Squawk and Gobble

Taken off of a name of a restaurant in Bluffton, SC (the Squat and Gobble), the Squawk and Gobble is the name of my quilt group.  No, I have not aged significantly since turning 40, this is a cool group!

Here's the story, about a year ago, my neighbor and friend, Angie, showed me a quilt square she was working on - a beautiful kimono design.  She explained that she is a part of an Okinawa quilt group and this is just one of the squares.  Each of the 20 members of her group picked something that was symbolic of Okinawa to them and then designed a quilt square around it.  I loved the idea and thought it would be a great souvenir of Okinawa so I looked for a group to join.  None to be found.  So with the encouragement and guidance of Angie, I started my own group!

I was a little daunted by the thought of making 20 squares, so I decided on 12, and made a group of friends and neighbors which is even better because everytime I will look at their square I'll be reminded not only of Okinawa, but also of the friendships I made here.

We've been meeting monthly to check progress and "squawk and gobble" since last May and last night was our final meeting.  It was a bittersweet moment as I'm glad to be done, but I'll miss our monthly hen sessions.

So without more waiting here are the squares...

My square: koinobori (fish flags which are hung for Children's Day at the beginning of May)

Maureen's square: sanshin (an Okinawan stringed instrument)

Liz's square: taiko drummer (you see these at festivals in the summer)

Sarah's square: torii gate (traditional entrance gate to temples)

Michelle's square: kimono and obi

Krimp's square: fans

Wendy's square: gecko in a window (we get a lot of these here!)

Janelle's square: geta shoes (traditional wood base shoes)

Lisa's square: sea turtle (found in the waters around Okinawa)

AnnMarie's square: kokeshi doll/Japanese lady with high heels and umbrella (kokeshi dolls are traditional wooden dolls - the heels and umbrellas are a daily sight in Japanese womens' dress)

Kelly's square: shisa (these guardians of the home keep away evil spirits and keep good spirits in a home -these ones are missing their faces still)

Julie's square: cherry blossoms (Julie was London's teacher last year and although she moved back to the States last year, she stayed part of the group!  Yeah, Julie!)



The fun part of the evening was bidding for the squares we wanted.  Since some of the squares had variations of fabric colors, we had to come up with a way to fairly distribute them.  I made cards with everyone's name, then after we laid one design on the table, we could throw our card on the one we wanted. 





How to settle then? Why arm wrestling, of course! I think Michelle really wanted this square, Liz looks like she's in pain!

So here's our group (from top left: Liz, Kelly, Lisa, Sarah, me, Maureen.  Bottom left: Wendy, Krimp, AnnMarie, Janelle and Michelle)

And our quilt (minus the cherry blossoms in route from the States)