Monday, January 13, 2020

Back to Business!

I decided it was time to get down to business and finish at least one version of a mandala quilt.  I decided to fill in the spaces between the blocks with blocks made using a string method for making half square triangle squares.  I sewed a long piece of blue to the orange and the orange to the green and then the green to the blue and then used a 90 degree angle ruler to cut them.  This is a very efficient way to make half square triangles except they are all on the bias.  Also I made them a bit too big and so had to trim them down which was not easy.  I won't use that method again for something like this unless I am more sure of the sizes.  I should have blocked it out in EQ8 but was anxious to get started.  

All sewn together with all the squares made.  I decided that  it would look better if I had surrounded each of the mandalas with a thin strip of the orange.  It is okay but I find the orange to be a bit overwhelming.

You may notice that I rearranged the blocks as well, putting the brightest in the middle -- why I always take pictures before sewing together.  All the fabrics are my hand dyes.

I initially thought I would do a really thin strip of orange first in the border and left it overnight.

I changed my mind this morning and decided there was enough of the orange and the green was also a bit too much for me so hopefully calmed everything down with a wide border of the blue.  Now to figure out how to quilt it.  It measures 41 x 41.  I also have to decide what to use as binding.  There isn't enough of the blue left unless I can find another piece somewhere!

2 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

You're not going to want to hear it but I think an orange binding will pull this together nicely. 🙂

Elizabeth said...

I think you may be right!! Have considered it -- we shall see!