North Wind goes to Bloggers' Quilt Festival

 

I have always loved piecing triangles and began making these North wind blocks in the winter of 1997. Once I had plenty of blocks, I thought all that wind needed something to do, so I added sailing boats  ... and a mariner's compass, so they wouldn't get lost.

Once the center was together, the project stalled for want of a border and ended up as a UFO in a box with other unfinished projects.

A  1999 issue of  "Quiltmaker" magazine printed designs using the block and requested pictures using the block be sent in. I sent the picture of the unfinished top which was printed in the May/June issue and along with the printed issue came a suggestion to use a cloud print for the border.

Then in the summer of 2001, on a trip to the States, I bought some cloud and water print but I still couldn't decide how to use it as the print ran the short way across the fabric.

Finally, I declared 2003 to be "the year of the unfinished project" and vowed not to start any new project until all my UFOs were done. This was the last project of the year and finished in April 2004. I pieced the water and clouds and placed gulls across the seams. The outer border used up triangles I had originally thought of using for the border in a different way.

I quilted a Japanese cloud design in the boat blocks.

Some gulls were white and some were gray and some were quilted along with more clouds.
I usually make scrappy quilts but this time I limited the colors to red, white, and blue, putting red and blue prints between the red and white and blue and white blocks.

Although this quilt took a long time to reach the finish point, I am happy with the final result and learned that sometimes a bit of waiting for the right idea to come along may work better than rushing ahead.

North Wind celebrates hand quilting

North Wind was begun the winter of 1994 for no other reason than that I liked that block made of triangles and wanted to see it in a quilt. I limited the colors to red, white, and blue and just pieced blocks in assorted arrangements of those colors. After laying out the blocks in various configurations, I decided I liked them best all pointing one way. Then with all that wind blowing around I thought it needed something to do so I added some sail boats and a mariner's compass to keep them from getting lost.

Once the center of the quilt was pieced, it stalled for want of a border and ended up in the UFO box with other unfinished projects.

Then in 1999. An article in "Quiltmaker" magazine, featured the block and requested pictures. I sent a picture of the unfinished top and it was printed in the May/June issue. Along with a copy of that issue came a suggestion of using a cloud print. I had never seen any in Japan so the top waited back in the UFO pile.

The summer of 2001, on a trip to the States, I visited Keepsake Quilters and bought some water and cloud printed fabric but I still couldn't decide how to use it.

Finally in 1993 I declared it to be the year of the UFO. I was determined not to begin any new projects for a year and just complete the UFOs. This was the last project of the year. The print ran across the fabric and had to be pieced. I added the gulls to cover those seams. Then I used some triangles I had originally thought of using in an outer border. finished size is 72" x 90.5"

I have only made one quilt using a machine and that is because it was a mystery quilt and the instructions were by machine. That quilt, however, was hand quilted.

I guess every quilt in my diary could be used to celebrate hand quilting.

I was very happy to see Caron Mosey of Michigan Quilts suggest a link to other hand quilters. http://blog.caronmosey.com/p/hand-quilting.html I have been trying to connect to that group and hope you will take a look at all the wonderful hand work there. Unfortunately, I am better at figuring out quilting problems than computer ones ... and that doesn't say much if you notice how long this one quilt took me to complete!