Throwback Thursday

Long ago in another century far, far away, the social media platforms were things called "newsgroups". They could be as broadly- or as narrowly-defined as you'd wish. The one I enjoyed the most (and got the best friends from as a result of my participation) drilled down the categories

Recreation>

    Crafts>

        Textiles>

            Quilting

and was known as RCTQ.

One day a lass on RCTQ sent out a distress signal. "Help!", she cried, "I've created volcanoes where quilt blocks should be! I hate, Hate, HATE this project now and wish someone would take it off my hands and out of my life."

So I did.

The blocks were all the rage of the day: Stack and Whack, which required fussy arranging, fussy cutting, and extremely accurate and careful sewing to get anything close to a flat-lying block. The package that arrived contained a dozen DDD cups assembled into a top, and a 13th small, partial block. After careful consideration of the quilting options, I did what any sane person would do and put it aside for a decade or so.

Fifteen years of thinking about the way they were acting brought those blocks back in line! When I opened the package again, all those blocks were flat and ready to behave.

I backed this with some lightweight twill of the right color and used scraps of that to set the 13th star for a label.

The quilting was lots of free motion work, using the same kinda-floral pattern in all the stars,

some loopy-loops in the setting triangles,

and feathers everywhere else. The 9-patch posts had feather wreathes

and the sashings were quilted in feather vines.

Whenever I tell myself I really suck at feathers, I look at this project again and remind myself that if I could do it once, I can do it again!

I didn't take notes, but based on the bright rainbow colors I see in these photos, I'd guess I quilted this using King Tut "Joseph's Coat" on the top.

The finished quilt was given to a good friend who distributed quilts to shut-ins in her church's congregation. I had no idea how to contact Kathy Morris and tell her of its completion, so I'll have to be content knowing it has brightened someone's life for many years now.

Edited 1/31/2023:

I found a printout of the email exchange in one of my POUT drawers (Projects On Unlimited Time-out):

K (10/18/99): Hi all! I haven't been able to read news for the last day and a half since our ISP's news feed has been down, but that's okay, (sorta), cuz I finished piecing my SNW top. I hate it! Anyone want a wonky top? The blocks were all within an 1/8" of each other, except for one, which was 1/2" larger than the rest. I couldn't trim it because of the points, so I eased it in. Well, that ruined everything! I'm not a good enough sewer to fix it. It's so frustrating because this one was for me!

Me: I'll take it! What can I send in return?

K (10/18/99): Wonderful! Don't say I didn't warn ya! I almost feel guilty sending it to someone. Of course, we're all much harder on ourselves, aren't we? I have a picture of it on my web page if you want to see it in the beginning phase. Anyway, send me me your addy, (although I'm sure I have it here somewhere!), and I'll get it out to ya. How about in exchange for FQ's of your choice. The quilt is a throw so I'll let you decide how much you want to send. I'm not picky. If you need a color, I'm currently looking for blacks and silver, (or grey).

K (10/26/99): Just wanted to let you know that I'm getting the top out this afternoon. I'm also putting in the borders that I didn't get attached (I got one attached, and that's when I got really disgusted with the whole thing!). I'm also including another star that I was going to applique onto a label for the back, although you don't need to use it, obviously. I have to admit, I'm feeling some separation pangs. This was going to be a quilt just for me. The very first one I ever planned to keep. Oh well. I know you'll do a great job. Two more things, I have extra of all the fabric, so let me know if you need anymore; and finally, I would love to put a picture of the finished quilt on my web page as a collaboration project. I'm going to take a picture of it before I send it off, and post what I've done so far. Hope you can finish it.