How would you piece this love ring?

Your quilt is delightful and charming. It makes me smile. Thank you for sharing it with us. I usually think that 'more' is better, but this time I believe I would leave the corners just blue. Now we will wait for suggestions from the nice and very clever ladies which may include, Anthony, Steven and John. Polly

"Kirsten Bjorneboe" Hi - I am a returning visitor - have been lurking for some time.

Kirsten, that is so pretty! I'm sure your DGD will love it. If it were up to me to do it, I'd do all of the Drunkard's Path blocks, including the blue/yellow ones on the outside of the "diamond". Then I'd add strips of the blue to fill in where you need those corners. There'd be one long strip across the top, for example, followed by one shorter one on either side of the diamond shape, followed by another yet shorter one, etc. Repeat for the bottom. I'm sure there are other options, but that's the one that occurred first to me.

What a pretty quilt that's going to be! I love that layout for Drunkard's Path. As for finishing the corners I think I would go with your #3 option. To me it would be much easier than trying to applique the whole center and it will leave a nice large blank area for some nice quilting designs.

Hello Kirsten,

IMHO, it depends on some missing information. What size are the blocks, and What did you have in mind for quilting? What kind of effect are you trying for in the finished quilt?

For example, if the blocks are small (10 cm or so), and you planned to stitch-in-the-ditch the entire quilt, then I would piece all the blocks in the corners the same size as the colored blocks. Actually, piecing all the blocks the same size would be my first/preferred choice regardless of how you quilted it.

I might applique the colored center on a single-piece background if the center material is different from the background (e.g. if the background is cotton but the colored blocks are satin, velour, etc. or if you were trying to acheive some particular effect with the quilting patterns.

I understand what you mean in your third option, but I don't think I would go that way (personal choice - there's nothing wrong with it); I don't know if there would or would not be any stability issues. YMMV.

Hullo Kirsten

It's a lovely pattern.

You're going to hate me for what I suggest!!

I honestly think that the corners should be made from individual squares, the same size as the coloured squares. It would only take a little bit longer than making the corners from a solid piece, and normally I would say a single piece of fabric corner would be just fine; except for the fact that the centre is so clearly defined as joined squares of one size.

You *could* use single pieces of fabric and then - before doing any other quilting - quilt a square grid on the corners, with a closely matched colour. Then quilt the whole thing as you would have done, ignoring that you will go over the base quilting lines. But I think this would be more trouble than joining squares in the first place! . In message , Kirsten Bjorneboe writes

The blocks are all 3" square (approx 7,5 cm), so quite small.

The only thing I have thought about the quilting as far is stich-in-the ditch around each color to emphasize the pretty curves, which I press towards the convex part (??? the seam allowance is pressed towards the quarter-circle)

Ohhh - I am not so scientific :-) I just love the pattern (and my DGD). At first I had planned to make the background plain solid black, but have changed my opinion - black is only pretty if it is very clean with not cat-hair or anything else. And black is difficult to sew. So I found a nice very dark blue with some print.

I also have an idea of appliqueing some pretty butterflies in the corners. I am fairly good in appliqueing, and I love it. I have ordered the book Butterfly Dance some times ago - have not received it yet.

It is also my first idea, but I thought it maybe would look silly to make a lot of identical squares in the same color. I have lots of time

- the quilt is meant as a confirmation-present in the spring 2010.

The quality of the fabric is the same all over (almost) - 100 % cotton from patchwork shops. I have no idea of how ro quilt the corners as far - I am not good in freehand quilting on machine, but can make acceptable quilting by hand. The stich-in-the-ditch I usually do on my sewingmachine with invisible thread.

Thanks a lot of you answer!

Kirsten in Denmark

Kirsten: Your project will be lovely no matter how you proceed. That said, I have to say I agree with Pat on the Hill and with Dr. Smith. I would prefer the blue corners to be constructed of the squares, sized same as the pieced squares. You were concerned that it would be odd that way. No. It would add an interesting dimension and some needed texture to the corner areas. I think you mentioned a simple SITD quilting to emphasize the colored squares and pie shapes. If you choose to cut and sew those squares, you might want to continue the same quitting pattern in the blue squares. You would have a plain blue square with a semi circle quilted in the corner, shadowing the pieced colored squares. Hope this helps. PAT in Virginia

I think piecing the corner blocks would look best too. With a small print the blocks will not be seen from a distance but will add some interest when viewing up close. The butterfly applique souonds like a lovely touch!

Allison

Kirsten,

Given the additional information, since the squares are so small, SITD the entire quilt (with or without the butterflies) is sufficient *and* attractive considering all else. Pat/Virginia has an interesting idea for quilting the large blue corner areas, OTOH, just quilting them as squares would offset/contrast the drunkard's path quilting. Either way you wind up with a really nice pillowy effect that might appeal to a 14 yr. old young lady more than a complicated but flat quilting effect in the corners (but then I've never been a 14 yr. old young lady... :-) I think she'll be delighted no matter what you do.

I agree. Adding the triangles to make a straight edge, then adding larger triangles to the corners. Would also allow you to do the applique on the smaller pieces (triangles) before adding them to the center part. Applique with a lot of seams under it just may have some "situations" I wouldn't like to face.

Have fun, Pati, > I love the idea of applique butterflies in the corners. IMO you should

Hi Roberta (do you still live in Denmark?) and Patti - and all

You give me very heavy reasons to make the setin-triangles and big triangle. I too have thought about how ro manage the applications. But there is of course the solution to applice the butterflies on on, two or four pieced squares BEFORE they are pieced to the quilt.

I was happy, when some of you here stated, that piecing all the 3" squares was the best thing to do. But I must admit, that all three solutions are still open 1) applique the centerpart on the dark fabric, 2) piece all the dark squares for the corners, or 3) make inset triangles for the center and piece a whole triangle for each corner. :-))) There is pro et cons for all solutions.

Have a nice sunday everybody!

Kirsten in Denmark