Love Makes A Family -- post 1

Multicolored scrap bits

Our book club is reading, "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate. I knew I wanted to include the word, Love, in my project. I also knew that I wanted to incorporate the leftover multicolored scrap bits from the opportunity quilt that I will share in April or May.

In the book, Rill, a young girl, tries to hold her family together; but, they are all taken to the Tennessee Children's Home Society to be adopted. Georgia Tann operated the home. She single handed corrupted the adoption system. My heart wrenched at the crap the kids endured.

A couple other books that are related to the subject matter follow "The Baby Thief" by Barbara Bisantz Raymond is the untold story of Georgia Tann. "Before and After" by Judy Christie and Lisa Wingate provides real life stories of children who lived in the Children's Home.

The scrap bits represent the chaos Rill encountered. I knew I wanted at least the word "Love" in the project. Saturday, I listened to Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle share their knowledge in My Word a mini quilt along. 

One of the words

Bill is a college professor who is a graphic design specialist. He teaches a class in typography. He also calls himself a nerd when it comes to typography. 

He developed a unicase alphabet meaning some letters are upper case while others resemble lower case; but, the letters fit well together. The lecture that you can listen to in the link was so interesting. There is a part two as well; but, I've only linked to the first part of the quilt along. In part two, Bill and Weeks answer questions.

The quilt along was free. All Bill and Weeks asked was for those who participated to purchase the pattern and to use the alphabet according to the pattern. I had a blast making the letters. Then, my little squirrel, Gertie, decided I needed to make a phrase. 

Auditioning background fabrics

Once I had constructed the phrase, I decided I needed to pick a background color. I tried a variety of fabrics before settling on a red fabric leftover from Indigo Way. A yellow was a close second. I may incorporate a few yellow strips to signify the courage and bravery that Rill exhibited.

The background or field fabric of the words is a light purple and the works are eggplant purple. I don't want to use those colors anywhere else in the project. I also don't want to use white or black because Tann was a master at treading in the gray areas of the law.

In the end, I pieced the phrase, "Love Makes A Family." Rill experienced love from her mom and dad as weak as from her adoptive family. Of course, she loved her sisters and brother.

Progress after piecing the phrase

I played around with different configurations of the words before settling on three lines. My next step will be to decide the size of the project. At that point, I will remove all the extra bits leaving the words. 

I will employ Irene Rodrick's technique of dancing with the wall which means placing a piece on the wall before stepping back to see if it "fits." Once it "fits," I leave it and work on another area. I'll be working in an "improv" format.

While I had planned to work on this project again this week, I might not get back to it until next month. Goal number three on my January list was to participate in the quilt along. Goal number six was to work on the project for the book, "Before We Were Yours," by Lisa Wingate. I have a good start!