May 18, 2012

Now for something completely different


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?

6 comments:

  1. Yep, beautiful is right!!! I LOVE it!!!

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  2. Looks fantastic to me!!! I struggle with Applique too so I definitely see how this would hold you up but in the end, it's so beautiful.

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  3. WOW, WOW, WOW! That is gorgeous! I love every thing about it. :)

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  4. I'm making this quilt too. I took my class from Jo about 2 years ago. My applique block is done, and it's the piecing of the blocks that I haven't done. I was in Jo's Little Women club the following Sept and working on all those little quilts. I boxed up this quilt project and haven't gotten back to it yet. Seeing your finished top, I'm now excited about my quilt too. It's time to figure out what box it's in and bring it out. Thanks for mentioning the trouble areas that you encountered. I will be sure to measure, measure right off the bat, so that I'm not doing any froggy stitches to get back to the middle (rip-it, rip-it) Thank you for sharing your quilt. Michele

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  5. Oh Lisa, this is a beautiful quilt!!!! I love it and Jan's work is spectacular, too.

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