St. Michael and A Quilter's Reader for March

This past week has been one of the most emotional and challenging of my life. Well, it is one of the top two, most challenging weeks of my life. If at all possible I hope I don't ever have to revisit something like that ever again. However, with two out of the three kids in police work, the likelihood for scary scenarios is always lurking somewhere on the horizon. However, both offspring have been firmly placed in the protective hands of St. Michael the Archangel, Patron Saint of police officers. Last Sunday was proof of his intervention. We are so grateful and most blessed.

That being said, on to more fun stuff, like what I was tinkering with this afternoon.

In our Quilter's Reader book club, we are reading, "A Single Thread", by Marie Bostwick for the month of March. I read the book about three years ago, and just loved it. This is my second time through and it's as if I am revisiting old friends all over again, Evelyn, Charlie, Abigail, Liza, Franklin, Margot, etc. Since this story is the introduction to the Cobbled Court Quilts series, I wanted to make a quilt block that reflected Evelyn's discovery of the cobbled courtyard and the dilapidated, abandoned drug store on her walk through the little town of New Bern, Connecticut in the Fall.

So here it is....ta da!!! My block, The Courtyard Quilt Block.

I had a bit of searching to do to find the block, then I had to reconfigure it to finish out as a 12 1/2" block.

The white center is for the brightly lit courtyard that Evelyn encountered walking through the dark alley (the black blocks). The red at the corners of the courtyard symbolizes the red sign over the shop door, as well as the bright red geraniums she envisioned would bloom in pots around the courtyard. The yellow leaves symbolize the falling leaves of Autumn when she first discovered the little run down shop.

 

The Courtyard Quilt Block

Once again, respectfully submitted by,

Baroness von Thomas Haus, Queen Yours Truly   :)

 



 



A Quilter's Reader

February ~ "The Persian Pickle Club", by Sandra Dallas

In traipsing through the Kingdom of Blogdom, I came upon a lovely little blog from the Starwood Quilter. The predominant theme is very much a quilt block theme woven through the life and times of the Starwood Quilter. She is in the process of making a quilt with blocks that reflect themes from her locale, life, and times.

As part of her blog, she began a book club. The point and purpose of a book club is to read a particular book, for that month, chosen by the Starwood Quilter. She posts discussion questions and periodically, quilt blocks that reflect the different themes, locations, and characters in the book. I plan on making a quilt with blocks that reflect each book we read. Depending on how the story effects me, I'll make a block that reflects a character, the surroundings, the plot, the locale or whatever theme pops out at me.

Our first book, entitled, "The Persian Pickle Club", by Sandra Dallas, was the designated read for February. The story revolves around the time of the Great Depression in the 30's, in the town of Harveyville, Kansas, and the Persian Pickle Club(a quilt guild) and it's members. It was written through the eyes of the principle character, a young married woman, Queenie Bean. She is the inspiration for my block called "Prairie Queen".

 

In the middle is the material containing the "Persian Pickles" or fancy paisley. It is surrounded in a pink fabric with multicolored circles that reflect the beautiful friendships within the club, despite the quirky times, differing personalities and the trials they faced. On the outside of the pink is a black background in which a variety of prairie daisies bloom. I love it!!!