The Peace Quilt

We travel here by car with our cat, Carmine. I have what could be described as a well-stocked sewing room in Florida (insert eye roll here). It was a challenge to decide what to bring with me for quilting in Maine. Fortunately, I did not have a lot of time to think about it. DH decided to leave about a week ahead of schedule because of a good weather window. I looked around and grabbed one pattern (The Peace Quilt by Margaret Rolfe), one book (French Braid Quilts) and one magazine (the latest Quiltmaker). And four collections of blue and white fat quarters that I have been saving for a few years for a Special Project. I hoped that would be enough to keep me busy. I think it will be!

I started the Peace Quilt yesterday. It has 98 paper pieced origami style cranes set on a diagonal. I am going to make it with a white background, and the cranes will be light blues and dark blues, mostly batiks. Haven't decided about the sashing that holds them together, yet. I have always been captivated by the legend of the crane. According to Japanese legend, if you fold 1000 cranes, a wish will come true. A young schoolgirl who had been exposed to radiation after Hiroshima started folding cranes, with the wish that she would become well. She did not finish folding the cranes by the time she died of radiation poisoning. Her classmates finished folding the cranes, and a statue was erected in her memory at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima. The statue shows a girl holding up a large crane. At the foot of the statue are the words: This is our cry, this is our prayer, Peace in the world.