Wednesday's Wanderings #52 - A Liberated Menorah

Happy Chanukah!

Tonight is the 5th night of Chanukah.I knew I had to make a menorah.

As a designer of Judaic designs (OyVey! Quilt Designs), I have made many, many menorah quilt patterns.

So I decided to challenge myself, I would go "organic"! Or liberated!

No scissors, no ruler, no pattern, except to square up the block at the end.

I am on the fence about the results.

I started with a quick sketch on a piece of paper that is about the size of the finished block.

I started by cutting out the fabric for the candles and the background using only scissors without trying to be perfect.  Can you tell?

 I sewed them into a strip set.  I did use my 1/4" foot.

After cutting the strip set in half, I added background fabric to the top.

 And then I joined the 8 candles with the middle taller candle, called the shamash. 

This candle is used to light all the others.

 After attaching the middle section of the menorah,

I added triangles by stitching diagonally across squares.

My trusty companion resting in the middle of my mess.

 It was late.

 Then I cut the remaining pieces of the block to check the layout.

This is the block after stitching the pieces together. I am not crazy about the candle all the way on the right.  I kind of like the other ones.

I used a loose satin stitch to add the candles, quilted the block

and finally got to use my ruler to square up the block.

It was certainly stress free to be liberated,

 but at the same time it was a challenge not to use my ruler and rotary cutter.

The block has a whimsical feeling and I am happy to use it to celebrate Chanukah, when a small amount of oil miraculously lasted 8 nights, keeping the flame lit in the temple in Jerusalem.