Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week



While surfing the quilting blogs, I found a quilt along, Grandmother's Choice Block of the Week. The blog has the weekly quilt along based on the Women's Suffrage Movement. It's a quilt along with a history lesson all wrap into one. Being a working woman, and having spent most of my working career as a single mother, I'm especially intrigue by these great women in history that stood up for  female equality.  Where would we be now if not for these pioneering women?

Ms Bessie hasn't seen any real action in a great while by the looks of her when I bought her, Now that she all nicely oiled up and the short in the foot control is repaired, I decided to use her to make these quilts. ( I making two of each block.) Let's see if she is up to the task at hand!





So far so good! She doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Ms Ruby, but her straight stitch is really nice, and she can do a scant 1/4" like a champ! Ms Betsy purrs like a little kitten, quiet as a mouse. The sound of her motor whirling and the needle going up and down is really soothing to my ears.

My favorite setup for peicing blocks. My Little Olfa cutting/ironing board combo, and my little Dritz iron. Sure makes it nice to peice and press the seams as I sew without getting up and down to the ironing board. The blocks will still need a good hard steam press upon completion, but the little Dritz is just enough to lay the seams flat. Up above you'll see my Martelli ergonomic rotary cutter and my Kai scissors. I love the Martelli ergonomic rotary cutter, I can use it without so much pain to my hands.(Arthritis, repetitive stress injury and what I refer to mouse thumb. The joint at the base of my right thumb stays swollen and painful from using the mouse at work.) Ok...enough whining! The Kai scissors are ergonomic as well. The bottom handle is large enough for all four fingers to fit into. Grips are cushioned, and the scissors are razor sharp all the way to the tips. Great for cutting out patterns! I really love these products! (No..I don't get anything for saying so. I just like to share the knowledge when something is really good!)

Here is the first Grandmother's Choice block complete! I can't make up my mind whether the dark fabric is blue or purple, Can you? I'm thinking it's blue, but depends on the lighting. Sometimes I swear it's purple!

Here are my two blocks together. If you'd like to join this quilt along, I have the blog button on  my sidebar.

Later! Have fun stitchn!
Mary