Did you notice the new button on the left sidebar of my blog?
I know I've mentioned a few times that my brother and his family live in Boston.
Recently, I read a blog post that Amy made on During Quiet Time. It was a post about a project called To Boston With Love. Have you heard of it? If not, you can read all about it here, on the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's website. Basically, they are collecting pennants to tie together and hang up in Boston to show support for Bostonians. They are now going to hang these for Memorial Day, so if you want to join in, you'll need to get your pennant made and to Amy by May 21st. (If you join in, you can grab a button like mine from the link above.)
I decided I wanted to join in this effort when I first saw the Amy's post about it a week or so ago. This weekend, I finished my pennant. It's going off to Amy this week.
I think my pennant turned out okay. I used some of the colors the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild suggested as the color scheme. I used my scraps from the Quilted Fish's last line, Flutter, as well as some Sweetwater scraps (the tie is made from their Reunion line, and the back.....).
.... is Lucy's Crab Shack kite tails. I thought that was kind of fun for a pennant. All my most precious fabrics. :-) I thought it was appropos to use some of my most loved fabrics to express my love for Boston's people.
I did some machine embroidery in the center of the block. The design is from Urban Threads. I have been wanting to try some of their "off-beat" embroidery designs, and this was a good excuse to do so. This design is called Love Letters. I have always liked the arts and crafts style, and I thought this design was in that genre. I stitched it out on the white fabric, with no real plan at all. I was hoping inspiration for something fun would strike while it was stitching.
I started thinking about this new book that arrived in the mail the other day--100 Modern Quilt Blocks, by Tula Pink. I had preordered it on Amazon, and it finally came out. There is an awful lot of fun in this book. I wondered if there was a block in this book that might work for me. As luck would have it, all the blocks in this book are 6.5" blocks, which is the unfinished width requested for the pennant. Perfect!
I started leafing through the book. I was looking for a block with some sort of large piece where I could place that embroidery design. I happened upon block No. 9. Hmm....I like it. A cross. That could have multiple meanings. And I thought it kind of resembled the cross of the Red Cross. Yes, I thought this would work, and it did work out well.
I haven't gotton a chance to do enough with this book yet to give you a thorough review. But I can do a "mini review" and tell you a few initial observations I have about it. One thing I will point out is that each of the 100 blocks is shown finished on the left-hand page (as shown in the previous photograph), and on the right hand page, it is show in exploded form, with the measurements of each block component (which I cropped out of this photograph to protect the author's copyright). You might notice that the exploded diagram is a sketch of the block rather than a photograph. It's a very nice touch. I really like it.
There are no instructions for block construction....just the measurements of the pieces. But from what I've seen, no instructions are really needed. The block construction is pretty straightforward. But if you're a real beginner, this might be a little frustating.
There is an interesting section on choosing fabrics and colors. At the end, there are five different quilt patterns using the blocks (or some of them) from the book. These quilts vary in size from a throw to a king-sized quilt. The quilt on the cover is by far my favorite, and I really want to make it. It has one of each of the 100 blocks in it. I know there are some quilt alongs starting up to make these blocks, but I've got to finish some other things before I can start on this. I do want to do it, though. It shouldn't be as intimidating as a Farmer's Wife, as these blocks are pretty simple in construction and should sew up quickly. I sewed up the block for this pennant in no time. It's fabric selection that would take me a while!
After constructing the block, I chose a couple strips of red fabric to "sash" the top and the bottom of the block to make it tall enough to fit the requested dimensions. I chose some of The Quilted Fish's Flutter fabric, because it had "hope," "inspiration," and other such words on it. But all the "hopes" got cot off by accident in the end. Bummer!
There are other imperfections, too. I got the embroidery in there a little crooked. Not much. And when I sewed the tie strip on. I didn't get it quite straight in one spot. But, I figured these will likely be tied up high, will be flapping in the wind, and will be out in the elements. So, it will be just fine!
If you'd like to join in, but you need some inspiration, there is a Flickr group, where people are posting photos. There's a lot of great inspiration there. Amy's pennant is probably one of my favorites. It's so clever, as is everything else she does. Par for the course for her! I also really like this one.
There, that's three different ones for some inspiration for you. Hopefully I've motivated you to give it a go!
More inspiration and tutorials can be found here: http://vancouvermodernquiltguild.ca/blog/2013/04/to-boston-with-love-tutorials-and-inspiration/
There is information on shipping and other details here: http://vancouvermodernquiltguild.ca/blog/2013/04/to-boston-with-love-shipping-info/
Many thanks to Amy of During Quiet Time for being the point person to receive and deliver these pennants in Boston. Very cool of you, I must say.
Until next time,
I love the embroidery that you did on the flag! What's very cool is not my collecting the flags but the incredible participation from people quite literally all around the world. I am the lucky one who gets to check the mail each day for these packages full of expressions of love and hope.
Posted by: Amy | April 29, 2013 at 08:14 AM
WOW Mama Pea -- I LOVE your block. Definitely my favorite of the ones I've seen so far. I LOVE the embroidery. And the block you chose. Everything about it! Well Done!!!
Posted by: Thimbleanna | April 29, 2013 at 10:18 AM
You are so creative and giving! I love the block.
Posted by: Maureen | April 29, 2013 at 10:41 AM
Cute pennant! Love the embroidery design (pun intended).
I also just received a copy of Tula Pink's new book. I was thinking about trying to get a modern group going at my LQS. The owner doesn't really like the modern style though and didn't seem very enthusiastic when I suggested it. *sigh* I may try to get a few folks going on it anyway. If I can just get something going I think she will come around.
Posted by: Lynn | April 29, 2013 at 04:27 PM
I love the flag pennant you made for Boston!!!
Posted by: Rene Creates | April 29, 2013 at 06:47 PM
I love your pennant! It makes me want to try out my embroidery unit on my Husqvarna-Viking! I've had it for 5 years and have never even tried it out :/
Posted by: Lisa Lisa | April 29, 2013 at 09:10 PM
Love your pennant! I will read about this and if I have time I would love to make one too. Headed to read the details.
Hugs,
Donna
Posted by: Donna | April 30, 2013 at 08:17 PM
The embroidery on your pennant is lovely, I joined in with Quilts for Boston and sent my blocks off yesterday, and I only just now found out about to Boston with Love, so I will be busy making a pennant to send sometime this week.
Posted by: Sam | April 30, 2013 at 10:51 PM
I love your little pennant...the embroidery is perfect!
Posted by: Carla | May 01, 2013 at 12:15 AM
Nice!
Posted by: Deb | May 10, 2013 at 12:54 PM