Bow tie blocks explained...

This is a traditional 9 block with alternating colors as you may see in an Irish chain quilt or Rag quilt with two alternating colors. A very simple block, although you can make some beautiful stuff using this block. To me, simple is good.

But in order to spice my latest quilt up a bit, I used a bow tie block (OK, so they call it the Double Necktie Block). In order to make this 9 block into a "bowtie block", you just add small triangles to the corners of adjacent blocks, as shown in this picture. It is really a simple procedure, but it is a time consuming extra step. But worth it, I think, for something a bit different.

It makes the resulting block look like two bow ties stacked on top of each other. I got this block from my favorite site for finding quilt patterns, the Quilter's Cache. Every time you load a page on that site it plays a new song, so just to warn you to turn down your volume if you are checking this out at work!! :)

OK, well, hope that you are fully inspired to try this block for yourself. And have fun experimenting!!

Sewing for the holidays...

It is that time of year again, and you craft-ies know what I mean. The holidays. Compound the normal holiday season with 5 November birthdays and you have a real gift giving problem! And every year I get inspired to give at least one or two folks a quilt of some kind for thier gift. So this year I have a few coming down the pike, so I have not been able to post much, since that would ruin the surprise (Also, the election and my guest posting on http://www.letters-and-surveys.blogspot.com/ has taken up all my blogging time!! Thank goodness that is over!)

So, one of my gifts this year was for my sister's birthday, and since that is over, and the gift has been given, I can now safely post.

This one was so fun. I started out by getting the fleece backing. It is super soft and cozy. I waited and waited for my Jo-Ann's coupon to arrive so I could get 50% off the cut. Once I had the back I was puzzled as to what to do next.

I searched around for a cool pattern, and at the same time kept my eyes out for fabric that would match. I wanted to keep it monochromatic, since when my sister and I went to a quilt show she seemed to really like the monochromatic quilts.

So I got on ebay and searched for navy blue fabric...and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but someone who had perhaps made their own monochromatic navy blue and white quilt and was trying to sell the leftover remnants. So i bought about 6 different fabrics that all matched perfectly right from the comfort of my couch. I love technology!

Then I wanted to find a different type of pattern. So I decided to try the bowtie. You can see it here in my first attempt at laying out the quilt top.

My first pattern attempt was not exactly right, though, since I did not have enough of the blue fabrics to make it big enough, so I went ahead and changed it around.

By changeing the pattern around a bit and alternating the blocks with white strips and blocks it made for an interesting top and allowed me to have enough fabric to finish! Always important. :)

Somehow the lines and blocks really seemed nice put together this way. And the bowtie block added a level of detail that I really liked.

I did not quilt this one to finish. I used embroidery thread to connect the backing to the top. I have never tried quilting a quilt with a fleece back in the traditional sense. I just use the knots to tie the two parts together.

So happy birthday sis! Hope you like it.

So now on to Christmas and my next round of projects. This is a fun time of the year!!!