A ROW TO HOE

I was looking through my design sketches of quilt blocks recently, and realized that I have used so many 3" and 4" blocks in my quilts.  Some were used as single blocks, but the majority of them were combined with another block to produce secondary patterns.

Looking for a challenge, I decided to see how many of those little blocks I could work into a small quilt.  Over the years, I have made several strippy-style quilts, but never a row quilt.  The idea is similar except one is vertical and the other is horizontal.  A horizontal row quilt sounded right for this project ---- "A Row to Hoe".

I used 13 different 3" blocks for this quilt for a total of 48 blocks.

The design and piecing of the quilt top was easy, but the challenge came for me, as always, when I got to the machine quilting. With every row being different, they each required a unique quilting design with numerous starts and stops with several thread color changes.  Always a learning experience!!!

The Stats:  A Row to Hoe, 2021, 27" x 34", Paper pieced, machine pieced, machine quilted.

I have missed my Navy grandson who has been deployed on his submarine and out of regular communication.  We have always had interesting conversations about my quilts.  He is very creative and understands about color, space, and light; and is also interested in associated family stories.  He is now back to his home port; and I am looking forward to having face-to-face conversations with him again.  'A rough row to hoe' is farm-speak for meeting a challenge and accomplishing it.  I'm sure this 19-year-old submariner can teach his 82-year-old grandmother something about meeting challenges.

Lots of rows to hoe on the Haines Family Farm when
 the snow melts and Spring and Summer arrive - c1950s.

I have never 'hoed a row' in reality, but now I have done so symbolically in a quilt.