Pieces From the Past ~ Revisited - May's OMG

Recently, I have been revisiting the stories and patterns of the Pieces From the Past Sew Along by designing a quilt layout to feature two particular blocks from the series...  Our Country and the Dragon Fly blocks.

This was at the request of wonderful person that I know through one of my cousins in the Schleich family.  My cousin, Glenda, has a half-sister (they share the same Mom), so, in a sense, Kendra is my cousin... well, maybe half-cousin.. is that a thing?  We first met when she was 16 and I was 14.  Kendra was spending the summer of 1979 with Glenda as she waited for the arrival of her second child.  Glenda's husband was working out of town during the week and they were in need of someone to stay with their firstborn and/or drive Glenda to the hospital if Don wasn't home.

We spent many afternoons and evenings together.  We had marathon Monopoly games, as well as Clue and other games.  And I will add that my brother Kelvin cheated at most of the games and could be a sore loser.

Thanks to technology and social media, Kendra and I have been in touch with each other for the past 9 years.

Kendra purchased two copies of my Pieces From the Past book and stated that she thoroughly enjoyed it and had plans to meet up with Glenda to surprise her with a copy of the book.

Kendra and I had a wonderful conversation and she shared with me about her first visit to La Junta...

I remember my first visit to La Junta and I think we were at Bill and June's and I got out of the car to see her killing a chicken for supper. Or at least I think it was her.. maybe it was your Aunt Clara.  Freaked me out.  I was only 10. It was after mama died.

What a memory!  Though, it was really just another day on the farm.  

Well, that was a rabbit trail!  So, back to the quilt...

The Our Country block pattern needed to be resized (the original makes an odd size of 15-3/4" square), or the Dragon Fly block needed to be enlarged from the 12" block to match the larger size... or I needed some creative layout that left the two blocks their original sizes.

As I played with a layout of the same size blocks, I really liked the look with the angles and points coming together in the corners.  

The royal blue & purple together are rich and deep with just enough contrast in value and the off-white is a nice background, without being to stark.  The Dragon Fly block was originally a two-color block, but adapted to be a three-color block by making the "crossing canoes" in the off-white.

The completion of this quilt is my One Monthly Goal for May.  

I am unsure of what sort of quilting I do... I'm thinking some straight line, sort of dot-to-dot stitching to create an interesting pattern.  Or would some all-over meandering help to soften the points and lines? 

Do you have a suggestion for a quilting design?

Leave a comment... I'd love to hear your ideas!

If you missed out on this series, the letters, stories and patterns are still available!  Just click on the tab above to find the links for all of them. 

Keep Piecing!

Melva

Linking with:

One Month Goal at Elm Street Quilts

Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt

Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts

To Do Tuesday at Texas Quilt Gal

Mid-week Makers at Quilt Fabrication

Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter

Stitch Sew & Show at Life in the Scrap Patch