This post is not really about when Catherine II became Tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III, which happened on July 17, 1762. Got your attention with this bit of historical trivia though, didn’t I?
I am posting about 17-6-2 which is my “letter number” cipher for, you guessed it… Q-f-B or Quilts for Boston.
We had our last official Sew-In at Country Crossroads Quilt Shop in Orange Park on Saturday and we had another great turnout with Lynn, Lora, Angie, Symone, Lynn S, Anne and me.
Before we all got started, Anne showed us her masterpiece “Marine Corps Memory” quilted wall hanging for her neighbor’s birthday in August. Anne incorporated her neighbors t-shirts, BDU pants and jacket and parts of his flight suit. All the zippers’ pockets, and belting are still operational. This will be a wonderfult birthday surprise.
Lora helped Anne square up her QfB quilt-top.
Then Anne decided to replace the gray fabric with the yellow and white chevron fabric in one corner of her quilt. Quilters are constantly re-designing, aren’t we?
Next we all looked at Angie’s fascinating quilt top. She cut up a couple of the more traditional blocks and made them truly modern. 
Here’s the pieced backing Angie made and she even matched up the chevron stripes.
…and here’s a close-up of the embroidered block on the backing.
Then everyone got into the act to help Angie and Symone apply pins to their QfB sandwich.
The first few quilt tops we designed had a very symmetrical slightly off-set 12 blocks. Then Lora got us all thinking more along modern lines with her minimalist three block quilt top. Without planning it both Anne and Angie had the same creative idea and their quilt tops have a deliciously diagonal directional movement to them.
We can’t wait to see what they do with their straight line quilting.
I still had 11 unused blocks after everyone picked through the stack I brought back form Boston. So I’ll be making two more quilt tops.
Here is my design and modern take on the running man that I worked up on Friday night and right now I’m thinking of using yellow as the background. 
Before we left Country Corners, Bob showed us his progress quilting Eve’s QfB quilt on the longarm using gray thread to bring out the designs in each block and white thread for meandering around the sashing. He and Lynn expect the quilt will be totally finished (that’s quilted and bound) by the end of the weekend.
That was our last official Sew-In, but if there is a need to get together, we can always schedule something before our next guild meeting on July 20th. We’ll have the big reveal for ten QfB quilts and also pick a winner for our nametag challenge.
Wonder if there will be anymore posts between now and the 20th? You’ll have to check in and see.
Until then, happy quilting.
Yvonne Maus