Inspiration From Another Quilter

I Want To Do That!

As quilters, we often see pictures of lovely quilts and think, "I want to do that." That is exactly what happened to me when I saw this quilt:

My thanks to Jeanann S. for allowing me to use the picture of this beauty.

Click the photograaph to follow the link to Jeanann's original photograph.

Notice how the illusion of circles pop out of this quilt. I tried and tried to figure out why--looking at colors, values, arrangements, etc.--but I could never really determine the reason.

What to do? Make one of my own and see what happens!



If you look at the pattern for the blocks, it is essentially a shoo fly--a nine patch that includes corner HSTs.

Since I'm a stockpiler :), I had the elements on hand:

Each block needs four HSTs of matching fabrics and 5 squares of prints. I used 4.5" squares.

The pieces go together as any nine-patch, but pay attention to the orientation of the HSTs--they form a kind of frame for the block.

After sewing the blocks together, I looked eagerly for the circle illusion.

I couldn't see the circles at all until I took a photograph. They are there, but they don't jump out as much as those in the original. It could be because my squares are a different size, or it could be something completely separate from the quilt itself--lighting or photographic quality, for instance.

As Jeanann did in her original, I added a border that finished up the quarter-square triangle pieces at the edges--I think the quilt looks more complete that way.




I like the quilt, even though I didn't get the result I was looking for. I like the strong colors in contrast to the white.

 
I used a "cheater cloth" (pre-printed quilt fabric) as a backing. This way, both sides are pretty!

Many thanks to Jeanann S. for the inspiration and for the permission to use her photograph. Next time you see a picture of a quilt and have the "I want to do that" thought, give it a try!