Civil War Quilt Block Ten—Lincoln's Platform

And on to the next block, Lincoln's Platform, the block usually known as Shoo-Fly. Brackman uses it to commemorate the anniversary of Lincoln's inauguration, and to talk a bit about poor Mary Lincoln. From what I remember of that First Lady, she would have greatly benefited from those modern inventions, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. She lost a lot of children and had a terrible time coping, poor thing.

I ended up doing this one twice, because I didn't like how the paramecium-shaped splotches (they do look like single-celled organisms, don't they?) on the dark brown triangles broke up the edges. I have since retired that particular fabric from this quilt, because it just doesn't want to play nice. Here's the first version:



So I did a second, which I like a bit better, but I'm still not all that happy with it. Unhappy enough to redo it again? Don't think so. But I wish I'd thought to line up the white leaves in the blue strips so they were all the same. Right now it looks a little random around the middle:



Yes, more blurriness. I've got to figure that out one of these days.

I've been hanging out on the Flickr group for this quilt-a-long and it is such an inspirational place. We are, I think, encouraging each other in a really wonderful and creative way; I keep seeing such beautiful blocks that I'm inspired to try something different. Which is how these things should work. I've gotten to the point now where I want to love each of these blocks I've made, and if I don't, I may just redo them until I do. Ooooh. There is such a good atmosphere there, the best kind for art and beauty to flourish.