Begun in 2012 as a Block-of-the-month by Gay Bomers of Sentimental Stitches and finished in 2021, this quilt taught me almost all I know about quilting!
Last year, my Just Takes 2 Quilt (pattern by Gay Bomers of Sentimental Stitches) finally got quilted, nearly ten years after I began it!
Tina Katwal of The Square Inch did a fabulous job and the quilting is nothing short of exquisite! Here is a gallery of some of my favourite blocks! I included some pictures of the back; zoom in to see the quilting.
Here goes the sun…The lights come on as the sun is ready to go down…What is there not to love?An eight-point star I made the wrong size and added the border to make it up to 6″Framed in yellow!More needleturn…Another Favourite BlockLike that little yellow airplane?Some very well-loved traditional blocks…Yet another pretty one!…from the backTextures!Gorgeous Textures!And intricate blocks…Another look at the back…Lots of points there to matchOne of my top favourites!Sweet!Just love this!I like how the golds brighten up the proceedingsSo proud of this one!This was my first-ever bit of applique!
The colours so remind me of the monsoon evenings at home in India, with the red of the sunset playing hide and seek with the charcoal grey, water-laden clouds! The original, incidentally, is in red and white. Here is the full quilt!
The Just Takes 2 Quilt
Such a sense of achievement finishing an UFO! What have you been doing-creating more UFOs or finishing up the projects in hand?
If you are as entranced by tiny piecing and antique quilts as I am, you have got to have seen the Salinda Rupp quilt! I have been brave enough to attempt to recreate the quilt and am sharing my version here!
The blocks are all done and the quilt is now being quilted. However, after an absence of several months, I decided to update the record of the blocks. So here comes Row 8 in my series of posts on my Nearly Insane Quilt, based on a 19th century quilt by Salinda Rupp... The blocks are all set on point, with 7 and 6 blocks in the alternating rows.
The blocks are 6″ square and except for a few, foundation paper pieced by me. I drafted all the patterns for FPP on the free Quilt Assistant software, based on patterns in Liz Lois’s book, which contains only line drawings of the finished blocks.
Most of the fabric used is Summer Breeze 3 (with a fat quarter bundle of matching solids) by Moda Fabrics, and the Dutch Garden 2 Collection by Boundless Fabric. I also used a couple FQs in blues and greens plus a jelly roll of yellows I had in my stash.
Nearly Insane Block 47
Number of pieces: 36
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)
Block 47 Nearly Insane Quilt (wrongly captioned as 84)
Nearly Insane Block 48
Number of pieces: 29
Level of Difficulty: Another easy one. Doesn’t all the fussy cutting make it pretty?
Technique: Foundation paper pieced with handle of the basket appliqued.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 48
Nearly Insane Block 49
Number of pieces: 108
Difficulty Level: One of the more difficult blocks to piece, especially as the borders have pieced rectangles instead of squares.
Technique: Foundation paper-piecing
Nearly Insane Block 50
Number of pieces: 29
Level of Difficulty: One of the more difficult ones, but was not as complicated as I made it! First I cut the diamonds in the wrong direction and then I joined one of the yellow oblong pieces wrong. And then all those points…
Technique: English paper-pieced. This block would be impossible to piece otherwise.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 50
Nearly Insane Block 51
Number of pieces: 37
Level of Difficulty: Easy, but so pretty!
Technique: Foundation paper pieced the centre strips and English paper pieced the stars.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 51
Nearly Insane Block 52
Number of pieces: 30
Level of Difficulty: Easy! Salinda was also trying to use her leftover scraps, just like me. Makes the block look busy, but…
Technique: Foundation paper pieced
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 52
And here are the links to the previous seven rows!
The pattern for this gorgeous 15″ Chakra (Wheel) circle block set in an 18″ square is foundation paper-pieced and much easier to sew than it looks! And there are so many ways to use it!
The Chakra Block Pattern is now available on my Madspatch Ecwid Store! Check Link below.
The Chakra (Wheel) Block from my Dreamcatcher Quilt has to be my absolute favourite. For one, it is a tribute to my country, India! Secondly, it is designed by me, not based on any other quilt block that I have seen.
Why not celebrate India by making your own Chakra? The pattern is now available on my Madspatch Ecwid store! It is surprisingly easy to piece the paper-foundation paper piecing way, and assembly is also simple enough. The half-circles could be appliqued, fused or even omitted if you don’t feel up to it!
The block, a 15” square set in an 18” circle was designed as the tenth block in the Dreamcatcher Round the Year BOM quilt. However, like the other blocks of my quilt, it works great as a stand-alone small quilt! Here are some great options for you!
You could use just the centre circle as a great-looking round table runner.
The Chakra Block in its original Dreamcatcher by Dusk colours
Make it in the original indigo and white of our flag and bind with a green and saffron double binding to make it look special!
The Indigo and white Ashok Wheel round table runner with a tricolour double binding!
Substitute the colours on the pattern and make a couple for a pair of gorgeous tricolour cushion covers.
A pair of cushions in the saffron, green and white of the Indian tricolour
…Or you could combine with another two blocks from my store, the Lollipop Candy and Dahlia; add a 1.5” border and sashing to make a table runner 21”X 60”!
Or perhaps join four blocks two by two to make a stunning wall-hanging!
The blocks are 6″ square and except for a few, foundation paper pieced by me. I drafted all the patterns for FPP on the free Quilt Assistant software, based on patterns in Liz Lois’s book, which contains only line drawings of the finished blocks.
Most of the fabric used is Summer Breeze 3 (with a fat quarter bundle of matching solids) by Moda Fabrics, and the Dutch Garden 2 Collection by Boundless Fabric. I also used a couple FQs in blues and greens plus a jelly roll of yellows I had in my stash.
Nearly Insane Block 40
Number of pieces: 29
Level of Difficulty: Easy. This is one block where I made some changes from Salinda’s original block, adding those diagonal strips in the corner pieces. Now I wish I hadn’t.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 40
Nearly Insane Block 41
Number of pieces: 31
Level of Difficulty: Moderate. This basket block was another which would have been easier to English paper piece or even machine piece with nesting seams. But it gave me a great opportunity to use up that pretty soft blue, lage floral for the background. All in all, a very pretty block!
Technique: Foundation paper pieced with handle of the basket appliqued.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 41
Nearly Insane Block 42
Number of pieces: 120
Level of Difficulty: Difficult…hmm…moderate? 120 pieces in a 6″ x 6″ block and so many points! I love this particular block and have made it into an 18″x 18″ cushion cover too!
Technique: Foundation Paper Piecing
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 42
Nearly Insane Block 43
Number of pieces: 88 pieces
Level of Difficulty: Difficult, as a lone star block is. So many y-seams and then the 8 seams meeting at a point in the centre…I tried (unsuccessfully) fussy cutting the strips for the diamond pieces, succeeding only in the centre.
(Arguably) the prettiest block in the quilt!
Technique: Strip pieced the eight bigger diamonds and then machine pieced them together. Also machine pieced the 4 corners and the triangles to the star.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 43
Nearly Insane Block 44
Number of pieces: 84
Level of Difficulty: Truly insane block! With four 8-point stars and 32 y-seams! And to add to my woes, I kept losing the pieces, despite doing my best to keep track of them.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced the centre strips and English paper pieced the stars.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 44
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 45
Number of pieces:44
Level of Difficulty: Moderate, because of the huge(!) 1″ pieces.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP) and machine pieced.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 45
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 46
Number of pieces:37
Level of Difficulty: Easy–another log cabin block, this time with a star in the centre! (Compare with Block 11 and Block 76)
Technique: Regular machine piecing
Would you say this was the prettiest row so far? In case you have not seen my earlier updates, click the links for each row below:
The blocks are 6″ square and except for a few, foundation paper pieced by me. I drafted all the patterns for FPP on the free Quilt Assistant software, based on patterns in Liz Lois’s book, which contains only line drawings of the finished blocks.
Most of the fabric used is Summer Breeze 3 (with a fat quarter bundle of matching solids) by Moda Fabrics, and the Dutch Garden 2 Collection by Boundless Fabric. I also used a couple FQs in blues and greens plus a jelly roll of yellows I had in my stash.
Nearly Insane Block 34
Number of pieces: 33
Level of Difficulty: Easy star block. Salinda has a number of these; however, she added interest by sewing up different centres for each. On my part, I did some fussy cutting to prettify them. (The temptation to substitute these blocks with more interesting and complicated ones was great but I did manage to resist it).
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP).
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 34
Nearly Insane Block 35
Number of pieces: 64
Level of Difficulty: Moderate. I do not like to foundation paper piece hour-glass QST blocks ( nor pinwheels, for that matter!) They are much easier to machine piece with nesting seams.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced.
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 35
Nearly Insane Block 36
Number of pieces: 79
Level of Difficulty: Hmmm…moderate? 79 pieces in a 6″ x 6″ block! The four-patches are also easier machine-pieced than foundation pieced. Lots of triangles and lots of points to match.
Technique: Foundation Paper Piecing
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 36
Nearly Insane Block 37
Number of pieces: 97
Level of Difficulty: Moderate. Though it has 97 pieces, not too many points to match; it is quite a pretty block too.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 37
Nearly Insane Block 38
Number of pieces: 45
Level of Difficulty: Easy, easy! The fussy cutting and high contrast make it quite a delight to look at!
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 38
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 39
Number of pieces: 29
Level of Difficulty: Easy and whimsical! Another one where I used up my larger prints.
Technique: Foundation paper pieced (FPP)
Nearly Insane Quilt Block 39
I think I may be able to get back to quilting pretty soon. My sciatica seems to have improved dramatically with the Kerala Ayurveda Oil Treatment I am taking! In the meanwhile, in case you have missed my earlier updates, click the links for each row below:
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