So, to inspire you while you're poking around the nooks and crannies ... browsing and shopping ... a wholecloth quilt using the BEE BALM BLOCKS ... just 4 blocks, an easy layout to follow ... balanced smooth stitching all the way across the quilt top ...
... need a closer look at those blocks ...
... thanks for shopping with Mountaintop Quilting.
A vintage cross-stitched quilt - top was done by mom and grandma years ago and is brought out to be finished for the daughter's wedding. What a family treasure!
The quilt fits a queen sized bed and I used bottom line thread to minimize the look of the stitches as I worked across the cross-stitching. I also basted the whole quilt before I started quilting to help stabilize the sandwich as this was much the same as working with a wholecloth quilt.
Inner border detail ... these little scallops were part of the printed design on the quilt top. I measured on for height and width and then used the repeat pattern function to space them evenly across the quilt.
And the tricky part ... how to get around the corner with those scallops ??? I like the way the pointy arrow leads the eye to the corners of the inner square.
The scallops help soften all the linear quilting.
... and more detail photos ...
It wasn't in the plan. It wasn't on the map. Scheduled for release next week but I just couldn't wait. I got so excited about the possibilities of this collection. I couldn't stop rearranging pieces and parts to make up a new wholecloth design.
What makes this such a great collection is the addition of unusual shapes. We don't usually work with trapezoids. Diamonds come into our design play on occasion but not very often. But what fun doors to design play open up to the brave, to the bold, to the "outside the box inside the lines" thinkers.
The different blocks and shapes are well-balanced in the use of positive and negative space allowing them to mix and match with ease across the quilt top.
The use of the two different triangles in the outer border and "mitering" the corners by rotating the triangles to the 45 creates a visually appealing outer edge to the inner pattern which is created with a center 9-patch layout surrounded by a row of single block pattern.
Several pieces of this collection have been in the catalog for sometime, but now they are all gathered together in one versatile collection and being offered at an unbelievably low discounted introductory price through the 22nd of March. Take some time to think about how this might fill some of the gaps in your pattern library (especially when those blazing star quilt tops sneak in through your studio door) and be sure to take advantage of this amazing offer before the collection reverts to the regular price (which is still a steal when compared to buying each pattern individually.)
I first heard about this fabric from my friend Dani. She quilted a Sun Compass quilt using a creamy yellow metalic color of the same fabric. I had to beat feet down to Fabric Depot to find some for me. I found both the creamy yellow and this yummy red that is perfect for a holiday wholecloth. I even found the perfect backing fabric on the 50% off rack.
