June 28, 2011

Almost Planetarium

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I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Hartman - I love her blog and her book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork.  I've poured over the book many times and each time I see something different.   When I first looked really closely at her Planetarium quilt, I really liked how the quarter square triangle/hourglass blocks had a very blendy quality to them.  I couldn't quite make out the block design, although it was a quilt block basic.


I've had a stash of Kaffe Fasset and Martha Negley fabrics for some time and this pattern made me pull out my stash to finally use it.  I needed to do some serious fussy cutting to get the right part of the florals into my blocks, but I am really happy with the result.   I used white Essex linen for the sashing and pulled some fun colors for the frames around my blocks.   Definitely a bright, summer quilt, even though it was impossible to get a photo of the true colors of this quilt.


I only made 9 blocks instead of the 16 shown in the book.   I also realized too late that I'd only used 2 fabrics in each block, where the designer used 4 fabrics.   So that's why I'm calling mine "Almost Planetarium."


A tool that was indispensible to me while making this quilt was Monique Dillard's new Fit to Be Quarter ruler.  I loved using it and it will be a staple in my ruler collection.  Please stop by next week for the 4th of July Fireworks Blog Hop.  Monique invited me and a few other quilters to demonstrate the ruler, share our 4th of July memories or quilts or recipes and I know you would all love an opportunity to win a Fit to be Quarter ruler.   The fun starts on Monday, July 4.


 



7 comments:

  1. I also love Elizabeth's book and have been thinking about tackling the Planetarium quilt. I love your take on it. The florals make it look amazing and so different from how I've seen it before. This is a beautiful quilt.

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  2. Goergeous, Lisa! I'll be back for the Blog Hop to see another of Moniques fun rulers!
    Cheers!

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  3. That is so incredibly gorgeous! Love the colored frames!

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  4. Lisa these blocks are really neat. Totally fun and really pretty too I might add.

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  5. Very summery! Lisa, does the Fit To Be Quarter Ruler do the same job as The Precision Trimmer 6? If so which do you prefer? Thanks.

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  6. Lisa, that quilt top is stunning, I absolutely love it! It may be my favorite of all the quilts you've ever made, it looks like art hanging on a wall. Your hard work with the fussy cutting really paid off. I'm just blown away by its beauty! Congratulations my friend on an amazing finish. Great fabric, great pattern, great work!!

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  7. Your Almost Planetarium quilt looks great. I really like the book too. There are so many quilts I want to make out of that book.

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