When we last heard about Mary Queen of Scots, she was leaving France as Dowager queen to return home to Scotland as the rightful Scottish queen (actually crowned at 9 months of age.)
"Leaving" is too tame a word. She basically had to sneak home. The British wanted nothing more than to capture her as she traveled between the France and England.
There were two possibilities of a way home to Scotland; over land or over sea. It was determined that the land journey was more dangerous, so the sea voyage was chosen.
Mary arrived safely home, with her "four Marie's" and with a proper welcome, from most.
Mary had a claim to the English throne (she and Queen Elizabeth were actually cousins.) Queen Elizabeth had powerful advisors and lords who wanted Scotland under England's rule. They feared the return of Queen Mary to Scotland due to her strength of character, great intelligence, knowledge of politics, and strong devotion to the Catholic church.
Mary's elder, illegitimate step-brother had been acting the King during the latter period of Marie de Guise's Regency. Mary's mother had also allowed her de Guise brothers, powerful men in the French court, to have influence from afar.
Meanwhile, England was trying to weedle the protestant faith into Scotland. There were some Scots that were in agreement with this. France and Scotland were both Catholic nations and allies against the English.
Mary went home to a real political mess and set about to gain control to establish/protect her power. She, and most others, wanted a strong, independent Scotland. A lesser number wanted the protestant movement to be successful.
ROW TWO blocks are done and sewn together in a strip! Only two new blocks to share this time as the other five blocks in ROW TWO have been posted previously:
Stargazer Lily
Ornamental Crabapple
Bleu Columbine was blogged on 02/26/2020.
Jonquilia Daffodil was blogged on 10/08/2020.
Bhagwa Pomegranate was blogged on 10/10/2020.
Crab Lily was blogged on 10-10-2020.
Challesas Grape was blogged on 05/11/2020.
I spent ever so much time moving the blocks around to achieve balance in this quilt top of such colorful and varied flowers. I had to balance color, block density, flowers versus fruit, etc. I'm not sure if I hit on the best arrangement. After a while you stand back, squint at the design wall, shrug, and just say "yep."
You can ask da husbands as they walk by, but they usually don't even glance at the design wall and say, "looks great, dear."
In stitches,
Teresa 😏
This quilt is going to be so beautiful! I love the history lesson as well. When I was in Scotland, I bought a silver brooch with a Celtic Knot that represented the 4 Maries. It seemed appropriate since my mother's name was Mary and my middle name is Marie!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Your arrangement looks good but we quilters do like to change things around don't we? LOL
ReplyDeleteI am such a fan of your work. This will be fabulous. I think arranging the blocks is as hard as fabric selection. You are right, husbands are no help. If you ask they just say w "yes, nice' but its like pulling teeth. But if you don't need input, bit they are on it!
ReplyDeleteThese are just beyond sensational! Delicious!
ReplyDeleteMy husband isn't much help, but both my son's will tell me that I need to move this block there and that block there.....
ReplyDelete