Word #5 - Scream - Potomac

Used scraps of blue and orange to make several logcabin blocks - added some fused applique, God's word and made #5 in this series for 2009. '...blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.' Luke 11:28

This is my quilt "Scream" on display in the Pennsylvania National Quilt show, 2007. It is a quilt that is all about and only about the process of building it and my inability to stay focused. My first attempt at a kingsized quilt - I started with 8 inch blocks. Do you have any idea how many 8 inch blocks it takes to make a kingsized quilt? Well I quickly became bored! So I started combining the 8 inch blocks, adding material in and around them to make 20 inch blocks. Add a border here, another one there - lay it out on my bed - still too small - add another border here - another one there. Finally - it is large enough. But I no longer have any idea what the design even looks like! So I take it outside, pin it to my clothesline, step away, turn, look - and SCREAM - in delight!

Ah, but now, how do I quilt this monster on my Viking? Solution - I cut it up into 4 pieces - quilt each piece, then stitch the 4 pieces together. BUT - it would be BORing to put them back in the same place - so I stagger them - and create 4 outside and 4 inside corners. The picture below shows Scream on a bed - the staggered border works really well on a bed.

The Potomac River in West Virginia - this is a sunset behind one of the many railroad bridges over the Potomac. The squirrel is painted then hand appliqued. Its tail is finished with heavy machine stitching - to more accurately capture the whispy long hairs on a squirrel's tail. This quilt finished out at as a YSQ - yard square quilt - and sold at auction for charity.