Making the Blue Quilt

I sometimes dream of one of my quilts hanging in a show - you know - one of those quilting shows with a lady wearing white gloves to oh so carefully turn the quilt back for admiring eyes. Yeah right! Reality check would be the Little Boy exporing a quilt in progress - on a BIKE! Actually - Little Boy likes the zig zags - he thinks they make perfect roads! I had thought I might get away with laying down a border - during the day - Silly Momma! Is it any wonder that I usually sew at night? And I already know that Darcie is going to tell me that I have to put this photo on the back of the quilt as part of the label! Oh yes, this photo would be just the perfect label for the white gloved lady to oh so carefully turn back for admiring eyes! No touching the quilt, please! No, honestly, I just want my quilts to be loved and used - my house definately isn't a white glove house!

And in the end, I did get the top finished (with a few little changes to my first ideas along the way)!
TA DA!























The original idea of a red inner border was too harsh so I went with a soft lavender. And, the first pieced border option that I was considering - I like it, but it isn't for this quilt, but I'll use it on something else (I tacked a photo below just so you could see). I am not even entirely sure that I had enough blue fabric had I continued with the original border idea. So, piano key border it turned out to be, which I like. In a clever moment, I thought I would put the border on just 3 sides, leaving the top completely border-less - it just goes under the pillows anyway. I got it all sewed together like that and then thought it did look a bit funny so unpicked some sewing in order to add the final lavender and piano key border. Of course, in doing so I ended up with 2 end keys slightly off-sized, but believe you me, Honey, I really don't think anyone is going to notice so I'm not growing any gray hairs over those 2 keys!

Let's see... 74X101 - a goofy size I know, but I had wanted to make 1 more row and didn't have enough fabric! Squares were cut 3". Lavender border was cut 3". Piano keys were cut 2" X 6.5" (because my ruler is 6.5" wide). Formula for cutting the setting triangles from Bonnies site at www.quiltville.com. All created by ME as I went along - and if there is an exact same pattern out there by a designer - all I can say is maybe we took math classes with similar concepts? Or, maybe we both have the same 6.5" ruler? Or, maybe we both like to cut our strips even 3" and 2" widths (so much easier than increments!). Absolutely NO insult mean whatsoever to our wonderful designers who design beautiful patterns for us. I buy many different patterns and always give credit where credit is due - BUT, a simple 9 patch design or 16 patch has been around for ages! Alternate sets, zig zag sets, sashed sets - all been around for ages! These are timeless designs, mix and match, handed down through the generations, and hopefully will continue to be handed down to future generations. Use any color you want! Use any fabric you want! Cut the squares 2" if you want and the piano keys 3" if you want. Make the design work for you! There, I said it - and that is all I will say on the current copyright discussion that is raging!

Oh, and I was originally inspired to create this quilt by Jeanne's monochromatic orange quilt over on Spiral ( March archive is orange, February archive is blues/greens), but somehow, mine ended up looking nothing at all like hers! But it was her quilt that inspired me to cut all my blue fabrics into 3" squares and since I had the fabric out and was cutting it anyway, I cut 2" strips for no reason at all - which I was able to put to good use sooner than I thought with that piano key border. So, thank you Jeanne!


















On another note - thank you for all the nice comments about my Ocean Waves - in progress. Hopefully I will get a chance to work on it - off and on - over the summer.

And, in closing, on this Mother's Day - I leave you with a photo of one of my Hens and Chicks that I planted in memory of my Mom. I planted this one just last year and look at how many little chicks it already has! A simple little plant that brings me happy memories.