Archive for the ‘Quilt designs’ Category

So I thought I’d just share this EQ drawing of the Twisted 9 patch that I recolored so I could calculate how much fabric I was using. Doesn’t it look kind of interesting?

Today was one of those days I had good intentions but never actually did any sewing. I also didn’t get my 2nd red sock cast on. What I did manage to do was walk downtown to get my haircut, visit the library, read, and meet Keith for drinks at the Foshay .

How about a Twisted version?

Norma linked to Gail’s quilt which is very much like an EQ version I was working with but I had a 9 patch in the sashing and thought it was too busy. Keeping the rail fence and using a solid block like Gail’s is much more to my liking.

I love suggestions that allow me to tweak something I’m working on and making it better!

Anyone else have a favorite 9 patch? I’m saving links and might just do more than one of these quilts. I knew I’d just recently seen another 9 patch & hourglass setting when Kathy linked to hers but couldn’t remember where — well it was Laura’s Christmas 9 Patch.

If you ever want to go back and look at one my my EQ drawings I’ve shared here you can click on the Quilt Designs link in the sidebar under Just Quilting.

If I decide to sash both of these are possibilities. I love the look of sashing, just not the extra work.

I like this one better I think but it would be even more work. (Have I mentioned I’m kind of a lazy quilter?)

Kathy shared a photo of one of her 9 patch quilts that I really like too — with hourglass blocks. Some of my favorite 9 patch quilts have alternate hour glass blocks.

My copy of Gwen Marston’s Liberated Quiltmaking II arrived today – I have the first book and love it and was excited to get this one too. I have some ideas floating around in my head….

As usual I cut too many strips so I started thinking about a leftovers quilt to empty to bin out after briefly considering just tossing the strips in the string bin. First I looked at doing another spiderweb.

But then I thought I’m tired of these fabrics and just want some quicker so I think I’ll do a two rail fence.

Of course my version will be scrappier but I’m lazy when I’m working in EQ6 and just use a single fabric where I’m going to use many in the real quilt.

One of the instruction sheets on my MaryQuilts.com site was recreated from memory because I’d lost the photos I had of this quilt which I made in 2001. I was very surprised to come across my photo on a group site where I’d posted it back then and to see I hadn’t remember the quilt as well as I thought I had.

The original quilt

My design 6+ years later – I’m shocked that those stars are friendship stars rather than sawtooth stars and I didn’t remember putting the star border on the bottom either (but I can understand not remembering which order I placed the colors in the rails). I was also surprised to read that I was  sharing the instructions for quilts I’d created myself that long ago.

The instructions for the Patriotic Rail Fence quilt are on my MaryQuilts.com site.

Or maybe a baby quilt and THEN a wedding quilt. I’m not quite sure the order I’m going to need these but I’m working on designing borders for the Stars & Pinwheels quilt to bring it up to queen size. So which do you like better?

Version A

Version B

And just in case you were wondering, it’s my son Adam and his girlfriend Lindsey who are expecting.

I added the instruction sheet for this quilt to my MaryQuilts.com site for anyone interested.

Please keep in mind that my quilt is made with 4 inch finished half square triangles (4.5 with seam allowances) and finishes at 80×96 without borders. I included measurements in the Quilt Note section for creating a smaller version using 3 inch finished half square triangles (3.5 with seam allowances). As always, if you make a quilt using one of my instruction sheets, I’d love to see a photo.

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I’d been thinking about making a framed rectangle quilt for a while — there are several patterns out there and Judy just created a GORGEOUS version so I decided to play around in EQ6 and see if I could come up with one myself that would just use dies from my GO. So using the 3.5×6.5 rectangle, 2 inch and 2.5 inch strips this is what I came up with and I like it!
Just a note about the GO Cutter. Angie had written that she has a GO and has been very upset to find some inaccuracies in some of the dies. After her email I checked my 5 inch die and found it to be slightly less than an 1/8 inch short on one side.

Apparently there’s a Yahoo discussion group and some unhappiness with GO in general but I have to say I’m still VERY happy with my cutter and the dies I’ve used. Even with some variations, all my quilts have gone together well and I’ve been thrilled with the results. Of course, I’ve never been a perfect piecer so I’m used to working with blocks that have very small variations.

So just one more thing to consider for those of you that have been looking at the GO. By the way, there is some discussion about ways to minimize the variation by paying attention to grain and using a piece of paper….if interested — check out the Accuquilt Yahoo Group — you have to join but you’ll get more than one point of view there.

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We’ve had an extremely quiet weekend and I’ve done more reading than anything else but I’ve been slowly sewing the *On the vine* blocks and rows together and playing a little more in EQ. I’ve still got lots of novelty fabrics left and decided I’ll do a rail fence type quilt with them. First I thought about brights and using the brick die to cut the centers from the novelties ….

but then I wondered if a woven setting would be more interesting.

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I’m still making boxed squares and playing with this design — I didn’t really plan much more than I wanted green/black/white. I liked Teri’s suggestion to add red to one center square but decided it needed several red centers and then decided it even needed 3 red squares.

Also, I decided that I should alternate the black and greens with the whites to keep it from being too dark. SO… for now, this is my plan — we’ll see how it plays out in fabric as I continue to make squares.

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