Guild night

Last Thursday evening was the November meeting of my quilt guild. I thought I'd show you the block I made for this month's block lotto:


The fabric we were given was the purple/gold batik and the theme for the month was stars. I found this block on the McCall's Quilting site. They have a ton of free block instructions offered there. This one is called, "54-40 or Fight." Curious, I actually looked up the phrase and learned that the block name comes from a slogan popularized during a boundary dispute between the United States and the British Empire over control of the Oregon territory, located west of the Continental Divide, north of the 42nd parallel north, and south of the parallel 54°40' north. The Wikipedia article, "Oregon boundary dispute," suggests that the block was originated by women of the time who used quilts to express political views.

History is so fascinating!

Anyway, I didn't win any blocks this time, but it was fun seeing all of the different blocks people created.