Hope’s Journey

Game Cocks block

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

Emily Dickinson

And so begins Chapter Three in Hope’s Journey, with one of my favourite lines from Emily Dickinson. This chapter focuses on the hardships of unending labor that faced women on the frontier, and the importance of domestic fowl in day to day life. Not that long ago, out here on the prairies the henhouse was the woman’s domain and responsibility, with her egg money providing extra income for necessities, and some of life’s little luxuries too.

Turkey Tracks block

I loved creating both of these quilt blocks and flew through them so quickly that I decided to move on to the next chapter’s blocks too. As you may have noticed, I’m not working on the smaller quilt projects that are included in each chapter, but rather just focusing on the blocks for the main project at the moment.

The two smaller blocks on the right are from Chapter Four and are teeny tiny. There was a choice of making one or the other but, I chose to sew both. The light block is ‘Old Maid’s Puzzle’ and the dark block is ‘Double X’.

The title of Chapter Four is Independent Women and talks about how women were expected to conform to society’s standards of being ‘proper’ young ladies, fulfilling their wifely duties, and bearing farmyards full of children. If a woman was independent, talented, or outspoken she was seen as a threat and often put herself at risk as an outcast. When you stop to think about it, some aspects of this thinking still exist today. I’m tempted to pause on my larger journey and take a day or two to create the little “Spinster” mat in this chapter, in order to honour strong, independent women everywhere. I did manage, however, to sew up the large block from chapter four and did the Old Maid’s Puzzle version.

Stay tuned next week for more of Hope’s Journey and be sure to check out my friend Jeanne’s blog at spiralj2.blogspot.com to see her progress on the journey, too.

until next time, stay warm, and happy stitching.

Love, carol xox