Guidelines not Rules



Rawson Village

The first weekend in August is the date of my patchwork group's annual retreat.  It's only a weekend, but uninterrupted sewing time, lovely meals appearing like magic and no dishes to wash is a recipe for success.
It's always interesting how each of us approach our craft.  As a fan of Bonnie Hunter's scrap quilts I was surprised to hear another quilter say, "I never keep leftover scraps, you can't do anything with them."  That lead to a lively discussion, and for the rest of the weekend I was given tiny squares from everyone for my "collection".  We all make quilts but we work in many different ways.

There is a lot of buzz around the first block of the Chester Criswell Quilt.  You may be thinking, do I want to make this quilt?  How much fabric do I need?  Where's the photo of the finished quilt? If you're like me,  you have so many projects on the go that you don't need another, and yet the lure of something new is irresistible.

Let me help you decide.

If you want to read the blog, look at the patterns, and say, Oh that's nice, without making any purchase or stitching a block;  that's fine.

If you want a quick project for a weekend treat and download one block as a quick take along project; that's fine.

If you want a gift for a special friend and download four patterns to go with a selection of fat quarters; that's fine too.

If you make all 36 blocks in your choice of colours for a whole quilt and send along photos of your Work in Progress; that's great.

However....

If you like to know exactly what the end result will look like before you begin, with detailed instructions and photos on how to accomplish the finished project, then maybe this isn't the quilt for you. If you don't start mystery quilts until you can read all the instructions, you probably won't enjoy this journey. And that's fine too.

In Pirates of the Caribbean, Barbossa says the pirate code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.  I think that's not a bad description for the Chester Criswell Quilt project.

Welcome aboard.

Why Is It So?

Researching the Chester Criswell quilt is a WIP (work in progress).  When I find an answer to a question about the quilt, the answer only seems to raise more questions.  Here are three WIP questions:

Q1   Who are the people that signed the quilt?

This is the most interesting question, and finding the answer is a lot of fun.  I use Ancestry.com for most of my research about the names and locations on the quilt.  There are 75 names on the quilt (some blocks have two names, usually a married couple). I have some information on at least 50 names in the quilt.  I have found that more people are related to the bride and groom than I initially thought, and there are also many neighbours who make a contribution.

Q2   Is it a Quaker quilt?

The quilt is certainly typical of Quaker wedding quilts made in the 1850s in Pennsylvania.  However, the bride's family were Presbyterian, many of the family members were also Presbyterian although some neighbours were Quakers.  If anyone can offer suggestions I would appreciate your comments.

Q3    Why aren't the Happy Couple's name in the quilt centre?

This is a big question.  The centre of the quilt has the names of the bride's parents, not the bride and groom.

Mary the bride has a block next to the centre.  Jesse the groom's block is three rows away.  This doesn't make sense to me, and it is certainly a question that I would really like the answer to.

Two more questions -

Are you still keen to discover more?  Are you ready to make a block yourself?  I hope so!  The first block pattern is going to be available on 1st August at http://www.twobitspatches.com/. 

But wait, there's more!  The first block is FREE, so you are welcome to download the pdf file, learn more about the quilt and try the first block yourself.  The steps to download will be in this blog after 1st August.  This is my first venture into pattern making, but the testers say it's good to go.  I'm excited, I hope you will be too.