Mount Rushmore Quilt

Being as I am from South Dakota, I was delighted to stumble on this Mount Rushmore fabric years ago (I think it must have been 1999--when we were visiting for Mom and Dad's 25th anniversary) at Lolly's in Shipshewana. In fact, it was my first visit to Lolly's, and the only visit to the original shop. It wasn't long after that the shop and the entire block burned down. Luckily, rebuilding occured and now Lolly's has a beautiful shop in a new building. The Mount Rushmore fabric was by no means the only fabric I liked and bought, so I only got one yard. It went into my stash for the next several years.

Flash forward to Fort Bliss, El Paso, TX. I was a member of the El Paso quilt guild and we had a monthy "blotto." For those uninitiated into the quilt world, a blotto (block lottery) is where a quilter can make a predetermined block and for as many as are made, a chance to win them all is earned. So if you make one, you get one chance, 2 for 2, etc. I always entered the blottos, and usually with more than one block. I NEVER won. I was quickly becoming "known" for this bad luck. However, July was approaching and the block was patriotic. In fact, the blotto block was the ones surrounding the center block of this quilt. I made 9 of them, hoping the odds would be with me for once. I distincly remember one of my minibee's members chastising me for making so many when we all knew I would lose. "Why don't you just keep the 9 you made?" she said. If you are guessing that I won them, since I have a quilt full of them, you would of course be mistaken. My luck did not change. Now, I don't remember if I made more of those blocks first, or if I made the center block featuring the Mount Rushmore in the center first. I do know that I was planning on making more of the center blocks, but when I made one, it wasn't much fun. At some point, I remember realizing that the two different block were essentially the same. Then this quilt came to my mind--surrounding the more complex center block with the 8 blotto blocks. But to me, what really makes this quilt work is the border.

Here is a closeup of the center. It may not look like it to non-quilters, but the center block is much more difficult than the others.

Here is the upper right corner. As I was saying, the border really makes this quilt. I got the idea from "Pieced Borders" by Judy Martin and Marsha McCloskey. The trickiest bit was to find something that would accomodate Rushmore when "fussy cut." Again, for nonquilters, "fussy cutting" is when you cut a piece with an image on the fabric in mind, and not just the size required. As you can see, all the squares are cut "on point" with Mount Rushmore carefully centered in each piece. The squares finish at 4 inches and I needed 29--28 for the border, and the one in the middle. Remember that I only have one yard of the fabric. Anyone skilled in fussy cutting may now wonder that I was able to get all 29 out of one yard. Well, I didn't. I had to piece together (very carefully) partial Rushmores to make a whole. That was "very fussy cutting." At any rate, once cut out, the border went together easily and I am really pleased with the result.

The quilt proudly hands in my laundry room. I can almost hear people's amazed comments, but the wall is prominently visible from my Great Room and featured several electical panels, etc. as shown above. This quilt happened to be the perfect size to cover up the unsightly-ness, so here it hangs. That is the story of my Mount Rushmore quilt.

As for the El Paso guild blottos? I finally did win! It was in December. I had made 2 blocks and because everyone was busy with the holidays, only one other person made one. So I went home with 3. Big win!