The Yellow Quilt

Design and Pattern Pieces

Designing the yellow wedding ring quilt wasn't all that difficult due to the fact that I have a nifty computer program called Electric Quilt. While I currently own and use EQ5, there is EQ6, available of course from the Electric Quilt website. I don't design and make flat quilts anymore, so I rarely use the software. I've recently introduced the children to it, and they love it. Basically, you can design all sorts of quilts in it, choosing your blocks, fabrics, borders, layouts, etc. Here's the snapshot of the quilt as designed:


Once a quilt is designed, you can then print out the snapshots and pattern pieces in whatever size block you desire. Below you can see some of the pattern pieces for this particular quilt. The only down side is that some pieces are printed over multiple pages and need to be taped together, but that's something you'd encounter with any pattern you download and print at home.


In the pictures above, there are enough pieces for one row, except for the star shaped pieces which are not in the photograph. I tend to cut out enough for one row and put those together instead of cutting out all the pieces for the quilt at one time. I find it less daunting to look at smaller stacks of little pieces than what seems like endless large piles of little pieces for such large quilts. Next week, I'll show you how I put all these pieces together.

On a different topic, my daughter and I went fabric shopping today. We went to Jo-ann's, Fabric Fix and Martin's. Fabric Fix was already closed by the time we got there, but we did find some things at the other two stores. At Jo-ann's, we bought some purple plaid for a skirt for school in the fall, and then two pieces of brown fabric and one piece of blue for a library bag. My daughter saw the tote bag article in the latest Threads and wanted to make one. She and I will be working on that together. She picked out the fabrics, quite sophisticated for a 9 year old, but it is what she wanted. I couldn't talk her into pretty pinks or tan and aqua combos. She had her heart set on the brown!

A trip to Martin's wouldn't be complete without buying some discontinued patterns. There's a couple for the men in the family, a skirt for my daughter and another wedding dress. I'm a sucker when it comes to evening and wedding gown patterns. I buy them whether I'm going to make them or not - I can't tell you why, though! Also pictured is some lingerie elastic I bought there.

Parting Shot: Vogue Couturier #190, 1959. My latest treasure from eBay. I've been wanting this one for a while, and finally got one. Check out that coat - isn't that fur collar wonderful? I've already got an idea for this one. It's called "Spring Debut". I'm not sure when or if it will get made, but I can see it all in my mind! Next week I'll take you inside the envelope.