Karen’s Quilt
I belong to MacNexus - Sacramento’s Mac User Group. Karen and I are part of the women’s group in MacNexus and it was probably at a Zoom meeting where she had talked about a quilt her mother had begun, but never finished. The quilt was being made from fabrics used for Karen’s clothing when she was little.
Karen was sharing her wish that she could find someone to finish the quilt. I messaged her and offered to do it - she accepted my offer.
On Monday, June 15, 2020, we met at an IN N Out and she gave me 2 boxes - a shoe box full of fabric scraps and a flat box loaded with neatly stacked 3” squares and 2 sections of the quilt that were sewn together. Karen warned me it was a
“Nightmare.”
When I saw it I laughed . . .
“This is an Around the World quilt - it is the first quilt I made. It is easy!”
The center was still a mystery to me. Knowing that this partially complete corner would have to be mirrored to become the opposite corner, I decided to start assembling that opposite corner. I thought that, as squares get used up, what is left over might give me ideas as to what the middle should be.
There was this drawing that I hoped would help me.
I then sewed a few more rows from other stacks that were in the order to be sewn.
I was really baffled as to what these dark squares and triangles were supposed to be used for. Were the 3 dark squares in the drawing a hint?
I began making the lower left corner.
The more progress I made, the more I thought about it and I decided that the triangles were to be the ends of each row so the outer edge of the quilt would be straight. That would nicely finish off the top right and lower left corners also. I began to add the dark triangles to the edges.
I needed to cut dark squares into triangles but, having done a rough count of how many I needed, I was getting really worried about having enough dark fabric - I definitely would not cut up the last 3 squares because they might be needed for the center rows. Luckily, I found extra dark squares, and dark fabric in the shoe box - my worries about that we’re over.
Progress was being made!
The only thing left for me to sew is to add triangles to the ends of the 6 center rows and attach the rows to the quilt. (Well, now it is 5 rows - I attached 1 this morning, 6/23/20.) Then I must make sure the 4 corners are ok - at this point I haven’t figured out exactly what I have to do - I will tackle it when I get there.
I warned Karen about the possibility of cat hair getting on the fabrics. On the morning of June 21st - here is, not My Cat in the Hat but my Cat in the Box!
Okay, it is getting close to the END! I was right - as I used up the squares, I think I figured out just what Karen’s mother had planned. That box is pretty empty at this point - these are not needed.
Well . . . would you look at that. Only ONE more row to sew on and then deal with the 4 corners. Exciting!
Alas, I must walk the dogs before it gets too warm.
6/25/2020
As I sewed that last row on this morning I discovered a 2nd square that had been pieced AND I found another center square. Remember earlier, when I wrote, “as squares get used up, what is left over might give me ideas as to what the middle should be.” Now it is obvious to me that the original idea was a quilt with ALL SEVEN dwarfs down the center. That would have been great but, the pieced squares reveal to me that she needed to “piece” 2 more but she didn’t even have enough scraps to do that.
6/26/20
The pieced top was finished around 5 pm yesterday. Roughy it measures 59” x 75” (4.91’ x 6.25’) and completely covers a queen mattress. Evaluating the fabrics given to me, only 1 has enough yardage to use as a border. A border will stabilize what the triangles cause - biased ( stretchable) edges. Might use the gingham check or maybe a new fabric will be purchased. Karen needs time to think about what she wants.