May I present, “Community
Supper”
Quarantined quilters taking a
bite out of Coronavirus – one block a at a time.
Back
To recap: On May 16, I posted
a request for an “orphan” block and label with each person’s sentiment about
this pandemic. Ten days later I had over 40 blocks and they kept coming. Never
in my wildest dreams did I envision making this quilt with 80 other quilters.
The last block came in on July 23rd, all the way from Japan. I would
like to thank everyone who participated. This is your quilt!
The quilt is constructed in
the potholder method whereby each block is individually quilted and bound and
then stitched together. You can read more about this method of construction in
my January 2019 post (here). I used printed patchwork or “cheater” prints on
the back of each block and attached the labels, making this a true “two sided”
quilt.
I struggled a bit with the
layout of the blocks. They were so diverse, there was no right or wrong way to
arrange them. So, I took the easy route and simply laid them out
alphabetically. The 64 ten inch blocks are alphabetical (by maker) from left to
right and the 16 five inch blocks are alphabetical from top to bottom.
I usually hand stitch my
potholder blocks together but, I really wanted to finish this project by the
end of summer, so I decided to use the machine. It was easy to keep the
individual blocks together as I zig-zagged along, but when it came to
assembling the rows… it was a bit like steering a fin keel sailboat through a
rough current. It was hard not to over steer to compensate for the drag. I
managed to make headway and keep things moving, but my stitching is far from
perfect! I suppose this adds even more meaning to this unconventional “story”
quilt.
I machine appliqued the
header piece along the top and then took a fabric pen and drew images to remind
us (as if we would ever forget) of the things that quickly became part of our
daily lives.
This project has been my
salvation during this pandemic. It allowed me to focus on something meaningful
while the outside world was spinning wildly out of control.
I have truly enjoyed my
connection with all of the 80 quilters from 31 states and 4 countries.
I have stayed away from all
social media except for my blog during these past months but I hope to upload this
post to the Quilt Index Facebook page, “Come Tell Us: Quilters Share Stories
from Covid 19”.
Let’s hope this pandemic will
end soon and we will use what we have learned to help heal damaged bodies and
broken hearts.
Thanks for sticking with me
on this journey. May all your quilts be happy ones.
