The NO quilt block

 

Some of you may have already seen this block on my Instagram, so I thought I should finally explain why I made it in the first place.

Using Instagram, @poppypoochie asked fellow quilters from around the world to sew blocks featuring the word NO in different languages. She plans to create a quilt addressing violence against women and, more specifically, issues surrounding sexual consent.

Using her own words:

“I will start by creating a quilt full of the word NO but in all the different languages of the world, thus highlighting several things — the worldwide problem of sexual violence and issues of consent, making a huge statement that no means no in any language, no to rape culture in the west and no to the horrors of this type of violence all over the world, especially during times of civil wars.”

She encouraged participants to use paper piecing, appliqué or any other quilting technique. I immediately felt this was the perfect opportunity not only to contribute to such an important cause, but also to finally design my very first foundation paper pieced block completely from scratch.

Having recently started learning Adobe Illustrator, I drafted my own pattern and successfully pieced it together without too many problems. Honestly, I am incredibly proud of how it turned out.

The word I chose was the Greek word for “NO”: ΟΧΙ (OXI).

I am already looking forward to designing more foundation paper piecing patterns… I just need to find some spare time!