WIP Wednesday: an hourglass quilt

My story today takes on a somewhat somber tone, beginning with some forgotten Civil War fabric in my stash. It’s not the kind of thing I would purchase now, but some of the fabrics had a distinctly modern feel to them, albeit in muted colors.

It wasn’t long before I thought an hourglass block would be the perfect fit. What gave me the idea was all the ways that war — or any military conflict — is about waiting, from the call to arms, to the beginning of the battle, to the families’ hopes for a joyous reunion with their loved one or their grief at a hero’s burial.

I took this photo from a distance and cropped in so you could focus on the overall color values rather than the fabric themselves. You can see off center to the right the concentration of the red, symbolizing the bloodshed. (The center block in that section is a solid piece of the brightest red, to symbolize the point of the weapon’s impact.)

Around that area I used as many of the darker red/brown blocks in random placement to symbolize war’s many battles. The gold/cream blocks near the top are the families in waiting; the red/cream ones for the families whose soldier will never return.

This quilt will finish at 81″ x 81,” made up of 324 five-inch blocks, and I plan to call it “Waiting.” As it stands right now, it doesn’t quite match the idea in my head, but I hope when I do get it right with a future project, both quilts will become a small tribute to the brave men and women who serve our country.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

XOXO,
Sandra