How Was Your Weekend?
Lucky for me, I was able to spend most of my time quilting. This hasn't happened for a while. It feels incredibly good to make progress on some of my projects.
Sew Many Ways
Sew Many Ways finally got some of the attention she deserves. Most of the rows are now assembled and I've decided on the mitered border. It is so fulfilling to see her coming together. I'm looking forward to getting her on the quilt frame and quilted.
#The100DayProjectMysteryQuilt
Day 6:
Block 6 for the #The100DayProjectMysteryQuilt is Twirling Star and is a 6" block. This block challenged me mostly because I made a math error on my initial draft of the pattern. Silly me made the entire block before I noticed my error. Yikes!
Once I saw the error and corrected the problem, the block came together much easier. I found this block in Marsha McCloskey's Block Party book, 1998.
Day 7:
The 100 Day Project Mystery Quilt - Block 7 is Fifty-Four Forty or Fight. This is a 6" block.
The phrase "Fifty-four Forty or Fight" was the 1844 campaign slogan of President James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States.
Some background: An 1818 treaty gave joint control of the Oregon Territory to the British and the US. The territory was between 42°to 54° 40 minutes north which is all of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and the southern half of British Columbia today. From the 1820s through the 1840s, US citizens settled the territory and outnumbered British citizens by about 3 to 1. Polk correctly understood public sentiment which favored claiming the entire territory. Though being an unknown, and now considered the first true dark horse candidate, he won. Keeping to his promise to be a one term president, Polk settled the dispute with the 1846 Oregon Treaty which established the northern border of the United States at the 49th parallel.
The block has gone by many names over the years and Ruth E. Finley called it Fifty-Four Forty or Fight in her book Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them, 1929. It also appears with this name in the Aunt Marth Series "The Quilt Fair Comes to You", ca. 1933*.
Other names include: Grandma's Star, Clara Stone's Practical Needlework, ca. 1906; Garden Patch, Grandma Dexter's New Applique and Patchwork Designs, Book 36b, ca. 1932; Garden Walk, Kansas City Star, April 26, 1939; Nine Patch Star, Kansas City Star, January 4, 1956; An Old Fashioned Pinwheel, Kansas City Star, February 12, 1958; Railroad, Aunt Martha Series: The Quilt Fair Comes to You, ca. 1933; and, Texas, Nancy Page, Port Arthur News, January 9, 1934*
*The Quilter's Album of Patchwork Patterns, Jinny Beyer 2009.
This Week
My goals for this week are to finish piecing Sew Many Ways and create seven more blocks for the #The100DayProjectMysteryQuilt. What will you be working on?
Until next time,