16-Patch Picnic Quilt

Posted by on May 19, 2013 in show and tell | 1 comment

Sophies-quilt-in-a-basketI don’t know why I started thinking of this quilt as a “picnic” quilt–the landscape here rarely includes any sort of green lawn on which to spread out a quilt and enjoy a meal … but if I ever find myself living in such a place again, I’ll be ready.   Coincidentally, this is my back “yard” and the view from the studio space in my house.

Like the scrappy 16-patch blocks we made for the Block Lotto in 2008, my blocks weren’t completely without rules.  Our lotto blocks were scrappy with 3 black squares.  My checker-board style 16-patch blocks were scrappy with ONE tan square in each.  Here are the lotto blocks I made way back when and a detail photo showing one block from the picnic quilt.

Why tan?  The plan was that these blocks would be used as a border for the scrappy flying geese quilt.  I remembered too late that that my original idea was NOT to include the cream … but to create more color-saturated 16-patch blocks, similar to the lotto blocks, using tan instead of black to tie them together.

16-Patch_LottoBlocks_2008 DSCN1097  

My bad memory created an opportunity for a new quilt and an easy scrap/stash-reduction project.  My blocks are also larger than the 2008 lotto blocks–made from 3 1/2-inch squares for 12 inch blocks. 25 blocks plus a border of 3-inch half-square triangles make a 66 inches square quilt.

Sophies-16-patch-picnic-quilt

DSCN1092  The quilting design was pretty simple–non of it marked:

  • Diagonal lines through the non-cream squares using a walking foot.
  • A loopy flower shape with a spiral center, 5-to-7 petals and echo quilting to fill the 200 cream squares
  • A pointy leaf shape with echo quilting to fill cream triangles in the border.

Even though it would be pretty silly to spread a quilt out around here … I was going to take some artistic license and do it anyway … but it was just too windy.  But, with this quilt finished, I’m ready for a picnic … one of these days.

DSCN1096

1 Comment

  1. Have lived most of my life in semi-arid areas and our quilt is to cover the picnic table at what ever place we are at, whether it’s roadside rest or park. You’re all set for those times.

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