The Animosity Quilt Club, or...What I've been doing instead of blogging

Have you ever heard of a friendship quilt? It's where you get together 20 insane people friends, you each agree to make 20 of the same quilt square of your choosing (usually within a theme) and then on a predetermined date, you get together and exchange your quilt squares so you end up taking home 20 different squares to make into a themed quilt to love and cherish (or look at with disdain and PTSD flashbacks...either way).

In a moment of grandiosity, I joined such a group. The Okinawa Memory Quilt Group. In the emailed invitation, we were given a list of possible choices we could make for our square, such as, "Japanese and American flags", "shisa dogs", "kokeshi dolls", etc. We would be responsible for designing a pattern, choosing fabric, cutting and assembling the pieces, fusing them together and stitching the quilt squares. Knowing myself as I do...I should have chosen something simple. Like castle ruins (how hard can it be to stitch a crumbling wall?), but no. That's not how I roll...


Sushi was on the list of possibilities, sushi is my favorite thing about Okinawa, and no matter how complicated or time consuming, how could I do anything but sushi?

Pictured above are all the traced and cut out pieces which will go into constructing twenty. sushi. squares. I was lucky in that another friend had done this square and she passed along her basic pattern, along with notes she used to tweak it. It put me a little step ahead...but not as much as I had fooled myself into believing, unfortunately. No matter what, you still have to figure it out and make mistakes.



This is my test square, which I will not be able to actually use as the machine stitching is too poor and there are some frayed spots. From this I learned I needed much bigger margins on the fabric. I did some practice blanket stitching, but won't be finishing it since this one isn't usable. I think I've got it down now, though.



Jake thought I looked stressed and in need of chocolate. He made me a microwave cake in a mug. Not sure why he put a candle in it. I'm not feeling much like celebrating, that's for sure.

I will keep you updated on the progress...or at least let you know if I survive. The deadline is Oct. 15th. Wish me luck!