds

Previous posts:

1. Making string LeMoyne Stars

2. Pulling the first border from the Parts Department

3. Making fabric for the Sawtooth Stars

4. Starting quilting

Reading

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates finally came in... just in time for my book club discussion. In fact, I hadn't finished it by the meeting so the meaning of conduction wasn't clear in my mind. After reading the final pages, I no not see it as "magical realism" or "fantasy." To me, it shows that Blacks have the strength and intelligence to rescue themselves while it also tells of the rejuvenation of Black history by highlighting the tremendous effort to keep it alive. While Hiram struggles to exhaustion to bring forth the story, it was his personal choice requiring communal efforts from the people he was conducting. Juxtapose this with his original escape, orchestrated by {mainly white} others who tortured him {or allowed him to be tortured} in the attempt to turn his talents  - not to their use exactly - but to their direction, to times of their choosing rather than his. 

The best review is by NPR here. An excellent book, well-researched, well written. I enjoy his writing, not least because of the different point of view. In fact, his preface quotes Frederick Douglass: "My part has been to tell the story of the slave. The story of the master never wanted for narrators." 

V-O-T-E and Complete the Census. 

Please. Don't let anyone rob you of your voice. America is made of ALL of us working together even when we disagree.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Folded Star Quilt Finished

Making a public goal got this quilt done. It's in the mail. Hooray! There was no more of any of these fabrics. A remnant of another green made the binding. In fact, there wasn't quite enough so I added a slightly different shade visible at the bottom left if you look carefully enough.

Folded Star quilt

Last week I showed a photo of the spirals without the echo rows. Here it is again with echo quilting which makes the spiral stand out better. {The Ad Hoc Improv Quilting link is still open on that post. Kaja and I would love for you to join our study/discovery of utility and improvisational quilts.}

Detail, Folded Star quilt

Just another detail of the quilting. I wish I'd used grey fabric where the navy triangles are.

The center was quilted with a walking foot by eyeballing the width. The navy and grey areas are FMQ. Playing with curls, hearts, bubbles and stipple. I did mark the spine of the feathers in the outer border.

Detail, Folded Star quilt

Quilt Details

Size: 40" x 40"

Pattern: Folded Star by Cristy Fincher

Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose 100% cotton

Thread: Various embroidery and sewing-weight cotton

Quilting: Walking foot and free motion on a domestic machine

DH took me with him to a meeting in Pennsylvania so I spent a perfect day at Valley Forge. It was so warm; several locals were on the grounds reading and sunning. They must know winter is coming.

This is the Potts' home that George Washington rented at Valley Forge. The front door is almost a dog-trot; when open, air blows straight through it and out the back door. (Texas pioneers built homes with a wide open hallway down the middle to cool their houses.)

Valley Forge headquarters of George Washington

Here are some details of the rooms.

I watched Hamilton's America on PBS this weekend and was surprised to see so many places I've visited. Several were from Valley Forge. They seemed to be standing exactly where I took my photos! The program mixed parts of the Broadway musical Hamilton with background visits to various museums and historic sites. I thought I'd be disappointed that it wasn't the entire musical but the program was excellent. Hope you saw it or have a chance to see it... and the musical!

I'm dusting off my copy of The Federalist Papers to reread. These essays written by Hamilton, Madison and John Jay urged Americans to ratify our proposed Constitution and are still used to interpret the original intent of that document.

Rooms inside Washington's Valley Forge home

Ten to twelve enlisted men lived in cabins like this that have been reconstructed throughout the Park. Love the split rail fence.

Log Cabin for enlisted men at Valley Forge

The National Memorial Arch was built in 1910 and finished during WWI. Chiseled in it is Washington's tribute to his troops: Naked and starving as they are we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery.

National Memorial Arch, Valley Forge PA

Enjoy the day, Ann

Spiderwebs and Stars

I cut kite shapes a couple of years ago for a spiderweb quilt. "More is more" {my usual method}  didn't work in this case so the warm colors were pulled and stashed away for a while.

Digging them out recently there are sixteen stars; perfect for the toddler quilt I need. Actually I needed it this summer but only have time to start it now.

Orange and Red Stars form the background
of this Spiderweb toddler quilt

Several layout tests until I decided to arrange the stars diagonally.

The outmost string on the spiderweb wedges must contrast with the star colors. Some were red, orange or yellow. I moved them to a star with a different value. And lucky me, there were some blue wedges from the previous quilt that didn't look good against blue stars. {I still need to border and quilt that one.}

Laying out the Spiderweb quilt

It's always amazing how much smaller the quilt becomes as the units are sewed.

Sewing Spiderweb quilt blocks

Coming along well.

Enjoy the day, Ann