Tuesday, June 4, 2019

A Gifted Deal

Quilted, bound, washed, and dried. These darling blocks made a {fairly} quick quilt for a new baby. It went in the mail and arrived before the new dad's paternity leave ended. Whew!

HSTs of strings pair with red, orange, and pink solid triangles to form The Square Deal block in the center of this quilt. It is surrounded by a narrow turquoise inner border and a wider print of colorful triangles.
The Square Deal baby quilt

As frequently happens, I nearly drove myself crazy with the quilting. It needed to keep the quilt together and hold up to rigorous use. Additionally, it needed to be simple with a minimum of starts and stops. Burying threads is such a time consumer.

The inner border is SID with matching thread. This is my usual way to keep the line straight through all the subsequent quilting.

After asking my small group, I determined to try a squared-off spiral. It was a disaster. Not only were my "straight" lines wobbly, they were also too far apart. In desperation I switched to a regular spiral. It didn't seem like it would work well but I was wrong about that, too. It looks great. Yes, those curved lines are wobbly but I bet you can't tell!

This shows part of the center, both borders, the pink binding, and the spiral quilting.
Detail of the Square Deal baby quilt

The main back fabric was too short and too narrow. A bit of another blue lengthened the base and the last of the border fabric widened it. The spiral shows up so much better on the back.

The back is composed of a large floral on light blue extended with a quiet blue print. A remnant of the wide border from the front cuts across these fabrics dividing the sides about a third of the way across.
Back of the Square Deal baby quilt

I've used this design twice before, but it's been a while. The first time on the Neutral String baby quilt and later on Spiderweb 3.  I like it and plan to use it again. Echo quilting is one of the few designs that shows on patterned fabric. Spirals are a version of echos.


Quilt Details
Size: 40" x 40"
Design: Original
Batting: Mountain Mist 100% cotton
Thread: Blue and peach Gutterman 50 wt cotton
Quilting: Stitch in the Ditch and spiral, both with walking foot

Previous posts: 
1. The Chinese Coin columns that didn't work
2. Making HSTs
3. Playing with HSTs
4. Square Deal block
5. Using the extra blocks

I borrowed The Golden Thread by Kassia St. Clair, a collection of stories about fabric through history rather than a history of fabric. Thirteen chapters cover pre-historic cave dwellers through the Space Age astronauts and include several stories, each beginning with a literary quote involving thread or textiles. That alone is worthwhile. Kassia writes fluently and persuasively; she based this book on some of her magazine articles. 

The cover is printed with the title and author and embellished with loops of golden thread.
The Golden Thread
by Kassia St. Clair

All in all, The Golden Thread is much more interesting than the news programs so I will be check her other book on color next.

Enjoy the day, Ann

22 comments:

Julierose said...

Lovely gift...The quilting is so pretty--I've never tried a spiral...but I really like how it looks...hugs, Julierose

Nann said...

The quilt sparkles! The spiral quilting enhances the design. I'll look for the book. (I recommend A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield.)

patty a. said...

The quilt turned out wonderful! The quilting looks great! I have not tried quilting a spiral either. I will have to give it a try with the group of baby quilts I need to make. Do you have any tips for starting?

Tish said...

Thanks for the book recommendation - I've placed it on hold at the library. Love the quilt and you inspire me to attempt spiral quilting.

Mel Beach said...

Ta Done!! The spiral quilting looks fabulous!! What a happy quilt!!

Janie said...

Congratulations, great color and finish! It will be loved and appreciated, what more could a quilt ask for?

audrey said...

Your quilting always looks wonderful to me. And Yay! to another delightful finish! This one has such good vibes.:)

Quiltdivajulie said...

Love the large spiral quilting motif -- works SO well with this quilt.

Kaja said...

I've heard a bit of the book being read on the radio and enjoyed it; I must chase down a copy. I like the big spiral a lot: curvy quilting lines with linear piecing make a good mix

Ann said...

Thanks, Julie. I’m going to use spirals more frequently since it worked well here.

Ann said...

Thanks for the book recommendation. I will check it out. My idea of good summer reading.

Ann said...

The very center is not a spiral and that made it much easier. I made an x to fill the center square and then started going around it. Just use the walking foot as a guide and take your time.

Ann said...

I hope you enjoy the book, too. Textiles interest me.

Ann said...

Thanks, Mel. You’re advice is appreciated but I just couldn’t get it to work. I really didn’t think a spiral would do much. Glad I was wrong.

Ann said...

Thanks, Janie. It was fun to make. Hopefully will be well used.

Ann said...

Thanks, Audrey. I spend way too much time worrying about the quilting but am finding these simple designs work very well.

Ann said...

Thanks, Julie. It was fun to quilt although I’m not sure I could do it on a larger quilt. I turned the whole quilt around and around since I used a walking foot. It would be hard to roll a larger quilt up enough.

Ann said...

Listening to it on the radio would be nice. A friend used to read novels on public radio. Why do I like that better than listening to audiotapes? Which I rarely buy or borrow.
I now agree about mixing lines and curves. Really, my quilting is much too hidebound.

Mystic Quilter said...

Love the spiral quilting here Ann, a lovely quilt for a new baby, nice and bright.

Ann said...

Thank you, Maureen. Almost every time I finish a quilt I laugh about all my anxiety over it. The baby will like it.

EYSchmitt said...

What a beautiful finish! It makes me want to try spiral quilting!

Ann said...

Thanks. I think everyone should try spiral quilting. It’s though at the beginning if you start with a tiny circle so you should either plan to start with a darning foot and switch to walking foot when it’s larger or plan a different design in the center. I chose the latter here.