Block 9 - Brick Pavement: March on Washington

Block 9 -  Brick Pavement: March on Washington

On Monday March 3, 1913 women from all walks of life marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC on behalf of women's right to vote.  There were more than 5000 marchers.  The women were verbally and physically abused by crowds of men.  The police rather than protecting them joined in on the abuse. Many women were hospitalized.

I think it will do us well to remember how far we have come and never miss our chance to vote.

There is  a very good explanation of the march and links to other sites on The Blog: Grandmother's Choice: Votes for Women.  See also  Marching for the Vote: Remembering the Woman Suffrage Parade of 1913

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The instructions for this block are on Grandmother's Choice: Votes for Women.


I chose to do an 8" block directly from Block Base (Nancy Page's 1938 Block from her syndicated column). For more information about historical quilt blocks see The Ladies Art Company .

I used EQ7 to print the pattern and then hand pieced the block.

This entire process of a block a week has been a very interesting and informative experience.  I look forward the the weeks remaining. 

ROCKY ROAD TO KANSAS - 1912

Grandmother's Choice 

Block No. 8:  Rocky Road to Kansas - 1912

Within an American Magazine article of the time:  Getting Out the Vote by Helen Todd, Ms Todd relates the story of a plains woman impressed by the idea that if women could vote there would be "bread for all and flowers too". 

The flower is appliqued on the center block.  Rather than use Block Base, I made the block in EQ7 using Easy Draw + Patch Draw.  I strip pieced the star points and then hand pieced it all together.  The beige background represent home baked bread.

BLOCK NO. 7 - ALICE'S FLAG

There was no Blockbase pattern for this one.  So I made the block in a number of steps.

 

MAKING THE STAR

I saved a photo of Block 7 from Grandmother's Choice blog to my pictures .

From there I copied the image to EQ7.  This gave me the correct size for the star.
Once I had the image, I created the star in applique.

I printed templates on freezer paper and from there cut out my five pieces from five different scraps. (I'm using my scraps so took a color for each point from the small pieces scrap pile. )

I hand pieced the star.

 

 MAKING THE BACKGROUND

 I  used easy draw with a 6 inch block to make the exact proportions for the strips.  I printed a template for the strip in an 8 inch block on heavy paper - construction weight.  This was my no measure way of making it exact.
Adding a half inch to the template as I cut, I cut the strips from 3 different neutrals and machine pieced.   I now had a block that was 8 and 1/2 inches.

APPLIQUE THE STAR

Using my centering ruler, I centered the hand pieced star and appliqued it to the background.

 
  I loved making this block.  I love to use EQ7.  I love to hand piece.  I love to applique.  I love to use up my bitty scraps.  What fun!

Grandmother's Choice Block No. 6.  Aunt Eliza's Star - Child Custody

To create this block I used  BlockBase No. 2830.  If you don't have Block Base but do have a version of EQ Software   Electric Quilt Company  go to your block library - 9 patch stars.  There I found an Aunt Eliza's Star, a Variable Star, and a Twin Star. And of course, there is the Ohio Star (I'm from Ohio).  I found the Ohio Star  under Classic Pieced - Classics. These are similar to Grandmother's Choice Block 6.  Just eliminate the inner square. 

To prepare this block, I first appliqued hearts on the Middle Square and the Corner squares, then pieced the block.  I used foundation piecing. 

The middle heart represents the mother, and the corner hearts represent her children..two boys (blue hearts), two girls (pink hearts).  The green for the star represents their youth, health, and growth - and I love green.

A very nice block for stash busting.  Using up even the smallest pieces.  Actually went into my waist basket to get the fabric for the hearts.

Child custody is very important.  As a lawyer, I worked in this area for many years.  The world has changed since the 1800's.  Thankfully, the court system now looks for the best interest of the child.  Sometimes it's mom, sometimes dad, sometimes it's both but the attempt is to make the best choice for the children.

Happy Quilting!