Over the last couple of months a steady stream of quilt blocks have been arriving in Macclesfield at Frances Bell’s home, along with a steady stream of photos and stories into this site. Behind the scenes there has been a lot of discussion going on: How to assemble the quilt blocks? How might they be grouped and clustered? What colour of sashing fabric would work with such a variety of contributions? What will work best for the backing of each quilt?
Also, as it became clear exactly what size it might be, how could we create something that was going to be logistically manageable? This has to be transported to London for OER20 and thereafter we wanted it to be possible for others to display it if they wished. The answer, without giving too much away, is smaller pieces that combine.
We also wanted to try make the process of assembling the quilt as inclusive as possible. Today was the day when a group of quilters and needleworkers descended upon Frances’ home and started the work of assembling the blocks and whilst we hoped it might have been possible to run a webinar or suchlike to let others be part of the decision making processes, the project has simply gotten too big for that now.
So, we agreed that Frances and Suzanne would try capture some of the day via social media instead, to let people have a glimpse without hopefully spoiling the big surprise for OER20. Some of you may have been following the #FemEdTechQuilt via Twitter or Instagram today, but for those that haven’t, here’s a curated set of today’s posts – it’s really all starting to come together!!
Frances is diligently snapping a shot of each block so that I can build the digital version of the quilt on this site.
Trimming the blocks
Laying out number 1
Number 1 is pieced
Vital supplies
Number 2 is pieced
Other vital supplies
Number 3 in progress
Number 3 is pieced
Concentration
Number 4 in progress
7 women and 40 hours of work
Well deserved end of day “vital supplies”
[Featured image shamelessly nicked from Suzanne’s Instagram – very sorry!]
