TOM5 Madison Star for Delia Webster

There is quite a story associated with block 5 - both on the Barbara Brackman Civil War blog and in my sewing room.

 For flickr purposes I usually take the photo square on but my plan is to set the blocks on point so just twist your head a little when looking at this one.

When I first saw the star I noticed that there was really only three different areas for color change and since my self designated "rules" require me to use the solid grey as the outer background, to include a small flash of the chartreuse green and to use a bird motif somewhere in the block. So that is three fabrics right there. I debated putting the bird in only one star point but I wanted to keep it balanced and since Delia Webster herself was all over the place and helping numbers of people I decided I could go ahead and use birds in all eight of the star points. These two fabrics are from the same line so they go well together.

The chartreuse green rule requires only that one fabric so I couldn't have just one star point or it would have looked really out of whack.

Construction was challenging as I not only had the eight set in seams to deal with but I also needed to pay attention to the way the birds were facing. With the fussy cutting required it seemed the method of construction best suited for the block was to make and use templates. Note to self, check templates for accuracy next time before spending hours wondering why the segments don't seem to fit together well. sigh.

 For my fun photo I noticed in the story about Delia Webster that she often hid in brush heaps so I first headed to the brush heap in my own back yard.

 Flowers are now blooming in my garden so it is hard for me to resist placing my block with a flowery background. The shot above was valid, I decided, because there are some small volunteer violas hiding under the garden bench. I doubt Delia could have hidden herself very well there.

And then there is the clematis on the archway on the front wall. This clematis was purchased and planted last year when I had been working on my purple, green and white Women's Suffrage quilt for many months; I noticed it impacted several color decisions I made during that time. But somehow I don't think we will see a profusion of grey flowers in my garden next summer!

Wonder how many set in seams there will be in block 6?