Quilty 365 Revisited + Westering Women

Hi! It's May. No basket on my doorstep, too bad. Today we're revisiting Quilty 365 because this is the final post/ show and tell/ linky day with Audrey, the project's inventor. You can see many more versions on  her blog Quilty Folk.

A bit of a rehash for my regular readers, I'll just do it briefly. I know I had lost the final photos, so here is my top completed. My project is called Dotty 365.

Dots are in order of days made.

Text backgrounds, spacers, and backing, to refer to the idea of a quilt as a diary. Pencils print border.

The funny splotch dot is intended to be the binding. You can look at my Dot Quilts Pinterest board for ideas of how it will be machine quilted. I don't cut out my backings behind the circles because I believe it weakens the top.

Here is my little companion diary. I'll make a small pocket for it once the quilting is done.

Project notes included.

Label made, though I also have a nice printed strip: Remember.

Too bad it was such a crappy year for me, due to poor health and intense pain, but I enjoyed every moment of making Dotty and love the final top. Surprisingly I did not fall behind, though I did do the sewing in batches of 5 to 10 at  one sitting. Also the pieces went together so smoothly and perfectly; a pleasure for me as after sewing my entire life, since age six?, I still struggle with my piecing skills or lack thereof.
 It will be quilted as soon as I save up for the quilting. (And I suppose you'll have to see it again once it's done, hahaha.)

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Westering Women, a 2016 sewalong by Barbara Brackman, following a pioneer woman on the wagon train west in 1853. My girl is Annabelle Emilia Smith, from Cherry Grove, Ohio. Her maiden name was fancier, but her husband comes of good farming stock and Annie is proud of her plain wifely name of Smith. She is 24 years old and has two children so far.

I finished Brackman's blocks earlier this winter, but chose to add more blocks to have a square quilt of  16 blocks. These are my final blocks. I had made Prairie Queen first, Annabelle's block,
Block One. She'll have the strength and gumption and resolve needed to travel west and prosper. Post HERE though I may remake this block, I'm not sure it does Annie justice; it's rather dull, isn't it?
Final three added blocks, below.

Corn and Beans: referencing having to cook meals everyday after a long hot walk behind the wagon. How difficult and exhausting that must have been! Where did drinkable water come from? Who built the fire [gathered firewood or oxen pats?], scrubbed up afterward? Where was the bathroom?!

Log Cabin: Destination is reached and the Smiths build their first small home in the farmlands of California.

I decided to use this  very traditional Log Cabin block because Annie is using up the last of her scraps, handpiecing now after chores are done , as the light fades and the children sleep.

Basket: I saw this block on a number of mid-19th century blocks that Brackman has been showing.

Sometimes the blocks are signed or quite boldly dated.

This is the final block of Annie's quilt. The fabric of the Basket was once her mother's best go to meeting dress, when Annabelle was a tiny child. When it wore out, Mama made herself an apron from the good parts of the full skirt, then later a pinafore for Annie. Nothing was wasted in Mama's house! Annabelle has used this last scrap, remembering her home in Ohio, knowing she will never see her Mama or Papa again in this life. But she stays hopeful. The Basket represents the Smith's first harvest and their future as well as the past.
Peace and plenty and good times in the Promised Land.

These are possible sashings for the blocks.

I wanted Star cornerstones but I think they may be too fussy for a quilt that was so humble and would be needed in case winters are chilly in California? So that's another post.
Mo helped with the photo shoot!

Be sure to visit Quilty Folks blog and see the rest of the projects. Thanks again to Audrey for her fun idea and for including us, and documenting our 365 journey last year with her posts and linky set-ups.

love

lizzy 

gone to the beach...

from the thrifting  finds, this seashell was drab til I ran it thru the DW a few times.
Now it's a gorgeous pink!
I don't think people wash their beach finds?
Clorox and the dishwasher make a big difference sometimes.