Thursday, February 25, 2010

"Wow"

Megan's social studies teacher assigned her class a book report for Black History Month. Meg's book had to be at least 200 pages. After she read the book, she was to do an original book report. No papers, no dioramas, no poster boards. The assignment was to "wow" her teacher.

Her book was called Hidden in Plain View. It was about how the Underground Railroad used to use quilts to post secret messages about when it was safe to escape from slavery. They would hang the quilts out on the fence. To the slave owners, it just looked like quilts airing out in the sun. To the slaves, each block pattern had a different significance. One meant it was time to pack your belongings, another meant it was safe to escape, etc.

For her project, Megan chose 4 blocks and we made a small sampler quilt. I helped by cutting out the pieces and sewing the sashing, but otherwise, Meg did most of it herself. She was meticulous! It turned out beautifully! She also wrote a summary and we sewed it onto the back. I think she'll get an A+!




Her blocks were the monkeywrench, log cabin, shoofly, and bowtie patterns.


Wednesday, February 17, 2010

RECON

Megan is on a hip-hop dance team. Their team is called RECON. They competed this past weekend at Showstopper Dance Competition. She/they were great! They were 3rd in their catagory and 10 group overall.





















Monday, February 1, 2010

OCD or something like it...

In April of last year, I was inspired to start quilting by my aunt and cousins. They had made a quilt over Easter break and it was so cute that I just had to try it myself. My aunt, Heather, had found the pattern at Oh, Fransson! The website is done by a woman named Elizabeth Hartman and it is full of wonderful inspiration. So, like Heather and J and B, I, too, did the Mod Quilt-Along from Oh, Fransson! I blogged about it here. I finished the quilt top and back, sandwiched my quilt and then moved on to some other projects. Finally, a little before Thanksgiving, I got it back out, quilted it and finally finished it.











Well, during all those inbetween months, I worked on a few other things...



I made flannel blankets. Some for donating and some for a couple of friends who each had a baby girl this year.



I made tote bags and drawstring backpacks. Again, some were gifts and the rest were for two Christmas boutiques that I took part in.













My mom and I went to Martha's Vineyard in April to visit my brother. I took some of the photos from our trip and some Martha's Vineyard themed fabric I found, and made her a scrapbook quilt for her birthday.








I was on a roll so I made a quilt for Abbey. Cherry theme by her request...
FRONT:

BACK:


I made one for Emily that is black and white/brights.


I am still working on Megan's along with six other quilts in various stages of incomplete.




And this is my newest...


I think it's safe to say... I'm obsessed!