wall quilt – Page 3 – Quest Quilts

When we moved into our new house, I noticed at once that the nice, big living area lent itself to a nice, big echo. And I thought to myself that, alas, I would simply HAVE to make a wall quilt for our new home. Such a burden…right?

I did realize that if I was hanging it up in the main area that it would need to be something that I wouldn’t mind seeing everyday and that I was particularly proud of. Well, that can only be one pattern of course – the mariner’s compass!

Like many of my quilts I make, I tried to make this one out of fabric I already had on hand. Luckily for me, I had bought some blue and gold themed fabric at the same quilt store where I’d gone to look at mid-arm quilting machines. I don’t often buy fabric without a project already in mind, but this was too pretty to pass up. And it was the last of the bundles as far as I could see. The only fabric I bought after that was the fabric for the borders.

I like to use the Mariner’s Compass Stars guide by Carol Doak. Paper piecing can be difficult when you start out, but I’d already made a king-size quilt for my husband using this same pattern. So I’d had practice aplenty.

I’ll admit that this pattern, a paper-pieced mariner’s compass, is just about the one pattern I refuse to do on commission. If you aren’t familiar with it, then let me explain. For paper piecing you actually sew the fabric onto paper, and then you tear the paper off after each wedge is done. To make one block you need to make eight wedges! So yes, it’s very time-consuming. But boy the results are stunning!

By the way, the Quest Quilts image I use on a lot of things is another Doak star.

I am eye-balling a possible ready-made quilt at some point using one of these star patterns, but I haven’t fully decided yet. Stay tuned folks!

Related blogs and posts:

Mariner’s Compass Quilt

A Round Mariner’s Compass Baby Quilt

Paper Piecing

After I completed the pipe organ quilt, I was approached about making a quilt for the handbell choir director. I looked around for a while and then figured out a really fun idea after seeing this clip-art image.

I realized I could use batik fabric and make the stained glass look more realistic. I would use my beloved crepe back satin to make the bell. The question was how. There were too many colors to try a reverse applique, and I didn’t think piecing them together like I do in paper-piecing would look like the slightly imperfect leading of stained glass. In the end, I realized that I couldn’t do much else than piece it together like a puzzle and applique it onto the white fabric. Since it would be a wall quilt, I knew it wouldn’t take a beating like some of the other quilts I make.

So first, I picked out the fabric. It’s one of the few times I have bought fat quarters. I also had some blue batik on hand at home from a previous graduation quilt.

I used a projector to trace the clip-art onto paper at the proper size, and then I traced the image onto the fusible interfacing. This explains why the image is reversed from the original clip-art.

In order to keep the piecing straight, I had to number them and take pictures for reference. Then I cut the pieces out and ironed them onto the different colors, mostly at random. There were so many pieces that I had to put my husband to work helping me. He was thrilled….

Then I reassembled the pieces and ironed them down.

From here, I began the tedious task of using the close-set zigzag stitch between all the piecing to recreate a “leading” look like there is in stained glass windows. Then I used some leftover black binding from a previous project and made the window outline.

At this point I was ready to quilt. I used a black backing and black thread on my bobbin with a white top thread. I did a normal stipple in the white area. I thought long and hard about how to handle the window part. I didn’t want anything taking away from the stained glass look or the bell. In the end, I played it safe and did a simple straight stitch over the black leading between the batik fabrics. Then I used a dull gold/yellow thread I had to give the bell curves and add depth to it.

The last thing I did was add a sleeve.

So there you have it – from clip-art to quilt!

Tag: wall quilt

Mariner’s Compass Wall Quilt

Handbell Choir Director Wall Quilt

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