Lorelei Quilt: Free Pattern Coming

Lorelei Quilt

Many evenings we sit in front of the tv to wind down before bed, and often there is nothing worth watching. I prefer to have my laptop open, and fiddle around with EQ8. I bought the 10" Accuquilt system a few years ago, and haven't felt I've been able to use it as much as I'd liked. So my goal here was to create some patterns using shapes available in the core group of dies, and that's where I started. I went on to design this block using 3 of the dies, and those shapes can also be easily cut with my favorite Creative Grids ruler, the 6" Flying Geese and 45/90 Degree Triangle Ruler. This ruler should be in everyone's repertoire. Therefore, the Accuquilt system will lend a hand in cutting several shapes, but it is not essential.

The block itself was pretty, but using it in an on-point setting here created a very dynamic quilt I thought!  

Taking the design information from EQ8 to the cutting table to create these 15" blocks was not difficult, but I did need to brush up on my paper piecing skills to create the star points. I wanted to make this a stash quilt as much as possible, and started out with an ombre fabric in the top left photo. It doesn't work. I found I needed the star points to all be the same saturation or value, and the ombre fabric didn't give me the look I wanted. The rest of the star points are from different fabrics, but all the same value of color. The low-volume prints vary from block to block, and I like that subtle scrappiness. It also allows me to use fat quarters, and smaller pieces of leftover fabric.

On-point is my favorite setting because it develops the circular secondary design so well. I doubt this will become a huge quilt, but it does look good with a greater number of blocks.

A friend is making the quilt in a black, yellow, and grey colorway. We started with her stash fabrics, and added a few from the fabric store. Keeping the outside points of the star both black really sets off the circle and stars.

EQ8 has a randomize feature that allows you to see the design in other palettes. I wanted to show you this as the colorway does not allow the circular areas to appear, but as you squint you can see X's and lozenge shapes. It's not wrong, just different.

When my top is done, I'll share the pattern with you here. It's an intermediate difficulty when broken down into its 5" sub blocks, and I'll explain the trickier parts. It's quite a fun block as you watch it develop, and it will build your piecing and accuracy skills at the same time. I hope you'll give it a try.

See you soon.

Come on, Doxie girls.

Let's go sew.