A
Cry for Freedom!
Finished Jan 5, 2006
Size: approx 69"X69"
"Let every Nation
know, whether it wishes us
well or
ill,
that we shall
pay any price, bear any burden, meet any
hardship,
support
any friend,
oppose any foe to assure the survival and the
success
of liberty."
~John F. Kennedy
Monday, September 17, 2001.
I
woke up this morning with the NEED to stitch
something
patriotic. I can't explain this need, but many of you are also
experiencing
it. This is what came to my mind......White ohio stars on blue
backgrounds,
surrounded by red and white rail blocks.
My
ohio stars are 6" finished size. I
was
concerned
about making them any bigger, because then the rail blocks would have
to
be HUMONGOUS strips, and I didn't want them to over power the quilt.
The
easiness of the rail blocks makes up for the small pieces in the
Ohio Stars, and it really does go quick.
This
is the extent of what is on my design
wall
right
now. Like the rest of us, I have a family and a busy business, and I
can't
stop everything to put my heart into this, even tho I want to do
nothing
else......SO...I will work on it as time allows, and add more pictures
as it grows.
Saturday, Sept 22, 2001:
As
of today I have pieced 17 ohio star blocks,
and
have
24 or so more cut out and ready to stitch. I also have a stack of
rail blocks ready. I am thinking of setting this quilt 9 X 9, with 1/2
the blocks being stars, and the other 1/2 being rails. That will give
me
a quilt center of 54" before borders. I have quite a way to go yet, but
I am working on it a bit at a time. Considering the fact that President
Bush said this could be a long war......I think I can pace myself.
*grin*
Tuesday, Oct 30th, 2001:
I finished the top!
Yeserday (Monday) I
finished
the remainder of the blocks while at my Sit N Sew group in Sulphur
Springs.
I got the blocks all laid out and stitched in rows, but had to wait til
another spare moment to sew the rows together. I had one of those
nights
where you just can't sleep, so I was up between
3 and 5 am putting rows together and
adding
borders! I originally thought that I would do a
pieced border, but when I got the blocks
together,
the quilt center was so busy and so graphic, that it really needed a 2
1/2" plain white border to float the quilt center, and then I found the
perfect navy moda print to frame the quilt with
a 6" outer
border.
I had JUST enough navy! (love it when I use up something with no
leftovers!
*hehe*) The top measures about 69" square. Now onto the quilting!
If you would like to join me, here are the
directions
for the Ohio Star blocks.
For each star cut:
White:
TWO 3 1/4" squares. Cut these squares diagonally
twice
with an X to give you 8 star points.
ONE 2 1/2" square for the
star center.
Navy:
TWO 3 1/4" squares. Cut
these squares
diagonally
twice
with an X to give you 8 star background triangles.
FOUR 2 1/2" squares for
block corners.
Piece blocks in this
manner:
Make four hour-glass
squares:
Place
a white triangle with a blue triangle
with
right
sides together..and seam along one SHORT side. This will make one HALF
of your hour glass square. Continue chain feeding triangle pairs
through
your machine until you have 8 identical triangle pairs.
lay these out on your pressing board and press
the
seam
allowances to the DARK. trim points and snip threads between triangles.
Make two piles of 4 triangles each.....and
place
them
with long sides facing eachother. Pair these up with right sides
together
to stitch them into hour glass squares. Trim threads between squares,
and
trim excess points.
Lay out all your star pieces to form the
block.....
Make
sure that your white points are forming the star points...and place
your
4 blue background squares in the corners, and the white square in the
center.
Stitch the block in rows across, as in sewing
a 9
patch
block.
Rail blocks:
I am digging through my
scraps for this
quilt.
My
rail blocks are made with assorted red fabrics.....the white in the
quilt
is the one "constant" that I have going. It is a bleached muslin.
Cut red fabric into 2 1/2" strips. Cut
white
center
fabric into 2 1/2" strips.
Stitch a red on either side of the
white....pressing
seams
towards the dark.
Sub-cut these long strips into 6 1/2" rail
blocks.
Assembly:
Lay out your stars alternating with the rail blocks for the quilt
center.
Stitch blocks into rows, and then sew the rows into the quilt center.
To frame the quilt, I added a 2.5" cut inner border of
white and framed the whole quilt with a 5" cut outer border of navy
blue.
Quilting Detail:
Questions
or Comments? I would love to hear from you!!
© Quiltville Custom
Quilting 1997-2006 All Rights Reserved.
No part may be used, copied or otherwise
altered without express written permission from the webmaster.