49. An Arc: Bending Towards Justice

  

An Arc Bending Towards Justice

Becky Brown

As we come to a close with this Block-of-the-Week, we've had 48 blocks celebrating victories and considering despair. Block 49 reminds us that the quilt may be finished but the fight for women's rights is not.

Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929-1968

When worrying about injustice, I try to think of a statement from Martin Luther King, Jr. "The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice." King was paraphrasing minister Theodore Parker in an earlier but related fight for justice.

Theodore Parker 1810-1860

Parker, an abolitionist, said, "I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."

Theodore Parker lecturing in New York

A drawing in the London Illustrated News, 1856. The audience, segregated by gender, seems to react differently to Parker's words. He spoke in favor of women's rights and abolition.

An Arc Bending Towards Justice by Becky Brown

The Arc Bending Towards Justice is a comforting thought whatever the fight. My image of an arc is close to this variation on a fan block.

It's BlockBase #3302.5 with several names, among them Mohawk Trail from the Nancy Cabot quilt column in the Chicago Tribune in 1933. Maybe a starry sky behind the arc could represent the moral universe.

Cutting an 8" Block

Again this week it's all templates with two sizes, 8" & 12".

Print the templates out 8-1/2" x 11"

To make the pattern fit the printer page you have to assemble Template B.

For B in the 8" block cut an 8-1/2" square of fabric and fold it diagonally. Place the line on the fold and cut.

For B in the 12" block cut a 12-1/2" square, fold diagonally, place the template and cut.

Piecing

First piece 3 A slices together

See last week's instructions on how to pin these curves

and add to B.

An Arc Bending Towards Justice

Dustin Cecil

You could also applique the fan to an 8-1/2" or 12-1/2" background.

Read the original sermon by Theodore Parker at Google Books and notice that the copy they scanned has a marginal mark. Parker's optimism has inspired many people.

Click on the book to read The Collected Works of Theodore Parker: Sermons. Prayers

http://books.google.com/books?id=_VRGAAAAMAAJ&dq=theodore+parker+arc+moral&source=gbs_navlinks_s

If you visit the Oval Office at the White House you may notice Dr. King's quote about the arc woven into the carpet's border along with several other mottoes.

The above paragraph was written when Justice inspired the White House during the Obama era. Now, not so much.

Next Week: Sets!

48. Fair Play: Canadian Suffrage

Fair Play by Becky Brown

The fight for Women's Suffrage, so contentious and frustrating in the early teens, began to achieve its goals in the latter part of the decade. The disaster of World War I changed attitudes about many things, including women's roles and rights. Old arguments were replaced by new logic based in fairness.

Canadian nurses

Men in government came to believe that it was only fair to permit women to vote but also a trade for their service and sacrifices during the war. In 1917 Canada's Parliament passed the Wartime Election Act, which selectively gave the vote not only to women serving in the military as nurses but also to those with close family members serving overseas.

Canadian Nurses voting in France 1917

In 1918 with the Allies victorious, most female adult Canadians who owned property were awarded the right to vote.

The Weaker Sex?

Canada was ahead of its English cousins who also passed a 1918 enfranchisement law, but London's Parliament limited female voters to those over 30 who met minimum property qualifications (men could vote at 21.)

  

Victory was not a prerequisite for change. In defeat Germany and Austria granted the right to vote to women in 1918.

American women had to wait two more years for a constitutional amendment.

"If You Are Good Enough for War You
Are Good Enough to Vote,"

Public Opinion tells American Womanhood

Fair Play by Becky Brown

Fair Play is a four patch block given the name by the Ladies' Art Company in the early 20th century. We can use it to remember the post World War I victories in several countries.

It's BlockBase #1482.

Cutting an 8" or a 12"  Block

The block is all templates if you piece it conventionally.

To print the templates click on the pictures below and save.

Print it 8-1/2 x 11".

Here's a little how-to on stitching these curves.

• You need about 6 or 7 straight pins.
• Place the smaller piece on top of a larger piece face to face.
• Center the two and put a pin there.
• Flip the pieces over as you pin.

You could applique the B ring if you prefer.
Applique to squares cut 4-1/2" for the 8" block or 6-1/2" for the 12".
http://colvinkiwiquilts.blogspot.com/2013_07_01_archive.html

Brigitte at Zen Chic has another way to construct a similar block. See this:

http://www.farbstoff-bridge.blogspot.com/2013/02/moda-friendship-block-quilt-along.html

47. Heroine's Crown: Choose Your Own

Heroine's Crown by Becky Brown

AAA----Applique---but simple applique

We've mentioned many soldiers in the battles for women's rights but leave a long list of omissions. Some of the omissions are people who achieved enough fame to be remembered today, like Carrie Chapman Catt and Simone de Beauvoir.

Others are the anonymous heroes we see in these photos.

Every step forward had a woman unafraid to make a statement; every region had a leader; every sign had a standard bearer.

So with Hero's Crown we can recall someone whose name has been omitted---your great-Aunt, our first female Supreme Court Justice, my neighbor who insists we all vote. The applique block is from Ruth Finley's 1929 book Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them.

8" Pattern

12" Pattern

I lightened Becky's block so you could see the extra seams she added.

Cutting an 8" Block

Cut the background 8-1/2" or 12-1/2" square. Fold and press so you have guidelines for laying out the applique.

Cut templates (be sure to add seams) and then cut 4 of each piece except for C.

You only need one center circle C.

And really you only need 1 B cut as a single 4-lobed floral.

But Becky cut the floral B as 4 pieces

And here's why...

Heroine's Crown by Becky Brown

So she could fussy cut the floral.

Here's how she did that center floral.

She pieced these over freezer paper

Using a glue stick she glued the edges

and then whip stitched the 4 pieces together.

Very nice.

Heroine's Crown by Dustin Cecil

Do notice I don't have an applique by 

Georgann to show.

48 Blocks makes a very nice quilt too.