The Wayback Machine

Hi everyone!  Let's join Mr. Peabody and Sherman and step into the Wayback (WABAC) Machine once again!  I'm still trying to not start TOO many new things and work through my huge pile of unfinished projects.

I pieced this one when we lived in Korea, 1994-96.

As I understood it, the name of the block I started with (there are 5 interlocking blocks) was called Coxie's Camp -- and also Casey's Camp. At the time, my husband was a brigade commander in the Second Infantry Division (2ID) and was stationed and living at Camp Casey! (I lived in Seoul, on Yongson Army Garrison; spouses were not authorized to live "up north" at the camps.)  I thought it was a cool coincidence - Casey's Camp/Camp Casey - so I had to make it into a quilt somehow.

The pieced border represents the mountains around Tongduchon (or Dongducheon), the town outside Camp Casey's gates.

I had drawn a design in the 4 large buff-colored spaces - taking artistic license with the 2ID unit crest and the 2ID patch.  At the time, I was a hand-quilter and thought it would be relatively easy to quilt them.  Well ... yeah.  But I don't really hand quilt much at all any more, so that ship has sailed.

Anyway, for whatever reason, that quilt was put aside.  I really thought it was time - but first --- I needed thread!  Of course, I turned to the King!!!

The girls like it! It even matches their fur!

Sands of Time. I've used it before and LOVE all the medium creams. I thought it would be perfect! And now that I have a super-duper cone holder, I could get a BIG one!

I started with some of the straight areas, started doing some twisted ropes, then forced myself to tackle that crest/patch I had designed.

Really not too bad - especially since I did it with my walking foot! BUT, and this was the kicker, I wasn't going to do it four times. No way, no how. I put on my thinking cap and kept going.

You can see my cone holder there. I love it!

You can also see one of my designs in the large buff areas. I did a large wagon wheel in one, to symbolize the supply wagon. My intent was for that to stand for the DISCOM (Division Support Command), the brigade my husband commanded, then I'd just have to come up with 2 more ideas. When my husband saw it, he thought it was more in line with the Transportation Corps crest ... then said if I just added something to represent the Quartermaster Corps and something for the Ordnance Corps, I'd have the major bases covered. Hmm. Sounded like a plan. (That's the Ordinance Corps bomb you can see in the photo above.)

Here's an over-all look:

You can more or less see my versions of the crests - oversimplified, but they get the message across.  I'll do closeups later; right now, you can still see the pencil marks from my original 2ID crest/patch composite.  Very messy.  That will wash out.  I hope.  Please.

I did all of that with my walking foot. Yes, I still fear free-motion quilting! I'm practicing, but yikes, it scares me! I did force myself to free-motion meander in the borders:

That actually went fairly well. I thought the meandering looked reminiscent of camouflage, so it fit the whole theme!

On to the binding! I had a slight hiccup there, as I appear to have made an apron out of the fabric I was going to use for the binding. Oops. No problem. I had a little left, then added some of the other blues and the red.

The houses on the blue fabric are just about the color of the house I lived in on Yongson; I thought that was kind of funny.

I'm doing the hand-sewing on the binding now; I'll post a shot or two when I'm done.  It feels so good to go back and finish these things!

Thanks for reading!
KZK