This is the last of the small quilts for a while. I took a class from Jo Morton in 2007. This is her Peppermint Twist quilt from the book, Remembrances. I made all the churn dash blocks right away, but the applique has languished.
Let me confess - I am not skilled at applique. I've taken a class, I work with several ladies who are experts at applique but it hasn't rubbed off on me. My sister-in-law Jan, who also works at the quilt store, does the most beautiful applique work. A while back, I asked her if she would make the center of this block for me and she said she would be happy to do it.
When I got the center back from her recently, the beauty of her work took my breath away, and I couldn't wait to finish this quilt top. First, I had to trim that beautiful center. It took me several attempts before I had the courage to cut, afraid I might ruin it! But I did, and then made 32 teeny flying geese for the border. To my surprise and delight, the border fit perfectly around the center!
Next, I pieced the 4 corner units and, again, everything fit together perfectly with no problems. Until it came to assembling the quilt. That's when I discovered the center unit was too big to fit the corner units.
I took it to the quilt store, exasperated. My coworkers pointed out that the center setting triangles left too much of a seam allowance and that trimming it to a perfect quarter inch would help.
I took the quilt home and did just that. It made sense. However, the center was still too big. I did some creative seaming and made it fit. It's not perfect, will never win any ribbons, but I still think it's a beautiful quilt. Just don't scrutinze very closely. Maybe that will quilt out?
