Thursday, October 03, 2013

31 Days - Day 3 - Lost Ship and Sailboats

Sometimes, it's better not to tell the parents the name of the blocks you've used for their baby's quilt. This may be one of those times.

The quilt was made sometime in 1989 - 1990 for my boss' "surprise" son. They already had two boys, both already in school. They hadn't planned on another, but God had a different idea. Along came Kevin.

Kevin's quilt - Lost Sailboats
Quilt size: Crib (45 x 60).
Pattern: My own, Lost Ship and Sailboat blocks.
Fabric: Cotton blends, I think.
Binding: Home made bias binding to match the border.
Quilting: Hand quilted echoed "V" in blocks, clamshell in border.
Batting: Puffy polyester

Because of the fairly small three by five set, as well as my choice of fabrics, you don't get the full effect of the lost ships blocks. This is a fairly good representation of what the blocks can look like with a larger set and more fabric variety in the individual blocks.

What is notable about the piecing on this quilt are the triangles: all of them have their heads. If you look at the detail picture on the right, at the bottom left corner of the bright blue block, you should be able to make out what we call a "half square triangle" - a square cut on the diagonal, with one half white and the other blue.

When piecing those units together, whether to another block or in this case to a big HST (the center of the block is also a HST, just a much bigger one), you have to be careful to get the seam width correct, or you can easily "decapitate" the triangle, essentially un-point the pointy end (the two 45 degree points, for you math geeks) Your three sided figure suddenly has four sides (or more, if you mess up the other point as well).

All in all, this was a fun, boy-ish quilt to make.

1 comment:

melissa said...

You are amazing. Just sayin'. :)