Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Ta-da!



I'd been wanting to make this quilt for a long time.  I thought it might take all winter, and it did!  Hence the name, "Spring Equinox."   87" x 87"




































The inspiration came from this 1930's string quilt in Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilts Book.  
Sarah Fielke made a similar quilt in the book, Material Obsession Two, by she and Kathy Doughty.  I started off by using the instructions in the book, which are great.  But I decided to try making it without foundation piecing.  





Wanda suggested I make the webs with strips, and I tried it.  I found I could get two and a half webs from two sets of four strips.  Half webs go on the edges.  The kaleidoscope ruler was key.  





To get pinwheels in the middles, I sewed the pinwheel fabrics on after the strips were cut.





And cut them again. 





I made the connecting pieces 15 minutes play style and cut them with a template.  I had to figure out a  template size that would fit with the pie shape pieces.  First I tested it with muslin.





Here are the pieces for one block. 




First you sew them into triangles...





Then squares, using lots of pins...







Then rows.  10 rows x 10 blocks each = 100 blocks = 1 queen size quilt!

Any ideas on quilting it?










Saturday, March 10, 2012

A Little Progress and a Lot of Fabric


The webs are mostly done.  


And I made 40 more kite shapes, with 40 more to go.
It's a good thing they only take 15 minutes!



Meanwhile, I've been opening the mailbox to find the most wonderful vintage fabrics!

From Brenda in Canada and Marian in Utah

Marian is Em's mom, and also sent this box of squares.
From Bonnie in Michigan and Janet in Yukon Territory

From Theodora in Greece

From Cheryl in Illinois

From Rachel in Australia

From Wanda in Illinois


I am constantly amazed by quilt-makers generosity and support.  Is it all the sewing that makes you so nice?  Or is it that only the nicest people make quilts?