Indiana Puzzled: NO BEANS
30 in x 30 in Private Collection
NO BEANS is the third of the four quilts in this series I jumped into creating. It uses a variation of the old Indiana Puzzle quilt block that created 3 years ago when I made the first of the Wedding Quilts. It extends the "arm" of the outer design into the border, thus completing that motif, instead of cutting off the arm as is customary.
I struggled with this one ! The choice of pattern was very difficult, since I needed it to relate to the recipients and all I could think of that fit both of them was their corn and beans farm in Indiana. As there IS an old-timer called Corn and Beans, that is not a visually attractive block, I just couldn't find the inspiration to work with it, although if one were working with a full-sized quilt it would be possible to create patterns between the blocks that could be quite interesting. The four blocks I needed to use just weren't going to have much to say ! Then I found, in the sale bin, a great CORN print, with ears and leaves snuggled together in a green, yellow and rust colour scheme, on white. Perfect ! Then the block pattern problem came back, so I set it aside again, until the idea of using the Indiana Puzzled variation came to me. Everything went well (I only pieced one block so it rotated backwards!-and had to be taken apart) until it was time to bind the quilt. The black I intended to use as representing "good black dirt"
just wouldn't work. Back to my knitting again !
The solution came when I realised that I could tea-dye the fabric for the binding, producing a slightly darker version of the rusty-gold of the outer border, and the quilt is finally finished.
Now I must pull things out from under the eaves and search for the fake fur. Yes, I am going to make a small quilt that mixes fake fur and cotton fabrics. It will probably be my first--and last--of this type ! The picture that I have in my mind is so much fun that I simply MUST find some white fur.......
I struggled with this one ! The choice of pattern was very difficult, since I needed it to relate to the recipients and all I could think of that fit both of them was their corn and beans farm in Indiana. As there IS an old-timer called Corn and Beans, that is not a visually attractive block, I just couldn't find the inspiration to work with it, although if one were working with a full-sized quilt it would be possible to create patterns between the blocks that could be quite interesting. The four blocks I needed to use just weren't going to have much to say ! Then I found, in the sale bin, a great CORN print, with ears and leaves snuggled together in a green, yellow and rust colour scheme, on white. Perfect ! Then the block pattern problem came back, so I set it aside again, until the idea of using the Indiana Puzzled variation came to me. Everything went well (I only pieced one block so it rotated backwards!-and had to be taken apart) until it was time to bind the quilt. The black I intended to use as representing "good black dirt"
just wouldn't work. Back to my knitting again !
The solution came when I realised that I could tea-dye the fabric for the binding, producing a slightly darker version of the rusty-gold of the outer border, and the quilt is finally finished.
Now I must pull things out from under the eaves and search for the fake fur. Yes, I am going to make a small quilt that mixes fake fur and cotton fabrics. It will probably be my first--and last--of this type ! The picture that I have in my mind is so much fun that I simply MUST find some white fur.......
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