Big and Small Quilts

It's been a long while since I've piece a queen-sized quilt. My friend J asked if I would be interested in looking at a quilt that her sister started and didn't finish. From the receipt, it looks like it was started in 1992. 34 blocks were finished, alternate sawtooth stars and 9-patch with a large center. Lots of fabric: soft blue with stars, navy with small roses and a white-on-white background. J thought she would like the finished quilt, as her favorite color is blue. I had her measure how large she would like it to be, drew up a layout in EQ7, and started cutting.

65 more blocks later, and the challenge of pressing the seams open to match her sister's blocks, I had her top put together with a 9 x 10 layout and a double border. We discussed patterns, thread color and backing and batting over the phone, and as I had an open date, was able to quilt and bind it less than three weeks after she brought me the project. I do work more steadily if I have a deadline, in this case the unexpected quilting opening.

Also in the box of fabric she gifted me were 64 4 ½” squares of three different green fabrics. I found a forth green fabric in stash, and a new charity quilt project is ready to sew.

The twin-sized quilt in progress is the Banner Quilt, consisting of half-square triangles sewn in sets to resemble flags or banners. 40 different bright prints from a long-ago online sale of fq’s with my favorite white-on-white swirl fabric that I’ve been hoarding saving for the right project.

The small quilt is Baby Owls made from drunkard’s path blocks. I originally saw it on Cindy’s blog, and she included a link to the tutorial for it. All the fabrics are from stash, including the border with owls. I may do a combination of hand and machine quilting on it. I finished the assembly at a local weekend quilt retreat.

And finally the fabrics for the Diamond 4-Patch have been cut. I’m trying to avoid cutting off the points per the EQ7 templates for alignment, and think I’ve found another way to get good alignment for the seams. I’ll post pictures if the test pieces work.