I received a question from Carol and have tried everything I know to get back in touch with her, but emails bounce and Google searches are just not helping, so I’m posting both her question and my reply here in the hopes that she’ll see it. If you have any ideas on her quilt dilemma please chime in!
I just finished your quilt as you go re- imagined, LOVED IT!!! This top is one of three similar quilts I’ve been working on. Obviously, I’m nearly done with this one, have you got a suggestion for converting the other two? This top is a variation of one called Any Which Way developed by Vicki Thomas in To Stitch A Child’s Quilt. She used a single set of arrows, I’ve used a bi- directional set of arrows. It was a challenge adjusting the amount of fabric I needed. I feel like I should finish these before I moved on to the next so the boys can get some use out of them. My next project is a king size square patch that I think lends itself nicely to your method. My husband has no imagination, he wants just red, blue and neon green squares joined with black joining strips, all solid colors. As I understand your method, you quilt the blocks and then use the joining strips to butt the quilted blocks together, using the strips to make the edges pretty. I would welcome your advice on the quilts for the boys. They range in age from 9 to 7, and the oldest is trying to be more mature than other boys his age. I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance for your advice and wisdom. Carol Crites.
Here’s my reply: Hi Carol,
Thanks for your note and your quilt pic. I’ve been thinking about it and the best that I can think of is to unstitch it into 3 or 4 rows and add white fabric to the long sides of those rows, so that you won’t lose your arrow points when you join the quilted rows. Layer and quilt the rows with the added fabric and then trim them to about 1″ wider than the points. Join with white fabric. Your arrows won’t touch like they do in the top, but it will be much easier to quilt. The quilt process would be a lot like the Aloha Strips in the book, which is a row quilt. You should only have to add about 2-3 inches of fabric onto each row edge to allow for the quilting and joining. I’d love to see your other quilt projects to see what the blocks look like.
Let me know what you think, okay?
Marguerita