Hello, Queen Victoria

 For a long time

I've had several of 

Quiltmania's books vying 

for my attention.

Life is always pulling at us one way

or the other.

Like all of us, I

have lots of obligations, commitments and

unfinished projects that 

require and tug for my attention.

But for just a moment

I needed to take a quilt making vacation

and enjoy the freedom of 

exploring something new.

I love Di Ford's book

Primarily Quilts... 19th Century Inspirations.

She used the book

Quilts and Quiltmakers,

Covering Connecticut

 as inspiration to create

 Queen Victoria's Crown

 Di Ford

Queen Victoria's Crown

Henrietta Smith Glover

1840-1865

Now it's my turn to interpret

this great design.

The funny thing is that I actually

had the stripe fabric Di used

in the block only in a lighter version.

It's a Marsha McCloskey Staples 

by Clothworks.

 I had bought a lot of it for 

some reason and now was the time to use it.

And look, I had to actually use scissors 

to cut it accurately

 because there was no wiggle room

between the rows.

With a marked template,

 

 I was able to cut each rectangle piece

with the fabric design always in the same position.

The process was slow, but 

that was the only way to get the affect I wanted.

Slow is not a bad word.

It can be a style, a mood,

a way of enjoying what you're doing,

taking time to explore different and new possibilities.

We tend to think of the word slow only in

negative terms.

I had been gifted with a nice packet of

red and green reproduction fabrics

and wanted to use those as the jumping off point

for this scrappy quilt.

I cut the pieces and

sewed a gazzilion

half square triangles.

I did all 25 blocks at the same time because

I was still using the Angler

on my machine.

  It seemed the most efficient method,

I did sew one test block.

 I like where this is heading.

 Until Next Time-