TGIFF is Here Today!! Catch OctoberQuest before it's spirited away!

Today is the final weekly posting for TGIFF's OctoberQuest celebration of its one-year anniversary.  Pretty exciting stuff with gift certificates for 2 lucky finishers from this month's 4 TGIFF linky parties and 10% off at Mad About Patchwork for all participants. You'll see the "rules" below my finish report, and this linky will be open through Halloween.  :D

At LONG LAST I have a finish to post! I can't adequately communicate how disruptive to quilting this year has been with a cross-country move involving a stint in an interim apartment, moving 3 children to separate distant locations (and then one back again), and doing my history masters work. Quilts that should have been placed at the front of the storage unit got shuffled to the back amongst the madness of a wild-fire gone out of control, Dear Jane pieces went AWOL (still looking for those suckers), and sewing equipment refused to surface. 

Let me take you on a step back in time while I show you 
Patriots in Petticoats

98" x 98"
Thanks to the Masonic Lodge for letting me photograph this at their wonderful stone wall.
I thought the setting was rather apropos.  

This quilt is a reproduction of one made in 1840 by Hanna Wallis, a Quaker whose father, quite ironically, turns out to have been a spy for Benedict Arnold.

These are not my colors or favorite style, by I really dig historical projects that provide a tangible connection to particular points in humanity's past. Patriots in Petticoats has a double appeal for me: Being an American, I enjoy the Revolutionary period, and being a woman, I *love* celebrating gals who had pluck! 

Margaret Gunn of Quilts of Love did the quilting for me, and it's a LOVELY job!

I love the inner grid work that she designed around the medallion

The cross-work on the log cabins makes them
pop out wonderfully.

Fabulous ribbon work

Swags on the outer borders as a nod to the era
celebrated by the quilt.

LOVE the back view of the quilting

This photo is tilted -
that strip goes straight across the middle.

I adore the little stories that go with the women represented by the blocks in this quilt. You can read those snippets in these old posts:

• Deborah Samson, Anne Hennis Trotter Bailey, Margaret Cochran Corbin, Elizabeth Gilmore
• Sarah Bralee, Mary Pickersgill, Hannah Hendee, Nancy Hart, Anna Marie Lane, Lydia Darragh
• Elizabeth Freeman, Polly Cooper
• Phillis Wheatley, Betty Zane
• Marcy Otis Warren, Hannah Arnette, Martha Washington, Mary Lindley Murray
• Margaret Vliet Warren 

So happy this very neat historical quilt is finished.  Next week I'll be able to link up with a couple of more modern quilts, so come back and party with me!  :D

Now let's get you in the scoop for OctoberQuest!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Your OctoberQuest , should you choose to accept it, is to finish up those quilty projects, whether it’s for the upcoming Bloggers Quilt Festival, the 100 Day Hustle, Finish-A-Long, Halloween, Thanksgiving or even, gasp, Christmas (just think how Super Quilter-ish you’d feel if you were done some of your Christmas gifts before November even started). Or finish up those WIPs, UFOs, charity quilts, or um, overdue gifts — you decide!

Did I mention the prizes?  Yes there are prizes!  Pam from Mad About Patchwork is giving a $50 gift certificate to two lucky participants! Oh, what quilty goodness I you could get with that! There’s something for everyone too – Pam’s offering a 10% off purchases for the month of October to all OctoberQuest participants — just use TGIFF10 at checkout.

So here’s how OctoberQuest will work:

1. Your quilty project must be completely finished (As much as we love celebrating quilt tops or completed blocks, they will not be eligible for the prizes).
2. You may enter one or more finishes each week.  Just add a link for each finish to one of the linky parties. The linky parties will stay open from their start date until the end of the month.
3. Your post/photo on Flickr/Picasa must have a link back to the TGIFF! site and the particular party you are participating in.
4. Link up your quilty finish in any of the TGIFF! linky parties this month:
   • October 5 -  Janice @ Better Off Thread
   • October 12 – M-R @ Quilt Matters
   • October 19 - Jenelle @ Echinops and Aster
   • October 26 – Lynette @ What a Hoot
5. OctoberQuest will be open until October 31st at 11:59 p.m. EST. A winner will be picked via Ms. Random Number Generator on November 1st and notified via email. Please make sure we can contact you via email or we will blow the gift certificates on ourselves need to run Ms. Random again.

So ramp up your “Let’s Get ‘Er Done!” attitude and see what you can finish up by Halloween!

Happy OctoberQuest, and let the linking begin!