Great Grandma's NRA Quilt

MARTIN, ELLA. NRA QUILT. 1933. From West Virginia Department of Archives and History, West Virginia 

How fun it was to see my great grandmother's NRA quilt, A Cover for the Nation in color on The Quilt Index. I've known about this quilt for a while, but was unable to attend the museum dedication in the 1980s. I have a photocopy of a Goldenseal article that published in 1988, but have never seen the quilt in person or in color.

This quilt resides in the West Virginia Cultural Center. In 1933, my great grandmother presented it to president Franklin D. Roosevelt as a gift from the people of West Virginia. It was "rescued" from a consignment shop by a quilt collector in 1976. Thankfully, my great grandmother had embroidered her name and date on the back side and the quilt was researched and documented.

I had my sewing machine, Red serviced while I was at QuiltCon. What a difference it sounds when sewing. I don't remember it ever sewing this quietly. What did I do to the poor thing?! I have to keep checking to see if it's actually sewing. The service provider timed the needle bar, and reset the bobbin case and hook clearance. He said he could tell I sewed a lot. Maybe I won't wait four years to get it serviced next time.

I chose this Shoofly block for our guild's BOM. It's also a great reminder that I have a Shoofly WIP quilt to work on. My works in progress are completely out of hand.

I finished the Madrona Road challenge. We only had fat eighths to work with and I hacked at them with abandon to attempt this curved piecing. After seeing all the negative space quilts at QuiltCon, I decided to go that route versus buying more of the fun prints to make something big enough for an actual quilt. The top finished at 42" x 44" and will make a modern baby quilt for some modern baby.