Linda Conner's block is made from a beautiful blue and white bamboo fabric with glints of silver. Carol Bramble's fabric has musical notes and instruments. She said her block was for "all the wonderful musicians in our country. How would we lift our spirits without a song? God Bless America, The National Anthem, Jesus Loves Me, Amazing Grace. Jazz, Soul, Gospel, Sacred, Classical all have a place in our lives!"
Judi Fibush's block is obviously a flag-waving American. Chris Deering's corn cob fabric block could represent a Chicago commodity trader or an Illinois corn farmer. Kasey Wilson sent a Face block made from cotton boll fabric. She said the cotton industry is very important in Georgia. (The cotton industry is very important to quilters, too)
Christine's block is an Afghan-American Face, made from a fabric print of a crocheted afghan. Ellie Rissell sent in a lovely Air Force blue Face. Ellie is a retired Air Force wife of 28 years. She said "We the people will keep on keeping on."
Linda Dennison's Face is one we all can relate to. Her fabric has miniature quilts, fabric, quilters' faces, and little signs saying "Sew Fun" and "I Brake for Quilt Shops." There are supposed to be 19,500,000 quilters in the U.S., so her block represents a lot of people. Thanks Linda.
Mary Ann Abner's Face block is made in a spectacular peacock feather print with gold lettering saying "Mardi Gras." Mary Ann said "The Mardi Gras fabric reminded me of New Orleans. What a diverse place!" Leah Malasky's block honors working people -- perhaps our heroes who are cleaning up "ground zero" in New York City. The print has backhoes, bulldozers, tow trucks, tankers, police cars and more. The fiber artist block by Sandy Harris is made from her own hand painted fabric which she calls "salt spray." Sandy said it reminds her of rain spattered windows in her Pacific Northwest home. Barbara Rugiel's Delft print is for Dutch-Americans. Barbara said, "I'm English, Irish and German, but I couldn't find a German shepherd eating a scone and doing a jig, so I went with Delft."
Pat Gearhart's Loose Marbles Face block rolled out of an envelope Wednesday. Pat said "I tried to find fabric with loose screws, but the marbles will do. It represents 'ding-y' people -- a large crowd which has more fun than uptight people." Lei Pomerinke's Hawaiian Print Face brightened the mail Thursday. The lovely Hibiscus flowers were carefully positioned to add extra charm. Lei said the block was for "Hawaiians and Hawaiians at heart." She signed her note "Me Kealoha (with Love)."
Leanna Spanner chose a fabric with spools of thread for her Threads Face. She said the spools represent her "love of quilting and the threads that bind us all together." The next Face, Baseball, came in from Judy Mahfood with a special card telling of her family's involvement with the game for the past 12 years. Her son played ball since he was six and Judy attended every game and kept statistics and scrapbooks. Judy said now that her son is away at school (playing baseball) she has some time for quilting.
Darlene Torsell's Semper Fidelis Face block landed in my post office box Friday. Darlene said she wanted her block "to honor all of the men and women in our Armed Forces, both active and reservists, who are doing their best to protect our country." Darlene's husband, a police officer, is a former Marine, and she has a son and nephew in the Marine Corps, a niece in the Air Force and a nephew in the Army. The USMC emblem (eagle, globe and anchor) is front and center on her block. A new surprise awaited me on Saturday -- Denise Albert's Fern Face came all the way from New Zealand. Denise said the fern is the symbol of New Zealand and her face block represents Americans living overseas as she does. She said she was so glad to participate in the We the People quilt.
Debra Van Dorp's Farmer Face block is made from fabric with blue, yellow, and green tractors on a barn-red stripe background. Debra said her block "represents the farmers who keep this country fed. They work hard and are not always appreciated."
"Since we share our planet with other species, I chose a fabric of cats, both large and small" said Ruth Bechtold. Her cute Face block will stand for all of us who love cats or have QIs (quilt inspectors of the feline variety). Ruth said she looks forward to seeing our finished quilt posted on the internet.
Shelley Rodger's Irish Face block smiled at me today. Shelley has made two contributions to our We the People quilt -- she tested the first version of the block pattern and made suggestions for improving it. Then, she made her real block which will go in the quilt. Thank you twice, Shelley.
Susan Druding's South Pacific American Face arrived on November 30. The unusual fabric is dark blue, rust, light blue, beige and black. Susan is the "mother" of About.Com's quilting forum where the We the People quilt project was first introduced.
Dorothy Anguish of Vermont joined our group just recently. She volunteered to make a block when some of our quilters dropped out. She really worked fast! I hope you can see the maple leaf motif in Dorothy's cheerful red fabric.
This All-American came from Lavonne Staley of Indiana. She just signed up to make a Face for our quilt when I "met" her recently on About Com's Quilting Forum. Lavonne put aside her Christmas projects and went right to work to turn out a sparkling Face (her fabric has glints of silver).
The 27th Face appeared today. The fabric is a print of an actual piece of matzah (unleavened bread).
Carol Bramble sent in one of the first two faces (see the Music Face at the top), and now she has sent us a terrific face to finish up our quilt. Her Rescue Face is made from a Dalmatian print. She said "we primarily think of firemen, but I intend it to stand for all service people: emergency workers, law enforcement, clergy, utility workers -- all so vital to our everyday lives."
The patch on the Rescue Face's forehead is from Brett Hill of the South Pasadena Fire Department. He and his fellow firefighters organized the 9-11 Patch Project for fire departments and EMS agencies all over the U.S. The patch says "September 11, 2001 -- We will never forget. You can write to him at MemoPatch911@aol.com
Now, I still have some finishing to do -- quilting in the noses, quilting the red writing, quilting some background stars, binding, putting on the irises, making a label, and putting on a hanging sleeve. I'll let you know when it's done.
You can't see the writing on the red strips, but it is printed on the fabric in dark red. The words say "American is not exactly a melting pot ... We the People ... are more like a colorful quilt."
Eyes: Here is a picture of a Face block with an iris in place.
Backing and Binding: I found a marvelous backing fabric for the quilt. It has gold stars on blue, similar to our Face backgrounds. And, I bought a lovely gold fabric with metallic printing for the quilt binding.
patterns page.