To Boston With Love

If you are looking for the SMS giveaway day post, please just click here.

Boston was my home for three years, the home of my other half for nearly 15 and the home of my brother for over a decade.  Even though we all come and go depending on our phase of life, it is always one of our homes.  When I heard of the Boston marathon bombings it was like the world went into slow-mo.  I just could not believe my eyes!  

When Sarah of the Modern Quilt Guild of Ireland offered each of us a chance to make a flag or two for donation to the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's exhibition I was thrilled!  I wanted to use this chance to try out a few things that are new to me like raw edge appliqué, free motion lettering and a little batik fabric.  Not normally my style, but a small project like this is a great opportunity to test out new things.  

In the end, this is what I made and sent onto Sarah:

The words of inspiration seemed to suit me personally as Boston will always be one of my homes and I have hope that as a community they can heal and rebuild emotionally.

I like the colors of the batiks, but I am still not entirely sold on using them in a larger project.  I think it's their stiffness that doesn't make my heart flutter.  They might suit an exhibit like this, though, as they were asking for bright, happy, bold colors.  That they are.  They will add a bit of vibrancy and happiness I think.

I needed a bit of practice before finding a method of raw edge appliqué that made me happy.  Now this I did really enjoy and could see myself using more in the future.  Once I had that "mastered" (ha!) the free motion lettering was SO much easier than I expected it to be.  That will absolutely make a re-appearance in the future.

All in all it was a successful experiment for me.  Sarah, they are on the way to you right now.  Thank you so very much for organizing our guild!  xx