Starting Another One

Morning Jo.


Why is it always so much fun to start another quilt? the thrill of beginnings.

Star

I am starting another quilt. i still have a few on the design wall..but here I go.

I tell myself I am getting ready for my time at my summer home. Really its a trailer in a little trailer park near my daughter's home. But calling it a summer home makes it seem richer and more elegant.

Anyway, I cut out lots of pieces to make another star quilt. 

Night and Day

I enjoyed making this one. I like to see how the shapes kind of change a little bit in each star just by placement. Of course you know that I never worry about running out of fabric. I just find another one. Most of the fabrics of the stars came from donations from my friends. 

I guess it's the fun of choosing colours that I enjoy so much. I usually use such bright colours and red always seems to be there. So this time I am taking a more subdued colourway.

The red is pink.  And one good thing about using solids in a quilt like this is that you can use both sides. No problem.


Do you remember the Road to Freedom quilts. Did you make one? This is mine.

Back in the nineties we celebrated the Underground Railroad by making quilts called The Road to Freedom.

Each block gave a clue to escaping slaves on where to go next.

The log cabin block told them where a safe house might be. When the centre block was yellow it said that the home would welcome them. A black centre block told them not to go there.

The large centre block is called the carpenters wheel. It told the slaves to gather their tools and prepare for their flight. I made it the biggest block in honour of my father. He was a carpenter.

Historians have now reputed the whole theory. They say that there is no evidence that quilts were used in that way. They also say that some of the blocks had not been used at that time.

I don't think that all of the signs were tidy little 12 inch block pieced quilts.

The historians might be right..But I really like to think that it's just another way of showing that there were many people who helped the slaves escape. Perhaps just a quilt on the line..or perhaps a message to slaves that they were welcome and honoured in their terrifying quest for freedom.


I live on the border of Canada and the U.S.   Freedom for many was attained when the border was crossed. There are a few houses here that claim to have been a station on the Underground railroad.  There was so much secrecy about it that its difficult to know what really happened.

The struggle for equality is still being fought.

Have a great day.

karenwholikesthestory