Today is the final day of the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop, hosted by Bea of Beaquilter.com.
Wow! How many quilt books do you have? I quit counting!! Right now I’m looking at two different book cases full, and that doesn’t count the ones that are in boxes in the basement and garage! Oh my! My DH used to work for Southern Progress Company, and once a year, employees received a 70-80% discount on all books by Oxmoor House and Leisure Arts – you know those great annual Southern Living cookbooks and quilt and craft books of all kinds! I loved it. But of course there were always more books than time! So when Bea announced this blog hop, I started digging. And wouldn’t you know, I didn’t find anything I wanted to make in any of those books, but I found one that intrigued me! I love Amish quilts in the beautiful jewel tones and blacks, so I decided on this book from 1996.
As I looked through the book I found a cute little quilt I really liked using the Old Maid’s Puzzle block, so that is what I chose. I couldn’t find a pattern in the book, so EQ8 to the rescue!! I found Old Maid’s Puzzle in the block library and started playing with it. The quilt in the book (on the left) was made by Janet Shore. On the right is my EQ8 version.
I love the way the blocks are positioned to form two secondary blocks in the center of this little quilt. I decided on 9-inch finished blocks with 1- and 2-inch borders.
I have an AccuQuilt GO! Big and a 9-inch Qube, so I used dies 2, 3 and 5 to cut all the pieces – in no time at all! This machine is a real lifesaver, not to mention time saver!!
I love this Amish black fabric from Keepsake Quilting (no affiliation). It is the richest, deepest black I’ve ever seen. And making this quilt using this fabric has made me realize I must have presbyopia!! (In nonmedical jargon, that means “old eyes!”) I had such a hard time seeing my stitching! Maybe it’s just bad lighting – yes, that must be it – bad lighting! HA!
I like to call this Old Maid’s Puzzle block the fish and butterfly block! Doesn’t it look like two fish kissing with butterflies dancing around??!
Here is the anatomy of this block, printed from EQ8.
The trickiest part of this block was combining the two extra black triangles on each side of the black/color HST to form what I call the “fish tail.” It’s not difficult, I just had to remember the “trick” is to stitch a short leg of the black triangle to the side of the color half of the HST – one on each side. I pressed one side prior to stitching the second triangle on. Once you get the first one, the rest are a breeze!
I made six blocks and then laid them out in a design pleasing to me. Plus, I really like those secondary block patterns in the center! And here is my flimsy. It is not yet quilted because there are four customer quilts in the cue before I can get to it!
Thanks, Bea, for allowing me to post this project on Friday instead of Wednesday. The extra time made the difference in a block and a flimsy and gave me a little extra time to feel stronger!! Please visit the rest of the bloggers today and show some quilty love for their projects! Here is the schedule:
Friday Feb 22nd
Bea at Beaquilter
Barbara at Bejweledquilts
Laura at slice of pi quilts
Sherry Powered By Quilting
Pat at Life in the Scrapatch
Carol at Just let me quilt
Kathy at Kathy’s Kwilts and More
Marian at seams to be sew
Brenda at songbirddesigns (you are here!)
And, if you missed any previous days, you can see the entire schedule on Bea’s website here.
Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you enjoyed seeing my project. Until next time…
Ooh, Accuquilt + EQ8 is like having SUPERPOWERS, isn’t it?! I only wish I’d gone for the regular size GO! cutter instead of the Baby version because now I find that all the dies I want are not compatible with the GO! Baby. :-(. That’s what I get for a moment of frugality!! Your Amish quilt came out beautifully. Great job!
Hi Brenda, that`s a great quilt. The block does look like two fish kissing and butterflies 🙂
What a wonderful project. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference on the EQ project and the book’s picture. The only time I like solids is when I see them in Amish quilts, and I’d have to go buy a solid fabric as the only color I have in solid is white.. don’t even have black as a solid color. 🙂 I love “blenders” just because you get that little bit of texture in the fabric that you don’t get with solids. This is a beautiful project tho Brenda, thank you for sharing it today. My apologies for being so slow, it takes time to get thru all these blogs each day and I only have time for so many a day.
I love bright colours on a black background! Your quilt top is beautiful 🙂
Very pretty! I love Amish quilts, but I think the black fabric would put my eyes out. LOL
Love the quilt and the colors. Glad you are feeling better
What a beautiful choice. I like that you found a quilt that you liked and for which there no pattern and you were undeterred. I do not have EQ and love that you showed one of the many options available the very versatile uses of the product. I love the pattern and your quilt is awesome project. I admire your courage and strength to get this done and thank you for sharing this with us.
Nicely done, and great colors! I have that book, and it’s always been a favorite of mine.
Glad you’re feeling better! Gorgeous colors! Enjoy your weekend! 🙂 🙂 angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom
SEW glad that you are feeling better! The extra rest must have done wonders. Your quilt top is gorgeous! My bee mates would agree with your assessment of the Amish Black fabric from Keepsake Quilting. Wonder what will happen to it now that Keepsake has been bought out by Pineapple Fabrics?
oh this is lovely. i love the jewel colors on black. and your title for the block is great. thanks for sharing today and for inspiring.
Love your Amish quilt Brenda! Fish and butterflies, lol!!! I think we all get old eyes when it comes to seeing black fabric. I always heard older ladies tell me to work on black when you are young because it’s too hard to see when you age and they were right! I use lots of lighting and magnifiers and still struggle at times, especially when it’s applique or quilting black on black. I just cannot see where I am going or where i have been then!