A Prairie Home Quilts

While working with EQ7 to create some Inklingo-able quilt designs for Linda’s Love the Lines contest, I discovered how easy (and fun!) it is to draw applique shapes in EQ.  My first submission for the contest was a final version of the blue Feathered Star quilt idea I had had several months ago.

The Color of the Sky. I’m Told

 This design went through 5 different revisions and then several versions of each revision.  The Feathered Stars started out in a horizontal setting with an idea of adding applique in the borders and alternate blocks — something with a Celtic feel or maybe something with the San Kamon collection.  Somewhere along the revision process I had the idea that the appliques should be constellations, more Feathered Star blocks were added to the quilt and they got set on point.  I decided upon the zodiac constellations with their corresponding symbols when I wondered how people would be able to tell which constellations were what.  There’s a long, convoluted, serendipitous thingy with the name of the quilt, fabric choices, zodiac constellation idea, number of Feathered Star blocks, etc., etc. going on with this quilt that maybe I’ll explain in a post of its own some day…  This is also a real work-in-progress.  I have started stitching the Feathered Stars and border blocks which use the free Inklingo Diamond/Square/Triangle collection.

After I drew the appliques, I started to play with them in other quilt designs.  This is where the Mariner’s Compass blocks came into play.

I liked the larger constellation applique blocks with the Mariner’s Compass but I was willing to let that idea sit because there isn’t an Inklingo Mariner’s Compass collection yet and I don’t like messing with paper pieced designs.  [Besides, I'm still without a sewing machine so everything has to be done by hand.]

In the meantime, there was this antique book cover that was inspiring some applique ideas of its own.

I didn’t like the fish in the center as an applique motif so I wasn’t motivated to go anywhere with this design, yet…  Over the weekend I thought of using a Mariner’s Compass as a center medallion to replace the fish so I started working up some ideas in EQ7.

Ignore the color scheme and note that the anchor appliques aren’t quite finished yet.  I want to use bias strips in the circular design that connects the anchors and put appliqued circles in 2 sizes on the first thin border like the book cover.  I’ll modify the leave appliques a bit to be more like the book cover also; and instead of the circle motif in that border, I’d like to do a shell applique similar to the design on the spine.  Still lots to do to finish this quilt design.

Further playing with the Mariner’s Compass block as a medallion resulted in this.

Another EQ7 work in progress.  It’s not completely Inklingo-able as drawn with the size of center block that I used.  This is just a quick rendition to get the design idea down.  I’ll finish it up to make it work with maybe a 15 inch center medallion and one of the available Storm at Sea collections.  The final border coloring is an idea from Wenche using the Yin Yang collection.  Wenche used the collection as a border for an applique quilt she designed to look like waves.  Christiane Wipplinger used the collection in the same way [to create the look of waves] in her Love the Lines contest entry shown here.

I asked Linda about a Mariner’s Compass block and she asked if summer or early fall would be soon enough.  Yes, it would — any time is fine actually but I’m wondering how many more Mariner’s Compass ideas I’ll have done in EQ by then?