Windham Wednesdays and My South Carolina Star

I was working on my USA series of paper pieced states on Sunday and came to South Carolina. I stopped and thought, "Wow! I need to sew this in honor of those who lost their lives." I wanted fabrics that read solid with a rich, deep color. Beautiful colors, but not dancing brights like I typically choose. Here is my South Carolina Star.

South Carolina Star (12") with simple borders

I finally had a project for the Artisan Cottons by Windham Fabrics. The shot cottons are a beautiful array of colors, don't you think? Can you see the red warp thread in the purple fabric below? These are special cottons with two different colors of thread used in the weaving process. I love shot cottons.

Color rich Artisan Cottons

Here is the block by itself, made with these fabrics and a standard white background. I hope this block helps us remember that life is about putting things together and not ripping them apart.

South Carolina Star using Windham's Artisan Collection

This is a PAPER PIECED pattern for a 12" block. You can have the FREE pattern: South Carolina Star. If you look closely at those points and odd shaped patches, if you want to convert this to templates - be my guest! Paper piecing gives me accuracy every time.

And now I take my quilter's hat off for a minute to reflect on the colors and how they relate to the 9 Christian martyrs who were slain in Charleston last week. They were regular people using their free time to worship God in a church, usually thought of as a safe place.

BLUE is for their faith in God, both weak (light blue) and strong (dark blue). They were human!
GREEN is for eternal life, which is what they have now.
RED is the color assigned to martyrs, slain in innocence through no fault of their own.
CREAM is for the tears we all have shed at such a loss.
GOLD is for the crowns they now wear in heaven.

This is my take on it. I'm not looking for any religious discussions, though you're free to respond as you wish to what I've said.  My blog is 99% of the time only quilts. All quilts. All the time. But this horrific event has so profoundly moved me, and the response of that Christian community in Charleston is beyond anything I could ever imagine.  I just wanted to honor those who live worthy lives, and in death, those left behind offer an agonizing dignity that we should all hope to aspire to.

I hope you'll try your hand at the South Carolina Star. May it brighten your day!