Old Glory

I grew up in a small town in Michigan.

Each Memorial Day was celebrated

with a parade.

The entire town either watched 

from the curb in town or from the tree lined streets

on porches displaying a flag

or decorated with red, white and blue bunting.

Everyone would cheer and clap

as our local veterans would march by,
along with the boy scouts and

 

 girl scouts,

and the kids riding their decorated bikes.

Everyone kept pace 

with the drum cadences from

 the local high school's marching band.

We would march to the cemetery

to honor those soldiers who had given  their

lives for all of us who had gathered 

on this day of remembrance.

It's time to 

display a quilt that I love.

"Old Glory"

2001

52" X 62"

It was designed by 

Blackbird Designs and can be found

in their book 

Summer Weekend.

Barb Adams and Alma Allen

have included many

elements that I hold dear,

 country and

family.

This was a fun quilt to make,

using small pieces of some

of my favorite fabrics.

I also used wool

for some of the smaller pieces.

 It added another layer

of texture.

The applique was done by hand, as 

well, as the quilting.

It was fun to add the swags in the border.

It seemed to tie everything together.

I enjoy this quilt for many reasons,

but mostly as a way of remembering.

 Until Next Time-

Renewed, Well, Slightly

The last two weeks

have been super productive.

My applique quilt has really moved forward.
It's funny,
if you actually work on something,
you do make progress.

I taped all the blocks and the first panel

 

 on my daughter's kitchen wall on Monday.
It gave me direction for the week.

Monday

 

I was quickly reminded that I never had
appliqued the circles on these two blocks.

 So Monday was a two step backward day.


But now these blocks are finally finished.

Tuesday

I got out the freezer paper
and traced the top panel and

cut out all the shapes.

Wednesday

 Out came the picnic baskets
that I've been using to store my fabrics
just for this quilt.

It was a day of auditioning.

Thursday

The first pieces were glue basted to the background.

Then a few more.


I even had a few moments to start appliqueing

Today

It's a short day because it's my
day to head home.
So I'm going to just make more circles.

My experiment
was certainly positive.
And I definitely feel good
about the progress I made.
It actually helped to renew my desire to finish.

I want to keep it
center stage, at least for awhile.

Just think if I did,

I might surprise myself how 

quickly I could actually finish my Roseville Album.

Until Next Time-

Because One Week Wasn't Enough

I kept myself busy

last week limiting myself to

only working on 

The Roseville Album Quilt

designed by Kim McLean

I realized that 

one of the reasons I've neglected this project
is that I don't want to
 applique the last border.

I know I can change it,

it's just a pattern, not a requirement.

But 

I just can't figure out an alternative.

One idea would be,
not to do an outer border.

It would still finish at 80" x 80".

Or possibly 

quilt the last applique design in the border instead.

Or

find a large bold print,

that pulls all the colors together,

and add it as the final border.

(If I was good with EQ, I'd be able to show you!)

Also my fabrics are not like what's shown
in the pattern, so that may alter anyone's opinion.

Or

come up with a pieced border.
 Would a simple design look out of place with

the intricate applique?

Or would it need to be something complicated?

Would it need to be scrappy to blend with the applique?

I'm really not sure about a pieced border,

because nothing else is pieced in the quilt.

So I've pretty much scraped this idea.

Or

A simpler applique patten might also work.

Can you sense my lack of direction?
I've actually been mulling this over
for a long time.

My latest consideration is using 

a Chintz border fabric.

The large patterns give the appearance 

of applique

 

 without the stitching.

I'll be thinking more about this one.

The main thing is

I don't want it to look like 

I copped out at the end.

I want to make some more progress this week.
I have plenty of circles to applique
and I can audition pieces for the top panel,
and even start appliqueing.

The main goal

is to get it done

while my fingers still work and 

my eyes can still see.

Until Next Time-