Harrisonburg Quilt

Over the weekend, Virginia Consortium of Quilters (VCQ) sponsored a "slumber party" sew-along in support of the Virginia Quilt Museum.  Wendy Sheppard created a pattern for one of the museum's historic quilts that is for sale on the museum website.  It has been named the Harrisonburg Quilt and served as a fund raiser for the museum, which also sponsored a sew-along.  You can find the pattern here.

Sue participated in the VCQ sew-along and now has 4 blocks completed (2 sewn during the sew-along).  It is not a difficult block but does require accurate piecing. The slumber party included visits/interviews with Alicia Thomas, the museum's executive director, and national quilter Pat Sloan who provided video tutorials for construction of the quilt, and Wendy Sheppard, the pattern designer.  They were all very informative and provided excellent tips.  

The photo above shows the steps in the block construction.  Top left, sewing half-square triangles to the center square.  Top right, adding more half-square triangles to the center square.  Bottom left, strips including half-square triangles are added to two opposite sides.  Bottom right, final strips added top and bottom that have 2 half-square triangles on each end.  

So far there are 2 green blocks and 2 pink blocks.  Sue's plan is to make 20 blocks (4 x 5), slightly smaller than the pattern.  More colors will be added, with 2 blocks of each color.  Below are the ones cut so far.

The slumber party was very fun and capably led by Kelly Zuber.  There were some fun contests for prizes and polls as well as show and tell of completed blocks.  It's always fun to see everyone's fabric choices.  VCQ has plans for upcoming in=person and virtual meetings/classes and other special events including our Celebration retreat next spring at Smith Mountain Lake.  Check out VCQ's website for more info.