Block 26 Ladies' Wreath - Mourning for Mother

The story that goes with the block on this week's Grandmother's Choice is a sad reminder of the high mortality rate experienced by our foremothers during childbirth. Thus, in making the block this week it was a choice between making a mourning wreath or just going with the lighter, brighter colors.

I decided to go with the lighter, brighter colors and even to extend my usual color scheme to allow for a few pink flowers for Mother as well. It wasn't until I was adding my block photo to the flickr discussion page that I had the "uh oh" moment of realizing that the way I had arranged my colors in no way made the block look like a wreath.

There have been a few blocks to date that seem unbalanced to me and this is one. Initially I thought about making it with only two fabrics but once I had seen all the different arrangements on the flickr page I decided to add in a third fabric.

Posing my block with the Christmas wreath is meant to give the idea that the light is still burning for Mother and her loss would have been felt especially at that season of brightness and hope when the children of the family are torn between the excitement of Christmas and the sadness of their loss.

Thankfully, there have been significant advances in the medical care available to mothers today and the mortality rate has dropped dramatically. It is good to read the stories from history that come with the block each week so we can be reminded of what we have to be grateful for today.