A NOTE FOR SHOP OWNERS

Shop Owners: Please feel free to use this Block of the Week in your shops.

The first block will be up September 1, 2012 and the 49th on August 3, 2013. I'll leave the posts up for at least a year after that last date.

 

Here are three ways to link to the blog.

 

 

 1) Organize a club with block kits and no class meetings. With each kit include a link to the weekly blog post.

Kit up the blocks in three different fabric options: How about:

·         Shades of purple, white and green---England's Suffragette colors

·         A focus on America's golden color

·         William Morris and Art Nouveau reproductions

 There will be 49 blocks so you can do a block of the week or a block of the month. For a monthly feature you could sell 4 kits at a time for a year or just select a dozen for a single block of the month.

 

 

2) Organize a club that meets at the shop with a focus on local Women's History---perhaps six meetings over a year. Assign topics at the beginning  and have students do a little bit of research to discuss in upcoming sessions. The internet has a lot of resources on state and national campaigns. Identify some leaders in the regional fight for women's rights and ask members to find out about their lives and local history. Members bring in their finished blocks from the blog.

 

Topics might include

·         Right to Vote: How did women get the right to vote at various elections locally.

·         Local Firsts: (first female lawyer, legislator, mayor, doctor).

·         The Other Side: Who were the antisuffrage campaigners in the area?

·         Persuasion: Find banners, posters, buttons etc.

·         Local Heroes: Who were local leaders in women's rights?

·         I Remember When: Nostalgia by those who lived through the days when high school guidance counselors gave you 3 options: Secretarial, teaching, nursing. Etc.

·         What was Happening Here a Century ago: What was a woman's day like?

 

3) Use the patterns for a basic patchwork class. You'll find a wide variety of difficulty levels in the pieced blocks (and the three or four applique blocks.) All are 8" but you can also teach students how to convert to 10" or 12". They can learn to draft, to use a computer drafting program like BlockBase or EQ or search the web for patterns.  Adding the Women's History interest to the basic sewing class will attract would-be quilters as well as those who are interested in history and period fabrics too.

 

 

A Set & Yardage for a Sampler

SylvieD is using this set for her blocks.

I'm planning 49 blocks for the Grandmother's Choice sampler.

If you are thinking about yardage for sashing and borders how about this sampler set for 49 blocks?

2" Finished sashing strips and corner stones

6" Finished mitered borders

84" x 84"

I drew this up in Electric Quilt and then I used the yardage calculator to figure out the yardage for the sashing and border.

Here's what it says---and I added my own words too above.

A 7 x 7 layout of 49 blocks finishing to 8"

Sashing

You need 64 cornerstones cut 2-1/2" square =  3/8 yard

112 sashing strips cut 2-1/2" x 8" = 2 yards (THAT'S 8-1/2"---THANK YOU MARCI!)

Border

1-3/4 yards (if they are pieced selvage to selvage) for the border.

If you use long strips parallel to the selvage: 2-1/2 yards. Cut 4 strips 6-1/2" x 84-1/2" and miter them.



Blocks

For 49 different 8" blocks 5 yards in all should be enough.



1 yard each of the following 5 values:

• Really dark
• Medium dark
• Medium
• Medium light
• Really light.

And within those five categories you could substitute 4 quarter yards for each shade --- so up to 20 pieces in all.
If you were going to do a 2-color quilt, say red and white:
3 yards of each of the two colors should be plenty for the blocks.

Binding
Buy a yard and precut what you need. Use the rest for one of your block fabrics.

Backing:
Buy 6 yards of backing fabric and piece it. You can also use extra wide backing fabric. My Moda collection Metropolitan Fair has a backing fabric that is 108" wide. The Oyster Shell Gray might be good. Look for it in October. (#11076-18)

Dustin's Flickr Page

A good deal of the fun last year in the Civil War Quilts blog was the Flickr page of photos. Every Saturday there was a race to see who could post a finished block first. (Sort of like the Olney Pancake Race above---sort of.)

Dustin is doing it again. The new group is GrandmothersChoice.

Click here to see it:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/grandmotherschoice/

It's easy to join and post your photos. First you join and create a photostream.
Here's the link to last year's group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/civilwarquilts2011/

I'll put a gadget over on the right side so you can always find a place to click on it. There will be a spot for Frequently Asked Questions. FAQs.

Here's what Dustin sez:

dustincecil (a group admin) says:07 Aug 12 -
THE FIRST BLOCK WILL BE POSTED September 1, 2012

Feel free to join in at any time.

I will start a new discussion topic each Saturday

Please post photos in the group pool, as well as in each week's discussion, so we can see everyone's blocks next to each other organized by style.

Remember,in order to post pics in a discussion, just copy and paste the URL for each photo from your photostream inside brackets.

ex.[photostream URL no space]