Casey's Quilt

IN early 2015, I was approached by a friend who was interested in commissioning me to make a quilt for his bed. Casey's quilt came from the Long Island Modern Sampler, which was in the QuiltCon quilt show in Austin, TX and was one of my favorites from the entire show. It was made by Kim of Leland Avenue Studios.

After a lot of discussion, we decided on this as a basis for the quilt I would make him. Kim's original was a sampler based on a trip through some of the quilting blogs online, so it was a wonderful inspiration to have chosen, as many resources were online already. I sourced the remaining two-thirds or so of blocks through some other patterns, blogs, and quilt block books. My version had to be expanded considerably from our inspiration, as it needed to fit on a queen size bed, which meant pulling even more block ideas into the process.

From the grid below, a few of my favorites are the modern chevron (#28) and the pineapple block (#26) as well as the improv nine patch (#39) and the very tiny log cabin (#36). There's also something wonderful about the bachelor's puzzle and the arrowhead puzzle (#s 20 and 40). I made an entire baby quilt based on the Modern Sliced Scrappy block (#25) for my sister-in-law, that block was so satisfying.

I've listed those resources here, along with the names of the blocks.

Quilt squares by name:

1.     Four-Patch Streak of Lightning*

2.     Triangle (variation); source: 1,2,3 Quilt by Ellen Luckett Baker

3.     Small flying geese

4.     Improv feather; source: Feather Bed quilt pattern, Ana Maria Horner

5.     Churndash

6.     Churndash

7.     Sawtooth Star; source: In Color Order; Block of the Month series 2012 (blog)

8.     Yankee Puzzle*

9.     Northern Lights*

10.   Figgy Pudding; source: Vanessa Goertzen for Moda Bake Shop - Figgy Pudding

11.  Rainbow Starflower; source: Ellison Lane Quilts (blog)

12.  Half-square triangles

13.  Flying geese

14.  A Flock of Half-Square Triangle; source: 13 Spools (blog)

15.  Double Z

16.  Mrs. Taft’s Choice*

17.  Friendship*

18.  Old Maid’s Puzzle*

19.  Cross Roads; source: Swim, Bike, Quilt (blog)

20.  Bachelor’s Puzzle

21.  Bow Tie; source: Canoe Ridge Creations (blog)

22.  Ohio Star

23.  Wheel of Fortune*

24.  Arrow; source: Grace and Favour (blog)

25.  Modern Sliced Scrappy Block; source: Don’t Call Me Betsy (blog)

26.  Pineapple

27.  Wonky Star; source: The Silly BooDilly (blog)

28.  Modern Chevron; source: Sew Mama Sew, Modern Block of the Month with Alissa Haight Carlton

29.  Flock of flying geese

30.  Stacked; source: SometimesCrafter (blog)

31.  Cross; source: That Girl, That Quilt (blog - appears to be taken offline)

32.  Capital T* variation/modified by artist

33.  Trailing Star* variation

34.  Pinwheel

35.  Autumn Tints*

36.  Log Cabin

37.  July Fourth*

38.  Radiant Ring; source: Don’t Call Me Betsy (blog)

39.  Improv 9-Patch

40.  Arrowhead Puzzle

41.  Eccentric Star

*Traditional quilt block patterns, specific names may vary. These block names come from the book 1000 Great Quilt Blocks by Maggi McCormick Gordon

This sampler, just like the (much simpler) one I'd done in 2012, was a wonderful ride through some quilt skill-building. I continued to challenge myself and try new color combinations, block techniques, and arrangements. The non-standard alignment of all the blocks presented a challenge too, as well as the general size of a queen-size bed quilt; as anyone who's ever made a quilt can attest, the larger it gets, the harder it is to maneuver at every step. For that reason, I also used this quilt as a valid reason to finally take a long-arm certification course and tackle the thing on the long-arm. It's about 90"x90" when we stopped adding width and height.

The gold and blue square, detailed here, was by far the most work of any of the blocks (I've been asked this a lot, so there you go).

SO MANY SEAMS on the Wheel of Fortune block!

On the official exchange day, the quilt I spent April to September making is finally in the hands of the owner and commissioner, my friend Casey! He has a wonderfully eclectic and diverse collection of existing art throughout his Atlanta apartment already, and I knew this would be a lovely addition to that collection. I am so thankful for Casey and his appreciation and value of my art and my time, as his support allowed me to take on this huge, mental and creative challenge.