VINTAGE RED CROSS SEW ALONG UPDATE

I have seen that many of you have been working on these simple blocks in our Facebook Group and enjoying the process of this simple project. It makes me so happy to see so many of you joining in!

My friend Jeanie described it perfectly after she made a few blocks when she said… “Definitely potato chip sewing”… meaning, you can’t make just one!

I think that pretty much sums it up!

And another one of you shared a wonderful link to the story of the original RED CROSS quilts…

https://wwi.marinersmuseum.org/red-cross-fundraising-quilts/

So far I have seen some of you use the kits we offered and others of you add to the kits and go totally srappy…

Or others go the simple route like Megan did with her simplified, one red and one ivory solid background version…

Or go totally scrappy on the backgrounds and mix all of your pieces up like a few of you did in our Facebook Group.

Whichever way you have chosen to make them, they have been wonderful!!!

Its not too late to join in if you want as this is such a perfect quilt for the summer. Here is pattern in the shop, HERE and join us anytime!. This is really one of those projects that you can do all in one sitting or keep adding to over the summer as your scraps pile up!

A FEW TIPS AND HINTS [repeated from the last post in case you missed them]:

• Before you start cutting, decide how simple or how scrappy you want your quilt to be. If you want to omit some of the more busy background prints and stick with tone on tone or even a single solid, go for it.
• On the other hand if scrappy is your thing, then add in cream scraps from your stash and make each and every block have a different background.
• As for the reds, the story is more or less the same. For the look I was going for, I want to use the almost solid “red stitches” for most of my blocks. But I love the feel of having a few unexpected blocks thrown in with a different print. In our kit we included a few others for you to consider to add to that “make do/I ran out and had to figure it out” feel that so many vintage quilts have.
• If you prefer, you can of course use all one red, print or solid. There are really so many different ways to go with this.
• For the sashing, the thing that really makes this quilt sing is this warm, soft denim color. Light and slightly worn like your favorite pair of old jeans! Once again, you can of course choose a different tone of blue or a different color altogether.

I am working along on this one slowly over the next few weeks so have no finished quilt top to show you guys just yet.

Happy blockmaking!

Joanna