TOM 7 Oberlin Star for The Oberlin Rescuers

The August block is expected out tomorrow so at the eleventh hour I better let you see what my July block looks like!

 This block was something different!  An Ohio Star in collaboration with a Drunkards Path block. I really like the way it looks.

The story for this block revolves around a group named The Oberlin Rescuers who were sympathetic to African Americans being free and being able to obtain an education such as was available at Oberlin College.

I must admit that what was mainly holding up getting this block posted was that I was drawing a blank on how to do my "fun" photo shoot. Thinking I had read that The Oberlin Rescuers rode horseback in their efforts I went on my own scouting mission to the toy archives to find some horses.

I had fun with a setup using the horses and a couple of potato vines to echo the lime green and got the photo I had been thinking about.

Alas, I have just reread the story for the block and I can't really find that riding horseback featured all that much. Oh well.  They did ride in carriages so horses were involved!

My calendar for the upcoming week is very busy so I'm not sure how soon the August block will get made. But it will be completed before the September one is published.

Where Poppies Grow in July

Getting caught up here I hope.

For July, we had a really interesting looking star that the designer has named "French Star". It is a combination of piecing and applique that I think makes for a really good looking and unusual block.

Significant events in July for Grandpop were his promotion to the rank of Sergeant on July 7, 1917 and his posting to the No. 6 Officer Cadet Battalion in Oxford, England on July 5, 1918.

Although the star is named for France I have photographed it in Italy...and in August. I had the block pieced in July but needed to finish it off with hand applique so decided to take it with me on my vacation to Italy the first week of August. I stayed on a vineyard where I sat on the front terrace and hand stitched the melon shapes down which give the star that circular feeling.  Interestingly the vineyard was in the village of Treiso which was a very strong center for the resistance movement in Italy in WWII.

I'm looking forward to getting back on track and working the August block on a more timely basis.

Where Poppies Grow in June

Oh dear, I guess June got away from me in respect of posting this block. Oops.

For this month the name given to the star block is "My Country".

I'm not sure that there is enough contrast with those small triangles at the end of the horizontals and verticals but it's done. And in the spirit of getting this posted I don't have a fun photo of the block posed. Sorry about that.

June was significant in Grandpop's war service because on June 17 1918 his active service ended with his being detached to the United Kingdom.