Mass Maelstrom

Central Mass Roller Derby's men's team may have my favorite team name ever: the Mass Maelstrom. I loved Edgar Allen Poe as a gloomy teenager, I think whirlpools are neat, and was afraid of Charybdis "coming to get me" when I swam in large bodies of water as a little kid. Plus, I like the "male" pun they've got going on there. I'm glad to see CMRD represented on the quilt, as they're BDD's neighbors and I love them like whoa.

Also, this patch is gorgeous. The photo doesn't really do it justice, so you'll have to take my word for it. It's a faithful representation of the team's logo, down to the details on Thor's hammer and his "I'm coming for you next, jerk" hand gesture. Uber Wench has this to say about her creative process:

When Peter Rottentail asked me to do a square for the Mass Maelstrom for the derby quilt, I accepted, but I wasn't sure how to proceed. I've been playing roller derby since September, 2009, and in the real world I repair ancient bookbindings, so my first instinct was to make a leather collage. I brought a copy of the Maelstrom logo to my bookbinding studio and began to contemplate it. After an extended and largely inactive contemplation period, and an unsuccessful attempt to execute the leather idea, I decided to branch out a little with my materials.

Once I let go of the all-leather concept, the square came together very quickly. The viking's head and helmet are leather, his torso and hair are fabric. I cut "MASS" out of a batik fabric, and hand embroidered "maelstrom" onto the same fabric beneath it. The fist and hammer are very detailed in the logo, so I just printed them (on paper), cut them out, and pasted them on. I drew the blue background swirls onto the fabric with colored pencil and permanent marker. Then I sat down at the sewing machine, stitched the blue backing fabric into place and then "drew" with my sewing machine, adding lines and accents, and reinforcing the temporarily pasted attachments. 

I love the different textures in the square, and the way that diverse materials create a united whole, just like the Maelstrom: different players sticking together to make one cogent team!

Thanks Uber Wench for making this killer block! I'm glad CMRD is represented now. We've covered three leagues in Massachusetts, but there's another one left unrepresented. What about you, Mass Attack Roller Derby? You want in?